The Faith of Jesus Christ
A primary theme of the epistle of Paul to the Galatians is certainly faith --
faith in Jesus Christ rather than trying to live the Christian life under my own
religious strength. But ten times
in the New Testament we find the phrase, “the faith OF Jesus Christ; faith OF
the Son of God; faith OF God.” We
are exhorted to have, or live by, the faith OF Jesus Christ.
What exactly does that mean?
We are used to the phrase, “faith IN Christ.”
But there is a distinction between, “faith IN Christ,” and, “the faith OF
Christ.” We need to discover what
that distinction is -- and what God is saying through it.
So what is the faith OF Jesus Christ?
I think in order to discover the Truth about, “the faith OF Jesus
Christ,” we must start with something deeper:
What IS Christianity -- at the core?
Christianity is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col.
1:27) Or, as Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 6:17, “He that is joined to the Lord is one
spirit with Him.”
This describes HOW Christ dwells in the believer – the believer is joined to
Christ in spirit -- showing that Christianity is resurrection union with Jesus
Christ.
When I am saved, God Almighty joins me to His Son by the means of the spirit of
God -- and I am one with Christ in spirit.
That is resurrection union.
Now that is not just a theological or academic concept.
That actually happens and is why we are saved.
If you are joined to Jesus Christ in spirit, you are one with the One who
said, “I am the life.” How many
understand that this means that you are going to be alive with His life?
That is salvation.
But Jesus also said, “I am the Truth.”
Thus, if we are joined in spirit to the One who IS the Truth, then that
fact gives to you and me the capacity and the means to begin to discover the
Truth -- because we are discovering Christ.
So get away from this notion that salvation is a legal classification whereby
God simply pronounces us justified; pronounces us righteous -- but only in a
legal sense. Or that Truth is a
theological construct. That is not
the Truth at all. We are literally
and truly joined to the PERSON who is the embodiment of all Life and Truth.
That joining; that spiritual union IS, “Christ in you.”
It is the core reality of Christianity.
Now, how does this relate to, “the faith OF Jesus Christ?”
Well, once we recognize that we are joined to the Lord, how many see that
we are joined to the One who has all faith?
Of course. Jesus had a
perfect faith when He was here on earth as a man -- and consequently when we are
joined to Him -- we are one with Him in His faith.
With our faith IN Jesus, we are One with, “the faith OF Jesus Christ.”
Note that God does not GIVE us faith.
Rather, we are joined to the One who has all faith – and this alone is
why we are able to live, “by the faith OF the Son of God.”
Practically speaking, if we are joined to the One who has all faith – we
will not only be a partaker of Christ Himself, but we will be a partaker of His
own faith.
We can live by the faith OF Christ only if we believe INTO Christ – only if we
give ourselves to Him in spiritual union.
This is what Paul says in Galatians 2:16:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed INTO Jesus Christ, that we
might be justified by the faith of Christ.
Note that Paul says, “We have believed INTO Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith OF Christ.”
That is how it reads in the original.
In other words, we are joined to the Lord and made one spirit with Him --
and so if we believe INTO Jesus Christ we can begin experiencing Him in that
resurrection union -- and experience what oneness with His faith really means.
We believe INTO Jesus Christ by turning to Christ with the faith that we already
have – if we are saved we already have some faith.
And as we believe INTO Christ, and grow to know Him, our faith becomes
one with His faith; we learn to live by the faith OF Jesus Christ.
Christ Living Through the Believer
Paul says in Galatians 2:20:
“Christ lives in me…and the life which I now live I live by the faith OF the Son
of God.” The believer is joined to
the Lord in spirit – Christ lives in the believer.
But Christ wants to live THROUGH the believer.
Thus, there has to be a way by which the Christ Who lives within us can
come to live through us. Christ
will not live through us without us – Christ does not, ‘by-pass us,” to live
through us. Faith involves our
choice based on the Truth we have received.
And it must translate into a life lived – it must translate into a life
of reliance and rest in Christ – governing the entire person, including attitude
and conduct.
Paul said he lived, “by the faith of the Son of God.”
So, how did Christ come to live through Paul?
Paul believed INTO Christ, that is, gave himself to Christ – yes, in an
overall way, but also in specifics.
