Faith: What Does This Mean?

Faith is the gift of knowledge, assent and confidence in Christ worked in us by the Holy Spirit, which receives the grace, mercy and salvation of God, by which we are restored to a right relationship with Him.

Lutherans Confess:

When Martin Luther, then a guilt-plagued young friar, initially studied Romans 1:17, it terrified him: “For in [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.'” Faith, it seemed, was some kind of superpower needed to live righteously before God. After much prayer and meditation came a realization: The man who lives by faith — a gift from God — is made righteous. Later, Luther would summarize faith in his preface to the same epistle: “Faith, however, is a divine work in us which changes us and makes us to be born anew of God. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; and it brings with it the Holy Spirit.”

This understanding of faith is found throughout the Scriptures. Ephesians 2:8–9 says it most succinctly: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Grace saves us by restoring the disordered relationship between God and man; faith receives this gift of God’s grace. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” writes the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, and it is Jesus who is “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 11:1; 12:2).

Faith comes from God Himself and not our own thinking, willing or feeling; nevertheless, faith affects the mind, will and heart. Faith alters our mind, giving knowledge about God, His will and the atoning work of His Son, Jesus. Faith alters our will, instilling in it the desire to do those things that God desires. And faith alters our heart to trust our Lord with steadfast confidence. That said, the important thing about faith is its object, namely Christ. The fluctuation one experiences throughout the course of life — perhaps even the course of a day! — whereby one understands, wills or loves God and godly things to a greater or lesser degree is not a fluctuation of faith. Faith rests in Jesus, who “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), even if we stumble in mind, will or heart.

This reality — understanding saving faith as consisting of its object, Christ, and not the lived experience of faith — is what sets the Lutheran view of faith apart from many other churches’ teachings. Often without realizing it, other denominations end up talking about faith like it is a work, or at least partially a work, of man. In contrast, Lutherans clearly delineate faith from good works (see p. 18–19) and make the clear confession that saving faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Unpacking Other Definitions:

Mere submission or obedience: Some groups view faith as the moral subordination of the will to God. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, “In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace” (CCC.155). The Catholic Church stresses the role of obedience with regard to faith: “To obey … in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard” (CCC.144). They hold that “Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith” through her assent to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation and throughout the rest of her life (CCC.148–9). Of course, Lutherans also hold that obedience to the will of God is an important part of sanctification. That said, this is distinct from faith, which is not an area where man cooperates with God. As Lutherans, we reject the idea that in faith the Christian must cooperate with his human will and rather confess that the will is altered by God as a part of the gift of faith.

Mere emotion: Other groups claim that the feelings the Christian experiences in relation to God — experiences like love, joy, peace or sorrow over sin — are saving faith. Has anyone ever asked you, “When were you saved?” Often, this question is really asking, “When did you first have an emotionally affirming experience related to God?” This is what John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, famously described in his journal, ironically while listening to someone read Luther’s preface to Romans:

While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. … Then was I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith.1

Wesleyan and related groups rely heavily on these types of intense experiences: warming of the heart, ecstatic outbursts, crying. This is seen also in the revivalist movements that have been recurringly popular in America, from the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century to the “Jesus freak” movement of the 1960s and 1970s to the Asbury Revival in 2023. To be clear, responding emotionally to the Word of Jesus is good and a legitimate way that faith is articulated: Who among us has not shed a tear singing “Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart” at a funeral or experienced the buoyant bliss of that first full-throated “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!” on Easter Sunday? Faithful feelings are good, but they are not saving faith itself. The emotional responses we have in life as Christians are an outcome of that faith that the Holy Spirit works in us, not something we work in ourselves, and not something that indicates how strong or weak our faith is.

Mere intellectual acknowledgement: There is a puzzling verse in the Book of James that we do well to heed: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!” (James 2:19). The demons know the story of salvation, but it does them no good. Mere intellectual knowledge of Jesus is not faith — faith is a gift of God, which acknowledges not just the existence of God, but what He has done for us. As Lutherans, we confess that knowing a lot about the Bible or the Lutheran Confessions is not what saves; Christians are saved by the Holy Spirit working true saving faith in their hearts (Ap IV 48–49).

From Scripture:

“Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1–2).

From Our Confessions:

“Faith means not only a knowledge of the history, but the kind of faith that believes in the promise. … It is not enough to believe that Christ was born, suffered, was raised again, unless we add also this article, which is the purpose of the history: the forgiveness of sins” (Ap IV 50, 51).

1 John Wesley, Journal of John Wesley, Chapter 2.