Faith

Mat 9:20-22 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.

 

What is the faith preached in the Bible? What does it mean when Jesus said “your faith has healed you”?

 

Faith is his power: According to Col 2:12 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”, the faith is the operation or power of God. What kind of power? In the original Greek text¹, “who hath raised him from the dead” modifies the faith, the power of God, rather than God. Therefore, the faith is the power of raising him from dead.

 

Faith is his work: In Eph 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” In this verse, it emphasizes that “Not of [man's] works, lest any man should boast” but “his workmanship”. It's a gift from him. It's the wage of his work paid for our debt. This is his work: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” – Tit 2:14. That's why in Gal 2:16 it said “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” what this verse tried to reveal is this truth: knowing that a man is not justified by his own works, because all men are sinners (Rom 3:23), no matter how hard we work, the wages of our works (sin) is death (Rom 6:23). But by the work of Jesus Christ, we can be justified. Because he has no sin and His work is good: “For when we were yet without strength and ungodly, in due time Christ died for us” (Rom 5:6). This is his work.

 

Faith is himself: Isa 65:16 “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth²; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth³; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.” In the original Hebrew text, the “God of truth” is “God of Amen”. Amen /m@a* in Hebrew means truth and faith. Therefore in Rev 3:14, Jesus called himself as the Amen, that is, the Faith. “…These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;”

 

So my beloved Brothers and Sisters, next time when you hear that Jesus said “your faith has healed you”, we now understand that he is actually saying: your Jesus has healed you, his work has healed you, he died for you and his power now has covered you and will heal you from death. My Lord, my Saviour and my Almighty God, Thank you in his Faith, Amen.