Is faith a work?

[charliedale]

Hey, Pastor Mike.

I was recently reading Revelation 2:19 which in the ESV says: "I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first."

Jesus seems to be saying here that faith and love are works.

First question: Is He saying that faith and love are works?

Second question: In what way are faith and love "works" if I'm saved by faith and not by works. Ephesians 2:8-9 seem to indicate that faith itself is a gift of God.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Miller]

What a cool question, Charlie. I would say that from Ephesians 2:8-10 and James 2, faith is not a work. Instead, works are a result of faith. In other words, if I commend someone for their faith, how have I observed that faith? By the works of the person. Similarly, if I observe that someone loves someone else, what am I saying? I am observing the works that prove that love. Of course, anyone can have works of a kind, but Hebrews 6 and 9 refer to "dead works," or works that are not produced by faith. Faith is a gift from God. That's part of what the "this" is in Eph. 2: 8--the whole new life and gift of faith (see also Romans 12:3 and Philippians 1:29 for indication that faith comes from God). Eph. 2:10 says that we were created for good works, but we must have saving faith to produce those works. Also, 1 John 4 says that love is from God--that the only reason we can demonstrate true love is because God is the source of that love.

So, in a nutshell, the church in Thyatira demonstrated a growing faith and love by their works that were exceeding the works they did at first. We are saved by grace through faith, and that faith is a gift from God. The proof that we have been saved--that we have saving faith--is to be found in our works. The faith and love themselves are not the works, but the wellspring from which the works flow.

Hope that makes sense.

[charliedale]

So can we paraphrase Jesus' words in Revelation 2:19 this way?
"I know your works and therefore know your faith, love, service, and patient endurance."

[Mike Miller]

Perhaps, but I'm wondering if we're not trying to split some hairs here. He knows their works, faith, love, service, and endurance because he can see it. He can see their faith and love in all of those things, just as he can see their endurance in all of those things. Love and faith are visible in that they produce works. I think this list of things that He "knows" is not meant to distinguish between individual things as much as to express the reality of their genuine Christian conversion by using a bunch of different ways of saying it. He sees all these things in their lives, not that they are in the same categories (faith or works) or not, but that they are all present.

[charliedale]

I think maybe I'm putting too much into the ESV's sentence structure. I think that I remember being taught that when you set off a list with commas like you see here that its clarifying or describing the first word "works".

"I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that..."

I just checked out a few other translations and noticed that the NASB doesn't do that. I never took Greek. I got an M/Div with Urban Missions, and it didn't require it. It puts my exegesis at a disadvantage.

But I definately agree with your theology as I see the NT as a whole teaching what you've stated above.

[Mike Miller]

The NAS is actually the closest to the Greek. Of course, translating actually involves interpreting. Words and sentences are translated based on the best estimation of the meaning by the translator. Some of the translations show it like love, faith, etc. are expanding on works, but not all of them. An exact (and not the best) translation is, "I know the works of you and the love and the faith and the service and the endurance of you, and the latter works of you are greater than the first." You can see that the exact way to take it is somewhat ambiguous, which is why I don't think we need to try too hard to make rigid distinctions. Since Jesus, when He dictated the letter to John, did not make clear distinctions, they must not be crucial.

Good discussion, though, as we need to be clear in our theology about faith and works. I appreciate that you are reading the text so closely. Keep it up.