Intellectual Faith and Saving Faith

Faith is often used in the Bible, and almost invariably by the secular world as well, to indicate a firm, intellectual belief in something. Christians often assume it to mean an acceptance of the doctrines of Christianity. With this definition, we understand a series of facts or creeds, accompanied by adequate evidence to assure us they are true. It is this type of faith, designated by the Greek word pepoitha, which means "to be persuaded."

And when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. And some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. —Acts 28:23-24 (NASB)

Although this type of faith or persuasion leads us to the truth, it is utterly impossible that a mere intellectual state will save us. It is this type of believing, for example, which James indicates even demons possess.

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest
well: the devils also believe, and tremble. —James 2:19

Christian faith encompasses an intellectual faith, but is not exactly equivalent to it. In other words,one is not ultimately saved by believing, but one must believe in order to be saved. As Os Guiness points out, the will, not merely the intellect, is involved.

Becoming a Christian is an authentic choice of a whole man; it involves his reason, his emotions and his will; it is in this sense that faith is more than rational.[2]

1. That we are guilty* and morally corrupt
2. That God is holy and merciful
3. That Christ came into the human situation and sacrificed his life on our behalf

Let us explore more fully the avenues of faith.

Substance and Evidence

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. —Hebrews 11:1

Faith is that principle, that exercise of mind and soul, which has for its object things not seen but hoped for, and instead of sinking under them as too ponderous, whether from their difficulty or
from their uncertainty, stands firm under them—supports and sustains their pressure—in other words, is assured of, confides in and relies on them.[3]

A solid understanding of the biblical ingredients mentioned above in Hebrews will help us steer clear of the popular mystical nonsense taught today under the guise of faith.

SUBSTANCE—This declares that something is there, even though its form may be difficult to recognize. In the Greek language, the word for substance is hupostasis. This word actually consists of two words:

Substance is not the object hoped for; it is rather that which, as Dr. John W. Follette said, "stands under and supports that object in bringing it into material manifestation."[4]

…for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? —Romans 8:24

You cannot have both faith and materialism. God does not want us to say we have the material object when we don't. This applies to the gifts of the Spirit as well as salvation, and particularly needs to be mentioned today concerning the area of physical healing. God wants us to declare our faith and say we have hupostasis or assurance that the material object hoped for will become a reality. Faith is not a struggle. We do not need to go through mental and emotional gymnastics in order to secure it. Faith is a rest …a calm assurance and a support—it stands under!

(Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. —Romans 4:20

When we waver concerning the promise of God, it is because of fear and unbelief, when we have no solid foundation. As for real stability, we have only to consider God's character.

Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. —James 1:17 (NASB)

"Faith… is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.[5] This statement from C.S. Lewis reminds us that Abraham and a host of others like him were able to stand like the rock of Gibraltar because of the hupostasis which supported them.

True faith is never found alone; it is always accompanied by expectation. The man who believes the promises of God expects to see them fulfilled. Where there is no expectation there is no faith.[6]

EVIDENCE—Is there sufficient evidence, open to verifiable observation which can offer strong arguments for believing that God is there and is who He says He is?

…there must be no divorce between premises and evidences. Premises without evidences are unsupported; evidences without premises are insufficient.[7]

Many feel that because faith has to do with unseen and immaterial things, there is either no such thing as evidence or, if there is, it is irrelevant to true faith. But faith is not believing without evidence. A man is under no obligation to believe. In fact, he cannot believe a thing without surveying evidence. There are those who will dispute such a statement, contending that it is possible to believe without necessarily seeing any evidence.[8] One needs to carefully consider this argument.

To begin what exactly do some believe without any evidence whatsoever to support that belief? No evidence is not limited evidence. Limited evidence is often spoken of as if it were the believer's final bastion. Declarations such as, "We can only trust His character," or, "I believe it because God's Word says so," are good examples of this. Certainly God's character and His word are evidences where we can solidly plant our faith. We know God's character, not because some Christian book describes it, but because He has chosen to reveal it. If God had never revealed His character to us, it would not be an evidence. The fact He has demonstrated it in nature and in lives throughout history is a cause for rejoicing. Furthermore, who really believes the Bible "just because it says so?" This is philosophical circularity. There are many other religious books today also claiming to be repositories of truth. There are, however, several prominent distinctives which the Bible alone possesses and which set it apart from all other literature, religious or otherwise and this is why we revere it. We believe the Bible is God's Word because we have evidence that it is.

