“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1st Corinthians 15:3-4).
In recent visits we have considered the essence of faith and the action of faith as seen in the second section of Paul’s letter to the Romans, 3:21-6:23. Today let’s look at what he says about the object of faith – in whom and/or what we believe.
Abraham is presented as the father of all who believe. Who did he believe in? According to 4:3 the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God.” This was “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (verse 17). It is also the God “who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” verse 24.
Abraham believed in the Almighty, self sufficient, miracle-working God of creation. This God had promised him a son through whom there would emerge a nation. Even though he saw no human way this was possible he believed God had the power to do what He had promised. With this God, nothing is impossible. Placing faith in Him opens your heart so that God can do His promised work of grace in you.
You also read in Romans 3:22 and 26 that we are to place our faith in Jesus Christ. Two specifics related to Jesus Christ are to be believed in. In 3:25 it mentions having faith in His blood, referring to His sacrifice of atonement. And in 4:24 it refers to His being raised from the dead.
It’s clear that we are to have faith in the person, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Discount any one of these three pillars of our faith and you do not have Christianity. If Jesus Christ is not who He claimed to be, and if He did not die and rise from the dead, then our Christian faith is in vain. We are still in our sins.
Who we believe in and what we believe in is crucial to authentic Christianity.
