Faith in Action

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

In January, we explored the topic of science and religion, and I have been thinking a lot about different “ways of knowing”. One of the greatest failures of religious fundamentalism is the insistence that there is only one way of knowing. Thus faith and reason are conflated. But in fact, as this reading from Hebrews suggests, faith is confidence in hope and assurance without sight, without proof. Faith is the invisible made visible.

I do not personally find a conflict between my faith and my respect of science. I believe they are different ways of knowing that reveal different truths about the world. By science and reason, we can study the universe, care for the natural environment, and heal bodies and minds. And by faith, as Hebrews reads, “we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command”. This knowledge is only attainable by faith. For me, it is like the difference between observing a tree growing and marveling at the miracle of its leaves unfolding– and knowing that the unfolding of my life is a miracle, too, held in the hands of a loving God.

These words written by Protestant Reformer Phillip Melanchthon in the sixteenth century speak to the importance of faith:

“But that faith which justifies is not merely a knowledge of history, [not merely this, that I know the stories of Christ’s birth, suffering, etc. (that even the devils know,)] but it is to assent to the promise of God, in which, for Christ’s sake, the remission of sins and justification are freely offered. [It is the certainty or the certain trust in the heart, when, with my whole heart, I regard the promises of God as certain and true, through which there are offered me, without my merit, the forgiveness of sins, grace, and all salvation, through Christ the Mediator.] And that no one may suppose that it is mere knowledge, we will add further: it is to wish and to receive the offered promise of the remission of sins and of justification. [Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure. It is not my doing, not my presenting or giving, not my work or preparation, but that a heart comforts itself, and is perfectly confident with respect to this, namely, that God makes a present and gift to us, and not we to Him, that He sheds upon us every treasure of grace in Christ.]”