Faith Demands Complete Conviction

Romans 14:1-23 “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.  (2)  For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.  … (22) Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.  (23) But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” 

We have seen in the previous section that our everyday speech only changes once we have become fully convinced in our minds as to the truth and reality of God’s word on any given subject, and we discussed the steps that the believer must take to reach that point. This brings us to the next point that we need to discuss regarding the subject of faith, which is that faith demands action. There are two truths that we need to discuss regarding this subject, the first is the very clear truth revealed to us in scripture, that faith without action will never experience the power of God (James 2:17). The second truth, which we will discuss in this section, is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, i.e. that action without faith will also never experience the power of God, and in fact such actions are indeed sinful in the eyes of the Lord. In this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that an individual stands condemned if they act while in doubt. In other words, if an individual acts on God’s word while they are not yet fully convinced in their minds about the truth and reality of His word, they are in effect committing sin. And so it goes without saying that such an action will certainly not release God’s power in the situation. Sadly this is where a lot of Christians stumble because of erroneous teaching on the subject of faith. The error that is taught to the church in this area is that if you want to experience God’s power in your life then you must act on His word, as a demonstration of your faith. And so the church is taught to put the proverbial cart before the horse, by trying to act on that which they are not yet fully convinced about in their minds. Because this is not an act of faith, God’s power is not manifested in response to such actions and the saints’ end up failing to receive from God. And so as a result of this erroneous teaching many saints question either their faith in God or question His word. This passage of scripture clearly teaches us the principle that to act before being fully convinced is to act presumptuously and will always result in failure.

1 John 3:9 “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” 

Scripture teaches us that we have an outward man and an inward man (2 Corinthians 4:16). Our inward man is made up primarily of two parts, our minds and our spirits, and as we have already mentioned, it is our spirits that are born-again when we become new creations in Christ Jesus. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle John reveals to us that one who is born of God cannot sin. The part of man that John is referring to in this passage is the spirit of man, because it is our spirits that are born of God. And so we see a very important truth revealed to us by John, which is that the spirit of the born-again believer cannot sin. We have also seen in the previous scripture that anything not done from faith is sin. In other words any action taken by the saint while in doubt is sin. This passage of scripture confirms the truth that for our faith to work we must be fully convinced in our minds regarding the truths in God’s word. The reason for that is because it is only in the mind of the born-again believer that doubt can exist, for as we have established, the part of the born-again believer that cannot doubt is their spirit because their spirit cannot sin.

Romans 2:14-15 “for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,  (15)  who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”

So why is it important for us to recognise that doubt can only exist in the mind of the believer and not in their spirit? The above quoted passage of scripture gives us one of the reasons why this truth is important for us to understand. In the context of this passage the “heart” that the apostle Paul is referring to is the spirit of the believer. And so in this passage Paul teaches us that the spirit and conscience of the born-again believer will always convict the believer of any sin that they commit, for together the spirit and conscience will accuse the believer of the wrong that they are doing. And so if the saint acts in doubt, both their spirit and their conscience will convict them of that sin. This is a safety mechanism that God has given to the saints, to help them recognise when they are acting while not yet being fully convinced in their minds regarding the reality and truth of God’s word. And so when believers are fully convinced in their minds regarding their actions then they will be walking in faith and not in the sin of doubt, and their spirit and conscience will therefore not convict them of any sin.

1 John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”

In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle John confirms the same truth to us that Paul mentioned in the previous passage of scripture. In the context of this passage the “heart” that John is referring to is also the spirit of the believer. Essentially what John is saying in this passage is that if our spirits do not condemn us in the actions we are taking, we can be assured that we are acting in faith and not in doubt. Clearly therefore the reverse can also be stated, i.e. if our spirits do condemn us in the actions we are taking, we can be assured that we are acting in doubt and not in faith. Obviously it goes without saying that the saint who acts in doubt will not receive anything from God (James 1:6-7).

Numbers 14:40-45 “And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!"  (41)  And Moses said, "Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed.  (42)  Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you.  (43)  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you."  (44)  But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp.  (45) Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.”

The above quoted passage of scripture is an example of how acting without faith always ends in disaster. The context of this passage is that Israel rebelled against the Lord after they heard the reports from the twelve spies that had come back from spying out the land of Canaan. God had allowed one spy from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to go into the land of Canaan to assess the strength of the nations that they were supposed to conquer. Two of the spies, i.e. Joshua and Caleb had come back with a good report telling the Israelites that they were well able to conquer the land because God was with them. Ten of the spies however said the exact opposite, i.e. that it was impossible for them to be able to conquer the land, for the nations living there were too powerful for them to overcome. The Israelites chose to believe the ten spies that gave the evil report and refused to obey God’s instruction to invade the land. And so because of their disobedience God judged them and committed the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for forty years until that generation had passed away. We pick up the account in the above passage of scripture which records what transpired the following morning after they heard God’s judgement. This account reveals to us that the Israelites had changed their minds and now they wanted to go up and fight. Moses instructed them not to do so because God had already pronounced His judgement on them. The Israelites ignored Moses counsel however and the scripture declares that they presumed to go up and attack the Canaanites. The problem was that they were not acting in faith however but rather in presumption, and as a result God was not with them and they were soundly defeated. This example clearly teaches us that if we want God’s power to be manifested on our behalf then we must act in faith not in doubt.

 Hebrews 11:29 “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.”

The above quoted passage of scripture is another example of how acting without faith never ends well. In the context of this passage the Holy Spirit teaches us that when the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea they could do so because they acted in faith, thus releasing God’s power to split the Red Sea for them. Their Egyptian pursuers’ on the other hand entered the same Red Sea, not by faith however but rather because they attempted to do the same thing that they witnessed the Israelites doing. The result for the Egyptians was catastrophic, because the moment the last Israelite reached the other side of the Red Sea God’s power was withdrawn and the Red Sea came crashing down on them and drowned every single one of them. We need to recognise from this example that we cannot observe one believer operating in God’s power by faith and simply assume that we can do the same thing. It is only faith that releases God’s power not trying to copy what others are doing. In other words, acting on God’s word without being fully convinced in your mind about the reality and truth of His word i.e. faith, will not release the power of God. Such actions are foolishness and can have very serious consequences indeed.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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