No, faith as a word does not translate semantically into the word "rest." However, for a believer in Jesus Christ, that is exactly what it does. Most Church folk in all honestly do not understand the true Biblical concept of faith.
I grew up primarily in a Baptist church that became a Charismatic church. Over time, Word of Faith ideology became the norm, and even to some degree what I call "hyper-Arminianism," an "old time" Holiness ideology that basically says that every time you sin, the Holy Spirit has to leave your body.
I do not question that these folks do not sincerely love the Lord, but they are ignorant of historical and Biblical doctrines concerning what the Gospel, faith, and the true nature of salvation is all about.
On top of that, we enter into a church world where we enter into a building that is crisp and neat. The people are crisp and neat. Suits, ties, dresses and hats, all put forth a false facade that we want everyone else to see. There's nothing wrong with wearing nice clothes, but dressing to the hilt to go to church is a tradition, one that is, fortunately changing a bit nowadays.
When you are in a church environment that exudes perfection, you will find eventually like I and so many others have, that you can not live up to it.
Paul says first that we were alienated from God and were his enemies because of our evil behavior. This is not an exception to the rule, but speaks of everyone who has been born except for Jesus. "There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11). The problem is we do not understand the depth of our depravity. We are not good, no not one. We cannot do good things. We, by nature, cannot measure up.
Next, Paul says that God has reconciled us through the physical body of Jesus. This is not general reconciliation, but reconciliation that has been appropriated through faith. Why? Though Jesus reconciled the world unto Himself, Paul is speaking on a personal note here to believers, at least by profession. He says that they were (past tense) enemies of God, and then he says, "but now..." That "but now" is extremely important. It shows the nature of the relationship has changed. The truth is that even though Jesus reconciled the world unto God the Father, the world is still the enemy of God. Yet this had changed for the group Paul is addressing.
Before this, Paul had said that Christ is the "head" of the body. His body is His Church. It is in this context that Paul then says that His body was crucified, and through that death was reconciled to God. Thus, the death of Christ was the death of all who are in His body by faith.
Next, the purpose for which Paul says that Christ has reconciled us is this: "to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." We read those words and tend to not take them seriously at all. We ignore them deliberately. Yet, Jesus Christ did, in fact, through His vicarious death, cause us to become holy in His sight. We do not have to become holy. God has declared us holy. He has also presented us to God as being "without blemish and free from accusation." In God's sight I am not trying to be these things. He says that I AM these things. I am holy, without blemish, and free from all accusation. It is a finished work, a done deal.
Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 5:27:
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.That He might present it to Himself...How many times have heard the preacher say, "Jesus is only returning for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle"? Yes, He is, and He is smarter than to leave that up to us. He has presented it to Himself that way already. It is something that has already been accomplished!
Now where people get tripped up is in the next part of the passage, precisely because they have messed up views about faith, and the finished work of Christ. I once asked my congregation, most of them who came out of Charismatic, Pentecostal and Holiness backgrounds, "How many of you, before coming to this church, ever heard anyone preach about the finished work of Christ?" NOT ONE PERSON RAISED THEIR HAND! Yet, THIS IS the Gospel message!!!!
Paul says that there is a qualification to all this: "if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel." What exactly does Paul mean by this? While many point to a passage like this and scream about having to live right, (which translates into meriting our own salvation), that is NOT what Paul is saying at all.
Let's compare scripture with scripture, for Paul says a very similar thing elsewhere. In Galatians 5:4 Paul says "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." Again I ask you, how many of you have ever heard this expression "falling from grace" to refer to losing your salvation? Yet, Paul is saying that if our confidence is in the law to save us, we have fallen away from what real grace is.
Real grace is God's ability, not ours. The Gospel message is about what Jesus did in our place. It is based on what He has already accomplished. Thus Paul plainly states that if our confidence is in the law, and our good works, that Christ is made of "none effect." Putting our confidence in the law to save us is the same as putting our confidence in ourselves, because the law is based on our ability to perform, and none can. Paul says our faith cannot be in ourselves. It cannot be in the law. It cannot be in anything other than Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished. As Paul states in Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." Grace would no longer be grace. It is impossible to be both grace and works. They are like oil and water, they do not mix.
In conclusion, yes we have to persevere in faith. Yet the truth is that if we are truly converted, real faith perseveres in us, not the other way around. True faith comes from God, and Jesus Christ is its sole object. It is not faith in faith. It is not faith in our ability. It is faith that what Jesus Christ accomplished is absolutely all that is necessary to save you to the uttermost. That faith is there because Jesus Christ is there living His life in you, through you as you. He is living within you. It is He that has the faith in Himself. It is He that is doing the works. It sure isn't you, it's Him! Thus, Paul's qualifier has a qualifier of its own. He doesn't merely say that we are to just plod along in our faith, but he tells us what that means by saying, "and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel." We are not to move. We are to be anchored. Anchored in what? We are to be stubbornly anchored in our hope. Our hope in what? We are to be stubbornly anchored in our hope held out in the gospel. What is that hope? It is the confidence that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has accomplished everything necessary to secure our salvation. Hence, the very moment that we cease to place our confidence in what Christ has already done, and begin to place it upon our own ability, we have moved away from the true message of the Gospel.
Thus, I discovered that I still do not measure up! But it doesn't matter because Jesus Christ is the one who has done it all, and is still doing it all within me! Our faith is not in our ability, or our performance. True faith is the faith of the gospel. It is faith in Jesus Christ. Either Jesus is saving me, or I'm saving myself. I can assure you that it is not the latter.
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