From Faith to Faith

[HKHaugan]

Faith to Faith

       “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, “The just shall live by faith. (Rom.1:16-17).””

       The first 15 verses of the Romans letter declare the Sonship, the Lordship and the Messiahship of Jesus.  They become climactically fulfilled in vs.16-17 in everyone who accepts Jesus as their Savior and Lord.  The rest of Paul’s letter to the Roman believers is an extension of that theme which is faith.  There is something very special in those verses.  They do three things.  They define righteousness (being right in mind, heart and spirit) as faith.  They show that faith alone is the guarantee of salvation (eternal life with God).  They reveal faith is a continual process. 

       Before we go on, we need to look at the Gospel that is Paul’s teaching.  The very idea that there is something that supersedes the Law, religion and traditional teaching, is a totally new concept for the Jewish mind. Paul is adamant when he declares, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal.1:8).”   Just what is this radical new teaching?  It is the Gospel that makes personal faith the entrance to eternal life lived now in the ‘every next moment’ we are in this world. 

       And what is the substance of that new Gospel? 

       “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

       For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born (1Cor.15:1-8).”

       Faith in Jesus is the new righteousness because it is how we live consciously serving the living Lord who lives in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  By His death and Resurrection, He fulfilled everything required in the Law, the prophetic identity of the Messiah come to save us and being the perfected human being God intended for us to follow in order to make us whole.  He is not only our Savior from sin, He is our Lord and Redeemer who grows us spiritually to be like Him by His giving us the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor and Inspirer.  He makes us spiritual citizens of His Kingdom, children of God the Father, personal witnesses who share His Light in a broken and hostile world.

       So, all this is new, being righteous, following Jesus as the way, the truth and the life, that is being right as you make choices and decisions by personal faith in Jesus.  This cancels religion and its heavily restrictive performance demands.  You don’t get good by being religious.  You ‘get right’ by following the defining person of goodness, Jesus.  It goes way beyond religion.  Faith, the new way to be right, is spiritual, personal and relational, defining faith as the only way to get life right.  This new way shows that faith alone is the guarantee of salvation, and it reveals faith is a continual process.

       But this is not living just to be a spiritual person.  Living by faith is an everyday process.  Every next moment is brand new.  It’s the hew perspective that guides our life, the new world view, the new lifestyle.  Nothing is ever the same.  Sure, there are the same people living in the same world with common demands, but they present new challenges every next moment.  There are changing emotions, changing and growing personalities all around us, changing cultural forces, changing values coming out of a secular environment. Society is a fluid movement of unexpected circumstances.  Religion doesn’t offer any hope.  Only faith in the one stable risen Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever, can be trusted as the secure foundation to handle what is thrown at us.

       Faith is the new way of being right in reasoning, in how we react emotionally, in how we set the routine of daily life.  We “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Word of God to keep us balanced and alert.  Through faith we view the jobs we have, the families we live in, the people we meet in a spiritual perspective.  The dynamics of religious laws are really no different from the secular groups to which we belong.  They have the written job descriptions we follow but also the need to learn the invisible social laws, the social expectations beneath them.  Faith in Jesus is the new way of being right wherever you are.

       This world is always operating out of fear, ‘atmosfear,’ and will continue to do so.  But we know that in Jesus Christ we are secure and “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love (1Jn.4:18).”  So, faith is the beginning of dealing with fear.

       But we need one more step to see how personal faith is. That comes with vs.17, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  That next step is based on one phrase here that is sometimes overlooked, ‘from faith to faith.’  It declares faith is an ongoing process from one event to the next.  By event is meant the ongoing demands that relational living calls for.  Every person we meet as we go along the way is a faith event.  Every reaction to circumstance is a faith event.   Every thought we have about life and people and God and self is a faith event.   The One in whom we place our faith to respond is Jesus, always present, always loving, always caring, always ready to help.

       If we look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels, what we see is His constant dependence on prayer and the will of His Father.  Everywhere He went, the people He saw and dealt with, the situations both of hostility and acceptance, His everyday experience found Him responding according to the will of His Father and His consciousness of serving His Father.  Each situation demanded faith.  He went from faith in one situation to faith in the next.  Therein lies the key to His calling for us.  That every situation we come into calls for faith.  We go from faith to faith.  

       He did what no human being before or after could do and that was being and doing everything in perfect faith. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much (Lk.16:18).” Every encounter He had He walked from faith in one and then in faith to the next. He reacted by faith to faith in that service.   Everyone He met was a faith encounter.  He was the only one who could fulfill what it meant to be right personally and relationally in them.  The Holy Spirit motivated Him.   He was the perfect picture of spiritual righteousness, being spiritually right in mind, heart and body from faith to faith.  Jesus was their perfect balance. 

       No wonder Paul teaches, “That which does not proceed from faith is sin (Rom.14:23).”  Faith replaces attitudes with one Spiritude.  Faith is the Holy Spirit’s gift of personal Spiritude.  Those who are just by their faith are justified before our Heavenly Father.  Forgiven, sin forsaken, moving forward under the Cross, we go from faith to faith living the new life in Jesus every day.