Without light, we walk in darkness.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
– 1 John 1:5-6
Light is Truth.
To confess the Truth is to have knowledge of God’s Word. You can’t confess something you are ignorant of.
To believe said knowledge is to have faith.
Contemporary thought supposes that faith and knowledge are somehow mutually exclusive for Christians, as if to say that faith is the opposite of knowledge. You mustn’t think that to have faith you must experience some kind of “leap of faith”, as if having faith is something required in the absence of knowledge. Nothing could be further from the Truth!
True faith, especially saving faith, is based on knowledge of the Truth found in the Word of God. For example, how do you believe in Jesus Christ if you have no knowledge of Him?
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
– 2 Peter 3:18
If there’s any “leap of faith” to be considered, it’s with the person who confesses to have faith in the absence of knowledge! The Bible is abundantly clear on this topic.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
– Romans 10:13-17
Faith comes from hearing the Truth from the Word of God. Faith without Truth is vapid, spurious, at best; typically, it is from one’s imagination or hopes or some wish upon a star. True faith must be given by God (ala Ephesians 2:8-9).
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
– Proverbs 3:5-6
To “acknowledge” the Lord (v.6) is to presume you know Him (hint: the word “knowledge” is the root of the word “acknowledge”).
From the very outset of human history, knowledge of God has always been the basis of our faith in Him.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:18-20
As believers, we are sanctified by our knowledge of the Lord. This is precisely what Jesus prayed for to our Father in Heaven. Notice that He never prayed for faith in the absence of Truth. In fact, Jesus presented Truth as the very substance of our sanctification!
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
…
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
– John 17:6-8, 17
Please don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that faith is something that kicks in where knowledge ends, or that faith and knowledge are somehow opposites. If that were so, we’d all be left up to our own imaginations regarding God, His purposes, and His will for our lives. We’d be no different than those still walking in darkness. We’d be blind, confused, and frustrated.
There are few things more catastrophic than leaning on a faith which was drummed up by mere man!
If you want genuine faith, then seek to acquire knowledge from the Word of God. This is why God gave us the Bible.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
– 2 Corinthians 5:7
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins