Featured Fundamental View of Faith

I do understand the Calvinist's papering over the glaring problem with artfully selected verbiage, "Christ's atonement was sufficient for all but efficient for the elect." Like saying we brought enough food for everybody but we are only going to give food to those we choose, and then take the rest with us. Twaddle pure and simple.

I think the majority of IFB churches teach that Christ died for all mankind and almost anyone can find the narrow road that leads to life through personal faith in Christ. So our job is to spread the word and help the lost find it.

 

The premise that the false doctrine of Calvinism has anything of merit to offer is without merit. Calvinism teaches that everyone who is saved is saved by the blood of the Lamb. The non-Calvinist view also asserts that everyone who is saved is saved by the blood of the Lamb. Therefore His death provides "real satisfaction" for everyone saved. Thus the Calvinist assertion is simply yet another falsehood.

As Squire Robertsson asserted, Christ became the propitiation or means of salvation for the the whole world, 1 John 2:2. This view seems to be shared with the majority of IFB churches.

 

Not so simple. James speaks of dead faith. Would your definition demonstrate a difference between dynamic faith and dead faith? I think not.

The issue here is not that your definition is not true, but whether or not the Bible teaches us more about faith than just in this one verse. I think so. For example a person could believe something but not from the heart. So the faith that God would credit as righteousness, Romans 4:5, would be a heart-felt commitment to Christ. Demon's believe in Christ, but are not committed to Christ.

 

Talk about artful dodging. Christ died for all mankind. Does your carefully crafted statement tell us you believe Christ did not die for all mankind, but only for the elect? No. You simply side step the truth, your yes is not yes and your no is not no.
The question is how can a disciple of Christ, striving his or her best to follow Christ, employ such double-speak?

And remember not to rewrite scripture, all that the Father gives to the Son, comes (arrives) to the Son and will not be cast out.

 

Looking at all the passages in the Bible that speak of "faith" is not a "rip the scriptures to pieces" discussion. Basing doctrine on one passage in isolation is the methodology of ripping something our of context to support a falsehood.

Were you talking about simple faith, or one aspect of faith as described in the bible?

I do not think the faith you described fully describes the faith God would credit as righteousness.

 

To claim that the Hebrews 11 description of faith fully and accurately describes the faith God would credit as righteousness seems unsound. Both dead faith and the faith of demons would fit that definition.

So what is "saving faith?" The answer is a faith which is credited by God as righteousness. And how does scripture describe that faith?

 

Justified by Faith

Almost all Christians would claim to believe we were justified by faith, and perhaps quote Romans 3:28, which says we are justified by faith and not by the works of the Law.
If pressed, many Christians would define “works of the law” as the actions we take to conform to the requirements of the Law, rather than what the “law” actually accomplishes, which is to make us aware of our sin and lead us to Christ.

So lets back up and ask the question, justified by whose faith? Does our faith justify us? If we took a poll, would not a large group, perhaps even a majority, say our faith justifies us? But that would be a works based salvation would it not. Ah but you say faith is not a work.

Maybe we should back up again and consider “justified by whom?” Were we justified by what we did or by what Christ did on the cross? The free gift of justification to life was provided by Christ on the cross, Romans 5:18. So it was Christ’s faithfulness, even unto death on the cross, which provided the propitiation for the whole world. So then the question becomes, how did we “receive” that gift or have that gift applied to us individually?

So it would seem, then that our faith in Christ provides access to Christ’s free gift of justification by the grace of God. But does that too miss the mark? I think so. Would not our faith in effect “save us” then and make us the actual architect of our salvation?

So if our placing our faith in Christ does not automatically save us, then God must credit our faith as righteousness and spiritually place us “in Christ” which saves us because in Christ we receive the justification to life provided by Christ. Wow now that is a systematic theology that fits with all scripture.

 

Pitchback:

 

This is really simple. Scripture says it is our personal faith in Jesus that provides our access to the saving grace of God. Thus when God credits our faith in Christ as righteousness, He puts us spiritually in Christ, where we undergo the circumcision of Christ and arise in Christ a new creation.

And we have been all through this several times, it is Christ's faithfulness, even to death on the cross, that provides the propitiation or means of salvation. So Gal 3:22 says Jesus Christ's faithfulness provided salvation to them that put their personal faith in Christ, as determined by God.

And oh yes, when the question concerning saving faith is asked, "faith in what" and the answer is given "faith in Jesus Christ" that does answer the question.

And Percho, Ephesians 2:8 says "for by grace you are saved through faith." So our faith in Christ provides the basis God uses to put us spiritually in Christ. This is well stated in 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

 

I am not a scholar of any sort, but let me repeat what I said in my prior post:

In the Greek, no connector between faith and Jesus and Christ appears in the text. Therefore the translators inserted the connector (of in the KJV, "in" in the NASB) to convey what they thought was the idea. However, modern Greek scholars have noticed that when all three words are "genitive" the idea is that the faith belongs to the person, hence faith of Jesus.

However, as you noted, Christ's faith is not an issue. Therefore the third and I believe correct way to translate this construction of the Greek is "Jesus Christ's faithfulness" or to parallel the KJV, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

But it is really important not to miss the last part of Galatians 3:22, which is that the promise is being given through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to those who believe. Salvation is through Jesus Christ who humbled himself faithfully, even unto death on the cross to those who believe in Him.