In response to Rod D. Martin’s article Faith and the Fatherhood of God, I find your definition of faith lacking depth. You reduce faith to a mere belief in facts, as illustrated by your own examples—whether it’s trusting that our “daddy will protect us from the big, bad, scary monster” or believing that a chair will hold us up. These are instances of factual knowledge and understanding, but that’s not what faith truly is.
Scripture tells us that Christ is the author of our faith. In fact, He is the author and perfecter of it. The faith we receive is not simply adherence to a set of facts, nor is it something we choose on our own. The faith we gain, when granted by Him, is supernatural. It transcends our abilities and limitations. Only He can grant us a faith that opens our eyes, removes the scales from them, and enables us to truly see. All of this is His work. It is only after receiving this divinely granted faith that we can genuinely trust the Father.
Additionally, your article ends on a legalistic note, urging us to become better people. If faith is merely about knowing facts, then yes, as a human, I would need to learn more and strive to be better. However, He knows I will stumble and have moments of great fear. But it is Christ, not my own efforts, who saves me from this fearful state. He redeems me, and His grace is greater than both my fear and my sin.
In conclusion, I disagree with your assertion that fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is an inevitable consequence of our flesh and our innate inability to trust Christ fully. Yet, we can trust Him precisely because He has transformed our soul making us alive in Christ. We must acknowledge and confess our fear as sin and then stand firm in the truth that He is a great God. He is above all things, and He submits both His enemies and ours under His feet. He will protect us and keep us. Thus, the true opposite of fear is not simply more faith (knowledge or trust), but an abiding conviction in God’s Word.
First, I dispute your core assertion. Trusting that "daddy will protect us from the big, bad, scary monster" is not and cannot be a "belief in facts" because it has not been, and in most cases can never be, tested. How many "big scary monsters" are under your bed? Not many under mine either.
The faith I'm describing in that passage is a faith in God's CHARACTER, not His actions. And that, at least in large part, eviscerates your point.
Nothing in your second paragraph is in any way contradicted by anything I've written.
However, your third paragraph quite pointedly denies the truth articulated by James in the second chapter of his epistle, not to mention in Ephesians 2:8-10 (particularly verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.").
It seems to me that you are engaging in a degree of antinomianism which is inconsistent with the 1689 Confession you profess. One does not have to disbelieve anything in your second paragraph to affirm with the Holy Spirit that "faith without works is dead". But one does have to deny a lot of Scripture to to believe that sanctification constitutes legalism.
Finally, that fear is the opposite of faith is so obvious that it would not need stating were it not for the many pastors who obscure this truth, seemingly out of a desire to over-mysticise the Word, thus rendering it impractical and unpracticed.
Your article on God's character raises important points, but I found the analogies you used to explain faith a bit weak. For example, you say, "that faith is like believing a chair will hold your weight without breaking", or being certain that if you "marry a certain woman, she won’t run off with the pool boy." However, towards the end of your article, you emphasize that we must "crucify the fear in our lives," and that we should be better sons and daughters. I understand your point that, as children, we honor and respect a father who is honorable and respectable, and because of that reverence, we will do right by him and not fear.
However, I felt your article put too much pressure on the reader. Yes, I do have fear—I'm human, frail, and broken. And I realize that I am not to fear when I read over and over in His word when He says in Isaiah 41:10 and Matthew 10:31 - "do not fear." Only by trusting in His promises, and recognizing who He is as revealed in the Bible, can I begin to let go of fear. When I understand that this God of both testaments is all-powerful—raising and bringing down nations—I realize too that man’s abilities are minimal apart from God. Only God can truly deliver me from my fears. He is the only one who protects His people and ensures they do not fall.
I don’t disagree with your central thesis that faith overcomes fear. I see faith as something like a muscle—the more we use it, the stronger it gets. But your article seemed to imply that we must somehow conjure up more faith on our own. I am simply arguing that faith grows not from our own abilities but from when we understand what He says in His Word about Himself, and that He can be trusted and relied upon. I trust my Father because I trust His word. This cancels my fear.
Yes, faith is very much like a muscle. And also yes, God gives us both our muscles and our ability to use and develop them, and indeed, our every breath.
I have nowhere suggested that we "conjure up" anything. My apologies if I worded anything in such fashion as to give you that impression.
At the same time, we are absolutely called to holiness and to good works, which certainly require effort on our part: see again Eph. 2:8-10, in which there is no tension between God's giving us faith and works, and our exercising faith and doing those works. This may seem a great mystery to many, but it is certainly the unified testimony of Scripture: both God's absolute sovereignty and man's daunting responsibility.
