Faith?
In A Letter to a Christian Nation, atheistic neuroscientist Sam Harris describes “faith” as “nothing more than the permission religious people give one another to believe things strongly without evidence” (p. 110). The apostle Paul might be read to support this claim when he writes to a loose association of Christ communities in Rome (ca. 56–57 CE), “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who has faith” (Romans 1:16 NRSV). He asserts, moreover, that “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NRSV).
As a matter of historical fact, Jesus of Nazareth was executed in Judea by Roman officials on the charge of sedition (ca. 30 CE). But he was reported by his original followers to have been raised from the dead and consequently proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah (= Christ)—that is, the Lord and Savior of the whole world. This is the gospel (= good news) of which Paul is unashamed. His assertions quoted above might indicate, then, that simply believing the fact of Jesus’ resurrection is what saves. To be sure, Paul has largely been understood by Protestant Christians (of whom I am one) to suggest that what a person believes is far more important than what s/he does.
But maybe Paul is not teaching that faith is simply belief in the seeming impossible. Instead, what if Paul, writing to people of the Roman Empire, understood that a regime change has taken place, and now it is incumbent upon all people to offer their highest allegiance to Jesus Christ?
In consideration of such a view, a few preliminary observations are in order. First, the titles “Lord,” “Savior,” and even “Son of God,” were ones attributed to the Roman Caesars who demanded loyalty from their subjects. Second, “allegiance,” “fidelity,” or “faithfulness,” are all perfectly good ways to translate the Greek term pistis, which is commonly translated “faith” in English Bibles. Third, we should read with equal seriousness what Paul says in another part of his letter to the Romans:
For [God] will repay according to each one’s deeds . . . . There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil . . . but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good . . . . For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:6–11 NRSV)
Taken together, it may very well be that Paul agrees with James that “faith” interpreted as belief alone is useless (James 1:14ff.). Accordingly, I propose that Paul says primarily five things related to the issue of a person’s faith in his letter to the Romans (and elsewhere):
Regardless of whether you believe Jesus’ resurrection happened or not, God is acting through him to rescue the world from evil and destruction. (Romans 8:18–24)
What is necessary now is that you choose who you’d rather have as your king: the self-sacrificial Jesus or the power-grabbing Caesar. (Romans 1:1–7)
Allegiance to one or the other will ultimately be indicated by whose life yours is set to emulate. (Romans 6:1–23)
God’s grace enables you to become more like Jesus if you choose him. This moral transformation is what it really means to be saved and thereby participate in God’s kingdom (of course, the completion of this process awaits Christians’ own bodily resurrection). (Romans 8:1–16)
It makes no difference who you are in order to be counted among God’s chosen people. For example, you can certainly be Jewish (note that in the first century Jewish ethnicity was demarcated by “works [of the law]”—e.g., circumcision, Sabbath observance, kosher food laws, etc.). Or, you can belong to any other people group. Allegiance to Jesus is all you need! (Romans 4:1–25)
Reading Paul in this light, it can be argued that the Christian definition of “faith” as (unevidenced) belief is merely a wrongheaded caricature of what the Bible actually says. A Christian’s faith has to do with actively seeking by means of God’s empowerment what is good and right, desiring to be like Jesus. In thinking of faith this way, we too can ask:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have belief but do not have actions? Can belief save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? (James 1:14–16 translation mine)