Reasonable Faith

Christianity issues a call to faith—to put your trust in Jesus Christ for life, even eternal life.  But note:  Christian faith is reasonable.  The idea of “blind faith” or faith being contrary to rational thought—that’s a sloppy caricature and, quite simply, a false depiction of the biblical concept of faith.  There’s a vital logic that undergirds true faith.

Consider the drift of Hebrews 11—all those stories of believers who lived “by faith,” trusting God in the victories and afflictions.  The point is to urge readers also to rely on the Lord:  You’ve heard these accounts of God’s care and provision and leading and sustaining love for his people and how they clung him, so now you too should infer that it’s warranted to trust God as well.  The history of the church provides evidence for belief today.  It’s reasonable; faith makes sense.

Or consider the phrase “much more” in Romans 5:9-10:  Since, there­fore, we have now been justified by his [i.e., Jesus’] blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Do you track with the logic here—the appeal to reason?  If God’s greater act has already been accomplished, why wouldn’t he complete his saving work with the lesser act?  It makes sense:  Since God, in his Son, has already taken our guilt upon himself so that we can be declared not guilty (i.e., “justified”), it’s reasonable to infer that he’ll finish the job by saving us, in the end, from divine wrath we’d other­wise deserve.  Similarly, if through God’s outpouring of love at the cross he’s already made his enemies into reconciled friends (see also 5:8), would we have any logical basis to imagine he’d just drop the ball and cancel his near-done project of defeating death and bringing us home into his spectacular eternal presence?  I don’t think so!

Jesus has taught us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind (Matthew 22:37).  Yes, your mind.  Faith is not a feeling (of course, it does awaken emotions of joy and peace in Christ).  And love for God is not some subjective spiritual sentiment that just “is what it is, it’s how I feel, can’t say why.”  NO.  Faith in Christ may be more than mere cognition, but never less:  it must engage your mind.