Faith is an expression of confidence. The Hebrew writer says that the person that comes to God must believe that He is – that God exists. It is a confidence that God not only exists, but a confidence that he responds to those who diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)

Christians are called “believers”. Repeatedly we encounter the concept of belief in the New Testament. When a new Christian is baptized we ask them, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he brought from heaven a saving gospel”?

In  the Apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy he testifies, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”.

What does Paul mean when he says he “kept the faith”? Most likely the primary meaning would be that he never lost confidence in his Lord. After Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul never again doubted who Jesus was and what work Jesus had called him to perform. He was to preach the gospel. And preach he did! He never wavered in his calling.

The content of his faith was the belief that Jesus was the Son of God  and he had brought to men the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. So, much of Paul’s writing centers on a faith that justifies men before God.

But faith is more than belief or confidence. Faith must be expressed. James recognizes that a faith without expression (works) is a dead faith. For faith to be faith, it must be lived.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath  appeared unto all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteously, and godly, in this present world; ”  Titus 2:11, 12.

Faith leads us to two activities. The first is to live the faith. The second is to proclaim the faith. Grace is not a work of man, it is the gift of God. But grace is a teacher. It teaches us that we must live the faith for it to be genuine.

The second activity is proclamation. Paul was a ready preacher of the gospel. He was not ashamed of the gospel for he understood it to be the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed.

While faith and faithfulness are personal expressions in part, the New Testament clearly postures faith in the context of the church, the body of Christ. The messages to the churches in the book of Revelation identify faithful and unfaithful churches.

The ordinances (Baptism, Commuunion, etc) point to a corporate faith, faith that is expressed together with other believers.

Discipline of sin in the body is clearly an expression of faith. Faith is more than a private matter. We cannot make faith a wholly private affair.

The expression of faith by an individual believer or a group of believers will always lead to interaction with the culture in which they live. It Is not only interaction with culture in proclamation, it also leads to a counter-culture lifestyle.

The expression of faith calls for decision-making. How shall we live in this present world? This decision-making has both personal and corporate dimensions. It is the responsibility of both the individual and the church to deal with matters of decision-making related to faith.

I think there is wisdom in the following words from a paper titled, “Affirming our Faith in Word and Deed”. (Copyright@1978 by Mennonite Publishing House)

“The church to remain true to herself, must be on the move in a changing world. The church cannot stand still. The comforting thought that all things are the same as before is the first step to the loss of the first love. Only a living faith that goes out to meet the future will avoid the deviant path or the imperceptible drift. ‘Keeping the faith’ is possible only in testing, correcting, adapting and growing  to meet new situations or in response to new understandings. Freezing words, actions, and expressions of our faith does not preserve the faith. An open stance to faith is not ‘too risky’. Risk cannot be removed from true faith. There is risk in change and in no change.” 

The culture around us is in constant flux. We also change in our own personal understandings of faith applications to living. But not all change by believers is appropriate or healthy. That is why all expressions of faith need testing.

“Keeping the faith” is both a personal responsibility as well as the responsibility of a disciple church.