The Steps of Faith
For hundreds of years now, Protestant religion has been stripping faith of its power. The philosophies of the Reformation have created a broad impression that salvation is by “faith alone,” to the exclusion of any works whatsoever, such as baptism. What is left of faith is little more than a mere assertion, a mental nod towards the Son of God. The danger of this weakened faith is that it fails to transform the sinner into a child of God. After all, much of the world believes that God exists and that Jesus is His Son. That doesn’t mean the world is full of Christians. Even demons believe (Jas. 2:19).
The development of this doctrine came gradually as the Catholic Church frustrated more and more men with its insistence on works-based salvation. One of these men was Martin Luther, a conscientious monk who lived in the early sixteenth century. Luther’s studies had led him to embrace a number statements on faith in the book of Romans, such as, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). Two verses later Paul says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). So eager was Luther to promote his doctrine of “salvation by faith alone,” that he altered this verse so that the word “only” followed “faith” in his German translation. Romans 5:1 was also cited in support of his theology: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Luther was so opposed to the extremism of the Catholic Church that he fled to the other extreme, creating a religion devoid of the works of faith. When statements from the book of James challenged his new doctrine, the scholar contested its authenticity, calling it an “epistle of straw.”
Buried in between Martin Luther’s favorite passages in Romans is an amazing statement about faith that is all too often overlooked. Using Abraham as an illustration of the type of faith that justifies the sinner, Paul writes that the old patriarch became the father of those “who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (Rom. 4:12). Resisting the Jews who insisted that one had to keep requirements of the Law of Moses like circumcision, Paul points us to faith that Abraham had before he was circumcised. It is a specific kind of faith (“that faith,” KJV), one that can be distinguished from lesser forms of belief. Most importantly, it is an active faith, for it has “footsteps.” Notice that Paul does not say we are to walk in the footsteps of Abraham, but that we are to walk in the footsteps of his faith. Abraham’s faith was not merely an inactive, mental assertion. It moved him to sojourn in strange lands, fight battles, believe in God’s promises and offer up his only son.
We are to walk in that same faith today. It ought to move us to obey the commands of God, and by this obedience, we find salvation in the blood of Christ (Heb. 5:9). This is very different from a works-based salvation. Salvation is by grace. There is nothing we can do to earn a ticket to heaven. But when we walk in the steps of faith, we trust God enough to come to Him on His own terms. This is how faith saves: by creating footsteps for us to follow.
