Beliefs, love and works are biblical principles and principles of life.

In the first place of this trinity is FAITH.  Faith existed from the beginning of time even before the existence of man. God created our universe by faith and released it with the Word. He said: “Be light” and it was. Faith and God’s Word are the foundation. Love and good derive from faith, and is faith’s superstructure.

A house or a building has a base and a superstructure.

Faith existed before the beginning of creation. God is a faith God and He is working with faith all the time. Faith according to the biblical definition is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The substance means “the invisible existing reality.” The substance is not guessing, presuming, fiction but an existing substance. In physics we cannot see gravity, electricity, wind or magnetism, but we know about it from the existence of its effect. Those physical realities are natural phenomena.  There are also supernatural things. The evidence of its existence is natural, and then must be even a bigger supernatural. Also we cannot see words, but we can hear them. Since there is a natural, there is also a supernatural or spiritual aspect.

We already mentioned that man is a triune being. He is a spirit, possesses a soul and lives in a body. Our body is “the house” we live in. The house can be full or empty. The body could be empty, dead or living – just functioning. When the spirit of a man leaves there is no life in the body. The empty dead body is evidence that the spirit moved out of the body and the soul is also gone. Then the body becomes dust due to its deterioration. It becomes what it was in the first place, dirt.

We can see only one thing in comparison to what we cannot see. What we do not see we are dependent on faith, unless we start to guess.  Faith depends on the correct information and a real substance, since faith may be based on a fact or not.  Faith may also be based on lies. This is why we have to seek for the correct sources and the correct information.  I never saw better information in any book as the Bible. The Bible never changes. The Word of God was tested. The rest of literature always changes. The essence of the Bible is based on the above mention facts: faith, love and works. Other books prefer works before faith. But our good works are not enough. It is only works based on mortal flesh. Faith and love are spiritual entities. Everything, which is not of faith and love, are perishable. This is why the Bible is a valid source.

Faith is the nature of our life. Every scientist believes he will get a result. If he wills does his experiment right, he will get a result. But the result is not yet seen. This is why he trusts and has faith. Faith is nothing bad for science, opposite is bad. The faith and work goes together. We were born in faith. It is part of our DNA.

Since man decided on his own to reject God’s revealing Word and wisdom, He reached man with knowledge, information about the past good and evil. Man was separated from God (we call it “spiritual death”). The spirit of man died and actually became flesh and soul, lowered to the animal level. No wonder that man resembles animals and many had the impression that we evolved from animals. Man cannot reach God by his works; instead we receive God reaching to us. Man can receive it by faith. The only thing man can create is religion.

God, who is good, reached out to help us. We do not count on works to get us out of trouble but God gave us a second chance. He prepared for us a new spirit (new heart) so we can be a triune being again. We can have it by faith.

Please do not be preoccupied that seeing believes. There are many things one cannot prove and still believes.

The second part of us is LOVE.

Love has been with God forever. God already had a definitive plan and a picture in His faith end product of creation – man. He did not see him yet, on His own eyes and he already loved him. The reason for the creation of the universe was man. We do not have idea how precious and important and the same time complicated man is. The entire universe is pointing to man, whom God loved. Without God’s plan this planet would have no purpose. All is purposely centered toward man. It was love present in the heart of God for man to be first before He created Jesus.

God is love and His love is awesome. It is agape love. He confirmed it that He gave His Son for man. He sacrificed His Son for man.

Jesus was the first visible copy of the Father’s love in the heaven and later in the earth. No other reformer, prophet, philosopher died for humankind as Jesus did. Jan Hus died by being burned alive on the square in Prague for the truth, but not for the sin of man. Not only was this what Jesus did, but also He defeated the enemy Satan and took from him the keys of the death and Hell. The Satan can no longer lock anyone to Hell. He lost and when we remain in Jesus, and at the name of Jesus, he trembles.     

       Also we love God but also all that is good. We love especially our neighbors. First we love ourselves and then we love others as we love ourselves. We love ourselves since we are born of God. We are now a new creation. He, Jesus, is also in us and then we love Him too. We love the Holy Spirit in us, if we receive Him. It enables us to love others as we do ourselves. Agape love is different from human love. Agape love sees others as valuable and precious as God sees us valuable and precious through Jesus. This is the definition of agape love. We get it by hearing the Word of God and speaking it aloud with our mouths. It is a confession of love. It is a meditation on love. When we speak love, love will grow.

       Love is an awesome thing. It helps us to believe and trust others. By faith we see others as a perfect product whole man. It sees with the glasses of our God.

Love and faith are sisters. They are relatives. They walk together they live together. Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). 

WORKS are not less important as the first two, faith and love. Only the priority is different and important. If we need to see the end product we have to act on faith and love. We have to act on the Word of God. It is active faith in works. All three come from the same root, the Word of God. The Word of God is Jesus in flesh.

Works are an act of faith and a product of love. Works are in third place. There are no works without a plan. The priority is important. It is God’s priority. Works are never in first place. It is the result of the first two. Good works are acting on the Word of God. Without the Word of God works are meaningless. What the Word of God says we do. This is why religion is so messed up—the priority is messed up. Faith without deeds is dead. But this is about faith and not works alone. Therefore love without faith is dying. Works without faith and love is dying.

No one can do good works without a project, plan or ideas. The common bottom line is faith. Without love it is hard to work also. The love is matter of relation towards others. The faith is plan the love is relation. The faith and love are spiritual qualities. The work is quality of mans hands or man’s mind (soul). Therefore we never should put the work before the faith and love. Otherwise the work would be pure materialism without the spirit. Do not be surprise but religious work is religious materialism. It is empty work, without spirit. It ends in death. Lack of salvation is death. Nobody can be saved without the faith. Nobody is justified by the work of the law. (Rom 3:28). We are saved not by our works but the work that was done by Jesus. Since we cannot accomplish what He did, our own works are dead. (Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:9). 

Works are important; it is a trinity and part of our being. It is important but not the priority although we cannot live with them. God is One - triune - also we were made in the image of Him. God also believed, loved and worked. We do the same.

We cannot omit any of those three; all of them work together for good. The work is the end product of faith and love and not the opposite. God’s mighty work is also the result of faith and love. 

You, who would like to know how to be saved, it is simple. We are saved by grace through faith. God with His Son provided our salvation, without us earning it. One has to just ask Him. Read Romans 10:9-10.  

No. 3790

© Vladimir Uhri 1990, 2009