Faith in the New Testament

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Faith in the Gospel of Matthew

October 13, 2011 in Bible with 6 Comments

This post is part of a series on faith in the New Testament.

Here begins our first book of the Bible showing the examples of the word faith in the New Testament. This post will look at the thirteen examples we see in the Gospel of Matthew with a brief commentary on each.

Matthew 6:30

“If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

Here is one of many passages we see where a lack of faith is viewed as indictment on that person’s spirituality. This does not shed insight into the question of faith, but it shows that a person can have a lack of faith from an imbalance in the way you follow Jesus. Thus we could also conclude that there is a healthy type of faith in contrast to this. We could call that “great faith” or literally, “much faith.”

Now That’s a Transformation!

October 11, 2011 in Bible with 1 Comment

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

This is one of my favorite verses. It reminds me that I’m quick to conclude what type of change a person is capable of but I love watching how God can radically transform anyone! Jesus is in the redeeming business, and one of the joys of ministry is watching Him do it time and time again.

I’m pretty sure this video isn’t an example of this verse… but it reminded me of it! Enjoy some awesomeness!

Would You Be Surprised?

October 10, 2011 in Bible, Jesus with 7 Comments

I saw this recent video of Troy Palamalu pretending to be a wax figure (or a statue of some sort). You see the different reactions that each person has when they realize that he is actually in their midst.

Polamalu pranks visitors

It seems that much of Christianity is viewed this way as well. We try and dissect to study Jesus in the Bible but often fail to realize that He is alive and well and in our midst today. While it is funny to watch Troy surprise people, it is tragic for the Church to be shocked that Jesus is walking among us.

The Question of Faith

October 5, 2011 in Bible, Reading with 26 Comments

This post is part of a series on faith in the New Testament.

For years now I’ve been a big fan of Tim Keller. I admire him as a theologian, as a preacher, and as an author. I agree with many that he is the closest thing to a modern day C.S. Lewis that we have today. As is true with just about anybody that I listen to, this does not mean I agree with everything he says. I’m currently reading through his book entitled King’s Cross and he addressed faith in a way that seems to be very common these days.

“…faith ultimately is not a virtue; it’s a gift. If you want to believe but can’t, stop looking inside; go to Jesus and say, ‘Help me believe.’ Go to him and say, ‘So you’re the one who gives faith! I’ve been trying to work it out by reasoning and thinking and meditating and going to church in hopes that a sermon will move me–I’ve been trying to get faith by myself. Now I see that you’re the source of faith. Please give it to me.’ If you do that, you’ll find that Jesus has been seeking you–he’s the author of faith, the provider of faith, and the object of faith.”

This sounds great. But it puts the responsibility of faith primarily on God. The problem with this for me is that there are some passages that seem to lean in this direction while others seem to imply just the opposite, as we shall soon see.

Here’s the question as I see it: Continue Reading…

Faith in the New Testament

October 3, 2011 in Bible with 2 Comments

The idea of faith has intrigued me for awhile and I’ve decided to launch into a blog series that will probably take me months to get through. Our English word “faith” is used more than two hundred times in the NIV version of the New Testament in the Bible (excluding the use of it in the headings). This series will take a look at them all and wrestle with the idea of where faith comes from and what it should cause us to do. My goal is at the end of this (which seems a bit far off at this point) that we would have a more accurate Biblical understanding of this topic. This will also serve as a useful resource to myself, and hopefully others, in teaching or referencing this prominent Biblical topic.

In addition to this landing page with links to all of them as they are written, there will be 21 posts through all the books that use the word faith in the New Testament.