Faith in His Name
The miraculous confirmation of the authority and prophetic message which the apostles delivered in the first century provided wonders which men today long to see. Some preachers and Christians in this modern era have failed to comprehend such occurrences ended with those upon whom the apostles laid their hands. Much like the Jews reading the Old Testament should have realized Jesus was the promised Christ, groups of believers today overlook/misinterpret passages such as Zechariah 13:1-6, I Corinthians 13:8-12, Ephesians 4:7-16, Ephesians 1:13-14, and others which together establish the miraculous would end with the full revelation of scripture and unity of the Church bringing Jewish and Gentile Christians together with the destruction of Judaism. Instead, their claim for the failure of knowledge, prophecy, and wonders is that the believer does not have enough “faith in His name”.
Faith and the miraculous are tied together in a number of passages. In Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus is approached by a man whose son suffered seizures due to the presence of a demon. He removes the demon, however, He comments about that generation’s faithlessness. Afterward, He explained to the disciples their little faith limited their ability to wield the power of God and was the reason for their failure. With proper faith, they could move mountains. In Matthew 21:18-22, Jesus declared to His disciples again, that faith not limited by doubt will enable them to fully exercise the power of God and again, even to the extent of moving mountains. In the context of both, the powers exercised are to those endowed with them within the first century.
The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians states the following: 1 Corinthians 13:2 – “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Paul as an apostle and one who had the prophetic abilities endowed by God also ties the existence of faith to employing the miraculous/prophetic. In context, he was applying this fact to not just himself, but all who had received the gift of the Spirit as given by God and only able to be imparted to others by the hands of the apostles (Acts 8:14-18).
The previous passages now being laid out for our understanding consider Acts 3:16:
“And his name–by faith in his name–has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
Peter with the power of God by the faith in the name (authority) of Christ had just enabled a lame man to walk. The faith spoken of is the faith of Peter. It is not due to any semblance of faith to receive soundness in his legs that the lame man walked. That man simply wanted something to enable him to eat or help his station in life. Sadly, many try to approach this passage as if the faith were that of the lame man. Thus, they declare in their modern teachings that if the lame man by his faith was able to walk, those who are not able to walk today when visited by supposed “faith healers” or by constant prayer, must not have enough faith. This teaching is a cloud without rain, a fruitless tree, an utterly worthless and false interpretation of scripture. Again, the faith required is on the part of the one possessing the ability to heal not the one receiving the benefit. This fact bore itself out in all of the passages examined in this article where faith was a necessity.
Modern day application of scripture to the Christian life is imperative; however, not all applications are proper or factual. Context, audience, and potential limitations based on factors such as the age, prophecy, and others must be considered. It would indeed be fantastic to see the abilities given by God in the first century exercised today. However, this is not possible. The individual can have full faith in God, but when God binds limitations upon His Will, He is true to His revelation of it. Have faith in His name based upon the evidence provided in His Word. Allow that to be the foundation of your life, but do not go beyond what he has brought forth.
