“I am a child of Abraham because I believe in the God of Abraham.” “I am righteous for the same reason Abraham was righteous–faith in God has made both of us righteous.” “I am justified by faith.” These are beliefs commonly held by those in church circles because they have been taught such doctrines from the beginning of their religious lives. The belief that one is a son of God, righteous and justified due to having faith (believing) in the God of Abraham–making one a spiritual “seed” of the prophet–is a major plank in the platform of those organizations that claim to follow the God of the Holy Bible. Variations on the theme are found among the hundreds of churches, denominations, nondenominations, faiths, cults, sects, etc. that comprise professing Christendom. Each religious group claims to be “the” organization created by God and given “the” commissioned to speak “the” truth to the world.

The passages often used to “prove” that one is a spiritual “seed” of Abraham, righteous and justified are Romans 4:9,21,22 and 5:1. Here Paul tells the church at Rome that God equated Abraham’s faith with righteousness and justification. Notice that Abraham believed that what God had PROMISED (said) He would do, thereby establishing the unalterable connection between God’s WORDS and man’s FAITH. “FAITH comes by hearing … the WORD of God” (Rom. 10:17). In the Romans 4 passage we are told that God declared Abraham righteous (justified) because he believed Him when He told him that Sara would give birth to a child. But as is the case when studying the Bible, one needs to study it “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Isa. 28:10,13) in order to learn exactly what God is saying. If one fails to follow His commands relative to faith, then one must believe that Satan is a child of Abraham, justified, righteous and a candidate for salvation. As I have stated before, the devil has more faith than any of us–he knows the Word and knows that it is true. His demons also know, and tremble. Therefore, something more than belief that God is true to His Word is needed in order to be a “seed” of Abraham–to have the faith, righteousness and justification of Abraham. That “something” is LIVING faith–faith that is actively lived and not merely a mental concept.

Examples of dead faith abound in Scripture. The disciples had such faith while on the boat with Jesus during a storm on the Sea of Galilee as recorded in Matthew 8. They “believed” Jesus intellectually, but not actually–they believed that they were going to die. The same dynamic took place when the man brought his epileptic son to them for them to heal him. They could not. The problem, Jesus told them in both cases, was dead faith. There is a world of difference between believing (having faith) and BELIEVING (acting on that faith)–one is dead; the other is alive; one leads to eternal death; the other leads to eternal life. When the disciples grew fearful during the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asked them: “Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?” Notice that He did not say they had no faith. He chastised them because their faith was small–dead. Having dead faith is the same as having no faith. It is like having food but refusing to consume it–death by starvation is the final outcome. When the disciples could not cast out the demon of epilepsy, they asked Jesus why they had failed. In that they had tried revealed that they had faith. In essence He told them that their faith was dead. Those who will stand before Jesus on the day of judgment reminding Him of the many deeds they had done in His name (with faith in Him) will have exhibited their faith during their earthly lives. Upon being resurrected and placed before Him on that day they will have faith that he is going to give them the keys to their heavenly mansions due to the faith they had exhibited during their lives. How shocked they will be upon hearing Him say, “… ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity” (Mat. 7:22,23). These church people will have done many wonderful things, preached many great sermons, built churches, supported foreign ministries, fed the hungry, etc., all of which will have been done BY FAITH. But all will have been done by dead faith because they did not believe and obey God’s Word. The Lord will call them iniquitous–Law-breakers. God’s Word is His Law. Due to their lack of living/active/ obedient faith, these uber-religious parishioners will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with their god–Satan. True conversion is their only hope. Conversion can only be attained by believing and obeying God’s Word as written–the Biblical definition of faith. “Without (living) faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6). To be continued. L.J.