What Faith Doesn't (Or So The Bible Says)

It is The Lord, not the devil, that is in the detail & how often we miss Him completely. I believe that there is nothing in The Scriptures by mistake, nor is there anything so small that it remains insignificant indefinitely. If jots & tittles are important to God, they ought also to be significant to us. However, there are those who willingly & willfully pass over whatever is there in the plain reading of God’s Word, in order to construct & introduce something entirely alien to the text, for their own purposes. This leads to gross errors & the further along this rocky road we travel, the greater the dangers. Let me give you a prime example, using the second faulty foundation of word of faith rhetoric; the so-called confession of faith. 17-22 “As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do. Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:17-22).

I recommend reading Romans 4 in its entirety, rather than simply being led by the nose into cherry picking verses that are twisted out of all reasonable recognition, after the manner of mainstream word of faith teaching. The answers, are in the texts. However, a selective isolation of verses is necessary for some to attempt to prove the principle that we dismantled in our last meeting; the false premise that faith is a law or force, originally used by God in creation & also known as the God kind of faith. These verses from Romans 4 are then employed by word of faith proponents, in a heavily elasticated attempt at further revealing the nature of the God kind of faith, because according to them, faith “...calls things into existence that do not exist.” (Romans 4:17b). We are taught to imitate God by doing the same thing as Him. Call those things which be not, as though they were. Speak faith filled words that bring our heart’s desires into reality. Say it & see it. Name it & claim it. Blab it & grab it. Confess it & possess it. The dangerous proximity of this dogma to the new age’s law of attraction is concerning to say the least, but it would seem that some are simply hitting the snooze button & ignoring the alarm. Tut. Tut. Tut.

When we examine the passage in Romans 4, this is not what Paul was teaching at all. There is no such thing being taught here. Please bear with me while we thrash this out.

The cry goes up, 13 “And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.” (2^nd Corinthians 4:13); 20-21 “From the fruit of a person’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is filled with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:20-21). You see, they say, Scripture clearly teaches this principle of confession. Beginning with our confession of Christ as our Saviour at salvation & continuing on in our walk of faith. 10 “One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:10). We are to confess with our mouths whatever we have come to believe in our hearts. Is this what the Apostle Paul was teaching? Let’s look at the text.

Dissenters will say that the Apostle Paul didn’t know what he was talking about. The glaringly obvious differences between Romans 4 & the original narrative in the book of Genesis cannot be ignored. However in defence of our dear brother, I have to point out that Paul was a distinguished Jewish theologian, making a particular doctrinal point, while discussing a Hebrew construct, to an audience that included gentiles. Your average, common or garden word of faith teacher will not get into this, because explaining what Paul does here theologically will unravel the twisted falsehoods they peddle. Paul is building his contention concerning God’s justification of Abram by faith, apart from the works of the law or circumcision & despite his human failings. We too are justified by faith, apart from the works of the law or circumcision & despite our human failings.

We also have to remember the admonition that The Lord gave to Abram; 1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1). The Lord Jesus also said, 48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). Well, thanks be to God for the doctrine of sanctification.

God promised Abram many things. 6 “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6). The Lord God was his shield. The Lord God was his reward. The Lord God promised him descendants as the number of the stars in the heavens & as the sand of the seashore. The Lord God promised that Abram would be the father of many nations & that kings would come out of him. The Lord God promised him & his descendants the land of Canaan. The Lord God also promised him a son from his own body, through his wife. The Lord God would make His covenant with the lad & his seed after him.

The Lord God was speaking. The Lord God was promising. The Lord God was demonstrating His perfect foreknowledge & Divine Omniscience. It is His eternal perspective, because He is all seeing & all knowing. This is the theological point that Paul is unpacking in Romans 4, seen from God’s eternal viewpoint. However, the rhetoric of modern faith teaching removes God from the center & places man there. It is you who are in control of your life, destiny & circumstances because it is you who has the power through your confession. Lean in.

“[In Proverbs] chapter 18 verse 21, it says death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat his fruit. Now this particular verse of scripture is an astounding revelation; listen to this; death and life, what else is there that covers the gamut doesn't it? Death and life, but listen to this, listen to this; death and life are not in the power of God. Look at the verse. It doesn't say death and life are in the power of God. It doesn't say death and life are in the power of Jesus. It doesn't say death and life is in the power of The Holy Spirit. It doesn't say death and life is in the power of satan. It says death and life is in the power of the tongue. That's incredible and those who love it will eat its fruit. In other words you're going to eat the fruit of what you speak. death and life. I love that, because it tells me that I am the architect of my own destiny. Now that does not say that God is not in the mix, don't misunderstand me but he made us with free will so we can obey or disobey. We have that choice and He'll allow us to do it. We see it all the time. So He's put principles into His Word that we can take and operate in and through these principles bring about what God intended in the first place for his creation of us; abundant living in every area of life. So he says death and life are in the power of the tongue so that means you can speak death to your life or you can speak life to your life.”

Frederick K. C. Price, The Power of Positive confession, at Faith Christian Center in Arlington, Texas in 2009 (emphasis added).

The thrust behind positive confession is the misplaced belief that because God is a faith God, He confessed creation into existence. The words and God said are lifted from Genesis 1 in order to try & prove this point. Therefore, if we are to be imitators of Him as dear children (Ephesians 5:1) we are to do the same. I am yet to find a single word of faith advocate who has been able to move a single grain of sand with their faith, much less create a universe or move a mountain. Even the leaders of this movement seem to have difficulty fighting off the dentist, optician, doctor, mortician or funeral director. Fred Price himself died in 2021 after succumbing to Covid 19 related complications. Of course, his passing was billed as him deciding to go & be with The Lord after catching a glimpse of glory.

