What is the faith, not just faith but "the faith"? The old standby answer is: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Do you know what the faith is now? Probably not. I quoted that verse of Scripture for years and still didn’t know what it was. Faith is not found in human nature. Therefore you cannot work it up through discipline. The Faith we speak of in this message is Christ. He is Faith!
Mark 11:22 Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God.
Jesus said this in response to His disciples. He had cursed a fig tree and by morning the tree had dried up from the roots. The disciples marveled that the fig tree had dried up so quickly. Our Bibles give His answer as “Have faith in God.” The translators of the Scriptures, though, do not always translate them perfectly as they were first written. The original does not say “have faith in God” but “have the faith of God.” Having faith in God is one thing but having the faith of God is much more.
Galatians 2:20 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.
Paul said, “I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Most of our modern Bibles translate Paul’s words as “I live by faith in the Son of God.” The King James Version translates it correctly here, “I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Do you see the difference? It is His faith in you that is most necessary not your faith in Him. Your faith, as explained in a previous message, is polluted with the corruption of your flesh nature. Also, in Luke 18:8 Jesus asks, “When the son of man comes, will He find the faith on the earth?” And, of course, the faith He is looking for is not your faith in Him but His faith in you.
Galatians 3:1-2 O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not
obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth,
crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the
law, or by the hearing of faith?
Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law? Did you receive the Spirit by good works you have done? Of course not. You cannot earn the Spirit through works. There is nothing you can do to merit receiving the Spirit. If you receive the Spirit, it is by the hearing of faith. That must be understood. The hearing of faith is a capacity only found in Christ. We must understand that there is nothing in ourselves that can please God or receive from Him. When Paul says that there is none that does good, no, not one (Romans 3:12), he is not just speaking of sinners of the world. He is speaking of everyone – Christians and non-Christians. There is nothing good that can come out of your self-nature. The hearing of faith must be the hearing of Christ in you.
Galatians 3:2, 5 This only would I learn of you, did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
5 He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you,
does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Notice that verse 2 is the input and verse 5 is the output. Your receiving of the Spirit must be by the hearing of faith and your ministering of the Spirit must be by the hearing of faith. The capacity of the hearing of faith is the receiver of the Spirit and the hearing of faith is the impartation of Spirit. The hearing of faith is an activity of Christ. Therefore the receiving of Spirit and the ministry of Spirit is all of Christ. Do you understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I do nothing of Myself” (John 8:28)? Well, we can do nothing of ourselves either. It must be Christ in us. The faith that works is His faith. Will He find that kind of faith in us?
Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Abraham was not righteous in himself. Righteousness is a part of the divine nature of God. The righteousness of the Lord was reckoned to Abraham. We are not righteous in ourselves; He is our righteousness. In the same way that He becomes our sin bearer, He becomes our righteousness.
Galatians 3:7 Know you therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
The Greek reads, they which are out of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. “The faith” of which we speak produces the children of promise, the seed which becomes the heirs of the promises of Abraham. They are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Romans 9:6-7. Do you see it? The children of God are produced by the activity of God’s faith in us.
Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
out of faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed.
9 So then they which are out of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Are you getting this? Out of the faith, the same faith that was reckoned to Abraham, God would justify the Gentiles. This is the Gospel. When God said to Abraham, “In you shall all nations be blessed,” He was proclaiming the Gospel. God worked His faith in Abraham and then activated His faith through him. That is the input and output of the Gospel.
Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through the faith.
The faith is the channel for the promise. Also, verse 8 said that God would justify the Gentiles out of the faith, the faith which is the input and output of the Gospel. In verse 14 it is said that the blessing will come through Jesus Christ. Does it come through the faith or does it come through Jesus Christ? It is one and the same. Jesus Christ is the faith! The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.
Galatians 3:23 Before the faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Before the faith came…. When did the faith come? It came when Christ came. He is the faith! Again, the question was, “When the Son of man comes, will He find the faith on the earth?” It is not will you have faith in the Lord, but will His faith be in you?
Copyright © 2006 by Henry DuBose