Gary Neal Hansen

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What Faith Can Really Do: Heidelberg Q. 20

October 25, 2013 by Gary Neal Hansen 10 Comments

By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
“Just have faith!” they tell us.

What do you think happens when you believe in Jesus?

Some will tell you that if you really had faith all your prayers would be answered just the way you want.

Others will say the key thing is that faith brings justification — it is the one way to receive forgiveness.

Still others will say it simply brings comfort in the troubles of life: trust God and you know he’ll walk with you all the way through the valley of the shadow of death.

And then there is the Heidelberg Catechism. (I’ve been blogging on this widely used and well-loved Reformed teaching tool all year in honor of its 450th anniversary.  See the rest of the posts here.)

I’ve posted on Heidelberg’s emphasis on faith as trust in God’s faithful promises.

I’ve also posted on Heidelberg’s other emphasis on faith as believing that the Bible’s teachings are true, especially as those teachings are summarized in the Apostles’ Creed.

Just before the Catechism mentions those two things, it slips in a reference to faith’s greatest benefit: It connects us to Jesus Christ. Question 20 refers to those

“…who through true faith are grafted into Christ…”

The footnotes show the writers were thinking of Romans 11:17 and 19 here. They might well have also thought of John 15 where Christ is the vine and we are the branches.

Grafting is an intimate connection. A branch that grew on one plant is carefully inserted into a different plant. Forever after, that branch draws its life from the new plant. It grows there. It bears its fruit there. It becomes a living part of that plant.

The Catechism takes this image very seriously — and it connects it to faith.  Faith, taking God at his word and trusting that God’s promise in Christ applies to us, draws us so close to Jesus that we are ever after connected to him. We draw our life from him. We bear fruit because of that life. The connection is so strong and so permanent that, in another New Testament image, we are considered part of his Body.

This passing reference to the great gift of faith comes in a context many today will find awkward. Here is the question in full.

20 Q. Are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam?
A. No. Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.

This question of whether salvation is universal or not is better left to another day. But maybe focusing on the way faith grafts us into the very life of Jesus can give us some new perspective on that too.

Instead of asking about whether all or only some are saved through Jesus, focus on the clear and helpful thing here: Only those who have faith in Jesus find themselves joined to Jesus.

And, when you think about it, that connection to Jesus is salvation.

What do you think is the best thing that faith brings to your life?

____________

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Filed Under: Faith, Heidelberg Catechism

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Comments

  1. aboutproximity says

    October 25, 2013 at 7:42 PM

    Hope. I love that image

    Reply
    • Gary Neal Hansen says

      October 30, 2013 at 4:50 PM

      Thanks Lisa! Sorry it took a while for me to respond — trying to dig out from under the grading pile at work.

      Reply
  2. Viola Duff says

    October 27, 2013 at 8:05 PM

    Hi Gary.   I do not contribute to your blog but I read them faithfully. Two things that impress me each time.     1. I love your pictures that go with the blog. They are something that I look forward to every time – and I read the words with the pictures in mind.     2. I really like your writing style. It is a conversational style and yet had the content and ideas well designed and delivered. They are a pleasure to read,   Keep up the good work. Love, Viola

    Reply
    • Gary Neal Hansen says

      October 30, 2013 at 4:49 PM

      Thanks Viola! I really appreciate your affirmation.

      Reply
  3. Dana Perreard says

    November 12, 2013 at 9:05 AM

    You know…I definitely have to agree with the first comment–it’s hope for me too. Romans 5 comes to mind:

    Romans 5:1-5 herefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

    Call it another paradox, but it seems that faith testing pain to increase our hope–hope that comes through faith. Thanks for reminding me to be hopeful today Dr. Hansen!

    Reply
    • Gary Neal Hansen says

      November 19, 2013 at 3:26 PM

      Thanks Dana. With a Romans 5 kind of perspective there is always MUCH to be hopeful about. Sometimes in the thick of it “proven character” doesn’t sound so appealing — but hope that codes not disappoint is a very good thing.

      Reply
  4. Dana Perreard says

    November 12, 2013 at 9:06 AM

    “faith testing pain SEEMS to…” Sorry about that…always in a hurry. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Joe Pruett says

    February 19, 2015 at 6:26 AM

    Dr. Hansen, Hope and Peace, must like I read in the other comments, these to me are the two things that come out of having faith…

    Reply

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