Does faith cometh by hearing only as alluded to in Romans 10:17?
score:4
There are two primary groups.
One hears the gospel, builds faith on it and understand. He is like the good soil.
Matthew 13:23 he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Another group hears the gospel, but do not build faith on it and do not understand. He is like the hard ground of the way side.
Matthew 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
But imagine if there were no seed at all, no gospel, no word of God?
Therefore, faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God.
Now faith is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8), grace and the Holy Spirit are also the gifts of God. But the gospel, which is the word, which is really Jesus Himself, is the seed and root of all.
Upvote:1
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). But there are some who hear and understand not (Isa. 6:10, Eze. 12:2, Mat. 13:14). Indeed, some cannot understand (John 12:39).
God must open one's heart to believe what one hears (Luke 24:45, 2 Cor. 4:6).
Here are a couple of historic writers who understood how it works.
He speaks moreover concerning our ears, how He hath circumcised both them and our heart. The Lord saith in the prophet, “In the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.”1548 And again He saith, “By hearing, those shall hear who are afar off; they shall know what I have done.”1549 And, “Be ye circumcised in your hearts, saith the Lord.”1550 And again He says, “Hear, O Israel, for these things saith the Lord thy God.”1551 And once more the Spirit of the Lord proclaims, “Who is he that wishes to live for ever? By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant.”1552 And again He saith, “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God1553 hath spoken.”1554 These are in proof. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.vi.ii.ix.html
Moreover, faith is twofold. For faith cometh by hearing.23402340 Rom. x. 17. For by hearing the divine Scriptures we believe in the teaching of the Holy Spirit. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209.iii.iv.iv.x.html
The conception, indeed, was through the sense of hearing, but the birth through the usual path by which children come, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209.iii.iv.iv.xiv.html?highlight=hear,mary#highlight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_Barnabas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Damascus
Upvote:2
Can we take four words out of the middle of a verse and conclude that it means faith only comes by hearing and no other way? No. This verse has to be taken in context.
Here are some of the preceding verses from the KJV:
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Pay attention to verse 14 especially. Paul is saying that you cannot expect people to believe in god if you have not heard of Him, so it is up to us to become preachers or evangelists to preach the word of God so that others might hear it and believe.
Nothing in the passage talks about exclusivity of how faith comes, but it clearly states that one way is through hearing the word of God. But what about reading the word of God? Experiencing a miracle? Experiencing God in prayer or sacrifice? Paul is not discounting any of these ways of 'obtaining' faith.
To your other point, yes there are examples of people hearing the word of God and not believing. That does not discount that some believe through hearing - the two are not mutually exclusive.
More post
- 📝 Was Adam mortal before he partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
- 📝 Why did foot washing become a common practice in Christianity?
- 📝 Life is a Divine Test
- 📝 What distinguishes Christian meditation from the Catholic tradition from non-Christian meditation?
- 📝 What do non-trinitarians mean when they call Jesus the "Son of God"?
- 📝 How can the logical impossibility of infinite self reference be reconciled in the case of God?
- 📝 How does Catholicism biblically defend purgatory in a way that upholds the sufficiency of Christ's work?
- 📝 What religious beliefs did the Galatians hold when Paul first preached the gospel to them?
- 📝 Orthodoxy's "ancestral sin" versus Calvinism's "total depravity"
- 📝 Liturgical prayer in Aramaic?
- 📝 Christian founding of American colonies
- 📝 How should we interpret this quote from Pope Pius XI?
- 📝 Do all Christian traditions expect a second coming of Christ?
- 📝 Did Baptist and Methodists ever believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel?
- 📝 Does God need our praise and glory?
- 📝 Are jokes like those listed here blasphemous, according to Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the controversy/issue surrounding Jerusalem as Israel's capital?
- 📝 How did the world get populated according to Bible?
- 📝 Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the synoptic gospels?
- 📝 Why did Pope Francis say, "When we encounter the Cross, do we turn to Mary," rather than to Christ?
- 📝 Did the importance of the resurrection increase as the New Testament was written?
- 📝 Is there a biblical basis for the claim that humans are shaped into the God-human Christ?
- 📝 Are there any christian denominations that think having concubines is sin and why?
- 📝 According to Jehovah's Witnesses, when/how do the 144,000 ascend to Heaven?
- 📝 How does one reconcile belief in objective moral values with the notion of moral progress?
- 📝 When Paul wrote about Jesus' birth as "born of a woman," did he not contradict the fact that Jesus was "born of a virgin" as Matthew wrote?
- 📝 Why at Judges 2:1 does it say the angel of the Lord would never break his covenant he swore to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
- 📝 Is it true that no post-apostolic theologians before St. Augustine believed in Eternal Security / Assurance of Salvation?
- 📝 John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God" - How do Trinitarians reconcile this scripture with the belief that the Lord Jesus Christ is God?
- 📝 How many stalls for horses and chariots did Solomon have?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Does faith cometh by hearing only as alluded to in Romans 10:17?
- 📝 Why does Jesus value leap of faith more than those who rely on direct evidence?
- 📝 Why does transubstantiation refer only to communion?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach there is only one person?
- 📝 How does repentance fit into the doctrine of sola fide ("by faith alone")?
- 📝 Why does Christianity claim to be the only true religion?
- 📝 Do Calvinists believe that God does not love the world, but only the elect?
- 📝 Why does only the priest receive Communion under both kinds at a Catholic Mass?
- 📝 How does dispensationalism reconcile Romans 11?
- 📝 What does it mean for the Spirit to only speak of what he hears? (trinitarian perspective)
- 📝 How does Swedenborgianism understand Amos 3:2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth"?
- 📝 Does Romans 1:18-25 pose a challenge to Christians who believe in the Theory of Evolution?
- 📝 Does a literal reading of Romans 4:25 conflict with Reformed theology?
- 📝 Does Revelation 22:19 apply to the whole Biblical canon or only the Book of Revelation?
- 📝 Does God need/demand humans' faith for them to be saved? If so, why?
- 📝 Why does only one person "teach" during a church meeting?
- 📝 According to Catholic theology, why does God have an only Son?
- 📝 In the tradition of Jehovah's Witnesses, does Romans 6:23 mean that all people who are resurrected have their sins blotted out?
- 📝 What does Romans 13:13-14 mean by "behave decently, as in the daytime"?
- 📝 Does Christianity claim that the Bible is God's only Word?
- 📝 Why does Genesis record only 10 names from Adam to Noah?
- 📝 According to Christianity, is only the Christian faith a gift from God?
- 📝 How does the Christology of the Baha'i faith differ from that of trinitarian Christianity?
- 📝 According to Catholicism how does a person discriminate between hearing the true word of God versus a hallucination or a demon?
- 📝 What does the Lutheran Church teach about Justification by Faith and is the sacrament of Baptism essential to salvation?
- 📝 Is it possible for a person who has faith in Jesus to only receive “a measure of salvation” as opposed to “full salvation”?
- 📝 Does the “until now” in Romans 8:22 mean that the creation's groans have ended?
- 📝 Why does Jesus feel only certain people that come into physical contact with Him?
- 📝 Is faith the only thing we need to attain salvation?
- 📝 Where in the Biblical narrative does God first reveal himself as the only living and true god?