Three Elements of Genuine Faith- Part One

As we made our way through this year's election cycle, one of the things that intrigued me most was the ongoing publicity regarding the "faith" of the candidates. Nearly every candidate it seems, was quick to speak about their "faith", their "belief in God", or their church attendance. They know that having a faith is important to voters, so they make sure you know that they have faith. What is their faith about? Well, that’s not important. Only that they have one, that’s what matters according to the polling data.

This kind of perspective on “faith” is certainly the prevailing opinion of our day---not just among politicians, but really among Americans in general. Statistics reveal that the vast majority of Americans acknowledge having some kind of “faith”—a belief in a Supreme Being. Many will even go as far as saying that they believe in the God of the Bible, or in the Jesus of New Testament. I’m sure many of you know individuals—either family members or co-workers or neighbors across the street--- who have that kind of simplified, watered-down, simplistic approach to faith. Our world at large says that as long as you believe in God, in Jesus, and “have faith”--- that is enough for God, and that is enough to get you to heaven when you die.

There's no doubt that the Bible does make “faith” an important pre-requisite for salvation, and coming into a relationship with God. But sadly, far too many people today are subtracting from faith, reducing it, watering it down and making it less than what the Bible says it is and must be in order for a person to be genuinely right with God.

In our day of politically-correct religion, watered-down faith, and easy-believism, we desperately need God's Word to help us rightly evaluate people around us who claim to have faith---- as well as ourselves---- to see if we are truly in the family of God. So in contrast to today’s watered-down “faith”---- what three elements according to Scripture must be present in order to have true, genuine, saving faith?

1. Genuine faith must include knowledge/awareness.

As we study the pages of the New Testament the first thing we uncover when it comes to true saving faith is that a person must have an adequate understanding of the actual gospel message--- the content--- the knowledge of the real truth. The scholars of old used to used a Latin word to describe this first element necessary for saving faith—it’s the Latin word “notitia”- that Latin word means knowledge. Knowledge of the content.

One of the great Bible teachers of the 20th century—Dr. John Gerstner, expressed it like this: “Nothing can enter the sanctuary of the heart unless it first passes through the vestibule of the mind.” And that’s absolutely true. Before anyone can truly come into relationship with God through Christ by faith in their heart---- there has to an understanding in their mind of what they are exercising faith in--- there has to be an understanding of the content of the gospel truth.

In 1 Cor. 15:3-4, the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of the truth----the content---that he had laid out before them since day one. Paul wrote, “I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” In other words, this is the core, fundamental content that must be believed in order to be saved. The point is simple: faith without gospel content is no faith at all. It’s not enough just to say you “have faith” generally speaking--- Faith in what? The Bible teaches that genuine saving faith is faith IN something. Genuine saving faith stands upon a knowledge, an understanding of God’s revealed truth—the truth of the gospel----- which is the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We need to remind ourselves, and exhort others around us that genuine saving faith must include a knowledge of truth, a legitimate understanding of the real, biblical gospel---the content of the Scriptures which explain the sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. People need to hear that today’s fuzzy, vague, indistinct, politically-correct faith is nothing but a mirage in the desert. It may look real, but in the end it is nothing but a barren wasteland. This first truth also makes it clear to us that salvation never comes through an “implicit” or “implied” faith. In other words, whether it’s birth into a Christian family, marriage to a Christian spouse, or even faithful attendance at attend a Gospel-preaching church every weekend--- none of those things bring a person’s salvation.

During his day John Calvin had to deal with a society of people who assumed they were going to heaven just because they were connected to the Roman Catholic church. They didn’t know anything of the Bible—they were completely ignorant of the gospel. But nearly all of them were convinced by the medieval church that even if you didn’t know anything, as long as you trusted the church and put your faith in the church, you’d be saved in the end, regardless of your lack of knowledge. And so Calvin spent many years teaching and preaching the content of the gospel--the truth of Christ—so that people could really understand who and what their faith was being based upon. He would later write these words: “…faith rests upon knowledge, not upon pious ignorance.” -Institutes of the Christian Religion

Friends, what a reminder that your faith must be your own, and in order for it to be genuine it must include is a knowledge or awareness of the content of the biblical gospel. Putting faith "in faith" is really no faith at all!