Saved Without Faith?

If we were to say, without explanation, that it is possible to be saved without faith, it might sound like heresy to those who know the Holy Scriptures. However, upon closer examination, we realize that in the Bible many were saved without faith, or with a borrowed faith.

The Bible narrates the case of a man who was saved by the faith of his friends, since he had no faith (Mark 2:1-5). He was a paralytic. He had four friends who loved him very much, and they wanted him to be healed. They decided to bring him to Jesus. So they took him, put him on a stretcher, and began to make their way through the crowd. But, oh no, suddenly they could not go on, because there was no room beside the Lord! So they took their friend, put him up on the roof, made an opening in it, and lowered him down at the Lord's feet.

The Bible says that the Lord Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: "Son, your sins are forgiven". And he healed him. This miracle was not the result of the man's faith, but that of his friends. It was not the paralytic who took the initiative to approach the Lord, but his friends.

But there were still other more dramatic cases. Once, the Lord met a woman in a synagogue who was bent over. She had not been able to stand upright for 18 years. All that time she could not look at the sky; what shame and humiliation she must have suffered! When the Lord Jesus saw her, He called her. He did not ask her if she had faith, nor if she wanted to be healed. He said nothing to her except: "Woman, you are free from your sickness". And he laid his hands on her and she was made whole (Luke 13:10-13). Did she have faith or not? The Lord did not care.

Another time the Lord went to the pool of Bethesda, where a multitude of sick people were waiting for an angel to come down from heaven to touch the water of the pool. Each time he came down, the first sick person who touched the water was healed. One of them, a paralytic, had been there for 38 years, and he had never been healed, because he was always preceded by another. The Lord came to him and, without further ado, asked him: "Do you want to be healed?". The Lord did not ask him if he had faith. He simply asked him if he wanted to be healed. That question must have seemed to the paralytic the most beautiful music to his ears. Then, having obtained the answer, the Lord healed him.

This paralytic, as well as the bent-over woman, represent suffering, neglected humanity. They are the defeated of life, those who have been left lying by the side of the road. They have witnessed how others have triumphed, while fate has turned its back on them. But even to these the Lord came. It is not necessary to have faith. It is enough to be close to the Lord to be touched by his loving hand. It is not necessary to believe (who can boast of having been saved by his own faith?). It is enough to draw near to him and open one's heart for him to come in and dwell.

Even today, the Lord asks men and women who suffer: "Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be saved?". It is enough for you to say "yes" to him, and he will save and heal you.

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