FAITH COMES BY HEARING

Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

The preposition ‘by’ as used in today’s verse has two distinct meanings when looked at in the Greek. The first relates to ‘origin’ and the second, to ‘channel’. Hence, even though the same word ‘by’ is used in the English translation, there lies a foundation behind each.

So faith comes by hearing, – the origin of faith is words. Whether written, spoken or thought, that is how faith starts. However, there is the second dimension where the words that are intended to bring faith have to pass through a specific validated channel, and that channel is the word of God.

In other words, if any set of words will have the potential to build faith, they must come through the lens of the word of God. The word, therefore, becomes the mirror, the judging standard, the channel and the filter through which words should reach us. Whenever hearing that does come by the word and skips this filter, it bears potential to inspire things other than faith including fear, doubt, and worry.

So faith will originate from what you hear,  therefore, what you hear must be filtered through the lens of the Word.

#sly