Faith OF Christ (Part 2)

Romans 10 contrasts two types of righteousness: the righteousness of the law.  This righteousness is about ‘doing’ (“Do this and live”).

Romans 10:5 (KJV)

⁵ For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Then there is contrasted the righteousness of faith, which springs from believing.  

Romans 10:9 (KJV)

⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 It is this ‘righteousness of faith’ which is revealed in the Gospel – the “righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ”. This righteousness springs from faith. Through it is the fulfillment of all the law’s demands, but it is characterized not by legal obedience but by the obedience of faith.  Faith characterizes it.  And Christ revealed it in the Gospel through His faith.

Galatians 2:16 (KJV)

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 in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Therein we have Paul’s statement about the Gospel of Christ where he says:-

Romans 1:16-17 (KJV)

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

What a summary of the Gospel!  It is the power of God unto salvation. Why?  Because there in the Gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed.  How is it revealed?  From faith to faith. But what does that mean?  Well, once the fact of Christ’s own faith can be recognized, this phrase ‘from faith to faith’ (which has puzzled many) becomes much plainer to understand. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith – but whose faith?  It is revealed to faith – but what faith is this?

I believe the meaning of Romans 1:17 is this, that it means that the righteousness of God was revealed from, (or out of) Christ’s faith, unto our faith. Christ manifested the righteousness of God by His faith (Romans 3:22), and we come to see and believe in that righteousness (and that one great act of righteousness which Christ did in laying down His life on the cross to justify many by His blood) through faith. God gives us faith to see the righteousness of God revealed by Christ’s faith, within the Gospel.

It is this revelation, this manifestation of the righteousness of God which is described in Romans 3:21-22.  For the righteousness of God is not simply revealed by the Gospel to our faith subjectively, but it is actually revealed in the Gospel objectively.  It is that revelation, objectively in the Gospel, by the faith of Christ, out of which the righteousness of God is revealed to our faith subjectively: “from faith to faith”.

There is the importance of the correctly seeing  these passages in the scriptures and how the modern versions of the bible tend to undermine this truth here, because they seek to take that revelation of the righteousness of God which is objective in the Gospel, and make it merely subjective to the faith of the believer.  Yet the scriptures plainly state that the “Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation” because there, in the Gospel objectively, “is the righteousness of God revealed”.  Yes, this revelation is in the Gospel.  How?  Firstly by Christ’s life.  His very life exhibited the righteousness of God.  But secondly, in His death when He brought that awareness to us by the judgment against the sins of His people as He looked to His Father by faith while he suffered upon the cross. This is what revealed the righteousness of God – The faith of Jesus Christ – And it is this revelation of righteousness in the Gospel which God’s people are brought by faith to believe in.  Here is where Paul writes that the righteousness of God is revealed “from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith”.

This phrase “The just shall live by faith” is absolutely central to the Gospel.  It characterizes it.  It is at the heart of it. The just shall live by faith. Christ lived by faith. He justified us by His death, by His faith.  His death was an act of His faith.  And by it He justified His people, and they too live by faith.  By Christ’s glorious act of faith at the cross dead sinners are brought to life.  That justifying work later to be brought home to these people in their experience, by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit who gives them faith to believe it.  Their lives then follow, as it were in the footsteps of Christ, as those who live by faith. The ‘just ones’, who like the ‘Just One’ before them, live by faith.

Who can question that Christ’s life was lived by faith?  Or that He died as an act of faith?  Psalm 22 describes His sufferings, and the whole language of that psalm is of faith and of trust in God.  Likewise from Hebrews 10:38 through to Hebrews 12:2 we read an exposition of the same phrase taken from Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by his faith”. Hebrews 10:38 quotes that and the next chapter goes on to define faith, to show that “without faith it is impossible to please God”, and to enumerate many wonderful instances of lives lived by faith. What made the deeds of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab and others pleasing to God, was that they sprang from faith.  By faith!

Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Here the attention is centered on that great forerunner of faith, Jesus. It is not simply that He is the object, or end, of man’s faith, but He is the “Just One” who ran before us, living by faith. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith”. ‘Our’ here has been inserted by the translators. Also ‘author’ and ‘finisher’ are merely two words used to translate Greek words which have much fuller meanings.  A better, more descriptive, translation might be “Looking unto Jesus the chief [or captain] and end [or object] of faith”. We look to Jesus who is the ‘end’ or object of [our] faith, but He is also the chief of faith, the captain or forerunner of faith. He is the One who went before us, who lived by faith, whom we follow.

That is what Christ did by faith – He endured the cross, despising the shame.  Why?  “For the joy that was set before him”.  What joy?  To justify all those whom the Father had given unto Him from before the foundation of the world.  To be united in resurrection life with His bride, the church.  To live forever eternally with all those justified by His blood. That was His joy, His satisfaction.

Isaiah 53:11 (KJV)

¹¹ He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

In laying down His life for sinners Christ trusted His Father with complete trust, complete knowledge (“by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many”), complete faith, counting Him faithful who had promised.  He believed that God would lay all the sins of His chosen people upon His Son and that in Christ’s bearing them and taking their just punishment that those people would be really, truly, justified through His death.  Christ had perfect faith in His Father and in that covenant they made before the foundation of the world.  When in Gethsemane the Son of God was faced with the cup which He would soon drink, though such an awful prospect awaited Him, His faith did not shrink from it, but He willingly submitted to the Father’s will.  And when, on the cross, He drank of that very cup, bore the sins of His people, and was beaten and bruised by the outpouring of God’s wrath against them, forsaken of Him in whose bosom He had dwelt, did Christ’s faith fail Him? No, He endured to the bitter end.  He had perfect faith, perfect trust, that on the third day God would raise Him from the dead, and on the third day, rise from the dead He did in triumphant victory having justified His people forever!  Yes, Christ’s death was the most wonderful work of faith there has ever been. Perfect faith, from the perfect man, the Last Adam!

Finally, in summary take another look at:

Galatians 2:16 (KJV)

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 in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

How is a man justified?  By the works of the law?  No.  But by the faith of Jesus Christ.  Not by faith in Jesus Christ.  Our faith doesn’t justify us, it is Christ’s death by which we are justified.  Then ‘by the faith of Jesus Christ’.  Why?  Because His death was an act of that faith.

And what is a result of being justified by Christ’s death, by His faith?  The result is that “we have believed in Jesus Christ”.  Our belief doesn’t justify us, it is a result of our justification, brought on by the Spirit. Our belief brings us to an experimental knowledge of our justification before God subjectively in which God declares a sentence of justification in our hearts, but it is God that justified us objectively in the Person of His Son, who shed His blood for His people.   And when Christ shed His blood for that people the righteousness of God was unto all of them from that very moment, to be applied by the Spirit upon all of them when they believe, “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference”.  For we are justified, not by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ …

“…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Lord, thank you for your finished work on the cross and for your faith to endure such torment and pain on the cross for me.  I thank you for your faith demonstrating the righteousness of God and imparting that very faith to me.  As I grow in this understanding, teach me more Lord, I am hungry to learn.  You are “the author and finisher of our faith”.

Stephen Barnett

A very special thank you to Ian Potts for his many insights into the ‘Faith of Christ’ I have included in this blog entry.  Thank you Ian, I have been greatly changed and blessed by your input.

Ian Potts preaches the gospel of Gods free grace at Honiton Sovereign Grace Church, in the village of Awliscombe, Devon, England (UK).  Meetings are held on Sundays at 10:45am at Awliscombe Village Hall. Visit their web page located at http://churchindevon.wordpress.com/honiton-sgc/ for further information, or the associated website http://www.graceandtruthonline.com.  

Sweet Illumination

Adapted from Psalm 27:4

Words and Music by Shane Bernard

One thing, one thing
This is what I desire, this is what I desire
Sweet illumination, sweet illumination
That I may gaze upon His face
Oh, to know this man

Sweet illumination, sweet illumination
To glory in the presence of the King
Behold the sweet essence of this one thing
That I may know the Spring within me
As it rises the Spring, so sweet

The music above is copyrighted by the respective artists, and is demonstrated here for educational purposes only.

Guitar Tabs Click Here