NewFaith

Here’s The Word:

Romans 1:16 - 17 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.

Have you ever thought about that phrase in verse 17, “from faith to faith” ? What do you think it means?

This is what I sincerely love about the word of God. I absolutely know, and I’m absolutely sure that what this verse meant for me when I first read it, was right for me the first time I read it. And I’m absolutely sure that as I grow and learn more about God through His word, the meanings of these things become deeper, and it’s still absolutely right and still just what I need at this time. Which, oddly enough, IS what this verse means.

I know that there are those who would disagree, but I believe that Our saving faith, is a one shot deal: God draws you. You recognize and heed His calling. You confess your sins as well as His Lordship and power to save and believe. It’s not a moving target and it doesn’t change over time. However, this is very different from “Sanctifying” faith. Sanctifying faith IS a moving target and it grows with you. The Gospel is saving faith, and in it is also sanctifying faith whereby God’s righteousness is revealed progressively…from faith to faith.

Remain focused on the phrase “from faith to faith”. It’s still an interesting usage.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not (not that it matters) but I don’t do a bunch of “What it doesn’t say”…That thinking just opens the possibility for too many logical fallacies, that can distract from the truth at hand. But in this case, I’m making an exception. It would seem like the same message if verse 17 said that the righteousness of God is revealed from unbelief to belief. From the unknown to the known. From darkness to light. See where I’m kind’ve going with that?
This impresses me with the idea that God’s progressive revelation goes from know to know more. I stress that because it speaks to the idea that as we grow in knowing God, there’s going to come a time when what we know, in no longer enough. Our faith is going to have run its course and will need to make way for a newer, stronger, more informed faith. And even that new and impressively better faith also has a shelf life and an expiration date that will, having done its job, need to be laid aside.

Hebrews 6:1 - 3 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.

Understanding the elementary teachings require at least an elementary faith, but it was never God’s intention to simply have us understand elementary things. And of course He knows that we can’t handle mature things with elementary faith. So lets just leap forward a few verses in Hebrews 6.

Hebrews 6:17 - 19 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

See that there’s a difference between the first things and the other things God is willing to show us. How much more there is in His word that He has for us. The question is – what can your faith handle today? Or has your current faith run its course and it’s time for a newer, stronger one.

We have a personal God Who desires to GO with us and GROW with us. It's very intimate and simply part of His nature. We have to take an honest look at ourselves. What are we looking for from our faith? A comfortable resting place? Somewhere to look back over what we used to do and be pleased that we're no longer as bad as we used to be, or that we now have more stuff than we used to have? God still wants more for you...more HIM for you. And for us to take hold of more HIM, we're going to have to realize when our older faith has served us to its limits, and go after NEW Faith.


In Him,
Cros