Faith is sometimes it is associated with mental assent to doctrines of salvation, such as the statement that Christ died for our sins. We are told that if we believe that truth we will be saved. At other times faith is equated with trust. This takes faith beyond agreement with a doctrinal statement into something personal. It indicates that we consider the person in whom we trust to be deserving. In the case of God, we believe that he is loving, kind, truthful, powerful, and wise, to name of few of his attributes.Trust in God enables people to put the utmost confidence in his promises, giving them strength to go through difficult trials while maintaining the conviction that God will take care of things. Trust in God propels people to take action in the knowledge or conviction that God will uphold us. Faith understood as trust goes to the heart of things, but perhaps does not go as far as Jesus wants us to go in our definition.
"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 "But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 (NASB)
Faith produces a character quality called faithfulness, which is often understood as loyalty. Faithful people can be relied upon in times of difficulty. They are not “fair weather” friends whose allegiance shifts with the circumstances. Faithful people remain loyal no matter what, which Jesus highly praised in his words quoted above. What is pictured here is not merely a confession of faith before other Christians, but one made under duress, when the temptation to deny Christ in order to save oneself is present.
Confession of our faith before other believers is required to prove the faith we have in our heart. Confession combined with heart trust is the formula Paul gave us in his often quoted passage from Romans.
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10 (NASB) Confessing allegiance to Christ before men is one of the basic elements of water baptism. Those who are water baptized confess aloud before witnesses their present and ongoing allegiance to their Lord and Savior. But tests of our loyalty to Christ do not stop when we come up out of the water. They have just begun.
For the rest of our lives, Jesus expects us to show allegiance to him before men by publicly and privately confessing his name.
This means we refuse to be silent regarding him and the gospel out of embarrassment or fear, which may be considered a passive form of denial. If we want Jesus to be “proud” of us and confess us before his Father at the last judgment, we must be loyal to him before men in the here and now. This aspect of faith is not talked about enough.
The loyalty of faith also extends to our Christian family. Christ expects us to be “our brother’s keeper” in whatever ways are appropriate.
We can show our loyalty through love, encouragement, prayer, assistance, visitation, etc. It also means we will not sit idly by if our brother or sister is in danger or dire need. It means we will stand with them in persecution and trials. No one should have to go it alone, as did Paul.
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:16-18 (NASB)
Most of the time the early Christians stood by their persecuted brethren, even if it ended up costing them their own lives, and so must we when and if the time arrives. Faith is known by its loyalty.
