Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and another post in my current study series on the Whole Armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10-18a.  I am focusing on the Shield of Faith for the time being and, in an attempt to understand what faith is, have been seeking an accurate definition.

My Webster’s New World Dictionary does begin its definition of faith with the word origins and their meanings.  These are the Middle English feith, the Old French feid and fei, the French foi, the Latin fides meaning confidence, belief, the Late Latin fidere meaning to trust, the Indo-European bheid meaning to urge, be convinced, the Greek peithein meaning to persuade, and the Latin foedus meaning a compact & to bide.  The dictionary ought to have stopped here for this is an accurate representation of what the word has historically meant.  But, it does not.  The dictionary then goes on to define faith as “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence”.  It is not until I read down to the 5^th entry that I see a return to the historical meaning. 

In the Greek, faith was originally a word of covenant and, I know I am harping on a point, but I cannot imagine anyone entering into a covenant without confidence and trust.  I also cannot see this would be a confidence and trust without proof or evidence, especially considering the seriousness with which parties entered into covenant.  Breaking a covenant more often than not meant forfeiture of one’s very life: not a compact to be lightly entered into.

A dictionary must address how a word is used by the majority of the population and there is no denying the word “faith” is one that is used in a derogative manner.  I hear it mostly among those in the scientific community who say “that belongs to the realm of faith, not science”.  However, faith is something possessed by all people and does not always pertain to a religious belief.  Faith simply means confidence, belief, and trust and, without it, there would be no relationships of any kind.  I had made this point in an earlier post and, while reading through the Commentaries on Hebrews 11:6, I found this in the Pulpit Commentary: “Even in ordinary affairs of life, and in science too, men act, and must act, to a great extent on faith; it is essential for success, and certainly for all great achievements-faith in the testimony and authority of others whom we can trust, faith in views and principles not yet verified by our own experience, faith in the expected outcome of right proceeding, faith with respect to a thousand things which we take on trust, and so make ventures, on the ground, not of positive proof, but of more or less assured conviction.” 

The point I am striving to make is, “faith” is not a dirty word.  Even those who would use it to mock others also operate in faith.  I do not think it is possible to have a faithless human existence which is a point I think the quote from the Pulpit Commentary makes clear.  The question I am asking this week-regarding faith-is, what does the faith of the son of god mean?  That phrase is found in Galatians 2:20 and the original language does say “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith OF the Son of God” not “IN the Son of God”.  Every person subscribing to a religion has faith in that those persons have been persuaded their way of believing is the correct way.  We who are believers in Jesus have faith that He is God who became a man, lived and died as a man, rose from death and ascended to the right hand of The Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us.  It is possible to have an intellectual belief these things are true: there are some fairly potent arguments that have served to convince others of the truth of the tenants of Christianity.  True Christianity is not intellectual though: our faith in Jesus is alive because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to see Him who was dead but Behold! is alive forevermore.  Our faith is covenantal because He is not only alive but is alive in us.  This is our faith.  What is Jesus’ faith?

Do we think of Jesus as having faith?  Did He have to trust not only the people around Him but did He also have to trust His Father?  The scriptures do not reveal to us a doubting Jesus but we do see a Jesus who did not know the end from the beginning, who had to be alone with His Father in order to hear and receive His words, who had confidence in, believed, and trusted His Father, and we see a Jesus who had that faith tested.

The Bible is relatively silent on Jesus’ early years.  There are a few stories told here and there but, for the most part, Jesus as a child, a teenager, and young man are summed up for us as “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).  I wonder though…

…one of my favorite movies is The Nativity Story starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, and Ciaran Hinds.  This movie had one of the best reactions to Mary’s pregnancy I’ve ever seen.  Do you ever put yourself into the mind of a villager during that time?  Joseph wasn’t preparing for the marriage in a vacuum: the entire village-and perhaps surrounding villages as well-had to be aware of his betrothal to Mary.  The entire village had to be aware of her pregnancy as well.  Would I-would you-as a villager believe she was pregnant with the Son of God?  If I am honest, I wouldn’t be entirely convinced.  I would wonder if the poor girl wasn’t at worst lying and at best suffering under some mental confusion.

I wonder whether Jesus had to deal with snide remarks about Himself and His human parents after He and Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth from Egypt.  I wonder because of His temptation in the wilderness after His baptism.  His baptism is described in Luke’s Gospel and it is here we read of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove and the voice from Heaven says to Him, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”  Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, is then led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  The devil’s first recorded words to Jesus here are “If You are the Son of God…”

Knowing the wiles of the devil as I do, I imagine these words were carefully chosen because there was a potential button to press here.  If you are the Son of God…what if all those asides and smirks and careful references to your parentage are really true…what if the voice you heard wasn’t really God…what if you’ve imagined all of this and are, after all, just a man…the temptation to doubt everything He knew about Himself had to be strong but Jesus did not give in.  He had faith in His Father and countered with “it is written…!”

I don’t think this wilderness experience was the only test of Jesus’ faith either.  Hebrews 12:1&2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I think about the “because of the joy that was set before Him,” and I also think of a passage in Galatians: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.  He does not say, “and to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).  I also think of Philippians 2:7 in the Revised Standard Version: “but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” 

There is the argument among Christians as to how much Jesus-fully God and fully man-knew about Himself and how when and where He knew it.  The passage in Luke 2:52 does say “He grew…” and I wonder if our being changed into His image “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18) isn’t similar to how Jesus grew: one word at a time coming to Him from the Father, one promise at a time, one situation at a time where He had to trust His Father until the day when we see Jesus in the upper room, “knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God” (John 13:3).

Who is this Jesus in whom we have our faith?  He is the Son who learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  He is the One who sympathizes with all of our weaknesses because He has been tempted in all points like as we are and yet was without sin.  He is the One who made a living way for us through His own flesh enabling us to draw near with true hearts in full assurance of faith.  Our faith is not a fleshly faith.  It is not one of intellect or good arguments or a vague and formless hope of one day by and by nor blind unquestioning obedience.  Our faith is the faith of the Son of God tested and proven in the crucible of His human existence. 

Because we are His, everything of His is ours.  What a wonder to be able to say, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and this life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.  What an indescribable love is Christ’s love for us.  It truly does surpass knowledge.

Hallelujah! Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References  

Hebrews 11:1 Commentaries: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (biblehub.com) 

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1953, 1976