Too
much of our faith comes out of our experience — our failures — rather
than from God’s promises and omnipotence — and we don’t always know
the difference. Sometimes we don’t even have a Biblical understanding
of genuine faith that gives us the authority to become children of
God.
Our text is Ephesians 4:13 where it says: “Until
we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God . . . .” My purpose in this chapter is to define “unity of the
faith.”
First we will define the word “faith.” Genuine faith
is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
So faith
comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
The Greek word for faith is “pistis,”
and it means to have “a firm persuasion that is based upon hearing.”
J. Oswald Sanders said: “Faith enables the believing
soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.” And Revivalist
Manley Beasley said: “Faith is believing something is so even when it is not so
in order to make it so.”
The truth is that without faith, it is impossible to
please God. We receive things — even things God has promised — only if we have
faith.
So, in the simplest of terms, faith is defined as
“believing IN God, and believing THAT God is who He says He is.”
Therefore, unity of the faith is simply defined as “those who find their unity
in the common faith they have in God.” Brethren, it is that simple.
Even so, let’s look at all the things that unity of
the faith is not in order to have a better understanding of what it is.
FAITH IS NOT A DENOMINATION
The idea that “unity in the faith” means
“unity in my doctrine” plagues the modern church.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many
denominations and doctrinal groups in the world today? On the other hand, have
you noticed that God seems to like diversity? Every snowflake is different and
every human is different. Each of the five-fold ministries (Eph. 4:11) are
different. Jesus healed blind eyes several different ways.
This shows us that diversity in the Kingdom of God is
by His design, so long as that diversity expresses the ONE faith — faith
that believes God.
What is faith? It is the
confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence
of things we cannot yet see. God gave His approval to people in days of old
because of their faith. By faith we understand that the entire universe was
formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that
can be seen. (Hebrews 11:1-3
New
Living Translation)
“Faith” does not mean “doctrine,” does it? For
instance, if someone were to ask, “of what faith are you,” what would your
answer be? If you are a Christian, there is only ONE faith you can have — faith
in the ONE living God. You are of the Christian faith. Denominations and
doctrinal groups are but diverse expressions of that ONE faith.
Faith believes God . . . agrees with God . . . and does not doubt that we have
received. Simply stated, faith means: “to gain God’s approval by believing Him
unconditionally: no stipulations, or reservations.”
Was
that interesting? There is so much more in this chapter that you will
want to read. Is this a good time to order the book?
