Part 3 – The Key Element of Spirit Revelation

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called Faith Grows by Revelation of the Spirit .

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Suppose you are sharing the gospel to a group of unbelievers. Hopefully, what you speak to them is not only in word, but also in “the power of the Holy Spirit,” (Rom. 15:19) spoken in reassurance. You share Paul’s “gospel of the grace of God” by first relating how God loves them, how He sent His Son incarnated as a man to die on the cross for them, to pay their sin-debt. As you are speaking, you are not merely telling the gospel story, you are presenting a view, a broad scene of the gospel. This work by “the power of the Holy Spirit” then produces faith for the humble who are made ready to believe.

Some of those to whom you are speaking begin to see’ the truth of Christ as Savior. By this, the humbled unbeliever realizes something of being needy of the Lord; and seeing that there is a loving God, Jesus Christ and His cross, and perhaps the truth that they can have a new start in life, making them ready to believe unto salvation.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)

This view portrayed in the sharing of the grace gospel is God’s ‘revelation’ gift to a man. As soon as an unbeliever begins to ‘seewith spiritual eyes, ‘faithis spontaneously produced in them. They automatically believethey trust Him for their salvation. New believers do not yet know the deeper things and meaning of His resurrection life to come and indwell all those who receive Him, that He as “the life-giving Spirit” (1Cor. 15:45) who indwells them as their new life and as Lord of their life.

Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: For It Is the Power of God Unto Salvation to every one that believeth

They believe in what they’ve ‘seen’ by Spirit revelation. This is the faith that is of (from) God as a ‘gift’.

Ephes. 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through Faith; and that Not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God:

So, the work of the Holy Spirit and “the word of truth” is vital in gaining spiritual insight into the truths of “the word of God,” such that these truths are life altering for believers.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but The Spirit Which Is of God; (So) That We Might KNOW the Things That Are Freely Given To Us of God. (1Cor. 2:12)

By his prayer of Eph. 1:15-18 (below) we note that Paul recognized that he of himself did not have the power to dispense Revelation. Revelation is God’s prerogative, so Paul knew to pray for Ephesians to have wisdom, knowledge, enlightenment and revelation of the truth of indwelling Christ that comes through the Spirit-anointed “word of God.”

That … the Father of glory, may give unto you the SPIRIT OF WISDOM and REVELATION in the Knowledge of him [Christ]: 18The Eyes Of Your Understanding Being Enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance IN the saints (in every believer),”

Thus, we can see that after the exercise of objectivesaving faith in Christ for salvation … we need the deeper ‘subjective faiththat comes to us when we receive revelation of “the word of truth” by the Lord’s Holy Spirit. When we receive “revelation” concerning more and more aspects Christ and His cross, we can’t keep ourselves from believing.’ Upon having revelation, faith in what we’ve seen is spontaneously infused INTO our soul; we automatically ‘believe’ in the revealed fuller truths concerning Christ, what He has done and is doing.

“For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

The unregenerate person needs only to exercise objective’ faith based upon in the broad view of gospel of the grace of Christ, who alone merits our salvation.” (Rom. 1:16). Upon salvation, believers have ‘the witness of the Spirit within that they are saved and that God is their Father (Rom. 8:15-16). Then we will grow to believe that Christ really lives in us to be our life supply, our everything, including our faith for daily living. When we have Spirit revelation, we have see of more of the indwelling of Christ; that we not only have Him as our Savior but now as our keeper and our Lord (i.e., governor). We will have the inner witness of the indwelling Spirit that we are His and He is ours, personally and forever.

As we have had further revelation regarding the content of our new, intimate, living relationship with Him as our indwelling Lord, we can’t help but to believe in what we have seen spiritually. We are thereby infused with the ability to believe. This then is our subjective personal faith’ manifested as believing trust.

Paul writes of being saved by grace through a faithNOT of ourselves (Eph 2:8-9). Henceforth, it is Christ’s life and faith working in us and that we live by daily.

Gal. 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh (body) I live by the faith of (from) the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

God distributes His saving faith to all those whom He has ‘foreknown’ that they will ultimately believe to be ‘saved.’ (cf. Rom. 8:29) His faithfulness as seen by the Holy Spirit produces ‘our faith.’ Consider these verses and Paul reference to “your (personal) faith.”

1 Thes. 1:8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith’ to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.

1 Thes. 3:2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort (encourage) you concerning your faith (who and what you believe):

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ’ (His faith) unto all and upon all (superimposed, as distributed to) them that believe (your faith): for there is no difference:

In the Thessalonian verses above Paul refers to “your faith.”  Paul is referring to the Thessalonians’ personal faith. In these verses, faith is subjective, referring to the saints’ faith in revealed truth beyond salvation.

Objective faith can also refer to what we may callour general belief in and of God’our general view and understanding of the Lord as Savior. The word belief denotes what’ we believe in. The words “your faith” in these verses above really address the broader term relating both to our objective’ general Godward view and also what we’ve personally seen by revelation and that we ‘hold to’ by faith.

As you can see, our subjective (personal) faith grows, being based upon the degree of revelation that we personally have of the Lord and our relationship with Him. It’s what we personally believe of the Lord.

  • First, there is a view of God, as a broad scene concerning Christ and His power to save us.
  • Then we gain revelatory sight,’ gaining added detail and elements of this view as they apply to us personally, concerning our relationship with Him as our Life and Lord.