Role of Faith in Salvation

Introduction
Paul’s emphasis on faith can scarcely be denied. He uses the pistis 142 times, whereas it
occurs but 101times in all the rest of the NT. He also has the verb pisteuo (“to believe”)
54 times and the adjective pistos (“faithful” “trustworthy”) 33 times. Clearly the faith
words featured largely in the Pauline vocabulary. O. Michel points out that the demand
for faith was something new beginning with the Christians. 1 Faith represents a new mode
of existence that has been given with Christ’s advent; it “comes” with the coming of the
fullness of the time (Gal. 3:23; 4:4), and with the manifestation of the grace of God in the
death and resurrection of Christ. Then it is disclosed that Christ is the end of the law unto
justification for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4); likewise the insufficiency, indeed
the folly, of trusting in the law is understood, the consciousness of one’s own
imperfection and guilt is this sequence, and not the reverse, which is able to give us the
proper insight into the true nature both of faith and of the grace of God in connection
with justification.2

Faith
Faith is a central theological concept representing a correct relationship to God. Heb. mn
and Gk. Pisteuein demand a variety of renderings beside belief, faith and trust, especially
faithfulness. Biblical theology usually roots NT Faith in OT Hebrew lacks a word for
“faith” (emuna is rare and equals fidelity). This plus other factors, caused Martin Buber
to distinguish two types of faith: OT judaistic (emuna), which was national, communal
trust and fidelity, based on covenant; and Christian (Gk. Pistis) which was individualistic
persuasion of faith, belief in something.

Faith for Abraham was acknowledgement of Gods power to fulfill His unconditional
promise and Isaiah the prophet waited for the hidden God and hope in him during
national crisis. According to synoptic gospel, Jesus taught about faith in God as basis for
prayer and for moving mountains. Unlike the fourth gospel, where miracles can produce
faith, for Jesus in synoptics “supplicating faith” leads to a miracle (Mk. 9:24-27, 2:5, 12.
par; 6:5-6)

A new and specifically Christian use of Pistis comes in terms of acceptance of the
“kerygma” or apostolic proclamation about the crucified and risen Jesus. (Gal. 3:2,5). Gk.
Pistis becomes a technical term for reaction to gospel preaching, an act of faith with
regard to the story about Jesus coupled with the promise of future salvation (Acts 4: 4).
This future hope was part of the kerygma (I Thess. 1:9-10). Christians are “believers”
(Acts 2: 44) Members of the household of faith (Gal. 6: 10).

Paul inherits and exhibits much of this early Christian understanding. The personal faith
that comes hearing the word and confessing Jesus Lordship includes “the obedience of

1 ?
Leon Morris, Faith “Dictionary of Paul and His letters”. Editors. Gerald f. Hawthorne and Ralph P.
Martin (Illinois: Inter Varsity Press.1993), 285
2 ?
Herman Ridderbos, PAUL an Outline of His Theology (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1975), 171.

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faith or commitment (Rom 1:5cf 16:26). Hence faith relates to ethics, in close
relationship to its expression toward the future as “hope” and toward others as love (I
Thess 1: 3; Rom 12: 1-2, 9-10; 13:8-10).

Paul’s contribution involved relating faith to righteousness and Justification (cf. Gal. 3: 6-
14; Rom. 4). He connects faith with “gospel” for salvation (Rom 1:16), “peace and access
to God” (5:1-2), the Spirit (Gal. 3:2, 5.14), “in Christ” (Gal. 3:25-26) “reconciliation”
parallels justification by faith (Rom. 5: 9-11). “Redemption” (3: 24-25),
“fellowship”(koinonia) is connected with God’s being faithful (1 Cor 1: 9) and our
participation in Christ (Phil. 3: 9 -10), and “grace” is frequently linked with “faith”. For
Paul faith becomes the criterion not “works of the law” such as circumcision and
regulations involving clean and unclean, which marked Jews off from others and so
precluded a universal mission.
Some Christians may be “weak in faith” (Rom. 14: 1), while others can be regarded as
“strong” or enabled (15:1). Faith is something that can grow (2 Cor 10:15) or be lacking
in some aspects (I Thess. 3:10) but then become strong in its conviction (Rom 4:20-22;
14:15) It is not static in the face of threats but dynamic showing itself in action (I Thess
1:3), through love (Gal 5:6)3

Salvation.
The faith claim of OT is that Israel has both already experienced and still anticipates the
promised salvation of God within the arena of history. The paradigmatic experience of
Israel’s salvation is the Exodus event, God’s deliverance of his people from slavery in
Egypt. The experience of salvation has a communal as well as individual nature. OT
gives the evidence of the emphasis of a shift of emphasis during the time of exile. In
prophetic & apocalyptic literature God’s salvation was increasingly projected into future

The NT speaks of salvation as deliverance from physical danger such as sickness,

deformity, demon possession, death or the “evil one’ as well as deliverance from sin.
Salvation does include a concern for earthly needs of people, as evidenced by the
miracles of Jesus as well as the teachings of James and 1John, but its major focus is
spiritual in nature Salvation means entry into the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of
heaven. Jesus was interested in giving abundant life to the whole person (Jn 10:10). This
life in the kingdom within the reign of God which is actually present and yet remains
future in its complete realization (cf. Rom 8: 1,9) The present reality of salvation is the
proleptic experience of the ‘believer’ of eternal life in the presence of God by means of
faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and resurrected Lord.

