there was an interesting post yesterday by Mike Potemera on the Corner. In it Mike quotes a catholic, Thomas Merton quoting Karl Barth on the importance of faith. here is the portion of Barth quoted by Merton:
Everyone who has to contend with unbelief should be advised that he ought not to take his own unbelief too seriously. Only faith is to be taken seriously; and if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, that suffices, for the devil has lost his game.
and here is Merton’s further exposition:
To take one’s good works seriously is to be a pharisee. Only faith is to be taken seriously because only the mercy of God is serious. And if we put too much emphasis on the seriousness of what we do [we set ourselves up to be] judged as men who have taken seriously something other than His infinite mercy. . . . In taking faith seriously it is God whom we take seriously, not ourselves . . . God Who gives me faith and renews that gift, by His mercy, at every moment, in spite of my unbelief. This I think is one of the central intuitions of evangelical Christianity. . . . It is something, too, which many Protestants have themselves forgotten, becoming instead obsessed with faith as it is in themselves, constantly watching themselves to see if faith is still there, which means turning faith into a good work and being justified, consequently, by works.
Isn’t that interesting? reread this sentence again: “In taking faith seriously it is God whom we take seriously, not ourselves . . . God Who gives me faith and renews that gift, by His mercy, at every moment, in spite of my unbelief.”
That is why the man in Mark 9:24 is one of my favorites. He understood that God is the one who overcomes our unbelief. That is also why I like the juxtaposition in II Peter 1:3 against II Peter 1:5. “His divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and Godliness…” “for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue…”
Do you see that it is only because of the fact that His divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and Godliness that we can undertake the effort to supplement our faith with works?
My sister directed me yesterday morning to Titus 2:11-15 where we see the same thing.
11 For hthe grace of God ihas appeared, bringing salvationjfor all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness andkworldly passions, and lto live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in mthe present age, 13 nwaiting for our blessedohope, the pappearing of the glory of our great qGod and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 rwho gave himself for us to sredeem us from all lawlessness and tto purify for himself ta people for his own possession who are uzealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and vrebuke with all authority. wLet no one disregard you.
the grace of God itself “trains us to renounce ungodliness” etc. God’s grace is demonstrated in us as He sanctifies us using his divine power. God’s grace overcomes our unbelief with faith as we wait in hope for his return. He gave himself completely in order to make for himself a people who are zealous for good works.
such a wondrous thing. That is why Paul in Ephesians 2 emphasized the fact that even while we were completely dead in our sins God in His mercy made us alive with Christ. then we see this:
vby grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him andwseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurablexriches of his grace in ykindness toward us in Christ Jesus.8 For zby grace you have been saved athrough faith. And this is bnot your own doing; cit is the gift of God, 9 dnot a result of works, eso that no one may boast. 10 For fwe are his workmanship, gcreated in Christ Jesus hfor good works,iwhich God prepared beforehand, jthat we should walk in them.
we have been saved by grace and “created in Christ Jesus” in order to engage in the good works that God has already planned for us to do.
God’s grace alone has set aside for Himself a people and it is by God’s grace alone that we wake up each day continuing in faith with Him. It is by God’s grace alone that we “make every effort” so that we can do the good works “before ordained” for us to accomplish.
According to scripture the efforts and good works that God gives us the ability to do and plans for us to do thus become the very evidence of our saving faith. James 2:14-26