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The God Beyond the God in Whom we Believe

The God Beyond the God in Whom we Believe. The journey towards God.. Dr Anne Francis. 2 Questions. What is faith really about? Or / How can we know God? Can we talk about a theology of faith? 2. How might faith grow and change ?. Faith: A Theology from Scripture.

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The God Beyond the God in Whom we Believe

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  1. The God Beyond the God in Whom we Believe The journey towards God.. Dr Anne Francis

  2. 2 Questions • What is faith really about? Or / How can we know God? Can we talk about a theology of faith? 2. How might faith grow and change?

  3. Faith: A Theology from Scripture

  4. The Hebrew ScripturesRevelation: God’s initiative. • Covenant: God-in-relation. • This faith develops and changes over time as the people make the journey to nationhood. As they learn about God they discover their own identity and vice versa. • It is primarily communal and also individual. Individual faith is seen in the context of the communal.

  5. Christian Faith in the Gospels • Jesus is the new covenant – the faithfulness of God. • Jesus calls forth faith in himself . • Faith is linked to discipleship– following Jesus. • The ‘image of the invisible God.’ (Col 1:15)

  6. According to your faith • As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. Matthew 9:27-30

  7. Matthew 9:27-30 • Two blind men followed him. Saying ‘have mercyon us Son of David’’ • Do you believe? (Πιστεύω faith, trust) • Yes Lord. • According to your faith (πίστιν.) • Their eyes were opened.

  8. ΠίστιςPistis • pístis"persuade, be persuaded") – Faith (pistis) is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people. pistisfor the believer is "God's divine persuasion" Distinct from human belief (confidence), yet involving it. The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so they can be guided by him. (pistis) in secular antiquity referred to a guarantee. (Strong’s Greek concordance http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm)

  9. Paul • Faith as discipleship • New birth in the Spirit by faith. • The passage to new life of salvation and personal certainty in relationship with Jesus Christ. 2 Cor5:17, For anyone who is in Christ there is a new creation. • This is only achieved in the Spirit. (Rom 5:1-5; 8:2,9,14-17.)

  10. Faith in Scripture - Summary • A gift available to everyonein Christ • We see through a glass darkly (1 Cor 13:12) • The promise and task of discovery. • Divine persuasion meeting human belief and trust and intellectual assent • Ongoing (dynamic) conversion of heart and spirit.

  11. So.. • How can we describe faith -or our ongoing discovery of God?

  12. 1 Faith is Organic and Holistic • ‘God comes to us disguised as our life’ (Paula D’Arcy) • Gradual and revealed. • We let go of past understandings. • This can be painful and can sometimes feel like sacrilege! • Unexpected, unpredictable, mysterious…

  13. 2. Faith is communal and intrinsically relational. • Our faith is always received from others and held in relation to others. • The God we seek is God-in-relation: Trinity. • Revelatory and developing faith. • We will find God more easily in community than in ‘answers!’

  14. 2(a) Faith is founded in encounter with Jesus Christ • Two blind men followed him. • The little they had was enough. • God is ‘unspeakably near’ and available for encounter. • We don’t/can’t do it by ourselves.

  15. 3. Faith is endowed by the Holy Spirit who relentlessly orientates us to discovering God. • The Spirit is relentlessly transforming us into the image of God (2Cor 3:17). • Enhances identity,uniqueness and diversity. • …God’s Spirit inhabits the realm of sparks where the groans for life and freedom first arise. • Nancy Victorin-Vangerud, The Raging Hearth,198. • The Spirit is midwife to the painful emergence of the new.

  16. God writes straight with crooked lines. • In the story • In the gathering • In the depths • By coincidence • By surprise • By presence. • In the dark, before the dawn.

  17. ‘Aslan, Aslan, dear Aslan,’ sobbed Lucy. ‘At last.’ The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws…his warm breath came all around her. She gazed up into his large wise face. ‘Welcome child,’ he said. ‘Aslan,’ said Lucy, ‘you’re bigger.’ ‘That is because you are older little one,’ answered he. ‘Not because you are?’ ‘I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.’ CS Lewis Prince Caspian p124

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