Tim Keller on Faith and its Object

Today I was listening to an episode of Russell Moore's podcast, where Dr. Moore gave a tribute to noted New York pastor Dr. Timothy Keller, who passed away last Friday, May 19, 2023. After talking about his friendship with Keller, Moore played a couple of segments from interview he had done with Keller in the past.

In one of the recorded interview segments, Dr. Keller spoke about how the object of our faith is more important than the strength of our faith. One can have a massive amount of faith placed in the wrong person or thing, and be far worse off than someone with a weak faith that is, however, trusting in the right person or thing.

Book Review: Why the Gospel? by Matthew Bates

Matthew Bates' latest book, Why the Gospel?: Living the Good News of Jesus with Purpose continues to build on the foundation laid by his previous three books: Salvation by Allegiance Alone (2017), Gospel Allegiance (2019), and The Gospel Precisely (2021). In particular, "Why the Gospel?" picks up on some key themes introduced in the short small group book "The Gospel Precisely" and develops them with a more thorough theological study, while maintaining the accessibility of that short book and of "Gospel Allegiance."

Allegiance over Fear

Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, we've seen all sorts of reactions on social media, on the news, and in out communities. When churches and other public gatherings were forced to suspend meeting for a period of time, one slogan that was bandied about a lot was "Faith Over Fear." 

The Greek word used in the New Testament that is most commonly translated into English as "faith" is the word pistis. As Matthew Bates has ably pointed out in his books Salvation by Allegiance Alone and Gospel Allegiance, pistis can often better be translated as "allegiance."

So I want to retool the slogan "Faith Over Fear" and think about "Allegiance Over Fear."

Book Giveaway!

The Gospel Precisely by Matthew Bates

I believe in the message of this book so much, I'm giving away a copy. (Not a publisher promo -- I'm doing this on my own.)

To get your name in the drawing, simply comment on this post telling why it is important to you that we understand the gospel correctly.

To be eligible, comments must be posted by noon Central time on Monday, August 16.

I'll put every commenter's name in a drawing (one entry per person) and have the book sent directly to the winner from Amazon (U.S. mailing addresses only). I'll announce the winner here and reach out directly to him/her to get the address to send the book to.

Faith is not a "power up" in Super Mario Bros.

Sometimes, in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles, the claim is made that some people don’t receive what they’re praying for because of a lack of faith. If they just really believed God enough, they would see the healing, financial breakthrough, salvation of a wayward child, or other miracle for which they are asking God. Some people even treat faith as a spiritual “substance”—as though it had volume and mass—that can somehow “tip the scales” in their favor, if only they have a sufficient quantity of it.

A couple of verses from the Gospels are sometimes used to support this idea.

And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. (Matthew 13:58)

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:5–6)

The way these verses sometimes get interpreted seems to treat faith as though it were a “power-up” in a video game that increases the player’s strength. Faith, in this interpretation, somehow increases God’s ability to work miracles.