NT like the OT, bears witness to the ultimate eschatological nature of salvation. Salvation
has yet to be realized completely in the life of believers. Jesus speaks of an end to history
and the coming of the son of man the final saving act of God (Mk 13: 27). But even he
don’t know when this ‘day of the Lord” will come. Revelation gives the concept of final
salvation of God will be revealed on a stage beyond history beyond time and beyond
earth. Salvation will be available to all the world. The universal scope of God’s love was

3
John Reumann, Faith, “Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible”, Ed. David Noel Freedman. (Michigan:
?

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 453.

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unknown in the OT. Nevertheless it is in the NT which gives salvation its widest scope,
its greatest motivation and its unique means. (Jn 3:16).4

In the Pauline writings the important thing is deliverance from sin and from the
consequences of sin, though it is much more common for Paul to speak simply of
salvation than to say what people are saved from. He uses the verb sozo(to save) twenty-
nine times the noun soter(savior) twelve times and soteria (salvation ) eighteen times,
Such statistics show that Paul is interested in the concept of salvation , more so, indeed,
than any other NT writer.5

Salvation has a wide range of meaning and there are different emphases in different parts
of the NT. In the Gospels, for example, we often have stories of Jesus doing miracles
accompanied by such words as “your faith has saved you.” In such contexts salvation has
a strong physical component (though we would be wise not to exclude a spiritual
component even in such passages). But this is not a Pauline usage (except in a few
possible places, e.g., I Tim 2: 15) For Paul “salvation” refers to what Christ has done in
his great saving act for sinners; all the Pauline passages bear on this act in some way. It is
central to the Pauline understanding of Christianity, for salvation is the very purpose of
the incarnation of the Son of God: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I
Tim 1: 15). Salvation is a comprehensive word bringing out the truth that God in Christ
has rescued people from the desperate state that their sins had brought about.6
Role of faith in Salvation
For Paul the great central the great central truth is that God has acted in Christ to bring
about the salvation of sinners. Salvation cannot be merited or earned; it must be received
as a gift of grace. Sinners cannot merit salvation, they can only trust God or, as Paul puts
it, have faith in God (or in Christ). It is a distinctively Christian feature that the verb
pisteuo (“to believe”) is often followed by the preposition epi (“on”) or eis (“into”), and
Paul follows this usage. This brings out the truth that Christians rest their faith “on” Jesus
or are brought “into” union with him.

Faith has many aspects. “ It is response to revelation as contrasted with discovery of new
Knowledge”. It implies our recognition that we are sinners and thus unable of ourselves
to forsake evil and to do good. Socrates might hold that knowledge and virtue are much
the same, so that to know what is right leads people to do what is right, but Paul would
not have agreed. For him faith implies both that we have come to see ourselves as sinful
and also that we have come to recognize that God has provided for our forgiveness
though what Christ’s death has done for us. Faith means coupling the recognition of the
impossibility of our achieving our salvation with the acceptance of the truth that God has
done all that is necessary. The “good news” is “the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes” (Rom 1: 16). And faith means commitment. Those who believe
4 ?
Gary W. Light, Salvation “Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible”, Ed. David Noel Freedman. (Michigan:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 1154.
5 ?
Leon Morris, Faith “Dictionary of Paul and His letters”. Editors. Gerald f. Hawthorne and Ralph P.
Martin (Illinois: Inter Varsity Press.1993), 860
6
Leon Morris, Faith “Dictionary of Paul and His letters”. Editors. Gerald f. Hawthorne and Ralph P.
Martin (Illinois: Inter Varsity Press.1993), 860

