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Commentary on "Faith"
Day 2: Sunday, April 5, 2009
The author has made no mention of the necessity of the new birth. Understanding the new birth is essential to understanding the gift of faith. It is beyond the scope of this commentary to fully discuss the topic of the new birth (several Proclamation articles treat the subject here: Proclamation Index: "New Birth".
Faith is truly a gift from God, but there needs to be a differentiation between saving faith and the process of growing in faith following the point at which we are saved. See yesterday's study for a discussion on saving faith -- this is the point at which we are born again and receive the Holy Spirit.
All of salvation is by faith: justification (the point of being saved and declared righteous before God), sanctification (the process of continuing to grow in faith), and glorification (when faith becomes sight and we are made perfect). When Paul writes: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8), he is referring to all three parts of salvation -- all three are by faith. In Romans, he writes:
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 in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16-17).
The phrase "from faith to faith" means that living a righteous life begins and continues based on one thing: faith in God. As the scripture says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Abraham believed God at the beginning, and he kept on believing in God, as he demonstrated later by obeying God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac. Faith alone is the way of righteousness, as the scripture says: "But the righteous man shall live by faith."
Some believers are given a special spiritual gift of faith for the benefit of the church, as Paul writes: "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit..." (1 Corinthians 12:7-9a).
The author poses a question near the end: "How can we position ourselves in a way that prepares us for the gift of faith? That is, what changes can we make in our lives to make us more receptive to that gift?" This question is misleading. Faith is not something we receive by any sort of personal effort in self-transformation, as the question seems to assume. Rather, both saving faith and sanctifying faith come through the word of God. As Paul writes, "So faith comes form hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). Jesus also says, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32).
So to receive the gift of faith, the best thing to do is to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us, and then listen to His word, the Bible, and submit ourselves to it.
Summary
- Understanding the new birth is essential to understanding saving faith.
- There are three parts to salvation: justification (when we are declared righteous and inducted into God's family), sanctification (the ongoing process of growing in faith and being set apart to God), and glorification (when we receive our new bodies and faith becomes sight)
- All three parts of salvation are by faith
- Saving faith and subsequent growth in faith are both a gift, and there is also a spiritual gift of faith that is given to some for the strengthening of the church
- To receive the gift of faith and grow in faith, God has given the means of hearing His word and submitting ourselves to it.
Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 6, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 2
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 2
