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 My
Faith to His Faith Paul wrote to
the Church at Rome: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
The phrase “from faith to faith” seems to imply
“progressive” or “growing” faith.
But what if it does not? What
if it is actually communicating to us that there are two different kinds
or dimensions of faith? If
so, what would these two different “faiths” be?
May I suggest — Ours and His. In verse 17,
the Greek word translated “from” is ek.
It is defined by Strong’s Greek Dictionary as: “a primary
preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion
proceeds).” It also means:
“from, out (of place, time, or cause).”
In this verse, the word implies “transition,” a moving out of
or away from. Also in the
same verse, the Greek word translated “to” is eis,
which is “a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point
reached or entered), of place or time” (Strong’s).
The word implies “arrival” at a destination, a new place, or
another dimension. Therefore,
we may conclude that there is a faith which we have that we leave or
transition from in order to arrive at this other faith.
This does not necessarily mean that the transition is permanent.
It may happen many times in fact.
It also does not mean that the faith we are “leaving” is
“bad” faith. It just
means that we can transition to a “better” kind of faith, especially
when needed or as the Lord may initiate. What is this
“starting point” faith? The
Lord calls it “our faith.” Many
times, the Bible uses the terminology “your faith,” “their faith,”
his faith,” “thy faith,” etc. when referring to people and faith.
For instance, Jesus said, “according to your
faith, be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29).
The Bible also says, “the trying of your
faith worketh patience” (James 1:3); “the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth”
(1 Peter 1:7); “add to your faith
virtue” (2 Peter 1:5); “Lord, Increase our
faith” (Luke 17:5); “this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith” (I
John 5:4); “Go thy way; thy faith
hath made thee whole” (Mark 10:52); and “the just shall live by his
faith” (Habakkuk 2:4),
among many other verses. Why the
distinction? What is “our
faith”? Our faith finds its
source in the “written” Word of God.
The Greek word for this is logos. Logos is the
“forever settled” Word. It
is the part of God that was made visible to man.
John 1:1,14 says: “In the beginning was the Word [logos] , and the Word [logos]
was with God, and the Word [logos]
was God. . . And the Word [logos]
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
It is through logos that the Lord reveals who and what He is to all men who will
believe His Word. Through logos,
He reveals His character, His motives, His thoughts, His intentions, and
what He loves and hates. As we grow in
our confidence in God’s Word, we grow in our confidence in His
character, His motives, and His desires for us.
Based on His Word to us, the Lord expects us to: “Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that
asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). In fact, no less than seven times in the three chapters of
John which contain His last instructions to His disciples immediately
before His crucifixion, the Lord told them to ask anything, and He would
do it (John 14:12-14; 15:7; 15:16; 16:23-27).
In the Scripture, people’s faith was described at various times
as “little faith” or “great faith.”
Obviously, our faith can be anywhere in between these two extremes
at any given time. The degree
of our faith us up to us! The Lord’s
faith is the second faith mentioned in Romans 1:17.
His faith and its source is defined in Romans 10:17: “So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
The Greek word translated “word” in this verse is rhema.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines rhema
as: “what is or has been uttered by the living voice, a thing spoken, a
word.” In this context, rhema
is what is known as the “voice of God.”
By His voice speaking to us through any number of conduits, the
Lord reveals to us His will and gives us promises concerning what He is
going to do. Hearing and
believing it is NOT our faith but His own faith in Himself.
Paul said, in Galatians 2:20, that by being crucified with Christ,
he was then able to live by the Son of God’s faith. The just shall
live by faith (ours); but we also are able to live by the Lord’s faith
(His). Again, our faith comes
from the logos.
When we believe what we read in His Word and act upon it, we have
faith. But this is our faith
not His. Our faith is
required to ask Him for what we want.
However, when we hear His voice and act upon it, it is His faith
not ours. When we receive rhema
we are required to quit asking, to confess His Word to us, and to submit
to the conditions of the rhema.
The awesome dimension of His faith is that sometimes He initiates
this faith by speaking to us about things for which did not ask or even
think to ask. Thus He gives
us His faith to use for those things which are “exceeding, abundantly
above” ourselves and our faith (Galatians 3:20). In this dimension, we become more truly partners with God in
His work and Kingdom than at any other time.
Jesus implored
us to ask, seek, knock; He said ask anything!
Therefore, according to the dimension of our faith, we ask and keep
on asking until we receive one of three responses from the Lord to our
request. He will either
simply give us what we ask for in faith believing (Mark 11:22-24).
Or He will tell us no, that it is not His will.
Or He will give us His rhema that He will do what we have asked for, but that it is not
time for it to come to pass. His
rhema is His guarantee that He
will give us what we have asked for.
We are to “rest” in His faith knowing with confident
expectation that He is faithful to His promise. Our
“asking” faith must be submitted to the will of God.
We can ask for “anything,” seek for “anything,” knock for
“anything”; but we must be willing to accept any answer from the Lord.
Jesus did say “according to your faith, be it unto you.”
Yet, His will takes precedence over our will.
However, because of His Word and His being bound by His Word, He
will give us whatever we are believing for no matter what His will is, if
we, by our faith, stubbornly persist in believing, asking, seeking, and
knocking for it. However, He
is not responsible for the consequences of our persistence against His
will. The tragic results of
this faith which is “un-submitted” to His will are recorded in several
places in the Word of God (ie - Hezekiah). In contrast to
our faith, when the Lord speaks His Word (rhema)
to us, He has given us His faith. His
faith is ALWAYS His will. We
can confidently believe that what He has said will come to past.
Once He speaks, we need not, in fact we must not, continue to ask
Him for what He has said that He would do.
He expects us to confess His Word and to continue to confess it and
walk in the faith of it until it comes to past.
Ó 2004 C.
M. Wright
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