Overcoming by Faith

“. . this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” 
1 John 5:4b

Edward F. Lundwall, Jr.


Faith overcomes worldly influences by persuasive God-given influences. Faith gets its power from God through natural revelation (Ps. 19:1-6, Roms. 1:20), the special revelation of the Bible, and God's testimony within man of His reality.

The Greek word for faith comes from the verb to persuade. The classic scriptural illustration is the life of Abraham (Rom 4:11, 12). God persuaded Abraham through challenging circumstances to trust God's promises. Faith that overcomes is faith that trusts enough to be effective. 

Overcoming faith is a mark of the mature disciple and expresses true worship of the Triune God. It trusts without full understanding. The Bible describes faith by the examples of the obedience that faith produces. Abraham did not understand the divine plan, but he believed God and this was credited to him as "righteousness" in Romans 4:3.

Living after the time of Messiah's appearing, we have the added evidence of the Apostolic witness. As the Apostle John writes: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life — 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us — 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3 NASU).


Related reading: What Abraham Discovered on Mount Moriah; William H. Willimon, On a Wild and Windy Mountain; Two Powerful Words: I Believe