EV Sideline - Faith

Define "faith."

You think, "Oh, that's easy," but then you'll notice that you probably begin to stumble and stutter a bit as you try to spit it out. What is it? How can we define it?

These are important questions since we have met up with Abraham in the biblical narrative. If God's plan to deal with sin and evil is going to be channeled through Abraham, then it will pay great dividends to ponder the nature of faith for a moment. Why?

Genesis 15

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."2 But Abram said, "Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." 5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Abraham's faith (or belief) here elicits a response from God: approval, righteousness. Why? How? And what does this have to do with the issue of sin and evil?

Let's look at what is going on in the text...

God has already appeared to Abraham in Genesis 12, as we saw in the previous post, and assured him that He would bless him and use him as a key component in blessing the whole world. Abraham left his homeland and began to follow God on the basis of God's promise. Now, when he is faced with a challenge to God's promise, Abraham asks God a question: how can it be that I'm going to bless the whole world with my family when I don't have any children? God answers - assuring Abraham that he will uphold his promise. Abraham then "takes Him at His word," and God is pleased.

That's the basis of faith - taking God at His word, accepting His character and trusting His reputation. Abraham had already established a relationship with God; he was already getting to know Him. Based on the fact that God was someone that Abraham could trust, he accepted his message of reassurance and placed confidence in God's word. This was not a case of blind faith.

So, what does that mean for looking to the OT to understand a Biblical Theology of Evangelism? Well, thus far it means that sharing the gospel with someone must contain an encouragement for that person to get to know who God really is. Of course, the only way to do this is to encourage them to read the scriptures and begin to understand what God is like. It will be much easier for that person to take God at His word if that person is getting to know Him for who He is.