Hearing the word of God
Posted on April 9, 2007
Filed Under Matt Clifton, Salvation
by Matt Clifton
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve been a Christian as long as I can remember?” Or, when asked if they are a Christian, someone responds, “Well, my parents have always been Christians, so I guess I am a Christian too.”
Answers like these make you ponder the question, “What makes a person a Christian? Is there a point at which I can KNOW I am a Christian?” As always, we must seek answers to spiritual questions like these in the scriptures, and over the next few articles we will come to know exactly what the Bible says about the point at which a person can truthfully wear the name “Christian.”
To begin with, a Christian is a disciple of Christ. In Acts 11:26 we read that Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch, where for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught many people, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. A disciple, of course, is a student or a learner. Therefore, we can understand that a Christian is a student of Jesus Christ. Even deeper than that, a Christian is a person who has faith that Jesus Christ is more than a mere human teacher, but that He is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God (Matt. 16:16). So in a nutshell, a Christian is a follower of Christ who has faith that Jesus is the Savior, God who came in the flesh (John 1:1-14), died for our sins (1 John 2:2), and rose from the grave (Matt. 28:5-7), conquering death and sin.
But what is faith, and where does it come from? Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). So according to the Bible, the beginning of faith is to have confidence in the things God has promised, to have confidence that God exists, and to have confidence that God rewards those who seek Him diligently with the things He has promised. These promises include our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the eternal life He makes available to all. Notice in Hebrews 11:6 that faith is a real thing. It is substance, it is evidence. It is not some mysterious, unknowable thing!
Where does faith come from? First of all, it does not come by birth! One cannot be “born” a Christian. One is not a Christian because his or her mother of father was a Christian. Second, faith does not come from some “miraculous endowment,” where God touches your heart and suddenly you have faith. Third, faith does not come by prayer. No one has ever been saved by saying a “sinner’s prayer,” and there is no example of anyone being saved in such a way in the scriptures.
Simply put, the Bible says that faith comes from hearing the word of God, Romans 10:17. God’s word is the origin of faith. When the gospel is preached or read, God’s power is in action! And that gospel that was preached by the apostles and is recorded for us in the Bible is the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). It was the power of God unto salvation then, and it still is today.
Following the resurrection of Christ, no man or woman was ever saved by any means other than hearing and obeying God’s word. In the next few articles, we will examine what the Bible says about salvation and how one knows one is a true disciple of Jesus the Christ, and truly saved!
RELATED POSTS:
Origin of Faith
Belief in Jesus Christ
Confessing Christ before men
Repenting of sin
Consider yourself served!
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