Were there no existent evidence disclosing God's character and expectations, one could not possibly know Him, let alone believe Him. In this case, belief would be stupidity, not faith, for faith requires some evidence. The leap of faith popularized by the existentialists, notably Soren Kierkegaard, is the desperate attempt to find meaning… or in the religious sense, God, by a chance plunge into the unknown. What then is the difference between Christian faith and existentialism? Evidence. The existentialist hopes to find reality in a mindless "leap of faith," while the Christian knows what awaits him before he steps onto the road where he "walks by faith and not by sight." Dr. Francis Schaeffer illustrates this concept very well:

The scene is a guided, alpine expedition caught high on the bare rock by a sudden, dense fog. The guide turns to the party and tells them ice is forming and before morning they will all freeze to death on the mountain. About an hour or so later, as the situation progressively worsens, a member of the party says to the guide: "Suppose I were to drop and hit a ledge ten feet down in the fog. What would happen then?" The guide replies that he might survive until morning and thus live. The individual then, without any warning, hangs and drops into the fog. This is the existential leap of faith.

Supposing, on the other hand, we hear a voice calling out to us as we cling to our precarious positions. The voice says, "You can't see me, but I know exactly where you are from your voices. I am on another ridge. I've lived in these mountains for over sixty years and I know every foot of them. I assure you there is a ledge ten feet below you and if you'll drop to it, you can make it through the night and I'll get you in the morning.[9]

After asking a series of pertinent questions and receiving convincing answers, you would no doubt drop. Here is faith in the true sense—faith with evidence.

Substance and evidence are further revealed in the account of Peter's abortive attempt to walk on the Sea of Galilee.

And immediately He made the disciples get into the boat, and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking upon the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" —Matthew 14:22-31 (NASB)

Where did Peter find the faith to venture into a situation so totally beyond his own abilities? If the object of Peter's faith was not beyond himself then faith would have been totally unnecessary here.

The miracle begins as Peter receives evidence—Jesus bids him come. The powerful assurance and conviction within his heart subsequent to the divine "come" was the substance (hupostasis) that brought forth the miracle. Jesus' rebuke, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?," doesn't refer to Peter's honest skepticism prior to any evidence, but to his failure to persevere after he had received a word from the Lord. Many Christians venture out on a promise when it has no application to the situation at all. Great confusion and damage may occur—because of our presumption. We would be well warned to never venture out upon the water without a divine "come" under our feet!

Faith As Commitment

Having discussed the intellectual faith which leads us to salvation, we now turn our attention to saving faith. Intellectual faith is a matter of mental deduction, whereas saving faith concerns volitional action. This is why saving faith is represented as a virtue in the Bible. A man is not saved simply because he comes to a mental deduction of some sort. There is no indication whatsoever in the scriptures that a man can simply acknowledge or believe something and get to heaven. Saving faith, as we shall see, has more to it than that.

Interestingly enough, the word which is often rendered faith in the New Testament (pistis) is also rendered commit. Saving faith is represented in the scriptures as a full committal of will to the fact that a holy God sent His Son Jesus to earth where He willingly sacrificed His life so that we might receive forgiveness of all past sin and guilt. It is a full recognition that in all the boundless reaches of the universe there is no other solution to our desperate situation.

We have probably all seen the little buttons some Christians are currently wearing on their pockets with the glib inscription, "Try Jesus." The idea conveyed to the unsaved passerby is that if he will just poke his head into Christianity, he will be positively enchanted with Christ and ultimately want to believe in Him. This solicitation to "try before you buy," as if salvation were a commodity to be tossed experimentally in one's spiritual shopping cart, is absolutely inadequate. It's not so much the fact that people have put out an advertisement for God that is disturbing, although in the end this sort of nonsensical behavior will undoubtedly be revealed for the trite foolishness it is, but the idea that Jesus can be "tried" contains hellish deception. An individual isn't saved by "Trying Jesus", but by being "thoroughly persuaded" and then acting upon the data. The Bible teaches-that salvation is a matter of:

1. obedience,
2. commitment,
3. slavery.

It is impossible to give a piece of your heart to God on a trial basis.

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slave's of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. —Romans 6:16-18 (NASB)

It is highly unlikely that one can come to Jesus without being enslaved to Him. "Christianity is preeminently the religion of slaves," Simone Weil once said. "Slaves cannot help belonging to it."[10] The death of Christ shatters the hold of sin on our lives and frees us to become love slaves. The whole process is, in effect, a "changing of masters."

And He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. —2 Corinthians 5:15 (NASB)

Those initiated to Christ on a trial basis become yo-yo Christians who fling themselves on God in apparent committal, but the reins of whose lives are carefully wrapped around their fingers so when the heat is on they can quickly recall their "commitment." This is the very antithesis of biblical commitment. The New Testament word pistis mentioned earlier means "to trust or confide in," while the Hebrew equivalent gagal means "to roll." How suggestive this word is! There is no room for yo-yo commitment in this definition, for everything leaves the hand. What has left your hands is no longer under your control—everything belongs to Him.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. —1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB)

Paul reminds us of the costly grace which was later to be so eloquently explained by German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner… Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: 'Ye were bought at a price,' and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life… costly grace is the incarnation of God."[11]

The man or woman who comes to Christ in saving faith must be absolutely convinced that the sufferings of Jesus were accomplished for them as the only remedy for their sin. The Holy Spirit will then lay open the cross of Jesus explicitly to our minds, until the revelation of our sin and God's love breaks down our will that it may be yielded completely. It is this giving of our will, this commitment of heart, which constitutes saving faith.

