THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH

What is the nature of the Christian faith? This is a broad issue that can be addressed in many ways. For this reason, in this post, I am going to talk about it, about the Christian faith, only as a structure of concepts and a disposition of the human spirit to believe and to approach God.

Christian faith is the term used to designate the great structure of concepts, events, narratives, and characters that appear in the process of divine Revelation to mankind. It affirms that the world and man were created by God and that the human being lived a time in the divine presence, in a state of perfection. But man, in his own decision, turned himself away from the Creator and was lost, entering in a process of physical and spiritual corruption that culminates in death. (Genesis 1-3).

It also professes that the Creator himself entered into humanity through the Son to open a way for man to return to his original condition. Furthermore this way is faith in the sacrifice of the Son, on the cross, in favor of humanity. And that the present human system in which we now live, will come to an end when God establishes a new world order in which He Himself will live again in the presence of men. According to the book of Revelation, in this new world, "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (21: 4-5).

It is true that the Apostle Paul said that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ" (Romans 10:17). However, a person can be educated in this whole structure of concepts and not reach the faith in its intrinsic sense, that is, not to be able to believe in and trust in God and his Son. A person may even call himself a Christian and even go to church, but inwardly, he does not believe and lives according to his own guidance. They are the nominal Christians who, although professing a so-called Christian religion, did not have a personal encounter with God.

This faith, which the author of Hebrews defined as "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (11.1), indeed comes by the preaching of the gospel. But it is not an immediate and automatic consequence of the announcement. Nor is it a human achievement, but a gift from God to one who seeks with all his heart and opens himself to the action of the Holy Spirit in his life.

Jesus once said to a great expert of the Scriptures, "very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘you must be born again’" (John 3.5-7). The Christian faith reaches the heart of man by a miracle, a work of the Spirit of God that Jesus called "born again". This "birth of the Spirit" is a divine action within the one who surrenders to God, it is a birth to life and spiritual reality. 

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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