Trust. Faith is trust.
Faith is not a property of the intellect, though the intellect gives expressions of faith. Faith is not reason, but reason can and should serve--minister--to faith.
Faith is not a human effort, a human act, it is not human will, it does not come from us at all, but comes from God. God gives faith, God creates faith, God strengthens faith.
"It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" - Ephesians 2:8
This statement "this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" applies to the entire clause "it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith". Salvation, its cause (grace) and the means through which it is received (faith), is the gift of God. God does it, not us. This is reemphasized in the following verse:
"Not by works, so that none may boast." (Ephesians 2:9). The Greek word here translated as "works" is a simple Greek word that simply means "a thing that is done"; we don't do anything in this gift and gracious work of God, we are instead entirely passive recipients of God's goodness.
We may, at this point ask ourselves how or where or in what ways does God give, create, and strengthen faith; the answer to this question is answered succinctly by St. Paul in Romans chapter 10. For he speaks of the importance of preaching the word, that without the Gospel going forth no one can call upon Christ, know of Christ, trust in Christ, etc. Therefore the Apostle concludes in verse 17, "Therefore, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." It is the word of God--the Gospel itself--which is what God uses to convert us, to give us faith. So wherever, however, and whenever this word is there God is at work to give, create, and strengthen faith.
Because of this the Christian Church has always recognized that Christ has instituted and given to His Church, for the task of making disciples and bringing the efficacious message of God's salvation to the world, Word and Sacrament. Not that these are two different things, but are a singular Means of Grace. So Christ says in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and instructing them in all which I have taught." and in Luke 24:46-47, "And He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem." and in Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe is condemned."
Here we see Christ has commanded His Church to 1) Preach the Gospel and 2) Baptize. It is not, however, that these are fundamentally two different things which are some kind of systematic program. Rather, this is two expressions of God's Means, of the word coming and creating faith. We see, for example, that God's word is right there with the water of baptism when Paul says in Ephesians 5:26, in instructing husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, that Christ laid down His life and cleansed her (the Church) by "the washing of water with the word". Baptism is not a religious ceremony that is just about getting wet (1 Peter 3:21) as though by getting wet we earn something from God, but rather God uses baptism by connecting His word to the water, declaring His own promises. What are His promises connected with baptism? We can see for ourselves in Scripture such as Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-13, Galatians 3:27, and 1 Peter 3:21.
In the same way we see God uses the Lord's Supper, which Christ instituted at His Last Supper, to be a precious means of grace, God uniting together in the Supper the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in, with, and under the symbols of bread and wine, for Christ Himself told us explicitly that His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink, that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has life in and with Him (John 6:54-56), saying at His Last Supper also, "This is My body" and "This is My blood of the New Covenant" (Matthew 26:26-28), and St. Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 10:16 that the bread and wine of the Supper we eat and drink is communion, partaking of, the body and blood of Christ.
The gift and work of faith which God gives and does is not through our efforts, our doing things; it isn't about our reason or active intellect. It is the gracious and free work of God, God's gift. That we should be freely justified by His grace, through faith. As Paul writes in Titus 3:5, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but rather His mercy, having washed us in the waters of regeneration and the renewing us by the Holy Spirit.
This is why the Christian Church has never been a holy club for academics (though she has given birth to many academics of faith), but a hospital for sinners whose members include the small, the weak, the infirm, the infant, the widow, the orphan, the slave, the lowly, as well as the strong, the adult, the healthy, the married, the parented, the free.
All have sinned, Paul says, and have fallen short. All are sinners and in need of God's wonderful kindness, and He Himself has acted to save us, for He is mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:17), He is unwilling to leave us and abandon us to our own destruction, but to save us (2 Peter 3:9).
He is a stubborn and relentless Savior. Unwilling that we should be destroyed by our own sin, He has thrown Himself in front of catastrophe speeding headlong toward us, and bore it all and entirely. And He is here, among us, constantly, continually, unceasingly loving us and being good to us: His Gospel to be the sweetness of His salvation: He forgives us, loves us, and rushes toward us like the good father in the story of the prodigal son.
We always want to try and insert ourselves into the story of salvation, because the flesh is not only weak, but perverse--always seeking glory, always wanting to boast. But there's nothing about ourselves to boast about, we didn't do anything. Not even our faith is something we can boast about, because faith--simple faith--is still from God and not of ourselves.
-CryptoLutheran
