Faith Comes By Hearing: Galatians 3:1-6
Faith comes by hearing, and thanks be to God I have people in my life who are willing to talk about their faith openly! It’s neat to think about tracing my faith back to Jesus. I may not know all the names, but my faith came to me through people who heard it from someone, who heard it from someone else, who heard it from someone else, who – taken far enough back – heard it from Jesus. It is satisfying to know I’m now a part of that great chain of people.
Paul makes an incredibly important – yet exceptionally subtle – point throughout these verses. Why does the Holy Spirit come to us? Does the Holy Spirit come because we heard the good news and believed? Or, does the Holy Spirit come because we living such righteous lives God wants to experience what we already can do on our own?
Paul doesn’t quite use those terms, but his point is the same. The Holy Spirit comes because we heard the message of faith and believed it. Faith comes from hearing.
None of us have God’s Spirit because we deserve it. None of us have God’s Spirit because we were already righteous on our own. None of us are so capable of doing good that we earned His Spirit.
Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to those who were in Him. The Holy Spirit comes to those with whom Christ abides. We know Christ abides with the needy, the fallen, and the sinfully repentant. Jesus dwells with those who understand their fallen nature and trust He is the only way to be in relationship with God. Jesus didn’t come to save the healthy, for the healthy are not in need of a physician. Jesus came to save the sick. It is through Jesus that we are saved, and it is through Jesus that we receive the Holy Spirit.
This also got me thinking. How much of my faith comes from what I’ve heard from other people? How much of what I believe came to me through God’s use of the people around me as they spoke truth into my life? The Holy Spirit does dwell within me; how much thanks do I owe the people around me?
It turns out I owe an incredible debt to God’s use of the people of faith around me. My parents poured into me as a child, teaching me and talking through my many questions about my faith. As I grew, mentors came alongside me and continued those conversations. As an adult, friends encourage me with their thoughts. My friends continue to invite me into their daily struggle of getting through life in this world while holding fast to God’s truth. Faith comes by hearing, and thanks be to God I have people in my life who are willing to talk about their faith openly!
