Meditations on Faith

I have been thinking about the idea of having a personal relationship with Christ. But what does "personal relationship" mean? It sounds good and makes us feel warm like a microwaved jelly donut, but what is it really? I think the concept of a personal relationship is imbedded in the biblical concept of faith.

"Into Faith"

First, We have salvation now and eternally if we believe into Jesus. I use the word "into" for a reason. The concept of faith is an “into” concept. Faith in John's gospel best explains this consept. This “believing into” phrase appears in John some 36 times and only 8 elsewhere in the New Testament [ii] "Believing into" is an expression of what is now described in the commonly used religious phrase "personal relationship with Jesus." John uses this phrase to speak of simple faith. So a personal relationship is equal to simple faith.

Simple faith

The word “simple” is not to imply it is ignorant trust or some gullible mental assent. Simple is used to imply that this faith is not complex. This lack of complexity rises from the fact that it is a relational concept. Faith in John’s gospel does not just believe about Jesus (intellectually) like the way someone would believe the First President is Washington or the U.S. capital is Washington D.C. Jonh's concept of Faith is a believing into Jesus (relationally). [i] Such faith can only be in reference to another person. It is a subject-to-subject kind of trust, commitment and loyalty. So “Believing into” is when someone places faith into a person. By such simple faith, Jesus becomes a personal mediator for those that believe into him. “This means to entrust oneself to Jesus, fully accepting what he proclaims himself to be.”[iii]
Now this “believing into” is not without evidence. You can only believe into someone you know is willing an able to do what has been promised. It is an "all or nothing" belief, like jumping on the back of a tightrope walker and letting him carry you across the grand canyon. You trust they can do what they say and act on that belief. As in the tightrope walker you trust they can deliver you across unharmed and act on that by jumping on his back. With regards to Jesus, you believe that all the promise made by God in the Old Testament, and every hope for a future beyond death, "is found as a yes and amen in Jesus." (2 Cor 1:20) On the cross, He was seen as willing to forgive sin by becoming the payment for our sin. In the resurrection, he is seen as able to overcome death. He is willing and able to save! This is the gospel! The gospel story is the evidence given for “believing into” Jesus (John 20:30-31).

Living Commitment

Believing into Jesus does not stop at trusting what he has done on our behalf. Such faith is simple but encompasses all of life. That is it affects our life in the here and now. Trueblood states of this belief into Jesus, “to be committed is to believe in. Commitment, which includes belief but far transcends it, is determination of the total self to act upon conviction.”[iv] He means that we are to embody our commitment to Christ in all aspects of our personal life. We do this "embodying" in our life when what is committed too is truly held as being of ultimate value. This means simple faith is also a living commitment to a real person. A commitment we are to embody in our daily life.

Ultimate Loyalty

Three, their is also a loyalty involved in this simple faith. Jesus is not just Savoir but the Most high King of kings. He is our king, our general, Our leader into whom we are to be loyal. Such is like an oath of service that is made not to the Army or Navy but to a living a resurrected Lord of one’s life. In personal relation into him, we trust all into him and commit our self unconditionally to His cause. This means 1.) We aim to become the kind of person Jesus would have us be. 2.) We do not have to find our purpose in this life, we nee only commit to his cause. He lay the path and we walk it, in the knowledge that he walked it and gives us the power to do the same and the mercy to get up every time we fail. 3.) What he says to do is not optional, or up for review. His teaching is our marching orders and his teachings is not easy. "love your enemy," "Forgive them that hurt you." "Go and tell the world" "oh by the way the world will hate you for my name sake... tell them anyway" (from the DIV, Dawson international version) Much of what Jesus gives us to live by is easy to talk about and praise for its lofty virtue, but hard to place into practice. Real life is muddy and complex. It takes an unwavering loyalty to do what is asked of us. But it is still simple. It is still just a doing your orders, nothing more. Trueblood explains this when writes,

“A Christian is a person who confesses that, amidst the manifold and confusing voices heard in the world, there is one Voice which supremely wins his full assent, uniting all his powers, intellectual and emotional, into a single pattern of self-giving. That Voice is Jesus Christ. A Christian not only believes that he was; he believes in him with all his heart and strength and mind.” [v]


End Notes

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[i] Barnabas Lindars, SSF, JOHN (Sheffield England: Sheffield Academic press 1990) p. 73
[ii] Ibid p. 73
[iii] Ibid p. 73
[iv] Elton Trueblood, The Company of the Committed (Harper Collins publishers, 1961) pg. 22
[v] Ibid pg 23