What is Christian Faith? (part 2)

Defining the Christian Faith

In order to fully define the Christian faith, we must examine each component that makes it up. The first component that encompasses the Christian faith is the cognitive component, believing certain things about God. What are those things that one must believe about God? First, one must believe that God exists (Heb 11:6). There can be no object of faith if the object doesn’t exist. Second, one must believe that they will be rewarded for pursuing God (Heb 11:6). He is not just there but rewarding those who seek after Him. In other words, He is good and loving. These are attributes of God that describe his character. God is good (Ps 136:1) and God is love (1 John 4:8). Third, one must believe in the one whom God the Father has sent (John 6:29), namely, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

To believe in the one whom the Father has sent encompasses his whole historic life. That God was incarnate in Jesus (John 1:14; 1 Tim 3:16; 1 John 1:1-2; 1 John 4:2; Col 1:15; Heb 1:2-3; Phil 2:6-7), he lived the perfect life we should have lived (1 Pet 2:22; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1 John 3:5), died the death we should have died, in our place (Rom 5:8, 8:3; 1 Cor 15:3; 1 Pet 3:18). Three days later, he rose from the dead proving He is the Son of God (Rom 1:4; 1 Cor 15:4). These are the orthodox beliefs about Jesus. So although “authentic Christian commitment is not to be identified with believing certain things, it does in fact have a belief-component.”[1]This is not about having a minimum amount of beliefs that are “necessary to believe, but rather about the correct, true beliefs in all the fullness of God’s revelation to us.”[2]

The second component that encompasses the Christian faith is the relational component, trusting in God based on what is believed. What does this look like? For our example, we will examine the life of Abraham whom the Bible calls the “father of faith” (Rom 4:16). In the fourth chapter of Romans, Paul explains that Abraham was not justified by works, but by believing God and that belief was credited to him as righteousness. When you work, your wages are not credited to you as a gift, but an obligation. Abraham didn’t work or labor to keep a law to be justified, but instead trusted God. This righteousness was credited to him before he was circumcised. Later in verse 21, Paul tells us that Abraham was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”[3]Abraham exhibited a complete trust in God based on his relationship with him. In fact, he reconciled the contradiction of killing his own son who was the one through whom the promise would be fulfilled by reasoning that God would raise him from the dead (Heb 11:19). This trust in God creates a relational bond.[4]God had revealed to Abraham that through his son, he would bless all nations (Gen 12:1-3). “Perhaps the reason the writer of Hebrews cites, as his first example of faith, belief in creation by the word of God, is that he wishes to remind the reader of God’s power.”[5]If faith involves trusting in God based on what is believed, Abraham had to believe God had “the power and the will to carry out what God has promised.”[6]

The third component that encompasses the Christian faith is the behavioral component, faithfulness at all costs in response to God. Again, we turn to Abraham from the above example who was circumcised in response to God justifying him and crediting righteousness to him (Rom 4:10-11). Not only did Abraham believe certain things about God, that He was trustworthy, and that He was all powerful, but Abraham responded to that belief by circumcising himself to show that he belonged to God. The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 focuses on saints who lived in faithfulness toward God. Just before chapter 11 in verse 25 of chapter 10, the audience is exhorted to not throw away their confidence which will be richly rewarded. In chapter 11, we see examples of the saints demonstrating their confidence in God to the death, thus encouraging the believers to have that same confidence. Confidence that God is indeed trustworthy, and He will keep His promises. The English word “confidence” is derived from the Latin word fides,which means “faith,” and the prefix conwhich means “with.” Someone who is confident is someone with faith. How do we know someone is in possession of this cognitive and relational faith? By the evidence of their behavior. Don’t throw away your confidence, but instead continue to respond to the trustworthiness of God by how you live in total obedience to Him.

One thing that stands out in the story of Abraham is how his claim to righteousness was simply responding properly to God’s revelation to him. Note that God had “not yet given him any instructions concerning morality or ritual…What made him pleasing to God was not anything he did, but the simple fact that he trusted him,”[7]as evidenced by his actions.

Summary

The Christian faith is composed of three components:

1. A cognitive component, believing certain things about God.
2. A relational component, trusting in God based on what is believed.
3. A behavioral component, faithfulness at all costs in response to God.

All three of these components together make up the sum of what is called “the Christian faith.” Faith, in the biblical sense, is trusting in what you have reason to believe is true by evidence of your actions.

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[1]Nicholas Wolterstorff, Reason within the Bounds of Religion,2^nded (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), 74.

[2]Gary M. Burge, David Lauber, and Philip Graham,Theology Questions Everyone Asks: Christian Faith in Plain Language(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 18.

[3]Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New International Version(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2011).

[4]Teresa Morgan, Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches(Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015), 504, accessed February 9, 2017, doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/ 9780198724148.001.0001.

[5]Nicholas Wolterstorff, “The Assurance of Faith,” Faith and Philosophy 7, no. 4 (1990): 399, accessed February 9, 2017, DOI: 10.5840/faithphil19907438.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Theo Hobson, The Art of Living: Faith(Durham, GB: Routledge, 2014), 53, accessed February 9, 2017,  http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/lib/liberty/reader.action?ppg=5&docID=10553880&tm=1486929157903.