Objective and Subjective Faith

In the New Testament the word “faith” is used with two meanings: objective faith and subjective faith.

Faith is foundational to our Christian walk.  It is composed of beliefs regarding the Bible, God, Christ, the work of Christ, salvation and the church.  In one sense “Our Faith refers to the things in which we believe for our salvation, the object of our faith, our belief (Titus 1:4; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7).   This is objective faith.   Our faith is pointing to an object that is greater than ourselves.

Faith is the content of the complete gospel.  According to God’s New Testament love letter Faith is a great and necessary virtue.  The question is: “How is it made complete?”

First faith must have the right Object.  The objective meaning of the word faith is real and cannot be denied.  That is, objective faith has for its object Jesus Christ, His word and His ways.   Faith directed toward any other object is not biblical faith at all. 

There is also the second meaning, that is, the subjective meaning of the word faith, which refers to our act of believing (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; Heb. 11:1). We have faith in the Lord Jesus, and this is the act of believing leads us into action in our living.  

Subjective faith refers to our faith in Action.

When faith is seen working it denotes the subjective nature of our faith.

This faith arises in us when we come to the word and enjoy it in spirit.

This faith arises within us when we see a need and in the prompting of the Holy Spirit we seek to meet it, great or small.

This faith arises within us when we are stirred in our spirit to fight evil, promote justice, and walk humbly with God.

Subjective faith moves in our spirit in order to bring forth a spiritual union between us and the Triune God, and in this union we receive the divine life eternal and new nature.

The church life is the ideal environment for us to let the objective faith be fully fashioned into our subjective faith.

When this happens we have God’s life and nature in fullness and embodied in the Bride of Christ.  Working and waiting on His return.

Real faith that is complete is not objective or subjective only, rather it is both.  Our faith is not a matter of simply receiving or having the power to receive spiritual riches.   When Complete Faith is real with us, we will be fond believing the right object, and than taking the right action so that a world without hope finds real hope, and a world without light is given true light.   In short with faith is made whole in us, the hands and feet of Jesus are working in this world to it a better place.