By Lee Parish
“Oh, you have to have faith to believe in the Bible.” Have you heard someone say that, or something similar? Those who say such things may mean well, but regardless of their intentions, their observation carries with it damaging implications. Implicit within the above statement is this: “you have to go out on a limb to believe the Bible.” Another implication is that the Bible does not have the power to produce faith in unbelievers; rather one must already possess faith in God in order to believe the Bible’s teachings.
Biblical faith is often misunderstood. Biblical faith is not some shot in the dark hope without proof. Neither is it a bridge that extends from the safe foundations of knowledge to hang over the deep chasm of the unknown. Rather Biblical faith is as Dick Sztanyo put it, “the volitional commitment of an informed intellect.”1 Faith is informed by knowledge and therefore knowledge comes before faith; this is a consistent theme throughout scripture. Biblically speaking, one simply cannot have faith in something without prior knowledge of what that something is and why one should believe in it. The Bible is intended and designed to give the knowledge necessary to bring about saving faith in the hearts of honest seekers.
In John’s Gospel account, the apostle offers a purpose statement for his writing: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Notice three key words in this text: signs, belief, and life. John refers to the seven specific signs he records the Christ doing during His earthly ministry (2:1-11; 4:46-54; 5:1-9; 6:1-14; 6:16-21; 9:1-12; 11:1-46). Merril Tenney states that each of these signs served to reveal a certain characteristic of Christ; specifically Jesus is demonstrated to be the master of quality, distance, time, quantity, natural law, misfortune, and death.2 In other words, these signs progressively reveal the power and superiority of Jesus. Each of these signs was designed to point the reader toward a conclusion, namely that Jesus is the Messiah. The Gospel of John was not written solely to Christians; rather God has preserved it to declare Christ to believers and unbelievers alike throughout the centuries. This faith in Jesus, based upon the evidence given, could then lead to eternal life.
The claim of Holy Scripture being able to produce saving faith by way of the knowledge it imparts is not unique to John. Paul would encourage his son in the faith Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15). These “sacred writings” are equivalent to “Scripture” in verse 16, and would encompass both Old and New Testaments. Paul declares that the sacred writings are able to produce faith in Jesus as the Christ. This word able is translated from the Greek dunamena which has to do with capability and power, or being equal to a task.3 Therefore the Scriptures are capable of producing faith in the honest seeker.
While evidence of a Creator is all around (Romans 1:19-20), it is the Word of God that produces saving faith (Romans 10:17). Paul would write that he was so bold in proclaiming the Word of God because “ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Romans 1:16). The Bible is powerful because it tells of the God who created us and who is willing and able to save us. The Bible is powerful for it is the very Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). If an honest soul picks up the Bible, having never heard of God, faith can be produced which can result in salvation. Praise God for His wonderful gift!