But when Paul believed INTO Christ, Paul abandoned himself under the reality of
the Cross – and his mind began to be renewed, and all of the hindrances IN Paul
began to fall away. Therefore,
Christ was able to live through Paul.
Can we see that for Christ to live through the believer that this is not a
matter of Christ, “taking over,” the believer?
No. Neither is it a matter
of the believer doing what he thinks is best and assuming that it is Christ
living through him. No.
What happens is that as the believer believes INTO Christ there comes a
progressive renewing of the mind and the will according to the Truth – according
to Christ. And the believer becomes
governed by an inward realization of Jesus Christ.
It is a matter of being formed together with Him – unto His will and
glory.
If we quote the entire passage of Galatians 2:20, it ought to now be more clear:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
(Gal. 2:20)
Paul came into an inward realization of Jesus Christ.
But as he grew to know Christ, the faith of Christ likewise grew.
The faith OF Jesus Christ is the outcome of coming to realize Christ
Himself. Of course.
His faith is of HIM.
Christian people make the mistake of asking God for more faith.
But what we really need is a greater realization of Jesus – for that
revelation of Christ is the Living Word by which faith, “comes to be.”
(Rom. 10:17) If we will turn
to Christ with the faith we have in an unconditional surrender and reliance, we
will grow to know Him in an inward way.
That will result in us becoming a partaker of Jesus Christ – including a
partaker of His faith. In short,
you cannot trust Christ unless you know Him.
And the only way to know Him is to realize Him.
And the only way to realize Him is to give yourself to Him.
Living by the Faith OF Jesus Christ
Because living by the faith OF Jesus Christ is only possible if our minds are
renewed according to the Truth, and if our wills are brought into a oneness with
His will, this leads us to a few conclusions.
First, you and I cannot have the faith OF Jesus Christ for anything
except what Jesus Christ has faith for -- because His faith is OF HIM.
And His faith is only for God’s will.
But the great news is that if we do have His faith for God’s will -- then
God’s will shall happen – this cannot fail. The faith OF Jesus Christ cannot
fail.
Secondly, the faith OF Jesus Christ does not originate from myself as the
source. No.
It is not the faith of ME – it is the faith of Jesus Christ.
I cannot muster up out of myself real faith.
All I can do is what God tells me to do – turn to Christ with the faith I
do have and rest in Christ. This
may be nothing more than reliance upon Him.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the, “author and finisher of our faith.”
We need only trust Him to be exactly that – we believe INTO Him – and His
very presence in us brings us into HIS life and HIS faith.
Can we see that, “believing INTO,” Jesus Christ – that He might be the author
and finisher of our faith – that we might enter into His faith – can we see that
this requires an unconditional surrender of ourselves to Him?
Sure. If we cannot have the
faith of Jesus for anything except for what Jesus has faith for, then we must
have our will surrendered, and we must at least be coming into some knowledge of
the Truth in Christ. This is true
even if what Jesus has faith for is to abide in silence and the uncertainty of
circumstances. Living by faith is
not about knowing the future or about wanting THINGS.
Often, it is about trusting God regardless.
Note that Paul said that the life that HE lives HE lives by the faith OF the Son
of God. The faith of Christ is not
our faith, but it does not operate independent of us.
In short, to live by the faith of the Son of God is simply another way of
saying that Christ is living through the believer – because the believer has
given themselves to Christ and is governed by the realization of Christ.
The Life Which I Now Live…
Living by the faith of Christ is not something we should do sometimes – it is
not something we are supposed to put on and off.
It is supposed to be THE LIFE – the only life we know.
Jesus’ example in John fifteen of the vine and the branches is a
wonderful example. He talked about
the necessity of the believer abiding in Himself.
The definition there of, “abiding,” means, “to live in as your home.”
There is no thought there of hopping in and out of Christ, of having one
foot in Him, and one foot in our old nature.
Now, I realize that we do fail in that regard.
We go in and out of Christ as our life and we often slip into ourselves
as our life, but the desire of God is that we always abide in Christ by faith –
and God will be working in us unto that end.
But unfortunately, many Christian people walk according to the flesh – religious
flesh. What is religious flesh?