Rod, this is so timely as we stare down the approach of a second Category 3 hurricane in two weeks.
In response to Rod D. Martin’s article Faith and the Fatherhood of God, I find your definition of faith lacking depth. You reduce faith to a mere belief in facts, as illustrated by your own examples—whether it’s trusting that our “daddy will protect us from the big, bad, scary monster” or believing that a chair will hold us up. These are instances of factual knowledge and understanding, but that’s not what faith truly is.
Scripture tells us that Christ is the author of our faith. In fact, He is the author and perfecter of it. The faith we receive is not simply adherence to a set of facts, nor is it something we choose on our own. The faith we gain, when granted by Him, is supernatural. It transcends our abilities and limitations. Only He can grant us a faith that opens our eyes, removes the scales from them, and enables us to truly see. All of this is His work. It is only after receiving this divinely granted faith that we can genuinely trust the Father.
Additionally, your article ends on a legalistic note, urging us to become better people. If faith is merely about knowing facts, then yes, as a human, I would need to learn more and strive to be better. However, He knows I will stumble and have moments of great fear. But it is Christ, not my own efforts, who saves me from this fearful state. He redeems me, and His grace is greater than both my fear and my sin.
In conclusion, I disagree with your assertion that fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is an inevitable consequence of our flesh and our innate inability to trust Christ fully. Yet, we can trust Him precisely because He has transformed our soul making us alive in Christ. We must acknowledge and confess our fear as sin and then stand firm in the truth that He is a great God. He is above all things, and He submits both His enemies and ours under His feet. He will protect us and keep us. Thus, the true opposite of fear is not simply more faith (knowledge or trust), but an abiding conviction in God’s Word.
First, I dispute your core assertion. Trusting that "daddy will protect us from the big, bad, scary monster" is not and cannot be a "belief in facts" because it has not been, and in most cases can never be, tested. How many "big scary monsters" are under your bed? Not many under mine either.
The faith I'm describing in that passage is a faith in God's CHARACTER, not His actions. And that, at least in large part, eviscerates your point.
Nothing in your second paragraph is in any way contradicted by anything I've written.
However, your third paragraph quite pointedly denies the truth articulated by James in the second chapter of his epistle, not to mention in Ephesians 2:8-10 (particularly verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.").
It seems to me that you are engaging in a degree of antinomianism which is inconsistent with the 1689 Confession you profess. One does not have to disbelieve anything in your second paragraph to affirm with the Holy Spirit that "faith without works is dead". But one does have to deny a lot of Scripture to to believe that sanctification constitutes legalism.
Finally, that fear is the opposite of faith is so obvious that it would not need stating were it not for the many pastors who obscure this truth, seemingly out of a desire to over-mysticise the Word, thus rendering it impractical and unpracticed.
Your article on God's character raises important points, but I found the analogies you used to explain faith a bit weak. For example, you say, "that faith is like believing a chair will hold your weight without breaking", or being certain that if you "marry a certain woman, she won’t run off with the pool boy." However, towards the end of your article, you emphasize that we must "crucify the fear in our lives," and that we should be better sons and daughters. I understand your point that, as children, we honor and respect a father who is honorable and respectable, and because of that reverence, we will do right by him and not fear.
However, I felt your article put too much pressure on the reader. Yes, I do have fear—I'm human, frail, and broken. And I realize that I am not to fear when I read over and over in His word when He says in Isaiah 41:10 and Matthew 10:31 - "do not fear." Only by trusting in His promises, and recognizing who He is as revealed in the Bible, can I begin to let go of fear. When I understand that this God of both testaments is all-powerful—raising and bringing down nations—I realize too that man’s abilities are minimal apart from God. Only God can truly deliver me from my fears. He is the only one who protects His people and ensures they do not fall.
I don’t disagree with your central thesis that faith overcomes fear. I see faith as something like a muscle—the more we use it, the stronger it gets. But your article seemed to imply that we must somehow conjure up more faith on our own. I am simply arguing that faith grows not from our own abilities but from when we understand what He says in His Word about Himself, and that He can be trusted and relied upon. I trust my Father because I trust His word. This cancels my fear.
Yes, faith is very much like a muscle. And also yes, God gives us both our muscles and our ability to use and develop them, and indeed, our every breath.
I have nowhere suggested that we "conjure up" anything. My apologies if I worded anything in such fashion as to give you that impression.
At the same time, we are absolutely called to holiness and to good works, which certainly require effort on our part: see again Eph. 2:8-10, in which there is no tension between God's giving us faith and works, and our exercising faith and doing those works. This may seem a great mystery to many, but it is certainly the unified testimony of Scripture: both God's absolute sovereignty and man's daunting responsibility.