I was reading through all the asked questions and could find none asking about faith—believing—the healing within from Gods word. Is not faith a law of the NT? (Hebrews 11:1,3; John 6:63) What about John 15:7, Romans 3:25-27,31? Notice Paul calls faith a law. I am just wondering why these verses are not really taught on to be a part of your every day life. To believe in the Lord, have faith and know he will care for your every need. His word is filled with Christians having belief and faith in him for "all" things. Why is this not taught on strongly? Do you believe god heals through his word? Help me to understand why this is not taught like baptism is preached? What good is baptism if you do not follow the Lord’s words? Thank you for helping me to understand all this that I find very confusing. May the son shine in us all.
Answer
You have some very good questions there. Sometimes in the past, and maybe even still, the churches of Christ have emphasized baptism and talked less about faith as a reaction to those who preach that the work of faith is important and that baptism is less so.
Is faith a law of the New Testament? Several of the passages you mention (Hebrews 11:1-3; John 6:63) say that faith is a necessary fact, but not necessarily a law. John 15:7 says nothing about faith, unless that is part of abiding in Jesus. Even so, it certainly doesn’t say anything about faith as a law. So the passage that might do so is only Romans 3:27-31. Let’s look at that more closely.
“Where is boasting then? [if Jesus justifies those who believe in him (verse 26)] It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also; Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision [the Jews] by faith, and the uncircumcision [non-Jews] through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
This is the conclusion of a discussion about all (Jews and non-Jews) needing forgiveness of sins. So he is comparing the Law that came through Moses to a law that comes through faith, and saying that even under the Law of Moses faith was required. Here, then, is a paraphrase/commentary on that passage that might clear it up a little.
If Jesus is the one who justifies, how can we boast of our salvation? We can’t? Does legalistic obedience to law exclude boasting? No. It encourages it. If there is a law that excludes boasting it would be called a law of faith. So we see that man is justified without legalistic obedience. Is God only the God of the Jews, who tried to live by legalism? Is he not also the God of non-Jews. Yes, also of non-Jews, since the one God shall save the Jews by their obedient faith and non-Jews by means of faith without the Law of Moses. [That is, faith is required of both.] Does faith eliminate law? Certainly not. Faith validates law, because the letter of the law is meaningless without the spirit of the law.
Faith, then is a law only in a sense that Paul contrasted it with the Law of Moses or law in general. It is not a law in the sense that it is another thing to be checked off for us to do to earn heaven.
Why is faith not taught about strongly? I had not noticed that it was not. In times past it was taught less strongly than over the past twenty years, but I see it being emphasized now. In those former times it was not taught as strongly because others were teaching it to the exclusion of certain biblical requirements, such as baptism. It was assumed that the strong teaching by others didn’t need to be repeated. Now it is being taught strongly because people have unjustifiably accused some of us of teaching salvation by works because of our reaction to their emphasis on the work of faith. The new emphasis on faith is that baptism and good works are a part of faith, not in contrast to it.
You ask what good baptism is if one doesn’t follow the Lord’s words? Absolutely none. One can not follow the word of God without baptism; and being immersed without following the word of God only gets one wet, not saved. That is what Paul taught in Romans 6 and has been a doctrine of the church of Christ from the first century, and of the Jewish faith for centuries before that.
Does God heal through His word? In a sense. He heals through Christ, who is the main subject of His word. As Paul said in the passage from Romans 3 discussed above, the emphasis should be on the Messiah, not the law, on the man rather than the plan. Keep in mind, though, that the healing that comes through Christ is spiritual healing, forgiveness of sins. He never promises physical healing. We know this first of all because people still die. We also know it from scripture (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Paul had some unspecified sickness that God refused to heal him of, even though he prayed three times about it. God may heal people physically, and all healing is from God, but does not promise it will happen. As the passage you mentioned in John 6:63 says, the physical is less important than the spiritual.
I hope these thoughts have helped answer your questions.