'God in the Dock': What is Salvation Type Faith?

I have never met a Christian that claimed to believe in salvation by works. I'm not sure they exist anywhere. Isn't it peculiar that one group is always accusing the other of preaching salvation by works, yet no one seems to actually believe in salvation by works?Perhaps the real issue is our adopted presupposition of what "faith" is.

For the first 1500+ years of Christian history the church understood faith to mean a literal 'becoming' of an individual into a new creation/new creature. Salvation was seen as an ongoing process of 'becoming' a Christian (pardon the brevity, much more could be said). From Augustine onward till the Reformation this was the understanding of "justification by faith." It wasn't until Luther that a decisive change was made in Christian theology. Luther agreed with the basics of what constituted salvation type faith: 1.) Faith has a personal, rather than a purely historical, reference; 2.) Faith concerns trust in the promises of God; 3.) Faith unites the believer to Christ.

Notice how none of these conceptions of faith can be accomplished by demons. As James said, "you believe God is one, you do well, even the demons believe and tremble." Faith is more than just mental assent to a list of correct doctrines 'about' God. Faith was a personal encounter with, submission to, and expectation of good from the living God. This is what should be understood as Biblical salvation type faith. Any time you find yourself on par with demons in your "faith," be suspicious of whether or not you have faith as defined Biblically.

The difference brought by Luther was the reinterpretation of Justification and Sanctification as two separate events in the salvation process. While the Catholics kept the two as one event (lasting a lifetime) the Protestants divided the two, making a difference between the initial conversion event (justification) and the working out of one's faith (sanctification). Both have their strengths and weaknesses. However, I'm of the belief that if one kept straight what is truly salvation type faith, they could travel either path without danger. When one relegates faith to a simple mental agreement with doctrine or any act purely rationalistic in nature, they are speaking of a faith alien from Scripture and Christian orthodoxy on both sides of the fence (Catholic and Protestant). Instead, they preach a faith in one's ability to correctly 'reason' through their espoused doctrine. If faith is only having the right opinion of doctrine then one could easily lose their faith through misunderstanding. "Childlike faith" would then be little more than the comical; children are full of misunderstandings.

If what has been said so far is still unclear, consider this: Two men are sitting in a deli. A third man runs in shouting, "this deli is on fire, get out while you can." The two men look at each other and begin a discussion. "You know, I really believe in what that guy said. I believe this deli is on fire. I believe that if we don't get out of here we'll burn to death. The other man says in return, "I like your reasoning. This deli is definitely on fire. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that this building is on fire." The two men burn to death.

Did these two men actually believe that the deli was on fire? No. If they did they would have done something - run, scream, pass-out, grab a fire extinguisher, something. Such is the case with many in the church today with their concept of faith. They believe in a doctrine but their life is uneffected. No one meets Almighty God and goes back to life as usual. I've left out more than I've covered in this discussion on faith. We have not even touched on the Incarnation - the center of our faith. Such is the case with blogs. If it was thorough it would be called a book.

God Bless.