Greetings once more dear Friends!
Faith is a vital component of the Christian’s life. As a noun it describes one’s belief system. As a verb faith is the lifeblood of the believer’s way of life. One describes who the believer is, and the other describes how he lives. Both elements work in unison to form a singular focus in life. The Bible states categorically, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.11:6). Before one can please someone, it assumes that the same faith believes in the existence of that someone, hence, the passage follows with the following, “Because anyone who approaches Him (God) must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Not only does the person believes in the reality of God but there’s an expectancy of a positive outcome from the relationship of trust.
In the same way Love describes God, faith describes man’s spiritual life. Love (God) is a noun because it describes who He is, and as a verb it describes how He lives and acts. (1 John 4:8; 1 Cor.13) We were created to become His image of Love, as Genesis says, “God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (Gen.1:26-27).
Human Faith
There is a faith that’s entirely human and is unrelated to a faith that is spiritual. Physical humans display human faith. Spiritual faith is not human and therefore exists externally from human faith. Human faith deals with human life in the physical realm, while spiritual faith deals with humans in the spiritual realm. Although both operate on separate sphere and orientation, one physical and the other spiritual, both are not unlike since both use the human mind to operate. While the human faith is constrained to the physical realm of reasoning and activity, the spiritual faith does not require physical considerations. One is mainly seen, while the other is unseen. The Bible says, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (Heb.11:1).
The cogs and elements which turn the wheel of human faith are man’s five senses, whereby a person says, “I have to see, smell, taste, touch, or hear, to believe.” This is human faith. This is not the case with spiritual faith. As I said although both are oriented differently due to their nature, yet both are needed in the life of the Christian. God’s work of salvation in humanity requires our mutual participation, hence, human faith is needed. The reason is simple because Christianity is a belief system based upon spiritual faith. So, human faith is made to merge with the spiritual faith so both complement one another rather than oppose each other. God reveals Himself as Tri-Personal in His trinitarian Being and thereby a Loving participatory God. That’s how He desires His Love to work with humans He made in His image. So, we use our limited human faith to believe and trust in the spiritually all-competent spiritual faith to do His Loving will in our lives.
Spiritual Faith
But exactly what is this spiritual faith we speak of? Paul makes this abundantly clear in the following passage from Romans, “The righteousness of God which comes by the faith of Jesus to all and on all that believe” (Rom.3:22, AKJV). Humanity was not born with this saving faith. But note, the are two faiths stated in this passage, the “faith of Jesus,” and “on all that believe (human faith).” The spiritual faith is “Jesus’ Personal Faith” and exists outside of human life. It enters human life when Christ comes and indwells a believer through the power of the Spirit.
Paul told the Galatians, “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, KJV). Yes, we live, walk, and have our being in the faith of Jesus. (Act.17:28). To the Colossians, Paul said, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col.3:16).
How does Christ dwells in us richly? Through His Word. There is the written Word of God, the Bible, and there is the Personified Word who is Jesus, He is the Personal Word of God. Paul gives us the connection between the Word of God, Jesus, and faith, “So faith is from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Rom.10:17). When Jesus dwells in each of us His Word is part of us, and thereby His faith through hearing and living by them. Thus, Jesus’ faith comes from the hearing ear, and the hearing ear comes from the Word of God.
So, here we see the human and spiritual faiths are fused into one expression of life. As Jesus’ faith grows, we’ll find our human faith-scale begin to tip in favor of the spiritual faith of Jesus. Our limited human faith will have less and less of a role and impact, as John said, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). Why, because the place where Jesus is taking us, our narrow human faith has no scope of reference to maneuver this unknown spiritual landscape. We are now traversing in the Spirit’s territory which requires the faith of Jesus to pioneer and forge on forward. Its inclusive effect is we will grow to become a whole person because we are not limited by what our human faith allows. The two faiths, walking side by side, form one life of man that’s complete in Christ. (Amos 3:3)
Petition: Dear Friends, as I have closed my post in the past, I customarily give our readers the opportunity to give their lives to our Maker. I thank you for investing your precious time with me in the sharing of the good news of Jesus who has enabled us to live the Triune Life*. Jesus is alive today as our High Priest in heaven seated at His Father’s side, and ceaselessly mediating for us. I hope that in your heart to heart, and faith to faith, you will receive Him as your personal Savior, receive God’s Spirit, and be part of living this glorious humanity made children of God forever.
