What is faith in God?
Faith in God is a gift of God, rooted in Jesus and enlightened by the witness of the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures. Through faith, God prepares and enables our minds to share in Christ’s knowledge and trust in God the Father by the Spirit. Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. To have faith is to respond with trust and love to who Jesus is revealed to be according to the gospel. (Eph. 2:8; Rom. 12:3; 10:17; Heb. 11:1; Rom. 5:1-2; 1:17; 3:21-28; 11:6; Eph. 3:12; 1 Cor. 2:5; Heb. 12:2)
14.2 Is Christian faith irrational?
No. Faith is the kind of knowledge that results from the open and personal consideration of the revelation of God given through the Person of Jesus and the testimony to that revelation in the Holy Scriptures. Faith has an object that can be known and understood, namely the objective revelation that culminates in the Person and teaching of Jesus Christ. Faith is the personal knowledge of God based on God’s own achievement of self-revelation. As such it is public knowledge.
14.3 Is Christian faith purely subjective?
No. Christian faith is not the result of an act of will or the decision of an individual to affirm or assume something. Faith is a response to the object of revelation, conveyed primarily through hearing, not seeing. Faith has a subjective aspect that is required for all knowledge. Faith involves the humility and at least a mustard seed of trust that corresponds to hearing the truth of what is revealed in God’s Word, both living and written. That mustard seed of trust and humility is a gift of the Holy Spirit who works in our subjectivity, but is not our subjectivity or subjective states.
14.4 Is there any mystery to Christian faith?
Yes. In the New Testament, a “mystery” refers to what human beings can come to know only by God’s gracious act of revelation. In that sense, mystery does not mean what cannot be known but what must be revealed by God. Though there are things God has not revealed, God is faithful and wants to be known. What he reveals to us is not in any way misleading. As we contemplate God’s revelation, we do so knowing there is more depth to it than we are able to grasp. Though we can apprehend God’s revelation, we cannot fully comprehend it. (John 1:18; Col. 1:27; Eph. 3:3-5; 1 Cor. 2:9-11; Deut. 29:29)
From The GCI Statement of Beliefs:
Faith in God is a gift of God, rooted in Jesus Christ and enlightened by the witness of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. Through faith, God prepares and enables our minds to participate in Jesus Christ’s communion with the Father by the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the Author and Perfecter of our faith.