For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (Ephesians 2:8)
Faith, is a word bandied about in many contexts in our day. It is common to hear the ‘faith’ word used in relation to those promoting personal self-esteem with a phrase like this - ‘have faith in yourself.’ Or, we also hear the faith word used as a motivational tool by those who are about to face and hopefully achieve some great physical feat. We also hear of the different kinds of ‘faith’ or religious persuasions that people profess and practice.
But let me ask you - what about the biblical concept and reality of saving faith?
Why I put this to you is because, so many professing Christians have got a weak if not wrong understanding of what biblical, saving faith, really is. Many would say and hold that it is their faith that saves them. Or put in another way, “It is by faith I am saved by God.’ Let me stop you right there. We are not, and no one is saved “by” our faith. We are saved “through” faith but not by faith.
This salvation 'by faith’ is sadly where many Christians stand. Their faith, or their reliance, their confidence and dependence for salvation is bound up in having faith in their faith! But this is way off the truth of biblical saving faith. Our faith in and of itself is not our Saviour! Jesus Christ and He alone is our Saviour.
Read how B. B. Warfield puts this: “Our faith itself, though it be the bond of our union with Christ through which we receive all His blessings, is not our Saviour. We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing that we are and nothing that we can do enters in the slightest measure into the ground of our acceptance with God. Jesus did it all. [Grace Quotes]