Who Then has Faith and Why?
We know that everyone appointed by God to eternal life, believes (Acts 13:48). We know that Jesus gives eternal life to His elect sheep (Jn 10:28). His chosen people are the “whosoever believes” in Him (Jn 3:16). Faith for these chosen ones is the substance of things hoped for (eternal life), that has been promised to Abraham, the believer, and his descendants (Gen 17:3; Rom 4:3, 16; 9:7).
Believers hold to the promise of God, as did our father in the faith, Abraham (Gal 3:7–9, 14). Unbelievers do not trust in the promise of God, which is eternal life in Jesus Christ. It is not in them to do so (no indwelling Holy Spirit — Rom 8:9). Faith in the Word of God’s promise was not in Abraham, and then God spoke to the man, and he believed what God said to him — as impossible as it sounded (Gen 12; 15; 17). What was the catalyst that changed Abraham from unbeliever to believer?
Clearly, it was the man’s encounter with God. The wisdom of God (descendants like sand of the seashore or stars of heaven) and the power of God (all things are possible with God) were made effectual for this man chosen by God to be the father of many nations. The Promise of being a son of God and an heir of God took hold of Abraham. God required no condition, no work from Abraham (Rom 4:5). He did not even need to do one thing to make God’s Word of promise a reality. God spoke and it happened.
Even when Abraham and Sarah stumbled in unbelief with the Egyptian woman, Hagar, it did not alter the promise God had made to Abraham. God sealed his Word of promise with an oath and a covenant. God was going to make Abraham the father of those who would be given faith like Abraham.
Abraham, had to wait for Isaac to come into being, against all probability. This is true for every believer, “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness (Gal 5:5).” We are told that we have right standing before God (righteousness), but it does not yet appear what we are in Christ Jesus. The revelation of the sons of God has not yet happened (Rom 8:19).
The manifestation of all who belong to Christ will be evident on the day of Christ Jesus’ second advent (Rev 19:11–16), on which his people will undergo the resurrection to life (Jn 5:29). With glorified bodies and souls, we will all appear at the judgment seat of Christ…as judges! For it has been appointed for the sons of God to sit on Christ’s glorious throne (1 Kgs 22:19), having received the crown of righteousness to judge the angels (1 Cor 6:3) and the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt 19:18).
Who believes such outlandish ideas? The unbeliever does not, but the believer does. Why the difference? Is it a mere matter of choice, maybe as fire insurance against the threat of hell?
Believers in this promise of salvation are sons of Abraham because of their faith. Moreover they are sons of God by adoption (Rom 8:14–15), which is obviously a choice of God, not the will of man (Jn 1:13; Rom 9:16; 11:5). God the Father has made them heirs, by His will and testament. They are co-heirs with Christ Jesus (Rom 8:17), who alone is the One pleasing to the Father (Mt 3:17), being the perfectly obedient Son (Heb 4:15).
God gives wayward orphans the right to be called, “children of God.” His motive is unconditional love for them (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 3:1). Adoption as sons is a gift of pure grace (Eph 2:8–9). God was not obligated to save even one of the sons of Adam, but He chose to do that very thing, before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4-5). He gave the ones He chose to Christ, who said, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me (Jn 6:37),” and no one can come to the Son unless the Father draws him (Jn 6:44). What are the means the Father uses to draw the sinner to come to Christ, thus, to become a saint?
The means of God are the very things, today, that separates every believer from every unbeliever…the Spirit of truth guiding one into all truth (Jn 16:13), but not guiding the other. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (Jn 10:27).” Not all follow Jesus and He tells us why. The reason most people do not follow Jesus is they cannot hear His voice. They do not recognize His Words. They do not know God, nor belong to God (Jn 10:26), and therefore, they do not follow Jesus. They do not have faith (2 Thess 3:2b).
The Spirit calls out to people through the preaching of the Word of faith (Rom 10:8). The Word of faith is the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17). The Spirit makes the Word effectual by opening the ears of the spiritually deaf and opening their heart (Ezek 36:26), as He causes them to respond to the preaching of the Gospel (Acts 16:14). The Spirit causes God’s chosen people to be born again of God (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
The Spirit who implanted the Word of faith into the heart of His regenerate (Mt 13:23; Jas 1:21), continues to speak the Word of God to the believer born of the Spirit (Jn 3). The child of God listens to the Word of promise, of glorious things to come upon her arrival home into a better country (Heb 11:16), into the city of God, heavenly Zion (Heb 12:22).
In spite of distractions, disappointments, depressions, and the devil’s deceits, she clings to the promise because she knows the token given to her as a pledge of unfailing love (Holy Spirit — 2 Cor 5:5). She believes because of this inseparable union with Christ (Jn 15).
God has grafted His elect into Christ. She has the life of God in her soul. She not only believes that reality; she knows it with blessed assurance, resulting from His blessed presence and the promises made to her in His unchanging Word. God makes the believer believe because He lives in her and causes her to know the truth. Who could possibly believe that? The Believer, who was given the Spirit as a gift (Acts 2:38; 10:45), and who causes her to believe.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
April 12, 2022
