The Importance of Faith In Christ

Originally published in the Carolina Messenger.

Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash

One of the reasons God revealed His word was to produce faith in people. It is through hearing God’s Word that faith comes (Rom. 10:17). The Scripture that will serve as an anchor for this article is John 20:30-31, commonly called the “Purpose Statement” of John.

The apostle John wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).

Notice, John said the things he wrote are meant to produce faith in the one who reads it. Since God’s Word is meant to produce faith in Jesus, then clearly “faith in Christ” is important. Let’s consider “The Importance of Faith in Christ” together.

The Need For Evidence

John refers to “many signs” Jesus did which His disciples saw, but were not recorded in John’s gospel account. But the signs John recorded were “written that you may believe…” (John 20:31a). Evidence is necessary for an individual to believe the Bible’s claim that Jesus is the Christ.

The gospel accounts were written to produce faith in Jesus in non-believers, as well as to strengthen the faith of Christians. Luke wrote to Theophilus, who had already been taught about Christ, and said:

“Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed” (Lk. 1:1-4).

The gospel of Luke was written to strengthen the faith of someone who had already been taught about Jesus Christ. What Luke wrote by inspiration is the necessary evidence to provide “certainty.”

You and I don’t need to see a “modern day miracle” to believe Jesus is the Christ – the written testimony is enough to produce faith. Luke discusses this when Jesus tells about a conversation between Abraham and a rich man. When the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his five brothers about torment, Abraham said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Lk. 16:31). The miraculous ceased when “that which is perfect has come” – I believe a reference to the completed revelation of God, His Word (1 Cor. 13:8-13; 2 Tim. 3:16).

Evidence is a prerequisite for faith – and God’s Word gives us all the evidence needed to produce faith.

What Is Faith?

While faith can refer to the entirety of the gospel system (or the law of faith) as contrasted with the law of works (Rom. 3:21-31), the focus of this article is on one’s personal faith or belief.

Faith can also be translated as “believe” or “trust.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary shared, “To believe…is to commit oneself wholeheartedly to an object of faith.” When Jesus told people at the beginning of His ministry, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15), He was telling them to believe that He is the Christ – the Messiah. He is the content of the good news, the object of their faith.

Renn’s Expository Dictionary added that “believe” in the New Testament includes “the very significant nuance of ‘have faith, put one’s trust in’ the person of Christ, as the means by which God applies salvation to his people.”

So when we think about the term “faith,” it includes mentally acknowledging something to be true: “I do believe it’s true that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” But it’s more than mere mental assent or agreement with that fact. It’s wholehearted commitment and obedience, putting one’s trust completely in the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

What Does “Jesus Is The Christ” Mean?

The word “Christ” means “anointed” or “chosen” and is the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word “Messiah” – which is why some Bible translations will sometimes translate “Christ” as “Messiah.”

The Old Testament is full of prophecies about “God’s Chosen One” who would come into this world. As early as the Garden of Eden, God promised to send one who would crush Satan and sin (Gen. 3:15).

Peter pointed to Christ’s miracles, crucifixion, and resurrection as evidence for Him being the Christ (Acts 2:22-36). During Jesus’ ministry, He read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth – a chapter all about the coming of God’s Chosen One (the Christ) – and said it was about Himself:

“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’” (Lk. 4:18-21).

Believing Jesus to be the Christ means completely entrusting oneself to Jesus as God’s Chosen One who accomplished God’s will (Heb. 10:5-7). It means believing that all of God’s purposes and plans in the past, present, and future are wrapped up in Jesus (Eph. 3:8-12). It means believing that God’s plan and will for our lives is only found in Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

What Does “Jesus Is The Son of God” Mean?

When Jesus answered the Jews challenge of His authority by saying, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17), they wanted to kill Him even more. Why? Because He “said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). The Father didn’t stop working on the Sabbath, so why should His Son stop working on the Sabbath? Jesus claims to be able to do what the Father does.

Being “the Son of God” means:

• Jesus does what the Father does (John 5:19-20).

• Jesus gives life just as the Father gives life (John 5:21, 24-25).

• Jesus, as the Judge, deserves honor just as the Father deserves honor (John 5:22-23).

• Jesus has life in Himself just as the Father has life in Himself (John 5:26-29).

Brother Guy N. Woods wrote, “By making himself ‘equal with God,’ they understood him to mean that he was of the same nature as God and on a level with God. Their interpretation was correct: and the claim infuriated them.” (Woods, A Commentary on the Gospel According to John, 101)

While Jesus is fully human, He is also fully God, or deity (John 1:1-4). According to Paul, this truth lies at the center of the gospel of God. Jesus was “born of the seed of David according to the flesh” (He is human—JS), and He was “declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness (He is God—JS), by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).

By sending “His only begotten Son,” God demonstrated His great love for all the people of this world – for you and me – and His great desire that we might be saved through His Son (John 3:16-17; Rom. 5:6-11). God has given us all the evidence we need in His Word to entrust ourselves completely to Jesus – God’s Chosen One, and God’s Own Son.

The Result Of Faith

The result for the one who continues to believe and continues to entrust themselves completely to Jesus the Christ and Son of God, is “life in His name.” Jesus has life in Himself (John 1:4; 5:26-29) and is the One who gives life (John 5:21). He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

The life Jesus has in Himself, He gives to those who fully entrust themselves to Him. Paul reminded Christians:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:1-7)

Peter wrote to suffering Christians and spoke of the “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). He urged these Christians to persevere in their faith so they would receive the end of their faith – “the salvation” of their souls (1 Pet. 1:6-9).

The result of faith in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is that one will humbly obey the Lord (Heb. 11). Obediently entrusting oneself to Jesus Christ is done with a confident expectation of what awaits us when our “pilgrimage” (1 Pet. 2:11) on this earth is over. Faith continues to serve the Lord, knowing our labor is not meaningless in Him because of the victory God gives us over sin and death through Him (1 Cor. 15).

Conclusion

As I bring this article to a close, I would like to specifically encourage two groups of people.

First, if you are not a Christian, I urge you to consider what the Bible has to say about Jesus. Your life and future hang in the balance based on “what you will do with Jesus.” You must come to Him, on His terms, as He has defined in Scripture (Acts 2:36-41).

Finally, if you are a Christian I encourage you to remember John’s inspired words near the conclusion of 1 John: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

Always keep the faith!

This article was originally published in the Carolina Messenger.