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have not only come to see their shortcomings, they have committed themselves to be
Christ’s people.7
Sin and Guilt
For Paul the great central truth is that God has acted in Christ to bring about the salvation
of sinners. He recognizes that the evil that people do is a barrier to fellowship with God
and that unless some way is found of dealing with the problem of sin, all people as
sinners face a time of moral accountability. He begins Romans with a strong argument in
which he shows that Jews and Gentiles alike are all “under sin”; he quotes Scripture,
“there is none righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10).8
Sin and the Law
As a faithful Jew Paul had accepted the Law as a gift from god, a mark of divine favor.
But as a Christian he came to recognize that the Law taught some uncomfortable things
about sin. The Law makes all the world guilty before God: “As many as are of works of
Law (i.e. depend on the Law) are under a curse” (Gal 3: 10). Through the Law comes the
recognition of sin (Rom 3:19-20); indeed Paul would not have known what sin is apart
from the Law (Rom 7:7). He does not see the function of the Law as the prevention of
sin, and he can even say that it multiplied sin (Rom 5:20). Its function was to make clear
what sin is; its sharp definition of right and wrong made it plain that many things were
sinful which people in every age have been quite prepared to overlook. The Law could
not bring them to salvation, but it could bring them to Christ so that they could be
justified by faith.
Faith and Works
The issue in James is about conflict in the community and sharing among its members.
The question whether faith will move beyond mere words. Thus the teacher shows which
“wisdom” animates him or her by deeds, not orthodox teaching (Jas 3:13). It is the doer
of deeds, not the mere auditor, who is blessed (Jas 1:25). And faith (here defined as
nominal, orthodox belief, not commitment to Christ) that lacks works (defined in context
as deeds of charity) is useless (Jas 2: 14, 17, 26).

It is not that James ignores faith. Believers are characterized by faith (Jas 1:3; 2:1) and
can even be said to be ‘rich in faith” (jas 2:5). It takes faith (trust in God) to approach god
fruitfully in prayer. If faith divorced from

works cannot save, James never contemplates the idea that works could exist without
faith. For James the ideal is faith working with the being completed by one’s deeds.9
Justification through faith
Justification is the process whereby the sinner comes to be accepted by God. Paul sees
the Christian understanding of justification as distinctive in that it rests on what God has
done, not on any human achievement. It is appropriated by faith, not relying on human
merit. The apostle brings out the central message of Christian way by saying the gospel is
“God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes,” and he goes on to say that God’s
righteousness is revealed “out of [Gk ek] faith into faith”- faith from first to last! He goes
on to cite his great text from Habakkuk 2:4, “the one who is righteous by faith will live”
7
Ibid.,285.
8
Ibid. 878.
9 ?
P.H. Davis, Faith, “Dictionary of the Later New Testament & its Developments”, Ralph P. Martin and
Peter H. Davids (Illinois: Inter Varsity Press, 1997), 364.

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(Rom 1:16-17). The “righteousness of God” comes “through faith in Jesus Christ to all
the believers” (Rom 3:22).

God is both just and the justifier of anyone who has faith in Jesus (Rom 5:1). Or Paul
may vary his way of putting it by saying that one is justified” not from works of Law, but
through faith in Jesus Christ” Gal 2:16;) He puts emphasis on the truth that believers are
justified by faith quite apart from “works of Law” (Rom 3: 28). Or he can look to the
future when he will be found in Christ “not having my own righteousness which is of the
Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God on the basis of
faith” (Phil 3:9). Still further in the future, “by faith we eagerly expect the hope of
righteousness”(Gal 5: 5); this righteousness is the securing of the acquittal on the last
great day (see Eschatology) and it is plain that Paul sees faith as important in this
connection. This great theme underlines all that Paul wrote. It is basic for him and central
to the gospel he spent his life proclaiming. With or without this terminology he
constantly puts before his readers the truth it conveys. People can do nothing to merit
their salvation, but Paul reiterates the truth that all who come to god in faith receive
salvation as a free gift.10

Conclusion
Paul does not see faith as a kind of passport to salvation; it is a life of faith that leads to
salvation. He speaks of Christ as dwelling in the hearts of believers “through faith” (Eph
3:17), which points to an ongoing activity, not a fleeting visit. Indeed Paul can speak of a
law of faith, which he specifically opposes to a law’ of works’ (Rom 3.27). An
individual’s faith affects his moral and ethical life. Thus one has to start with faith and it
leads to produce the appropriate virtues in order to remain with a hope of salvation.

For Paul Gospel is the power of God for Salvation. God has acted in Christ to bring about
the salvation both the Jews and Gentiles who are under sin. He tells no one can be
justified by keeping the law. Law can bring us to recognition of our sin. Justification is
the process by which God accepts a sinner and that can be appropriated only by faith and
not relying on human merit. This faith brings us into union with Christ and by this faith
one keeps the hope of securing acquittal on the last judgment day thus attaining eternal
life.

Bibliography
Ed. Freedman, David Noel. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2000.
Editors Hawthorne, Gerald F. & Ralph P. Martin. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.
Illinois: Inter Varsity
Press, 1993.
Ridderbos, Herman. PAUL an Outline of His Theology. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing
Company, 1975.

10
Leon Morris, Faith “Dictionary of Paul and His letters”, Editors. Gerald f. Hawthorne and Ralph P.
?

Martin (Illinois: Inter Varsity Press.1993), 286.

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Martin, Ralph P. and Peter H. Davids. Dictionary of the Later New Testament & its
Developments, Illinois:
Inter Varsity Press, 1997.