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Faith
(Continued from page /9)
(Rom. 6:4). But how, if you can't
keep the law by your own strength
or your own faith? The answer is–
you have to have an added fait h.
But from whom, and what kind of
faith?
Since you can never be justified
by your own unaided attempt to
keep God's law or attain his righ–
teousness, if you have believed in
J esus Christ you have a new way to
become righteous. Instead of rely–
ing on your own s trength, you can
ask God for the help to become
righteous (i.e., to obey the law).
God has promised to develop in you
the same faith that Jesus had–
the faith
of
Jesus Christ!
This is an important point. If you
look up the word
faith
in a dictio–
nary, you wi ll fi nd it says some–
thi ng like this: "confidence, trust
or belief in the promises or state–
ments of another."
Everyone has sorne fa i t h–
although it varíes from individual
to individual. Sorne find it easy to
believe--others, perhaps because of
previous letdowns and betrayal,
find it hard to put "confidence,
trust or belier' in anyone or any–
thing.
But even the most faithful are
not faith-full enough by their
own
strength or their own faith to save
themselves from sinning in the
future. Look at Ephesians 2:8. "For
it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith - and this
not f rom
yourse/ves..
.. " How then?
Continuing in Ephesians 2:8,
" ... it is the gift of God."
Here is then a level of faith that
goes far beyond the "confidence,
trust or belier' that your human
mind must first exercise in having
faith
in
Christ to forgive your
guilty
past.
This new, higher level of faith is
the gift that God gives, through the
Holy Spirit, which one receives
through the laying on of hands
after bapt ism.
Jesus had that kind of faith . And
because he did he had total t rust,
confidence and belief in God. Thus
he was able to live a life that was
blameless. Jesus never sinned. He
was often tempted, but he always
resisted. He knew how to get the
June
1984
strength he needed to reinforce his
own inadequate human strength.
"During the days of J esus' life
on earth, he offered up prayers and
petitions with loud críes and tears
to the one who could save him from
death ..." (Heb. 5:7).
Jesus prayed to his Father in
heaven for the strength to resist sin.
And such was the relat ionshi p of
trust , love and confidence between
J esus a nd his Father, that he
always
received that help.
Jesus Chr ist and the Father had
lived in harmony for an eternity
befare Jesus carne to earth as the
Son of God. He had no doubts that
what his Father promised, he was
ab/e also to perform
(see Romans
4:21 ).
Having faith
in
Christ, many today
are told to be
baptized for the
remission of their
sins. But there is
more to it than that.
That is the kind of faith that we
must have if we are to receive our
eterna! reward. God expects us, if
we are his sons and daughters, to
live as J esus did.
J esus set the example. His li fe is
the standard by which we must
measure performance- not in sorne
d reamy, sanctimonious way, but in
the practica! down-to-earth circum–
stances of daily life. A true Chris–
tian should ask, Is this the way
Christ would react? Is this what he
would have done? Am I following
his example?
If not, your behavior must be
changed to conform with Jesus'
example as recorded in the Scrip–
tures. You will need to ask God for
the faith to do this- the same faith
that he gave Jesus Christ to face
and conquer problems.
With
that
faith, when tempta-
t ion comes, you will have t he
st rength to put aside your natural
human impulses and ma ke t he
same kind of decision that J esus
did in similar circumstances.
That 's why Paul, in his epistle to
the Galatians, wrote: " 1 have been
crucified with Christ; it is no lon–
ger 1 who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in
the ftesh 1 live by faith
in
[you
guessed it- it should be
oj]
the
Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himse lf for me" (Gal. 2:20,
Revi sed Au thorized Version).
Once the right preposition is put in,
these modero versions become
clear.
Think back to the analogy of the
watchmaker. Christ wants you to
learn to do the things he did. He
wants you to share in his skills. He
wants you to know the same confi–
dence and t rust in God that he
had.
He doesn't want you just to be
grateful to him for doing it. H e
wants
you to
have the experience of
overcoming sin, looking to God for
the spiritual strength, just like he
did.
Why?
Why You Need the Fai th of Christ
Look at Philippians 3:8-11. Here
we find Paul explaining to the Phi–
lippians how grateful he is to be
called as a part of God's Church.
He had to give up many things,
including a position of power and
prestige, in arder to be an apostle.
" ... 1 consider them rubbish, that 1
may gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law,
but that which is through faith
in
[read
oj]
C hrist- tbe righteous–
ness that comes from God and is by
faith. 1 want to know Christ and
the power of his resurrection and
the fellowship of sharing in bis suf–
ferings, becoming like him in his
death, and so, somehow, to attain to
the resurrection from the dead."
So Paul knew that bis resur–
rection from the dead would be
preceded by God bui lding in him
the same kind of faíth that Christ
had. He knew that only then would
he know the "power of resur–
rection," as Jesus Christ has known
it.
Paul was not saying that he was
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