This excerpt is taken from A.W. Tozer’s book Man: The Dwelling Place Of God. Tozer is one of my teachers. I learn from him as well as many others. He was a true man of the Most High God and simply a great example and mentor to follow. What he says about faith here is timeless. Enjoy.
“In the divine scheme of salvation the doctrine of faith is central. Every benefit flowing from the Atonement of Christ comes to the individual through the gateway of faith. We dare take nothing for granted concerning it.
For a number of years, my heart has been troubled over the doctrine of faith as it is received and taught among evangelical Christians everywhere. My fear is that the modern conception of faith is not the biblical one. Faith is not the believing of a statement we know to be true. Faith based upon reason is faith of a kind, it is true; but it is not of the character of Bible faith, for it follows the evidence infallibly and has nothing of a moral or spiritual nature in it. True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God said it.
Faith as the Bible knows it is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit. Faith is a of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford. Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and. anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith but something else short of it.
Faith and morals are two sides of the same coin. Indeed the very essence of faith is moral. Any professed faith in Christ as personal Savior that does not bring the life under plenary obedience to Christ as Lord is inadequate and must betray its victim at the last. The man that believes will obey. God gives faith to the obedient heart only. Where real repentance is, there is obedience.”