PAUL ON FAITH                        

A Tricky Word

Faith is  a tricky word.  It has at least two meanings, faith that … and faith in … 

‘Faith that’ can often replace ‘believe that’, e.g. that God exists, that Donald Trump is a great American president etc. 

‘Faith in’  can be synonymous with ‘trust’  e.g. Do you trust me? 

Both ‘belief’ and ‘faith’ translate the same Greek word ‘pistis’.  Indeed, the modern Anglican baptismal creed replaces “Do you believe in God?’ with “Do you believe and trust  in God?”

So. faith can be a thinking word, believing “as many as six impossible thing before breakfast’  (the White Queen in ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’) or the classic Roman Catholic defence, “You’ve just got to have faith”.  ‘Keeping the faith’ can mean buying into 2,000 years of theology and dogma.  Or it can be a feeling word, having warm intimate feelings to or about something.   What did St Paul mean?

Paul in Romans

Let’s look at Paul’s headline statement in Romans 1.16-17.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’”

There were three things that Paul was not.  He was not part of the established church.  He was not a 21st century ‘millennial man’.  He was not not Jewish.  So I am sure he did not mean these three things:  “I believe in the perichoresis ( a sort of dance) of the Holy Trinity;” nor “I have a sense of emotional engagement;” nor “It’s what I think that matters.”

Let’s have a look at Romans 1.16-17 to see if he meant any of these:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has an emotional engagement (in worship?), to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through believing all the right things leading to that sense of emotional engagement; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by what he thinks.’”

That clearly does not work.  What will work?  The clue, I believe, is in the fact that Paul, or Saul, was Jewish, not Greek.  The Hebrew way of thinking and talking was much more concrete than the Greek way.  James in his letter puts the Jewish viewpoint absolutely clearly in the passage James. 2.14-26:

“Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (2.17)

Grace and Truth

We get close to a proper understanding if we go beyond the Greek to the Hebrew.  In his book ‘Grace and Truth’ Anthony Hanson says that the phrase ‘grace and truth’ in John 1.14 is a direct quotation of the ancient description of God in Exodus 33, ‘hesed’ and ‘emeth’.  Normally these two words are translated as steadfast love and faithfulness.  If so, a better translation of ‘pistis’ is not faith but faithfulness or loyalty.  It is what we might call faith, but faith in action.  It is a commitment.  So how does this work in Romans  1.16-17?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has committed themselves (to Christ), to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through the act of commitment leading to a life of commitment; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by having committed himself (to God).’”

Even in Hebrews, which has the famous verse, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11.1), the rest of the chapter links faith to action in every case.  And the preceding verse makes it clear:  “We are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but those who have faith and so are saved” (10.39).  Faith is the opposite of shrinking back.  It is standing firm.

Working it through

The closest analogy I can find is of signing up as a soldier, taking the Queen’s shilling.  Once you have done that, you are a soldier.  You may follow what the sergeant major tells you, in which case you are a good soldier.  Or you may disobey him, in which case you are a bad soldier.  But you are still a soldier, unless you actually desert.  This is why Paul could write to the believers in Corinth both approvingly and critically.  They were all part of the regiment.  So, for instance, in Romans 3.30-31 Paul’s meaning is:

“He will justify the circumcised on the ground of their commitment and the uncircumcised through that same commitment.  Do we then overthrow the law by this commitment? By no means!”

A Final Thought

One of the more puzzling sayings of Jesus comes in Luke 17.5-6:

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’  The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.”  I have heard many  sermons which tried to show how to increase the volume of one’s faith, perhaps from the size of a mustard seed to that of a sunflower seed?  In fact, Jesus is saying, either you’ve got it or you haven’t.  Either you’ve signed up or you’re still on the outside.  You don’t commit yourself by having the right thought, or the right feelings, or the right actions.  It’s a whole person thing. 

     As the step 3 prayer of Alcoholics Anonymous puts it:

            God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.  Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do Thy will.  Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love and Thy Way of Life.  May I do Thy will always.