2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
There are at least four claims in Christendom that must be irrefutably true for Christianity to be legitimate and acceptable. The Inspiration of the scriptures, the virgin birth of Christ, the death of Christ on the cross, and Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The first is the foundational truth from which all Christian truth stems, that the Bible is the verbally inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of the Living God. If it is not, then none of the claims concerning God, creation, heaven and hell, Jesus Christ and Christianity can be boldly proclaimed with confidence. If you don’t have faith in your product then you’ll be timid in its promotion.
In the last article I spoke about some thing’s faith brings, and we saw that “faith brings sight”, when we saw the two blind men in Matthew 9 receive their sight when Jesus said, “according to your faith.”
I want to continue that thought today in relation to the word of God, and the power that it has in the human heart to bring faith. I feel that there is nothing more important, or powerful in all the world than true faith in God’s word. Romans 10:17 tells us where faith comes from; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We see by this one verse that to believe the word, one must hear the word. That’s why Paul told young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” Faith to believe what we must believe, (doctrine) only comes when we hear it. The Spirit of God takes the word of God and produces faith in what we have heard.
Faith is hard to define, but the scriptures define it like this in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The word of God is preached, it penetrates the heart, and the things that you could not see before take on substance and the truth becomes evident. That’s faith! You now believe what you couldn’t believe before. The preached word of God produced faith, or belief, and we’re talking about faith in Christ.
I want to show in closing that no one can believe on Christ without hearing the word of God. There must be someone to preach it; Romans 10:12, 13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 13 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? There must be someone to give them the word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”