You can privately and quietly pray the prayer below in your heart. I am asking you to pray this prayer as a human being Christ died for, regardless of your background. All are inducted into the one mankind Jesus saved, not into any religious sect or denomination, or any division one may espouse – but into the glorious humanity that Christ is preparing as the holy temple for God’s dwelling:
Prayer: “Almighty God, Father of all humanity, forgive me of all my sins for I believe and receive Your Son, Jesus, as my personal Savior. In Your incalculable grace, grant Your promised celestial life in Your Son through Your Holy Spirit, and open my eyes to the wondrous gifts you have conferred upon me and all humanity. May Your Love guide and protect me and my Loved ones always, and bring us all into Your beloved and divine Kingdom. I praise and thank You, Amen.”
Welcome to the celestial life of Love in God’s holy, eternal Family. (1 Tim.6:19) Then keep in touch with God’s Word for you by reading and studying your Bible, and visiting this blog and website and look at various subjects that may be relevant for your situation – go to: http://bulamanriver.net You can email me with your questions at the address shown below.
Personal Blessing: Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life”* Be strong in the Lord’s Temple where joy abounds.
Farewell for now!
*Triune Life”: Relationship with God has no meaning without Love. By its very nature, Love cannot endure in solitary existence. So, when God said “Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness…” He was revealing Himself as existing in His trinitarian Being and existence. That is, His Tri-Personal Being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen.1:26; Matt.28:19; John 14:10, 16; 16:7) The Hebrew word for ‘God’ in the creation account is “Elohim.” It describes God as a Trinity – the Tri-Personal Godhead, which other scriptures attests. (Matt.28:18-20; 1 Pet.1:2; 2 Thess.2:13; 2 Cor.13:14) So, God is Trinitarian in His Love nature. Love by its nature is relational as God is in His Tri-Personal Being. Hence, a human being was created a relational being.
Adam was solitary and incomplete until God made Eve. He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone (solitary). I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen.2:18, italics mine). So, God gave Adam a family to raise composed of a father, mother, and offspring, to reflect Himself in His plural Being. The Bible states that the Church’s or humanity’s destiny is to marry Christ, the second Person of the Triune Godhead, in the new age to come which will be an everlasting relationship. (2 Cor.11:2; Eph.5:23-27, 32; Rev.19:7) The Bible is abundantly clear about God’s nature and declaration of Himself in His relational Triune Being from the past, the present, and the future. God has never lived as a solitary Being, but a Tri-Personal Being with His Son, Jesus, and His Spirit. (Mat..28:18-20)
It’s noteworthy to understand that Eve was not created an individual creation from the dust of the earth as was Adam. She was not created apart from Adam as an individualized separate human being, instead, she was taken out from Adam’s side to show she was biologically one and indivisibly part of Adam. Eve was not detached (solitary) from Adam, but intrinsically inseparable from Adam’s innermost being and humanity. When Adam saw Eve, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Gen.2:21-23).
Each one of us was created as an indivisible relational human being incubated and given birth from Adam’s mold as one species, for God created humanity to reflect the eternal likeness in His triunity. We are born for relationships with the divine triune Love as our guiding principle. All this show that humans were created to be indivisibly one to reflect God’s Tri-Personal image of Oneness, not solitary separateness. When God sent Jesus His eternal Son, He became human in order to unify humanity spiritually to the Triune Being of God once for all time. Hence, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed Jesus’ coming, He was given the prophetic name, Immanuel. (Isa.7:14) The name means “God with us” (Matt.1:23). Humanity is ‘organically’ one with the Triune God, just as humanity is one with Adam.
Most religions believe God as some solitary being. The true God is not solitary by any means, He is the Trinity in His Tri-Personal Being. God consist of three Persons in One divine triune Godhead. They exist in One “homoousion” meaning consisting in one substance, or “consubstantiality.” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in One hypostatic union, One substance, like Eve was biologically part of and never physically separate, but of one substance from Adam. Likewise, humanity is made of one spiritual substance with the triune God through Jesus Christ who took our humanity upon Himself and joined it to the divine triune existence forever.
The three-dimensional Triune Life/Love is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life of the fallen humanity inherited from Satan through Adam’s rebellion. For additional information about the Triune Life: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092.
**Bulamanriver: To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula” Man-River, from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.
Mission Statement: Read the Triune Love Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664
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