“We live by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
The Christian faith has come under attack in our increasingly secular world. We are living in the age of enlightenment where many people feel that science and reason should rule over faith and belief in God. Most of the attacks tend to focus on the Bible as an old and out of date book that is not in keeping with today’s world that we live in. For that reason, many people reject the Bible and its teachings and as a result are unable to believe in Jesus or have faith in Him.
But the world, and some Christians, have it backwards. As followers of Christ, we do not put our faith in the Bible, though we do claim is it God’s authoritative word. Instead, we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Christian faith is based on what Jesus did on the cross for every human being. As Acts 4:12 states about Jesus Christ, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” When we try to base our faith only on the Bible, we end up dissecting Scripture and analyzing every single word so that we miss the obvious – it’s all about Jesus! In other words, having faith is simple, but understanding theology is hard! Let me explain why.
The Simplicity of Faith
To have faith in Jesus Christ, there are only 3 simple things we need to know and believe.
First, we need to recognize that we are sinful by nature. If we think we are basically good and rarely make mistakes, hurt others, or do evil things, we are not being honest (1 John 1:8). Throughout history humans have proven how evil and sinful we really are and can be. Those who think they are good believe they are just fine and don’t need saving. They think they are good enough to get into heaven on their own merit. That belief is contrary to Scripture.
Second, we need to acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins to reconcile us with God. We cannot save ourselves by keeping God’s commands (Romans 3:20), because we are utterly incapable of doing so. The only hope that we have rests in Jesus and His willingness to suffer death on the cross as the punishment for our sins. He took God’s holy judgment upon himself to pay the debt for our sins that we could not pay. In doing so, He made a way for all humans to be forgiven and reconciled to God. That happens when we put our faith in Jesus alone!
Third, the purpose of the Bible is to show us our true nature and to teach us how to live according to God’s design as forgiven people in gratefulness for what Jesus has done. The Bible contains the history of God’s love for His creation, His commands for how we should treat one another, His sending His Son Jesus to show us His love for us and to save us, and His wisdom for how to live a fruitful and abundant life. God’s Word was not written to argue with, but to submit our lives to and lead us to faith in Jesus (Romans 10:17), repentance of our sins (Acts 17:30), and love for others (John 15:12).
So, putting one’s faith in Jesus is simple. It’s about understanding who we are, who He is, and what He did for us. That’s it! It’s called faith because it can’t be proven with our earthly minds. We can only believe it through the power of His Holy Spirit and by submitting our lives to Him.
The Difficulty of Theology
Theology can be generally defined as the study of religion or a religious practice. Many people like to discuss theology to try and get a better understanding of a religion’s beliefs and doctrine. But very often those discussions descend into arguments about what this word or that passage really means, and in the process, people lose sight of the bigger picture. There are three main reasons why this theological approach is difficult.
The first reason that a theological approach is difficult is the issue of interpretation. There are frequent debates among theologians as to what the Bible says and what certain passages mean for mankind today. But often they are simply differences in our own individual interpretation and not necessarily God’s intent. They also generally do not affect its truth or the basic issue of faith and salvation through Christ. The Bible is God’s revelation to us and communicates His message to us as His creation. As such, it is meant for us to understand His love for us, to help us gain wisdom for living our lives, and enable us to know His character and draw us closer to Him.
The second reason that a theological approach is difficult is the proper understanding of both Law and Gospel. The Old Testament (the Law) contains the history of the Hebrew people, God’s laws for them under the covenant of circumcision, and the writings of the prophets warning the Hebrews of God’s judgment on them for abandoning Him and worshipping other idols and false gods. God wanted to bless them but couldn’t because of their unfaithfulness to Him. As a result, the Old Testament also contains the prophecy of a coming Messiah, who was Jesus, God’s own Son (Micah 5:2). His story is found in the New Testament (the Gospel) and creates a new covenant for all people through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It is not about Law or Gospel, it’s about both! Knowing how Law and Gospel work together is necessary to understanding God’s message and His actions.
The third reason that a theological approach is difficult is the desire by many to make Scripture fit our ways rather than see it as a set of instructions for understanding and following God’s ways. Many people argue that the Bible is outdated and needs to be more relevant to our day and age. In other words, they want to change God’s Word, or re-interpret it, to fit their way of thinking rather than submit to it and God’s way of thinking. But if we begin tampering with God’s Word, then it no longer becomes God’s Word but man’s word. Given that man is sinful and corrupt, this would be unwise and lead us down a dangerous path to our own destruction (Proverbs 14:12).
When we try to base our faith strictly on a theological basis, believing in Jesus becomes more difficult because we end up arguing and debating theology and completely miss the salvation work of Christ on the cross!
Balancing Faith with Theology in the Christian Life
So, how do we balance faith and theology in our lives? To believe and live the Christian life, we must submit our lives to the Holy Spirit. When we do that, He gives us the ability to have faith and to put our trust in Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). He also gives us the ability to live lives worthy of Christ (Philippians 2:13) and enables us to understand Scripture and what God desires of us (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The Christian faith begins with that simple belief of who Jesus is, what He did for us, and why. That is all that we need to share with others to introduce them to Christ. But we also need to know and understand God’s Word so that we can stand on, and proclaim, His truth in our culture. We can then stand firm in our faith (1 Peter 5:9) and counter the secular arguments against it in hopes that it will lead others to put their faith in Jesus as well.