Focus: I Believe! (Pt.1)

Text: Jh.4:50

"Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way."

In John's Gospel and Epistles, the word 'faith' as a noun is used only once, and it is found in 1Jh.5:4. We will come back to it later. John used the word 'faith' in its verbal form - "believe." He used it well over 130 times. The difference between a noun and a verb is that a noun represents something, while a verb speaks of action or something that one does. So a verb is an action word.

I believe that John used the word 'faith' as a verb deliberately, having in mind the Jewish concept of faith. A greater percentage of all Hebrew nouns stem from verbal roots, of which faith is one of them. For example, the first mention of the word 'faith' is in Gen.15:6, and it says, "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Abraham BELIEVED. That is a verb, not a noun. 

Faith is more than a thing; it is what you do. Believing always begets action or doing. Faith that stops with believing is not genuine. True faith goes beyond believing with the head or heart. Real faith is action faith. From the head and heart faith stirs and steers one's entire being. Faith rules from the center to the circumference of one's being. Faith touches and moves our hearts, hands, feet and tongues. Faith engages us totally. It gets us involved and engaged everywhere and in everything.

Using faith as a noun, God says to the children of Israel, "I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith" (Dt.32:20). The word used is 'êmûn in Hebrew, and that means that they were empty of the God content. They lacked the divine conviction of God in them and they had no confidence or firm belief in their God. They had no certainty of moral conviction in them. Jesus Christ says something similar to the Jews: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (Mt.8:10). He was pointing out to them about the faith of a certain centurion. For Jesus, such a faith as practiced, displayed, or demonstrated by the centurion was absolutely nonexistent in Israel.

Abraham believed in God. James puts it this way, "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God" (Jam.2:23). Abraham, by believing in God, received the righteousness of God into his moral and spiritual account and became a friend of God. By faith he became God's own friend. God says through Isaiah, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend" (Isa.41:8). God calls Abraham, "My friend," and his faith in God made it possible. From the bank of heaven Abraham cashed in the divine cheque and made a withdrawal of God's righteousness. By faith the righteousness of God was accredited or reckoned to him, and deposited into his faith account in the Bank of Heaven.

What a privilege to be called and identified as a friend of God! What a privilege to see one's self wearing God's robe of righteousness! Faith in God resurrects our glory and rewrites our story. I believe!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter