1 Thes 1:3 Remembering unceasingly your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. 1 Thes 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet, the hope of salvation.
...the work of faith refers to all the acts, actions, of faith. Suppose an evangelist preaches the gospel to an unbeliever. The unbeliever accepts the word, faith is produced in him, and through this faith he is born of God and put into Christ. Now that he has faith, certain actions are sure to follow. For example, he may spontaneously declare, "O Lord Jesus, You are so precious!" Then he may go home and speak to his wife and children about believing in the Lord Jesus. Both the declaration concerning the Lord and the preaching of the Lord are works of faith. Faith implies God, grace, power, light, and many other items. For this reason, when a new believer preaches Christ to his wife, the faith within him may enlighten him concerning his attitude toward her. Then he will confess his shortcomings to the Lord and apologize to his wife concerning certain matters. This also is a work of faith. Those who have faith are very different from those who do not have faith. Before they had faith, some indulged in sinful things. Now that they have faith, they can no longer indulge in these things. Spontaneously, as an action, a work, of faith, they refrain from those things. Others before they were saved were not good neighbors. But after they were saved and came to have faith, they became very kind, gentle, loving, and considerate. No one taught them to be different. The change was produced by the faith within them. The faith caused them to be helpful to others, especially to other believers. This is another illustration of the work of the faith.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Thessalonians, pp. 51-52. 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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