The Bible defines and uses faith in several ways. What we are looking for is God's definition of faith that saves--"saving faith." Saving Faith means to obey God! Thus, the SGVCC is committed to obeying Matthew 4:4--we choose to wholeheartedly and daily obey God's every Word seeking to grow spiritually to become fully mature like Jesus according to Ephesians 4:12-13. Ephesians 4:12-13 calls every member of the church to daily equip "the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to 1) the unity of the faith, and..." to attain 2) " the knowledge of the Son of God, 3) to [become] a mature [spiritual] man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."
Explanation and Discussion of the Issue: Statement of Faith
A Statement of Faith is a complicated issue that must take into account several Key factors. Lets us state what biblical "faith" means-- and what it does not mean. Then, let us determine how Father God defines faith, and finally reaffirm that the SGVCC is dedicated to faithfully and fully doing God's will!
Saving faith or belief is not acknowledging that God exist--James 2:18-20, " But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe [have faith] that God is [exists as] one. You do well [this is sarcasm]; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?""
The Lord's brother, James, tells us saying that you believe in God is doing no more than demons do, and indicates saving faith includes works--deeds--action! Our goal is to biblically define "saving faith" according to what Father God reveals. Let us note that there is a great deal of contradictory teaching on faith and how God intends for men to understand and live by faith. Lets us now look at the issue of the word "faith" itself.
The Faces of Faith as Used in the Bible
Typically, the Greek verb pisteuo is translated as "believe" and its noun form pistis as "faith." Thus, "believe," "faith," and their variations (belief, faithfulness, ect.) end up having the same meaning because they come from the same Greek root word: peitho or peithomai (to persuade).
Abraham is set forth as the key example of faith in and throughout the bible. Romans 4:11 reads, "He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe..." Thus, Paul's title for Abraham s "the Father of Belief," or " The Father of Faith," Based on the above, it seems clear that any "Statement of Faith" needs to take into account and be related to Abraham's life. Thus, we look at his life as recorded in Genesis 11:25 after we explain how to read Paul's writings beginning with Romans and the phrase "Father of Faith."
Peter's Words about Paul's Words
Paul's words of Romans 4:11-12 reads, "and he received the signs of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised."
Does this passage seem confusing or hard to understand? Yes!!! Smile, you are not alone! Let us remind you of Peter's warnings about the Scriptural writings of Paul in 2 Peter 3:14-18. "Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction." "You therefore, beloved knowing this beforehand, be on you guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from you own glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." The writings of Paul are inspired by God, and difficult to understand without some and at times a great deal of biblical knowledge and background. Let us keep these facts in mind.
The Transformation from Abram to Abraham
When we first meet Abraham he is called Abram in Gen. 11 & 12. His name is changed by Father God in Gen. 17 when he is circumcised. What is the significance and importance of this?
Faithlessness to Faithfulness
Abram, when we first meet him in the Bible (Genesis 11:26), does not know of believe in the true God of heaven. He is the son of a Babylonian father named Terah, raised by him to worship and believe in the many Babylonian gods--and, they live a thousand miles from Canaan Land (Judea).
Joshua writes (Joshua 24:1-2, "Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, The God of Israel, "from ancient times you father lived beyond the River [Euphrates], namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other Gods."Abram is faithless at this point in his life and less than 75 years old. While named Abram, from age75 to 100, the Bible records on sinful, faithless act (deed or work) after another-- consider Genesis 12:19 (lying), 15;1-4 & 15:7-8 (complaining about God not keeping His Word), 16;1-5 (taking a slave woman to have another slave child as an heir), 17;17-18 (laughs as and mocks God's words inwardly while outwardly appearing to be reverent), and Acts 7;1-4 which records God's first call to Abram telling him to leave his fathers house and go to Canaan Land--Abram disobeyed and went with his father to settle in Haran where he continued to worship false gods. Acts 7:1-4 occurs in Genesis 11;26-31. After Genesis 11:32, Gods makes his second cal to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3, which Abram answers because his father Terah just died and he doesn't want to take over as the head of his family and deal with all the responsibility that goes with it.. The promise of fame, fortune, and power for simply going south to Canaan Land seems worth the effort. Abram takes his first steps of obedient faith, but it leads to decades of unexpected discipline, danger, and hard, hard work!
However, after 25 years (Genesis 11-17), Father God has grown Abram the faithless into being Abraham the faithful. It is at that time that God renames him to mark the change that takes place in how he lives his life. it is not that Abram is persuaded (peitho) to believe that God exists; it is that Abram has arrived at the time and place when he will do all that Father God commands or asks!
Like David, he has arrived at doing all of God's will, although reluctantly and without God's threat to cut him off if he does not begin to obey immediately.
Thus, it is after he is renamed Abraham in Genesis 17 that the Bible describes him as the Father of Faith. Even though Abram mock and laughs at God (Genesis 17:17-18) when challenged and commanded to be circumcised of be cut off from God, Abram obeys. He gets circumcised and renamed Abraham.
Hebrews 11:1 is just One of Several Definitions and Aspects of How the Bible Uses Faith
Also, know that Hebrews 11:1 is NOT a definition of faith, it is a definition of MATURE faith that states: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,' Hebrews 11:2-40 then goes on to describe exactly what James talked about above in James 2:14-26, biblical, saving is based on works--meaning that you trust God by doing whatever He asks or commands.
He did not have faith as described in Hebrews 11:1--he was not assured (persuaded) of what he hoped for--a son by Sarah; neither was he convicted of what he had never seen or heard of before! However, when confronted with losing everything and being cut off from God, Abram choose to OBEY (Genesis 17:26-27)!
It was Nine month later of that time, when Abraham arrived at Hebrews 11:1--when he began to be assured of things hoped for and convicted of things not seen-- when his wife started morning sickness and began "to show" that she was pregnant.Abram's obedience led to and then resulted in him having mature faith and thus being appropriately named the "father of All Who Believe"-- The Father of Faith. Paul discusses these issues in Romans, and adds in other issues that require more bible background.
Thus far, we now see that saving "faith" requires obedience, and that mature faith is not what Abram or any man starts with--no adult starts out believing in and being convicted of what they do not see! Thus, Hebrews 11;8 states, "By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed..."
This refers to Abram's second call, and it was his first of beginning step of faith--obeying--at age 75, that still required 25 more years of development before he reached Genesis 17 and obeying in what ended up being the issue that results in his faith being mature.
Sustained obedience to God's every Word is what results in transformation and a mature faith the way Abram the faithless became and ended up being Abraham the faithful!
Saving faith is a process that begins with obeying God's words. It matures and is perfected (completed), after a person grows and learns to consistently and quickly obey all of Gods Words! Reaching this point takes time. Biblically, many stories reveal this takes from 20 to 80 years to accomplish ( Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Caleb, etc.).
However, the "good news" is that by beginning to obey God's words and doing as He asks, begins your walk of saving faith. If, having begun, you continue to grow in God's grace and knowledge through becoming more faithfully obedient, then you grow in your salvation as called by Peter in 1 Peter 2:2--who lists steps of maturity in 2Peter 1:4-11.
Having the right kind of faith--the obedient actions of a little child--will get you there. Children disobey, but with persuasion from parents, children soon typically obey. In time, this relationship leads to children loving their parents having learned that discipline is essential even though it seems unpleasant to begin with; and over time, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteous, God's eternal approval, and the reward of eternal salvation (Hebrews12:1-11)