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What Is Faith?
We often refer to Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus as a “conversion.” But it is an odd conversion. Paul does not leave behind his knowledge of the Law and the Prophets. He does not leave behind his devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he does have to reconfigure all that he knows around a new center—a new beating heart—Jesus of Nazareth.
One thing that is true for Paul both before and after his “conversion” is his zeal to be reckoned righteous. That desire for righteousness is not lost after the Road to Damascus, but he has to let this experience with the crucified and risen Jesus transform it.
New Testament scholar Michael Gorman imagines that as Paul sits blinded in a house on the Street called Straight he is running those words of Jesus over and over again in his mind: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has raised this Jesus from the dead, what does that mean for Paul’s passion for being righteous?
He knows that Habakkuk prophesied that “The Righteous One shall live by faith.” But what can faith mean now that he has met Jesus, the one whose power is made perfect in weakness; the one whose life is intimately, organically tied to his people?
Is faith something I do for God? Is it a work? Does it come from my own strength, my own capacity to decide what is right and wrong? Or is faith something deeper and more mysterious?
As Chris Green puts it, “Faith is a name for the life of Jesus happening in you.”
How could it be otherwise for Paul now? He knows that the heart of the gospel is union with Christ. Christ is in you and you are in Christ!
Is faith something Christ does for me or something I do? Yes. Faith is nothing less than the infinite life of God coming alive in you. Our salvation comes in being united with Christ like a baby in the womb is united with its mother. Where does the life of the mother stop and the life of the baby begin? It’s a deeply intimate and mysterious connection. What happens to the mother happens to the baby and vice versa.
Something like that is the truth of our union with Christ. What happens to us happens to him, and—here’s the wonder—what has happened for him will happen for us.
Here’s the poem by E.E. Cummings we ended with. I think it gets right at the heart (pun intended) of what it means to be in Christ.
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cameroncombs.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cameroncombs.substack.com
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By Cameron CombsWe often refer to Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus as a “conversion.” But it is an odd conversion. Paul does not leave behind his knowledge of the Law and the Prophets. He does not leave behind his devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he does have to reconfigure all that he knows around a new center—a new beating heart—Jesus of Nazareth.
One thing that is true for Paul both before and after his “conversion” is his zeal to be reckoned righteous. That desire for righteousness is not lost after the Road to Damascus, but he has to let this experience with the crucified and risen Jesus transform it.
New Testament scholar Michael Gorman imagines that as Paul sits blinded in a house on the Street called Straight he is running those words of Jesus over and over again in his mind: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
If the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has raised this Jesus from the dead, what does that mean for Paul’s passion for being righteous?
He knows that Habakkuk prophesied that “The Righteous One shall live by faith.” But what can faith mean now that he has met Jesus, the one whose power is made perfect in weakness; the one whose life is intimately, organically tied to his people?
Is faith something I do for God? Is it a work? Does it come from my own strength, my own capacity to decide what is right and wrong? Or is faith something deeper and more mysterious?
As Chris Green puts it, “Faith is a name for the life of Jesus happening in you.”
How could it be otherwise for Paul now? He knows that the heart of the gospel is union with Christ. Christ is in you and you are in Christ!
Is faith something Christ does for me or something I do? Yes. Faith is nothing less than the infinite life of God coming alive in you. Our salvation comes in being united with Christ like a baby in the womb is united with its mother. Where does the life of the mother stop and the life of the baby begin? It’s a deeply intimate and mysterious connection. What happens to the mother happens to the baby and vice versa.
Something like that is the truth of our union with Christ. What happens to us happens to him, and—here’s the wonder—what has happened for him will happen for us.
Here’s the poem by E.E. Cummings we ended with. I think it gets right at the heart (pun intended) of what it means to be in Christ.
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cameroncombs.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cameroncombs.substack.com