To both Jews and Greeks, Paul proclaimed repentance before God and
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.(Acts 20 : 21 )
The one who took Paul outside said, “What must I do to be saved?”
Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.Then you and your house-
hold will be saved.” (Acts 16 : 30 , 31 )
Those who have the Son have life. Those who do not have the Son of
God, do not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in
the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life
and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. ( 1 John 5 : 12 , 13 )
We are Jews by nature, not sinners from the nations. Since we know that
people are not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, wetoo have come to believe in Jesus Christ.(Galatians 2 : 15 , 16 )Because their faith was a faith in Jesus Christ and also a faith that
came from him, the apostles called it “the faith of Jesus Christ,” as just
above in Galatians 2 : 16 , and also in the following passages: “Through the
faith of Jesus Christ,God’s justice is in and upon all who have come to
believe, to justify those who have the faith of Jesus”(Romans 3 : 22 , 26 ). Paul
wished to “have the justice that comes from the faith of Christ,the justice
that comes from the God of faith”(Philippians 3 : 9 ). “These are the people
who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ”(Reve-
lation 14 : 12 ). [Paul mentions salvation] “through faiththat is in Christ
Jesus” ( 2 Timothy 3 : 15 ). “In Jesus Christ there is faith working through good-
will”(Galatians 5 : 6 ).
The passages just quoted clarify which faith Paul meant in the well-
worn phrase in the church today: “Therefore we conclude that people are
justified by faith apart from the works of the Law” (Romans 3 : 28 ). It does
not mean faith in God the Father; it means faith in his Son. Still less does
it mean faith in three gods in a row, one from whom, a second for whom,
and a third through whom [we have faith].
The reason the church today believes that Paul’s saying refers to its
own faith in three divine Persons is that for fourteen centuries, since the
Council of Nicaea, the church has not recognized any other faith than
this. As a result, it has not known any other faith, believing that this was
the only faith and that no other faith was possible. Therefore every-
where that the Word of the New Testament says “faith,” people have
believed that this was the faith the Word meant. They have applied
everything said about faith to this faith. Consequently, the only faith