To walk by faith is important to the spiritual life. Faith is a mental activity that relies on information. Biblically, faith is never blind. It is never an irrational leap into the unknown. Rather, it is a reasonable response that follows reliable information. Faith trusts facts. For example, none of us have personally seen the resurrected Christ, yet the record of Scripture is historically true and reliable, based on eyewitness accounts of people who walked with Jesus (Luke 1:1-4; John 20...
To walk by faith is important to the spiritual life. Faith is a mental activity that relies on information. Biblically, faith is never blind. It is never an irrational leap into the unknown. Rather, it is a reasonable response that follows reliable information. Faith trusts facts. For example, none of us have personally seen the resurrected Christ, yet the record of Scripture is historically true and reliable, based on eyewitness accounts of people who walked with Jesus (Luke 1:1-4; John 20:27, 30-31; 21:24; Acts 4:20; 10:39; 1 Cor 15:3-8; 1 Pet 5:1; 2 Pet 1:16-19; 1 John 1:1). After Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to many people and gave proof of victory over sin and death. These eyewitnesses include Mary Magdalene and other women (John 20:10-18; Matt 28:8-9), two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32), the disciples without Thomas (John 20:19-25), the disciples with Thomas (John 20:26-29), the disciples by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-23), Peter, James, and more than 500 brethren at one time (1 Cor 15:5-7), the disciples at Jerusalem before His ascension (Acts 1:3-9), Stephen at the time of his martyrdom (Acts 7:56), Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-6; 1 Cor 15:8), and John on the island of Patmos (Rev 1:9-18).
Faith in Christ comes from accurate historical accounts, so that even though we do not see Jesus, we believe in Him. Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (John 20:29b). The writer of Hebrews said, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Peter communicated something similar to believers, saying, “though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:8-9). These early Christians rejoiced even though they had not seen Jesus personally. They accepted the testimony of reliable witnesses who had known Jesus, and their faith in Him resulted in the salvation of their souls.[1]
Believing in Jesus as our Savior comes after we hear and accept as true the good news that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4), thus conquering sin and death. Jesus accomplished what we cannot—our eternal salvation. When we hear this good news of what Jesus has done for us, we can place our faith in Him (John 3:16; Acts 4:12) and be fully assured of forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43; Eph 1:7) and eternal life (John 10:28; Rom 6:23). The benefits of the cross are applied to us the moment we believe in Jesus as our Savior. This simple act of faith results in our justification before God, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28), and “we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law” (Gal 2:16). Eternal salvation is by grace alone (Eph 2:8-9), through faith alone (Rom 3:24, 28; 5:1), in Christ alone (Acts 4:12).
After being born again by faith alone in Christ alone, we are to continue in faith. Paul wrote, “as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6). We received Jesus by faith, and after being born again, we are to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7).
Dr. Steven R. Cook
[1] The apostle John was an eyewitness to the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and like other eyewitnesses (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), he documented the historical events of Messiah. The whole of John’s Gospel had a purpose, and that was to convince people that Jesus is the Messiah and that if they believed in Him, they would have eternal life. John wrote, “many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). What John recorded in his Gospel is historically accurate and sufficient to lead a person to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and, after believing in Him, to be blessed with eternal life. That’s good news! When we preach Christ, we provide the necessary information for others to make an intelligent decision to believe in Him for eternal life. The gospel is good news information about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:3-4). At a moment in time, a single act of believing in Jesus as our Savior will save us eternally. The Jesus we believe in is the God-Man (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9), the Jewish Messiah (Matt 1:1, 17), who was sinless (1 John 3:5), died a substitutionary death for everyone (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8), paid our sin-debt in full (Col 2:14; Heb 10:10, 14), was resurrected on the third day (Acts 10:40; Rom 6:9), and is the only Savior of mankind (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). The only response from us is to accept the good news and believe in Jesus as our Savior, for “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
