1 Thes 1:5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit... (6) And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, (8) For from you the word of the Lord has sounded out...your faith toward God has gone out...
It is very difficult to say what faith is. However, by considering these verses carefully, we can have a proper understanding of faith. First, faith is a matter of having the word preached to us. Next, faith includes our accepting of the word and our sounding it out. This kind of word is faith. The word of the gospel is preached, accepted, and declared. In this way the word becomes faith within us. In the speaking of the preacher, the word is the gospel. But when we accept the word, and especially when we sound out the word, it becomes faith within us. Suppose a preacher of the gospel speaks to an unbeliever concerning man's fall and God's salvation. The one who preaches the gospel tells the unbeliever that in Christ God was incarnate, that He was crucified for our sins, that He was resurrected from among the dead, and that He has become the life-giving Spirit in order to dwell in us. When this unbeliever receives the word of the gospel and declares it, it becomes faith.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Thessalonians, p. 48. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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