FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST OR THE FAITH (OR FAITHFULNESS) OF JESUS CHRIST

FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST OR *
*THE FAITH (OR FAITHFULNESS) OF JESUS CHRIST *
*By Jack Trumm*
*
It is amazing how a little two letter word can change the meaning of a
statement and yet this is exactly what happens when we use the phrase
(faith IN Jesus Christ) or (the faith OF Jesus Christ.)

It is also amazing that so few of God's people understand the simple
significance of one of the most precious phrases in the Pauline
epistles, "the faith of Jesus Christ". (Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 20;
and Philippians 3:9) A King James version of the Bible will help
tremendously in seeing both the distinction and significance.

First let us look at what it means to have "faith in Jesus Christ".
Whether we realize it or not, we all put our faith in a person or thing
every day of our lives. For example, everyone of us at some time during
the day sit down in a chair and do we ever question whether the chair
will hold us up? For the most part, the answer to that question is No,
we just sit down. We believe that the chair will do what it is meant to
do, hold us up. That is a demonstration of objective faith. Another
example of objective faith is: everyone of us put our faith in people or
a person every day of our lives. If we are told something by someone and
we believe what they say is true, we exercise objective faith (or in the
Greek "pistis").

And so it is, if we put our faith (belief) in what God tells us from His
word (the Bible) concerning His Son Jesus Christ. "Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye
have received, and wherein ye stand: By which also ye are saved if ye
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that
he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures." (I Corinthians 15:1-4)

Do you believe this truth? If you do, then you have put your faith in
Jesus Christ, and what he has accomplished for you. Then, you are saved.
Sad to say, there are those who have perverted this truth, by saying the
way to be saved is to say:

1. I make Jesus my Lord and my Savior.
2. I make Jesus Lord of my life.
3. I ask Jesus to come into my heart.

How far from the truth can these statements be in light of what was said
above. No place in the Bible are these statements made, much less a
requirement for salvation. We don't make Him Lord and Savior -- He
already is. We don't make Him Lord of our lives -- He already is. We
don't have to ask Him into our hearts -- He does that the very moment we
believe (FAITH).

God's Word tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of
works, lest any man should boast." According to the dictionary in
Strong's Concordance, the word grace means "divine influence upon the
heart" and the word faith means "reliance upon Christ for salvation".
This salvation that we have is a gift from God and when he convicts our
hearts of this gift (grace), then we have a choice to make. We can
either reject it or accept it by FAITH, and it is only by faith because
there is nothing we can do in and of ourselves to earn it. (NOT OF WORKS)

It also says in Romans 4:5, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. " Here we are told again that it is not by our own
self-righteousness (not of works) that one is justified, but rather it
is his faith (belief) in what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us that
we are justified and only then does God count it to us for
righteousness. This is the objective aspect of faith, (believe) or trust
in another or in what another has said or done. This is what is meant
when Paul writes of faith IN Christ.

Now let's consider what is meant when God's word speaks of the faith or
faithfulness OF Jesus Christ. Here,the word translated "faith" comes
from the Greek word, "pistos" and is defined in the Strong's Concordance
as follows: "Trustworthy, trustful, faithful, sure, true", An example of
this would be when a man and a woman get married, they make their
marriage vows and one of them is that they be faithful to one another.
In other words, each one of them can believe what their spouse has just
said concerning their marriage vows is "trustworthy' or what they just
said was "true".

And so it is with the faith OF Jesus Christ. We can rest assured in what
God tells us in His word concerning what it is that Jesus Christ has
accomplished for us by his death, burial and resurrection. It is
trustworthy and it is sure. This is the faith OF Jesus Christ. This is
what is called, subjectives faith.

Another example of the FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST is found in Galatians 2:20.
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

How believers need to learn this blessed truth! We are kept, while in
the flesh, not by "our faith" but by His faithfulness. Our God given
faith is but a channel through which we appreciate and enjoy His
never--failing faithfulness. Our "faith" would be vain (or useless) were
it not for "the faith (fidelity) of the Son of God". The best of us
would utterly fail were it not that "he ever liveth to make intercession
for us" (Hebrews 7:25) and "now appears in the presence of God for us".
(Hebrews 9:24)