Jul 21
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Baptist Catechism 91
Q. 91. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel. (Heb. 10:39; John 1:12; Phil. 3-9; Gal. 2:15,16)
Scripture Reading: Galatians 2:15–16
“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15–16, ESV)
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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.
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Please allow me to begin by reminding you of how we arrived at the question, what is faith in Jesus Christ?
It is has taken us a long time to get to this question, hasn’t it? And that fact alone is worth noting. “Faith in Jesus Christ” is not the first thing that our catechism talks about. No, it is question 90 that teaches us that it is through faith in Christ that we escape God’s wrath and curse, and it is question 91 that defines what faith in Jesus Christ is.
Here is the point I am making: it is impossible to understand what faith in Christ is apart from other more foundational truths — truths which questions 1 through 89 of our catechism establish. In brief, we have learned about God, the scriptures, man, sin, and God’s plan of redemption. We have learned what it is that God requires of us and of our guilt before him. And we have learned what it is that our sin deserves. If we wish to know what faith in Jesus Christ is, and why it is required, then we must also understand these other doctrines. I’m afraid that men and women, boys and girls, are often exhorted to believe in Jesus (and to be baptized), but without being instructed in these other doctrines. That is a problem, I think. To have faith in Jesus Christ one must also know who God is, who man is, what God requires of us, that we have sinned, and what our sins deserve.
So, what does our sin deserve? Question 89 speaks the truth when it says, “Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life and in that which is to come.”
So is there any hope for sinners? Question 90 brings us good news, saying, “To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.”
Now, questions 91 through 93 will define the things that were mentioned in question 90: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, and the outward means.
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Baptist Catechism 91
Let us now consider the way that our catechism defines faith in Jesus Christ.
Notice, first of all, that is not faith that saves us, but faith in Jesus Christ. So, having faith does not save a person from their sins. No, faith in Jesus Christ does. Many people in this world have faith in something, but saving faith is faith in Jesus, for he is the Savior that God has provided for us. He is the Christ, or Messiah. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the only mediator between God and man. As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5–6, ESV). And Jesus himself claimed to be the only way to the Father, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV). So then, the forgiveness of sins does not come to us through generic and undefined faith, but through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Two, notice that our catechism calls faith in Jesus Christ a “saving grace”. It is said to be saving, for through faith in Jesus Christ we come to be saved. But it is called a “grace” because faith is a gift from God. Faith is something that you have. It is something that you do. You and I must have faith in Jesus Christ if hope to be saved from our sins. But that faith that resides within our hearts is a gift from God. We must never forget this. Even our ability to trust in Jesus is a gift from God. We believe by his grace.
This is what the scriptures so clearly teach. First of all, the scriptures teach that God has predestined some to salvation from before the creation of the world (read Ephesians 1-2, for example). Two, the scriptures teach that God’s elect come to be saved only through faith in Jesus Christ. Three, the scriptures teach that men and women, boys and girls, will come to faith in Jesus only through the hearing of the word of God (see Romans 10:17). And the scriptures teach that in order for someone to believe, God must give them new life, open their blind eyes, and draw them by his Spirit. The scriptures talk about this “drawing” or “inward calling” in many ways. For now, consider what Jesus said to the multitude that came out to him in the wilderness: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44, ESV).
So then, the ability to believing in Jesus Christ is a gift from God. This is what Paul explicitly teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9, saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV). What is “the gift of God” according to the Apostle? Salvation is the gift of God, and so too is the faith. The grammar of the Greek demands this interpretation, and so too does the context. Notice that Paul concludes by saying, “so that no one may boast”. There is no room for the Christain to boast, for everything that he has in Christ Jesus is a gift from God, and that includes his faith.
“Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace…”, three, “whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation…”
So what do we do when we place our faith in Jesus Christ?
One, we receive Jesus Christ. In what sense do we receive Jesus Christ when we believe in him? Well, we receive him in that we welcome him as our Savior and Lord. More than this, the scriptures teach that we are united to Jesus by faith. To have faith in Christ means that we are in him. And more than this, the scriptures teach that when we place our faith in Christ he is in us by his Spirit. You may read about this in John chapters 15, 16, and 17. To have faith in Jesus is not to trust in a distant and far-off figure. No, it is to receive him, to know him, and to commune with him, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Two, when we place our faith in Jesus, we rest upon him. Do you remember what I said last Sunday regarding the components of true saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. To have true and saving faith we must know certain things, believe those things to be true, and trust in Jesus. Trust is what our catechism is referring to here with the word “rest”. To believe in Jesus is to trust him, to rest in him, to take refuge in him. Trust is a vital component of saving faith.
Three, notice the word “alone”. “Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation…” So this is an all-or-nothing proposition. If we wish to be saved then we must trust in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of our sins. We must go all in. It will not do to say, I believe in Jesus but I also believe in myself, and in my own obedience or good works. If this is what you think then it reveals that you have not understood the gospel. You have not understood those others truths that I mentioned early concerning God, man, sin, and salvation in Jesus Christ. To have Jesus as Lord and Savior means that we have abandoned all hope in other things. In Christ alone our hope is found.
The fourth and final phrase in this answer to question 91 is, “…as He is offered to us in the Gospel.” This phrase is so important, for does root our faith in Jesus Christ in the word of God.
Friends, if you wish to be saved then you must have the Jesus of the scriptures — that is, the Jesus of the Gospel — as your Lord and Savior. This should be obvious to all (but sadly it is not), it will do you know good to claim to have faith in Jesus Christ, but to believe things concerning him — his person and work — that are contrary to the word of God.
For example, some in this world claim to believe in Jesus Christ but think that he is the half-brother of Satan. Others claim to believe in Jesus but view him only as a great teacher. They deny that he is the eternal son of God come in the flesh. Other examples can be given, but it should be clear that these have only hijacked a name — they pronounce the name in the same way that you and I do, but their Christ is substantially different from the Christ of scripture. They would be more honest to simply give their savior another name.
No, if we wish to be saved then we must have faith in Jesus Christ. And not just any “Jesus Christ”, but the Jesus Christ of Holy Scripture. In other words, to be saved, we must hear, receive, and believe the Gospel, which is the good news contained within Holy Scripture.
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Conclusion
Q. 91. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel. (Heb. 10:39; John 1:12; Phil. 3-9; Gal. 2:15,16)
