Bible Question:
Lionstrong; Can faith be both substance and action? The reason I ask is that there seems to be a whole lot of the mind of God that Man (I) can not understand if FAITH does not take me (us) to It. LOVE..vume |
Bible Answer: Dear Vume, I'm not sure what you mean by substance. I realize that in the KJV Heb. 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for. But this is not a definition of faith. God is telling us something about true saving faith but He is not here giving us a definition. It's the same as in Eph 2:8,9 where it says faith is the gift of God, again, not a definition of faith, but it tells us where faith comes from. It comes from God as a gift. But you are right, Vume, when you say that one must already believe some aspects of the revealed mind of God (the Holy Bible) in order to understand or believe other aspects of His mind that He has revealed to us. For example, some people don't believe or understand that God would go through all the trouble of sending His only Son to save sinners. This is because they don't understand or believe what God has revealed about the intrinsic value of Man as created in the image of God. The Bible is the only revelation of God's mind. And this revelation is not a random, haphazard collection of unrelated truths. The Word of God forms a coherent, unified, non-contradictory system of truth. This is why some aspects of the Mind of God must be understood or believed before others can be understood or believed. But again, faith is NOT action. Saving faith is MENTALLY grasping and holding on to the certain truths revealed by God in His Word. Saving faith RESULTS in action. Faith is the ROOT (maybe what you mean by "substance"); action is the FRUIT. Peace, |