Believing in God or Believing God?

When commenting on Genesis 15:6: "And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness", many understand the expression "believed God" to mean "believed in God". However, both expressions are by no means equivalent. The former (believing in God) refers to accepting the existence of God, or, at most, (as in James 2:19) to accepting some feature of his nature, but justifying faith is not merely believing this.

The faith spoken of in Genesis 15:6 is a faith that accepts and believes what God says; that is, that receives God's testimony. When God spoke to Abraham about his descendants, who would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, Abraham believed him. Abraham had no son, so he had no natural foundation on which to base his faith; nevertheless, he believed that God would give him an offspring. The faith he had in those conditions, and in what God told him, was imputed to him for righteousness, so he was declared righteous.

The faith that believes God is, then, a faith that rises above the adverse, because it does not assert itself in what man is, but in what God has said. It is a faith that trusts fully in God and forgets man's impotence. To believe God is not only to accept God's existence, but to accept his truthfulness (Rom. 3:4). For a Person of God's dignity, it is more offensive to make Him a liar by not believing what He says, than to ignore His existence.

What has God spoken? Hebrews 11 shows us several who believed God's words. Perhaps the most exemplary case (apart from Abraham) is that of Noah. God spoke to Noah about things unseen, and then we have Noah's response, accepting what God told him to be true. Therefore, he prepared the ark. By that faith, Noah was made an heir of righteousness (v. 7).

God was pleased with a man like Noah because he believed him and acted accordingly. To believe is not only to accept that God speaks truth, but to move in the direction of that truth. To believe God's sayings is to believe his testimony. God has said many things in which he expects to be believed. But the main testimony God has given is not any of those we have seen so far, such as the one concerning Abraham's descendants or the universal flood, but it is the testimony he has given concerning his Son. Of course, God expects to be believed in a matter as important as this.

To believe God is to believe in his Son, and to believe in his Son is to believe what God has said about him. God declares righteous those who believe this testimony. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23-24). Believing God is the basis of all God's dealings with man. Without faith it is impossible to please him. God's honor rests on His Word, and those who believe Him honor Him. Have you believed Him?

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