STUDY IN GALATIANS FAITH
It was early in the 16th century that a young monk was captivated by a pungent phrase from the epistle to the Romans. This dynamic truth impressed itself deeply upon his mind, "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). Martin Lu ther's concept of this basic truth brought a profound effect upon the pages of history. He believed man was acceptable to Cod by faith rather than through any other hu man device. Religious practices, money, indulgences, or any such work cannot avail for man's salva tion. One of the prime aspects of the fruit of the Spirit which the Holy Spirit provides for believers is faith (Galatians 5:22, 23). Faith is one of the most dominant themes in all of Scripture. In our brief study of faith we are going to ask ourselves one basic question, "What is faith?" And we will define it by using four syno nyms that could be used for the Biblical concept of faith. They are acceptance, obedience, loyalty and confidence; and they all flow quite naturally from the basic Biblical words translated faith. The purpose of our study will be to show, then, that faith is a God-given quality of character that prompts us to accept what God says, to be obedient to Him, loyal to Him, and to place su preme confidence in Him. This definition does narrow the concept of faith. It refers to faith as a function of the Christian, not as a noun that stands for a body of be liefs as when we refer to "our state ment of faith." Using faith in this latter sense came about quite nat
urally. The message that so clearly required the function or commit ment of faith became known as the message of faith. In fact, Romans 10:8 refers to the "Word of faith." But such usage does not alter the basic sense of the word. The pri mary sense of the word faith is, I believe, a special attitude or re sponse on our part toward God. FAITH IS ACCEPTANCE Faith involves acceptance of God and His message. In fact, in the Greek "faith" and "to believe" come from the same word. "Faith" is a translation of the noun and "to believe" is our translation for the verb form of the same Greek word. John 3:16 then asks us to believe in Christ, but it conveys just as well the idea of faith in Christ—they are one and the same. Faith is belief in Christ, faith is acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior. In Romans 10:9, 10, we can see the significance of faith which is simply accepting what God says to us. We are to confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and to be lieve in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. This sig nifies acceptance and a verbaliza tion of our decision. This is faith in operation. The individual must hear the message and respond to it (Ro mans 10:11-17). Many times I have been at an air port waiting for my flight to be called. When announced I know that it is time to go to the gate. The fact is if I do not get on board I will never get to my destination. I ac cept the message and act upon it. While the message of salvation has
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