What It Means To Do Something By Faith
To please God, all that is done must be done by faith for "without faith it is impossible to please Him"
(Hebrews11:6). But, what does it mean to perform an action by
faith? Does it simply mean the person
must believe in God? Certainly,
the person "who comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him"
(Hebrews 11:6). However, as we shall see, more is required
than just mental recognition of God's existence and basic nature.
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews mentions several things that were done
by faith. This is a good starting point
for this study. For
example, "by faith Abel offered to
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain" (Hebrews 11:4; NKJV). Since
Abel's offering was by faith "he
obtained witness that he was righteous." That is, he pleased God because he did what
was right. Such is not affirmed of
Cain's offering. On the contrary, his
was not pleasing to the Lord (Genesis
4:5). Thus, it can be deduced that
it was not by faith. An important point
is that both brought offerings to the
LORD but one was by faith and the other was not. Did both believe that God existed? Of course they did. So what explains the difference? Abel pleased God by doing what He had
specified. How can we know this? Well, since faith comes by hearing the word of
God (Romans
This argument stands the test of further scrutiny in the book of
Hebrews. Consider another example. "By
faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly
fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned
the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith"
(Hebrews 11:7). God had told Noah how to build the ark. He specified the material and dimensions. The scriptures record that "Thus Noah did; according to all
that God commanded him, so he did" (Genesis
The book of Romans also shows that it is essential to do what God
commands for the reason He gives. Otherwise,
the action cannot said to be "by
faith." In chapter six of Romans Paul reveals the
point at which a person ceases to be a sinner and becomes a saved soul. The line of demarcation comes when "you obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine to which you were delivered" (Romans
in harmony with the form of doctrine. When God specifies the reason for a command it
is part of the pattern of sound words (2
Timothy
Baptism must be done by faith for the lost soul to be saved. Has God specified any reason for baptism or is
it sufficient to do it simply "to obey God?" If God had said,
"Repent and be baptized" but did not specify any reason for doing so,
it would be OK to be baptized "to obey God's command." However, He did specify the reason for being
baptized. It is for the remission (i.e.,
forgiveness) of sins (Acts
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in its entirety including the original title and author's name. Douglas Hoff,