In part one entitled" the God kind of faith" we read Mark 11:22, where Jesus said unto his disciples have faith in God. We then noted the marginal reading of {have… or, Have the faith of God}
We listed several translations, which render the verse the same way.
YLT Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith to them, 'Have faith of God;DRA Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God.BBE Mark 11:22 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith.
We then looked at the God kind of faith in Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1-3 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
We noted that the spirit of God was present; however, until God spoke nothing happened.
We saw that words were the carriers of God's faith. He spoke it into being.
Likewise, when a born-again believer is present, and there is a need, the spirit of God is also present.
However, nothing will happen until the believer begins to speak in faith.
We then returned to Mark 11:23 and noted Jesus, teaching us how to manifest God's faith.
Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Two keys Jesus taught were to speak and believe. This is how to exercise the God kind of faith.
When putting Gen 1 and Mark 11 together we may conclude that...
The God kind of faith is to believe in your heart and say with your mouth and it will be so.
The very creation of God was framed together this way.
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.Ephesians 5:1 Taught us to be... "followers of God, as dear children"
You cannot teach more than you know.
Whenever you begin to work the word of God, you must be as willing to unlearn, as you are to learn.
If your foundation is wrong, your tendency will be to view everything you read in light of your theology.
This was the problem I had with Gal 3:23 where it reads "But before faith came."
I had been taught that there was no faith in the Old Testament because Gal 3:23 said before faith came. Therefore, there must have been a time when there was no faith.
However, that statement is only partially correct. This belief is coming from the premise that there was no faith at all before faith came.
That is a wrong premise. Once we set this doctrine namely "there was no faith before faith came" Our tendency will be to view faith in light of this statement.
If you make that mistake, you will never understand faith.
So what is the answer? Very simple the answer is revealed in the verse right where it is written.
Galatians 3:25-26 10But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
The faith that it is referred to here is the faith of Jesus Christ that is given to every believer when they are born again.
According to Hebrews 11:4a By faith Abel offered….Hebrews 11:5a By faith Enoch…Hebrews 11:7a By faith Noah…Hebrews 11:8a By faith Abraham…Hebrews 11:11a Through faith Sara…Hebrews 11:20a By faith Isaac…Hebrews 11:21a By faith Jacob,…. Hebrews 11:22a By faith Joseph,…Hebrews 11:23a By faith Moses,…Hebrews 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Hebrews 11:39a And these all, having obtained a good report through faith…
To say there was no faith in the Old Testament and use Gal 3:23 to prove it is absurd at best.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Ok now the scripture just told you that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, right?
So before Jesus was born there could be no grace and truth in the world? Remember grace and truth did not come until Jesus Christ brought it, right?
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Talking about Abraham's eldest servant finding a wife for Issac Genesis 24:27 records…
Genesis 24:27 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth;
Now how will you find any grace and truth in the Old Testament if it did not come until Jesus Christ?
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
What ended the law? The administration of grace. Could anyone have the faith of Jesus Christ before Pentecost?
No! Why? Because it was not available.
Romans 16:25-26 25Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26But now is (author's emphasis) made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
Paul wrote in verse 25 ...according to his gospel. Paul's gospel was the gospel of grace the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
What faith is this talking about? What is the faith that came with the gospel of grace? What was kept secret since the world began?
The mystery of the one body the church of grace.
When did this church come? It came on the day of Pentecost.
Look at the gospel of Mark.
Mark 11:22-23 22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. (Have the faith of God)23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
The type of faith required to remove a mountain is called the manifestation of faith.
1 Corinthians 12:7-9 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
The manifestation of faith is given to every man for a profit in the grace administration.
Jesus was teaching his disciples that the God kind of faith can do the impossible.
KJG Luke 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Every time a believer operates the manifestation of faith, he is walking in the God kind of faith.
Galatians 3:23 could literally be translated according to usage "But before the faith of Jesus Christ came."
Now you can understand there is plenty of faith in the Old Testament; it just was not the kind of faith Jesus Christ brought in the new birth.
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.