It is a matter of trying to live the Christian life through any means
other than the faith OF Jesus Christ.
Maybe through the intellect.
Maybe through emotional experiences.
It may be a matter of fashioning my natural man according to laws,
principles, and a code of conduct – according to some form of Christian
religion. It may be some form of
self-improvement – which is then called, “character development,” or,
“sanctification.” ALL of that is of
natural, soul man – it is of religious flesh; out from our humanity.
ALL of it must come under the Cross.
Natural man can produce NOTHING that is of Christ.
Only Christ can produce what is of Christ – and it can be only of value
to us if we believe INTO Him; abide in Him.
Only then can Christ live through believers.
God wants a body of believers who will be extensions of His Son.
Is that not simply another way of saying that the Christ who lives in the
believer wants to live through the believer?
Discovering Jesus Christ
How many see again that all of this comes back to sharing, fellowshipping and
partaking of Christ as a Person?
That it comes back to the core definition of Christianity:
Christ in you? To live by
the faith OF Christ is a matter of becoming a partaker with Him in His life –
and thus, in His faith.
There is nothing outside of LIFE – there is nothing God has given outside of
Christ, Who is THE Life. Thus,
there is no such thing as having the faith OF Jesus without abiding in the life
of Jesus.
God has freely given us ALL things IN CHRIST.
(Rom. 8:32) Note that this
is different than saying that God has given us all things BECAUSE of Christ.
No. To put it another way,
God has not given us all things because of Christ – rather -- He has given us
Christ Himself, in Whom are ALL things.
First Corinthians 1:30 says:
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
Note: “Christ is made unto us
wisdom…” If we want wisdom, we must
discover Christ. “In Him are hid
all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
(Col. 2:3) Neither are we
given a righteousness of our own.
Rather, Christ in us is righteousness in us.
Thus, even though we can break a lot of these things into compartments
and categorize them in different ways just for the sake of teaching and
communication, when all is said and done, it all comes back to the fact that if
we are believers, we are joined to the Lord and made one spirit with Him – and
can be a partaker of HIS LIFE; can be a partaker of all of the attributes of
Christ Himself.
Now, this is a fact that stands as the basis of Christianity itself.
We will spend the rest of our Christian life, and really the rest of
eternity, not getting MORE of Christ but in discovering the ALL OF Christ that
we already received, in whom God has already given all things.
Faith is a Relationship
As mentioned earlier, many Christian people spend much time and energy asking
God to increase their faith. But
God cannot answer that prayer. What
we ought to do is ask God to give us a greater inward revelation of His Son.
Then as we give ourselves to Him we will be a partaker of HIS FAITH –
which has no limitations.
The Word of Faith heresy that you see on TV -- Kenneth Copeland being the ring
leader -- falsely tells us that faith is a force.
The Word of Faith teaches that the faith of Christ is something we muster
up out of ourselves and shoot up to God in order to get Him moving.
We muster up this force out from ourselves and we sort of work it upon
God by confessing what we want, speaking victory into things, speaking healing
into things -- and on it goes. It
is all a bunch of nonsense. We do
not need to do any of that even if what we desire is the will of God.
Faith is not a force. Faith is a
relationship. We cannot muster true
faith up out from ourselves. There
is nothing in there to muster.
Faith is a gift of God in the beginning because we need something with which to
turn to God. But what we have to do
is turn and live in oneness with Him who is the source of all faith – and what
will emerge is the faith OF Jesus.
Christianity is not a religion. It
is life in Christ -- a life lived from out from Him by the faith OF the Son of
God.
Paul speaks of this in Galatians to make a contrast between living by the faith
of the Son of Go -- and living by the power of our own religiosity – which is
what the Galatians were trying to do. Again, he says:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
(Gal. 2:20)
But then he later adds:
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be
formed in you.
(Gal. 4:19)
The word there for ‘formed’ means to be inwardly realized and expressed.
So Paul gathered all of this up in Galatians and said, “Here is what you
need. The solution is that you come into an inward realization of Jesus.”
He knew that if the Galatians did that they would discard works as the
means of righteousness. They would
begin to have the faith OF Jesus Christ.