FAITH IN THE FINISHER

Friday 20 December

If you ask the average Christian about faith, you will get a range of responses that will be a mixture of Old Testament, the gospels and the New Testament. Most of the theology that is taught from the pulpit today is a combination of these 3 things. It’s no wonder people are confused.

Even the songs that we sing in the church at large, are from the Old Testament whether they are from the gospels or the scriptures which are Genesis to Malachi. The reason for this is that there has been confusion about what the New Testament brought in and made obsolete in terms of the scriptures. The topic of faith is one of these little understood subjects in the light of the redemptive work of Christ.

In the Old Testament, faith was incomplete because the author had not yet finished it. In the gospels faith was still not finished because the finisher of faith had not yet died, been buried and resurrected from the dead. In the New Testament faith is finished by Jesus Christ. Keep that thought for later on.

A grossly misinterpreted verse in the New Testament is Hebrews 11 or what is commonly known as the faith chapter. Most call it the definition of faith for the Christian. Let’s see what the Bible has to say.

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’. The question we all need to be asking is, whose faith? Verse 2 actually gives us a definitive answer. It says ‘For by it (faith) THE ELDERS obtained a good report.’ So who are the elders? In short, Old Testament saints. Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Noah, Moses etc. it even mentions them and others in the ensuing verses. Notice one thing about them. They are all Jews.

To understand why this is about Old Testament Jewish saints, we need to further define their kind of faith. It was ‘the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’ Who was their substance of things hoped for and their evidence of things not seen? The incarnate Christ. We can see it in the substance and symbols they used to express their faith.

Here are two examples. Abel offered an unblemished firstborn lamb from the flock which represented ‘the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world’. Moses had the shewbread in the tabernacle which represented Jesus who shewed or proclaimed Himself as ‘the bread that came down from heaven’ and the bread of life’.

Faith in the gospels although incomplete, fell into 3 categories. No faith, little faith and great faith. The most famous ‘no faith’ example is ‘doubting Thomas’ who would not believe unless he put his hands into Jesus nail prints and his wounded side. Peter although walking initially on the water started to sink because he took his eyes off the living Word. The centurion was commended with great faith when he said to Jesus ‘just say the word and my servant will be healed’.

When Jesus was the ‘Word who became flesh’ it was what He said and did that people ‘put their faith in’ to bring about miracles. When the disciples went out, it was the name of Jesus the Christ, that effected the change. The scriptures that Jesus used to inspire a faith response in his listeners was also a way to get a miracle.

Hebrews 12:2 says in most translations ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith’. This is a mistranslation as the original rendering is ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of FAITH.’ What this tells us is that faith is not personal here it is simply HIS faith. Another way to understand this is that Jesus is the finisher of the finished works of Christ of which faith is one of them.

Faith was incomplete before the resurrection, after the resurrection however it is a completely different story. This is why there is so little emphasis on faith in the epistles as it is not something you have to try to squeeze out or work up, it was given to you in a measure the day you received salvation. Romans 12:3b declares that ‘God has given to every man, the measure of faith. Faith is a completed work in the New Testament.

The epistles confirm whose faith you were given at the point of salvation in Galatians 2:20 which says ‘I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, and the life I now live in the flesh (body) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Did you catch that? You are now operating by HIS faith! This is mind blowing which is why you can only receive it with your spirit. Learning how to operate His faith is why knowledge is the new currency of the New Testament, not faith. We will look at that in another devotion.

Our faith is in the finisher and His finished work of faith which is within the parameters of the finished work of Christ!

APPLICATION

Have a daily consciousness that you are living, moving and having your being according to His faith not yours, and learn how to operate it through epignosis (full and exact knowledge) of the Word of God.