“Faith's confession is always a joyful confession. It confesses that we have the money before it has arrived. It confesses perfect healing while the pain is still in the body. It confesses victory while defeat still holds it captive. Your confession is based upon the living Word. "I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is not only able to make good, but He is making good now in my case." When we confess the Word with joy, it brings conviction to the listeners. In Romans 10:10 it says, "For with the heart man believeth ." I like to translate it like this, "For with the heart, man acts on the Word." The heart acts and that drives the lips to confession. A doubting heart is a sense-ruled heart. A fearless confession comes from a Word-ruled heart. The Word dominates their heart life and they speak as did Paul, "I know in whom I have believed."…Paul had a faith-filled, joyous confession. Only a heart that is nourished on the Word can stand in these hard places. When we know that the Word is God speaking to us now, it is not difficult to act upon it.”.

E. W. Kenyon, The Hidden Man; an Unveiling of The Subconscious Mind © 1981 (emphasis added).

Oh dear. If what these men say is true, it would mean that Paul failed miserably in living up to his own teachings. He made several bad confessions, saying, 3 “I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.” (1^st Corinthians 2:3) & 9 “For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1^st Corinthians 15:9) & 8 “This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:8) & 15 “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them.” (1^st Timothy 1:15) & 24 “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Yet Paul claimed to have kept the faith. 7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2^nd Timothy 4:7). He fought. He finished. He was faithful.

This is the same Apostle who admonished the Romans not to think of themselves more highly that they ought to. 3 “For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.” (Romans 12:3).

Perhaps Paul knew something that the modern Church has conveniently forgotten or deliberately ignored. Let’s return to our example of true faith; our father, Abram.

1-12 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me. (Genesis 22:1-12).

Do we see Abram utilizing confession for possession here? Surely the father of the faith would have left us evidence of this principle in action, wouldn’t he? Between Abram believing God & his act of faithfulness in being willing to sacrifice Isaac, there were one or two significant occurrences. In Genesis 15, Abram believed God & was justified by faith. In Genesis 16, he goes into Hagar & produces Ishmael. In Genesis 17, The Lord changes his name & he receives the sign of circumcision. Abram becomes Abraham. In Genesis 18, The Lord appears to Abraham and informs him of His intentions concerning the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah. In Genesis 19, he rescues his nephew Lot from sin city. In Genesis 20 Abraham encounters Abimelech & lies to the king about Sarah being his wife, in order to save his skin. In Genesis 21, Sarah conceives & gives birth to Isaac. Our father Abraham had been a busy boy. Yet throughout his ventures, Abraham wasn’t confessing, naming, claiming or saying. God said it. God promised it. God did it. Ultimately, by the time we get to Genesis 22, we see that Abraham has moved to a place in faith, of unquestioning obedience to his God.

1-5 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures—concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, (Romans 1:1-5).

25-26 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles— (Romans 16:25-26).

Do not be tempted to think that you can simply confess, name, claim, say, see, declare or decree your way into or out of anything in this life. It is a lie that appeals to the desperate & the delusional. I have seen both. Abraham’s faith grew out of the relationship he had with The Lord. This went beyond what had been said to him. It also embraced the faithfulness of He Who had said it. Abraham had faith in God & that faith produced the obedience that underpinned & drove his actions. If you want to walk in faith as Abraham did, let’s see your submission & devotion.

7 Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? (2^nd Chronicles 20:7).

8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, my friend—(Isaiah 41:8).

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. (James 2:23).

There was no law, therefore there was no legalism. There was no circumcision, therefore there was no obligation. Faith is our loving response to a loving God, not a system or formula. I have of course heard the objection that it is our confession that Jesus takes before The Father & we are encouraged to do the same because of our covenant rights. 1 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” (Hebrews 3:1). However, these verses speak of our personal profession of Christ as our Savior, not the misguided belief that The Lord Jesus takes whatever we have been naming, claiming, saying, seeing, declaring & decreeing, before God as our covenant representative, while we exercise the God kind of faith. What utter nonsense. This is not the example of faith set out for us in The Scriptures.

Romans 4 does not end with verse twenty two. The Apostle Paul continues, saying, 23-25 ^“Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:23-25). The justification by faith of all who believe is what is being taught. Calling those things which be not as though they were, is a simple & straightforward description of what God did & can do, because He is The Lord. It is not the principle of positive confession that the word of faith message teaches. It was God Who said these things, not Abram. It was God Who made these promises, not the patriarch. It was God Who declared, decreed & ordained these things, not man. If we are to imitate God, as some say, then let’s see them raise the dead, because our text tells us that it is God Who “...gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.” (Romans 4:17b).

17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking. (Hebrews 11:17-19).

With these truths in view, we can see just how ludicrous word of faith assertions are. As I have said; The Lord God was speaking. The Lord God was promising. The Lord God was demonstrating His foreknowledge & Divine Omniscience. It is His perspective, because He is all seeing & all knowing. Furthermore, our text from Romans 4 clearly states that it is “...God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. (Romans 4:17b).

If we are meant to imitate God by doing & saying the same thing as Him, then that would mean that we can also call non-existent things into being. But this is not what Paul is teaching us here. It is The Lord, not the devil, that is in the detail.

8-9 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith. (Galatians 3:8-9).

In our next & final visitation of the topic of faith, we will address what is perhaps the most abused passage of Scripture that word of faith leaders handle. It is a flagrant abuse of the teaching of The Lord Jesus Christ, devoid of any knowledge of what, in my opinion, is probably the pinnacle of our Saviour's demonstration of & teaching on faith. Of course, I’m speaking of Mark 11:22-24.

From the series: Have Faith in God, by, David Samuel Parkins.

Originally posted: March 10th, 2025.

You can follow David on his blog: The Discernment Quarterly

All Scriptures taken from the CSB unless otherwise noted.