DO YOU HAVE SAVING FAITH?

To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior is the meaning of genuine biblical faith. There is no salvation by any other means or any other person. It is truly Christ alone. Yet, this thought needs to be fleshed out a bit lest it be misunderstood. Faith, as one man has called it, is assent of the mind with consent of the heart. This statement captures the two-fold dimension of genuine faith which, without one, is mere sentimentality. The focus of this specific blog is the first dimension of genuine, saving, faith.

Faith is to be understood, first, as a cognitive turning. By cognitive I am conveying the reality that faith is belief in a body of truth - the Bible. Faith arises within the heart of men, not because they have become wise enough to see their need for it but, as the scripture says, because they heard the content of the gospel proclaimed. The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that "... faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). Therefore, faith is not a mere belief in the existence of Jesus (does not the devil believe this? James 2:19) but a clear understanding and agreement of the content of the message of the gospel.

At the elementary level of faith are the foundational truths or doctrines that Christians must affirm and agree in order to be saved. Paul highlights them in this way

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in

accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in

accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."

The content of the gospel that must be believed for salvation is the death of Christ and the proven resurrection of Christ. That is the truth that each mind must believe and, in believing, turn away from all other alternatives for salvation. In other words, true and saving faith alwaysdemands that the mind be involved and changed. This is an important truth to grasp.

The alternative is a mere emotional turning to Jesus as a mythological figure who, if you just say His name or simply confess that you believe in Him, makes all things better and right. The scripture, however, clearly calls for a cognitive turning, a change in the way we think about God, Jesus, sin, other religions and even our own life. It is not that faith is unemotional. I am only stating that the emotional aspect, if it is genuine, is a fruit of the cognitive aspect. In essence, my heart consents to (or feels) that to which my mind has given assent (or affirmed). Assent precedes and seeds consent.

This is to show two specific principles that I believe Christians need to bear in mind and guard.

1. Christianity is a relationship with God that is rooted and dependent on the content of the gospel. No Christian should ever be comfortable without a measure of belief that is sustained and nurtured by the fundamental and foundational beliefs of the death of Christ and His resurrection. It is these truths that brought faith and it is into these truths that we must be immersed, spending the rest of our lives learning their practical implications for living.

2. The preaching of the gospel is the non-negotiable of the church. Since faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17) and since this hearing is the foundational means by which the Christian grows spiritually, every New Testament church is obligated to preach only the gospel of grace. In all that we preach everything should be preached from the saving reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that "faith can happen" in the souls of those who hear and be sustained in those who are His.

To say that we believe in Jesus is the same as saying that we have and are affirming a cognitive turning; that our mind has been and is being changed by the content of the gospel. This means that you, too, whether a preacher or not, are obligated to preach the gospel daily, first to yourself, and then to others so that they might hear, and faith might be gifted to them for their salvation.