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The same chapter in Romans that tells us that faith cometh by hearing the Word, tells us most plainly what
Word is meant:
" ... the Word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:8,9).
"If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain ... ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor.
15:14-17).
Abraham's faith was imputed (or reckoned) to him for righteousness, and says Romans 4:23-25 :
"Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be
imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences,
and was raised again for our justification".
While faith is so intimately associated with the Word of God, salvation is found only in Christ:
"The holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise
salvation through FAITH which is in Christ Jesus"
UNTO
(2 Tim. 3:15).
Faith says "Amen" to the statement that Christ is the "Sent One", sent to save:
"He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life" (John 5:24).
Faith sees in Christ God's remedy for sin:
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever
BELIEVETH in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16).
"The just shall live BY FAITH" (Rom. 1:17).
"The righteousness of God which is BY FAITH of Jesus Christ" (Rom. 3:22).
"A man is justified BY FAITH without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28).
"We have boldness and access with confidence BY THE FAITH of Him" (Eph. 3:12).
We are, moreover, told in Romans 4:16, that instead of thinking that the words "by faith" indicate anything
intangible, unreal and evanescent, they and they alone indicate certainty:
"Therefore it is of FAITH, that it might be by
GRACE;
to the end the promise might be SURE".
Grace being the unmerited favour of God shown to the worthless, the medium cannot possibly be the works of
such worthless ones, and can only be faith, for that is everywhere contrasted with works of merit:
"For by GRACE are ye saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of
WORKS,
lest
any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9).
While we here insist upon the radical difference between faith and works, let it not be construed that good works
should not be the result of salvation, for this very passage in Ephesians 2 goes on to say that such believers have
been created in Christ Jesus "unto good works", but that is a sphere that belongs to life and salvation, and those for
whom we write are still in darkness and the shadow of death.
"TRUST IN THE LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5).
"TRUST YE IN THE LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength (margin, the ROCK OF AGES)"
(Isa. 26:4).
"They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him" (Psa. 49:6,7).