Faith is not embracing what one doesn't understand that is magic. Saving faith is a willful embrace of what is understood. It must be said, however, that saving faith is a joint effort between man and the Holy Spirit. When one is willing to believe, the Spirit of God will give the ability to believe.

The Faith vs. Works Controversy

In every discussion of theology, the potential exists for endless debate on the strengths and finer points of one particular view over another. Many who allow themselves to become enmeshed in these sorts of debates often lose their perspective. Often tradition is unwittingly placed on a par with truth. Words and ideas originally intended to inspire a spiritual revolution in men's hearts are converted into a system for rationalizing and defending a status quo. Theology which was once vibrant because it related everything to relationship with God has nearly vanished. Today theology doesn't necessarily apply to our relationship; it can be technical without being experiential. With a bottling up of life into religious bureaucracy, doctrine is converted into dogma—and eventually the function of doctrine becomes less that of guidance, as far as conduct within a relationship, and more a justification of things as they are, or as the contemporary Sanhedrin wishes to make them.

Before we proceed, let us define what is known as antinomianism. The Antinomian believes that faith alone, without obedience to moral law is all that is necessary for salvation. One might say, the Antinomian's favorite hymn is "Only Believe." The Antinomian is inclined to stress the fact that man plays no part whatsoever in salvation. Repentance and the lordship of Christ are considered subtle forms of works in which man might take pride.

In light of our discussion concerning the application of all theology to our individual relationship with Christ, antinomianism does not fit. There cannot be a relationship unless there is a minimum of two responsive parties. Although the Bible clearly teaches that it is God providing and initiating salvation, man must respond to these overtures. If he does not, no relationship exists.

To equate man's responses to God's gift of salvation with the works of the flesh mentioned by the apostle Paul is utterly without foundation. If it were true that God repented for us, He would of necessity be repenting to Himself. How much easier it is to see that man, the rebel, humbled by God's goodness, chooses to cast down his weapons of warfare and engage in a logical relationship meaningful to both parties. How one could possibly take pride in truly repenting is inconceivable. Obedience to Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives is commanded throughout Scripture. This could not possibly be considered a subtle form of works; on the contrary, this is indeed salvation!

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, 'Whosoever, will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.' —Mark 8:34-35

Note that in this scripture Jesus does not state that a man should deny himself things; yet it is precisely this type of denial which we find so prevalent in the church today. We deny ourselves thirty minutes each night before bed for Bible reading and ten percent of each paycheck in the offering plate. We then think in so doing we have pleased God. Concentration on denying ourselves things is a form of works. The Pharisees practiced great self-denial in all areas except their hearts! This form of denial has never been acceptable to God. The words are dear enough, "let him deny himself."

In the book of James we find a passage which antinomian thinkers are forever attempting to explain away. James discusses the relationship of faith and works, applying it very logically and naturally to the God-man relationship:

What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled'; and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body; what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, 'You have faith, and I have works show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Issac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. —James 2:14-16 (NASB)

A thoughtful reading of this passage provides the following striking conclusions:

1. "Just believing" won't save anyone. James mentions the man Who says he has faith but displays no godly works and then asks the rhetorical question, "Can that faith save him?"
2. A mental deduction is not a committal of the will with conduct to prove it. James imagines a situation and wonders how "faith" without works would be demonstrated. He goes on to say that even demons possess this type of intellectual faith, and then implores us to forsake our foolishness and recognize that saving faith is a lifestyle, not a mystical believing.
3. God is reasonable and sensitive, not a calculating technician. James reminds us of the deeds in which Abraham and Rahab engaged demonstrating hearts committed to truth. When Abraham obeyed God, "he was called the friend of God."

Saving faith will produce works of faith (a godly lifestyle), whereas intellectual faith alone will produce works of the flesh (dead rituals).

By the way, I bought a fourteen-foot boat last week. I have named the two oars, one faith, the other works. I have found that if I row ever so hard with faith alone, I go round and round in a circle; and strange as it seems, works does the same thing—gets me nowhere. But when I bend my back and pull both faith and works, I can get to where I want to go. —Dr. George Winters

Saved by Faith or Grace?

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

Paul brings to our attention an important point in this passage concerning the workings of salvation. Grace is mentioned as the reason why we are saved, while faith is mentioned as the means to salvation, or how we are saved. The emphasis here is on grace rather than faith, as well it should be. We are saved by God's grace. If it weren't for that costly grace, our faith or lack of it would be irrelevant. Grace actually means "getting something we don't deserve." When this is understood, pride will be no part of our willing response to God's free gift.