Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
The second spiritual truth which we will discuss is the fact that the New Testament teaches us that there are three different levels of faith. The first level of faith is the faith which, as we have already mentioned, is given to every human being, and it is this faith which enables people to believe the gospel and thus be saved. In the scripture quoted above the apostle Paul confirms the truth to us that this faith is a gift from God. Because people need this level of faith in order to be saved, some have referred to it as saving faith. Nevertheless even though every human being has been given this level of faith not everyone is saved. So why is that? The answer is because one can only apply one’s faith in that which they understand, and because certain unbelievers do not understand the gospel they cannot therefore exercise their faith in the gospel and thus be saved (Matthew 13:19).
Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (17) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith.”
The faith that is given to the saints to believe in the gospel and thus be saved is that same faith that the saints are required to use in order to live the godly lifestyles that God has called us to live. The apostle Paul talks about this level of faith in the above quoted passage of scripture, when he tells us that the saints (the just) are to live by faith. Because saints need this level of faith in order to live their Christian lives, some have referred to it as daily living faith. Nevertheless which ever term you give it, i.e. saving faith or daily living faith, it is still the basic level of faith that is given equally to every saint to firstly, believe the gospel, and secondly to live the godly lifestyles that God expects His children to live. Because faith is directly related to our understanding, the saints are able to grow in their faith as their level of understanding of God’s word increases. And so we see that every believer comes into the kingdom of God with the exact same level of faith i.e. they all believe the gospel of salvation. Nevertheless some believers continue to grow in their faith because they continue to grow in their understanding of God’s word, and are thus able to exercise their faith in more and more of His word. Many believers never grow in faith however, simply because they never grow in their understanding of God’s word beyond the gospel message of salvation in Christ Jesus.
Romans 12:3-7 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. (4) For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, (5) so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; (7) or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching.”
The second level of faith which we will discuss is the faith which is imparted to each member of the body of Christ when they come into the kingdom of God. When believers are born-again God imparts an additional measure of faith to the individual, which allows them to operate in the gifting that they have received in the body of Christ. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul teaches us that each of us has received a specific gift that dictates our function in the body of Christ. Paul goes on to say in this passage that each gift is accompanied by its own measure of faith. To further explain this concept Paul goes on to give the example of those who prophesy, by telling us that they should prophesy in proportion to the faith that they have received. And so we see that because this faith is directly related to the ministry gift that each saint receives, some have referred to this faith as ministry gift faith. In the same passage Paul teaches us to think of ourselves in line with the measure of faith that God has given each one of us. Obviously he is implying that some have received more faith than others, depending on the functional gift that they have received in the body of Christ. So how does ministry gift faith differ from our daily living faith? Earlier we discussed the concept of our faith in God’s word being directly related to our understanding of His word. And we also established that unless God gives us understanding of His word that it remains hidden from us (1 Corinthians 2:7). Therefore when God imparts a gift to His saint He also gives them spiritual understanding on how to operate in their gift. And because they have that understanding they are able to exercise their faith to operate in their gift. For example one who has received the gift of pastor receives spiritual understanding on how to operate as a pastor, because of which they are therefore able to exercise their faith to operate in that gift. This same principle applies in reverse however. For example one who receives the gift of evangelist does not receive spiritual understanding on how to operate as a pastor, because of which they are therefore unable to exercise their faith to operate in the gift of pastor. Therefore each member in the body has been given a specific function, and one who has been called to function as an ear cannot function as an eye (1 Corinthians 12:17-18). Therefore the principle of ministry gift faith is that just as God in His sovereignty imparts the gift to the individual, so it is that He only imparts understanding about the gift to the one who has received the gift. And so we can see that although the saints can grow in their daily living faith as the Lord opens their understanding to His word, daily living faith can never be used to operate in ministry gifts because God only opens our understanding to the ministry gifts which He has given us.
1 Corinthians 12:7-9 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit.”
The third and final level of faith which we will discuss is the gift of special faith which is mentioned in the above quoted passage of scripture. It is this faith which is the subject of this series, and so we will obviously examine this level of faith in detail in this series. For the purposes of our discussion in this section however, we will briefly differentiate between this spiritual gift of faith and the other two levels of faith that we have already mentioned, i.e. daily living faith and ministry gift faith. The simplest way to explain the difference between the above mentioned gift of faith and the other two is that this faith is in fact the faith of the Holy Spirit. In this passage the apostle Paul declares that when these gifts are manifested in the church that it is in fact the Holy Spirit that is manifesting Himself through each one of these gifts, which would obviously include the gift of faith. And so whereas the other two levels of faith that we have already discussed are the faiths given to the saints by God, this faith is in fact God’s faith being displayed through the one being used by the Holy Spirit at the time. As we examine various scriptural examples of this gift of faith in operation later in this series, this truth will become a lot clearer to understand.
Michael E.B. Maher
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