I have noticed that the reality of faith alone as one of the essential Sola’s revised from the Reformation is often misunderstood.  When we say faith alone, the intention is that faith is the only channel God has provided for mankind to be redeemed. For the Old Testament saints it was a faith in God according to what He had revealed and the promise of a coming Messiah. In the New Testament, we know that our faith is also in God and in what He has revealed and promised exclusively in Christ Jesus. The blessed means of salvation by faith is often twisted and confused so that faith itself has been misunderstood and misapplied. Some place their faith in their church or denomination. Others place their faith in what they did in relation to their profession. Faith can be misplaced in something as simple as saying a prayer or walking an aisle or baptism. In all of these gestures, the object of faith must not be in the action taken but in Christ. Faith must not be in the ordinance, practice, or anything surrounding religion but upon Christ alone. Neither can our faith be in what we have done in a one-time gesture in the name of Christ. Only faith in Christ will change a person from within to then live by faith as a manner of life. Our faith must rest solely and continually in our Lord Jesus.

Not only are there those who have their faith based in denominations, or what they may have done on a religious occasion, but wrong ideas about the role of faith have led some to misplace their confidence not in the object of faith, but in faith itself. Some have made faith, in some form, their hope for eternal life. Let me clarify. Faith by its very definition is a reliance on an object focused outside of itself. Faith does not stand by itself. True saving faith does not originate with us but it is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9). Some individuals brag about their faith. By such it appears their confidence is not in Christ, who He is and what He has done and promised, but in what they believe is a faith they have generated. Their trust is focused on their faith. Their faith has become the object of their confidence. Their idea of faith may have unknowingly replaced Christ. This is a dangerous misunderstanding. It is not our faith that saves us. It is Christ who saves, and faith is the channel by which we embrace what He has done on behalf of sinners.

Brethren, this requires some extended thinking, but we must always realize that Satan loves to turn anything we may know as of vital sacred importance in relation to God into something to cause stumbling. Growing up in several churches, and under several different ministries, I was exposed to many evangelistic methods to accept Christ. I took advantage of this according to the instruction given, but what I accepted as my faith did not result in a change in my life and the same was true in the lives of my friends. All of us had at one time walked the aisle of the church to receive Christ. We were spoken of as Christians with an air of certainty because of what we had done according to instructions. I knew enough to know that my act was not my salvation, but I thought it reflected my faith and thereby made me acceptable to God. Along with myself, those I knew exemplified no real interest in the Bible, and no interest in pleasing God. In my confusion, I accepted it as Christianity and in my mind because it was done according to church practice, I believed it would keep me from hell. I told myself that I had exemplified faith by following the steps prescribed, and thought my compliance meant I had faith, but it was not a faith in Christ.

I am not blaming others for my confusion. I know people who went forward in a church service or a Billy Graham crusade and their lives were changed. I am sure that in the many messages I heard as a child and youth, the truth was presented even though I did not get it. I was looking at my faith, really myself, in what I had done by faith and not what was the source of salvation being the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It was later that God would do a true work in my heart. Paul says in Galatians 6:14 to those who had their attention drawn away from Christ to religious acts, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” I hope you see the purity of Paul’s faith by this statement. He was focused entirely on what our Lord did for sinners. His harsh statement of the world being crucified to him is expressing the magnitude of how he wanted to separate his relationship to Christ from any distraction this world can produce. Paul wanted no confusion about the object of his faith being in our Lord Jesus Christ. I love Paul’s statement to the Corinthians after telling them he did not come to them with elaborate words or methods – he stated, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Beloved, let us be sure the glorious object of our faith is exclusively the Lord Jesus Christ. As the hymn we sometimes sing says, “Show us Christ.” He alone is worthy of our complete trust and hope!