Recently, a friend of mine asked me what I thought of faith and what was my view on those who declared they have faith but yet did not display the fruits to back their statements. This question to both of us was also related to how we viewed faith and works, and the seemingly contradictory position. I was interested in the subject, but I was not sure of an answer until I heard N.T. Wright's lectures at Harvard.
I then formulated a hypothesis that the reason why some believers held on to the believe that once they have confessed and irregardless of what they did subsequently, they were saved. I said to my friend that this could be because they believed faith in Christ was an object, like money, which they thought that they have deposited to their savings account in heaven which required no further action on their part except to watch it grow like a capital. I told my friend that could it be such notion at the back of the Christians' minds that has allowed us to declare and act in such a way which was most likely to contradict what the Bible says about faith and works?
Then, I remembered Christ's parable of talents and the unfaithful servant. Could it be that this parable aptly described what we should be doing with our faith and served as a warning to us who thought otherwise?
I then formulated a hypothesis that the reason why some believers held on to the believe that once they have confessed and irregardless of what they did subsequently, they were saved. I said to my friend that this could be because they believed faith in Christ was an object, like money, which they thought that they have deposited to their savings account in heaven which required no further action on their part except to watch it grow like a capital. I told my friend that could it be such notion at the back of the Christians' minds that has allowed us to declare and act in such a way which was most likely to contradict what the Bible says about faith and works?
Then, I remembered Christ's parable of talents and the unfaithful servant. Could it be that this parable aptly described what we should be doing with our faith and served as a warning to us who thought otherwise?
Comments
Your friend and you have such interesting conversation. If I may, I will like to clarify faith and works.
If by faith, you mean believing that Jesus Christ is God and that by dying on the cross has saved us all, then this faith has led us to salvation. The faith alone is enough to save us. No works is necessary. Some called this 'justification by faith'.
However, after we are justified, we are a new person/creation and we have a new nature. We are like newborn spiritual babies and need to grow spiritually(This is called sanctification). This is where works come in. Worship means to serve.
I believe the parable of the talents refers more to sanctification than to salvation.
Actually, the issue raised was can a person claim to be a christian but shows no fruits or works of faith worthy of repentance. This got us into a discussion of faith and works.
I believe we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, but I think faith is more than merely a one time confession which our evangelism 'technique' seem to focus on.
I fear that faith has been turned into an object which we can control and use according to our goals, neglecting the fact that it might actually be a process that is continuous e.g. a race, tree bearing fruits, until, like Paul said, we finish the race. I see to many verses in the bible that point to faith as a process that is continuous and realized or made perfect through works.
I am not saying that we could earn salvation through works, but I think faith in Christ Jesus, that he has died for us and was resurrected and will come again to judge the world, is not an object that we say we have deposited 10 or 20 years ago which guaranteed our salvation. Being in the Spirt or in Christ is the guarantee and this, I think, is faith working continuously, bearing fruits (Paul) and works (James).
I think Paul's comments on the Jews who thought they were justified merely because they have the Law is an interesting example. Having the Law as a object symbol without fulfilling it would not get a person justified. Likewise, I think, claiming that I have made a 'confession of faith' without fruits of repentance and actually acting worse after that makes me in danger of falling into the condemnation written in Hebrews e.g. crucifying Christ again. The thing is this, this confession of faith in Christ is acted out through works by submitting to the Spirit and this faith is renewed and acted out continuously until the end.
What do you think?
P.S I think Wright would say that the parable refers to Israel of the first century, keeping the Law and the Temple to themselves and the more they do that, all the more it would be taken away from them. ;-)
But according to what Alex has earlier defined, the notion of process is more readily applied to sanctification, rather than faith. And if we Christians are already in the process of being sanctified, after being "justified by faith", then the one conclusion is that we cannot and will not fall away from grace, whatever we do. And whatever we do are considered to be within the boundary of the process of sanctification, which may have its ups and downs, progress and backsliding, but never really falling away from God's saving grace.
Or do we actually fall away, during the process of sanctification, passing through the saving threshold of faith?
Or according to the process view of faith, do we actually fall away from faith, if we stop acting like what is expected of a person of faith?
I am more inclined to think that there are more verses supporting the notion that we could actually fall away from faith than the opposite.
Do you have a list in your readings that show verses supporting the theological concepts of 'salvation and sanctification' where one would never fall away from the grace of God no matter what the circumstances are?