Who's Faith Is It?

By Daniel Shirley

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

In Romans 1:17, Apostle Paul quotes from the Prophet Habakkuk, with one seemingly small , but actually huge variation. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” It seems Paul omits one word, “his.” But when looking at the Hebrew text he quotes from (Habakkuk 2:4), we see the phrase “by his faith,” is actually a single word, “ʼĕmûwnâh” which does not assign the possession of the faith. In other words, it simply says “the just shall live by faith,” as does Paul in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.

2 Peter 1:4 says, “by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption [that is] in the world through lust.” As a partaker of the divine nature, everything that is His by nature, meaning Jesus’ nature, is yours. That includes His faith is now yours. If your thinking that is a stretch, look at this. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” His life, and His faith… I live by His faith… you live by His faith.

Mark 11:22 (NKJV) says, “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God.’” But let’s look at some other translations of this verse.

The Message says, “Jesus was matter-of-fact: ‘Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you.’”

Young’s Literal Translation 98, “And Jesus answering saith to them, ‘Have faith of God.’”

Bible in Basic English, “And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith.”

Consider this; you have been so thoroughly joined to the Lord that you have His mind. 1 Corinthians 2:16, “For ‘who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit [with Him.].” 2 Corinthians 4:11 says, “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” And Colossians 3:3-4 says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ [who is] our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” In other words, you died with Him, you have His life manifesting in you, you have His mind, you are one spirit with Him, so why not His faith?

We could continue with, Philippians 3:9, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which [is] from the law, but that which [is] through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” and 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Or how about this one? Ephesians 2:14, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” or 1 John 4:17, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” And Acts 17:28, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

Let’s look at Galatians 2:20 in the Mirror Study Bible. “So here I am dead and alive at the same time. I'm dead to the old me I was trying to be and alive to the real me which is Christ in me. Co-crucified, now co-alive. What a glorious entanglement. I was in him in his death; now I discover that he is infused in me, in my life. For the first time, I'm free to be me in my skin, immersed in his faith in our joint-sonship. He loves me and believes in me. He is God's gift to me.”

There are a couple of words used here that are key to opening up a whole new understanding for us. The word, “infused,” which Webster’s dictionary defines as, “to cause to be permeated with something (such as a principle or quality) that alters usually for the better.” This is descriptive of the process of dying a piece of fabric. Once the dye has “infused” the fibers of the fabric, for instance, a white fabric dyed red, it can never be white again. You have been infused with the blood of Jesus. Look at this verse, Leviticus 17:11 “‘For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it [is] the blood [that] makes atonement for the soul.’” You have been so “infused” with the life of Christ, you actually have His faith.

The other word I want you to look at is, “immersed.” Webster says this word means, “to plunge into something that surrounds or covers: especially : to plunge or dip into a fluid. This is the word that is portrayed in baptism. This is one of a couple of reasons why we baptize by immersion, rather than sprinkling. It paints a much more accurate picture for us of what took place when you received your salvation. This word describes the process of pickling. A cucumber (or any vegetable) is immersed into a acidic or vinegar solution that permeates the vegetable to preserve it. The process cannot be reversed. The pickle can never revert to being a fresh cucumber. You can’t “unpickle” it. I want you to understand how completely and thoroughly you are joined to the Lord. Until you grasp this, you cannot comprehend this truth that you can actually tap into and function by Jesus’ faith. His life, His nature, His righteousness and yes, His faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Notice, the faith is a gift to you from God. You can’t gift something to someone if it is not yours. If the faith was yours, it wasn’t a gift. But verse 8 calls it a gift. If I want to give you a birthday gift, I can’t go shopping in your closet. If I give you what was already yours, it’s not a gift.

Now this one, Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” If God dealt it, it must have been His faith to deal. If it’s your faith, how is it the He deals it out? If it’s yours, wouldn’t you be the one who determines how much you have?

So you may ask, what is the big issue about whose faith it is? You see, with a flesh ruled mind I cannot live out the life of Jesus. This is why I cannot attain righteousness according to the law. Because the legal approach to God is an exercise of the flesh. Jesus said in Matthew 26:41, and in Mark 14:38, “…The spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak.” Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Romans 8:6-8 tells us, “to be carnally minded [is] death, but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Any faith that I have, my own faith that is, is a mental ascent. My mind is not that strong. It can indeed get stronger, the more I exercise it toward godliness, but it is not strong enough to believe a tree’s, or a mountain’s relocation, when I can clearly see the it right where it was. My mind is not strong enough to believe a dead man resurrected when I see his body lying in a casket. If you are educated in certain faith teachings, you may say, “you have to see it with spiritual eyes.” Thank you for making my point for me. You cannot grow your own faith to that point. To operate in that kind of faith, I must get out of my faith and into His.

Yes, you can stimulate the growth of your own natural faith, but not to the point of believing what your senses give contrary evidence of. Ephesians 2:9 says it is the gift of God the enables you to believe to salvation. Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The faith to believe that Jesus rose from the dead is from the heart, not the head, or mind.

2 Corinthians 10:3 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.” Even though we are in physical, flesh and blood bodies, we are not limited to what the flesh controlled mind can grasp. We are supernatural people because of our union with the Lord, that we can live by His faith.

Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” To live according to the spirit is to live by the faith OF the Son of God… to live by HIS faith. When you live according to the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body. His life in you, His faith in you. This is your superpower.