# Intercessory Faith



## AnonymousRex (Mar 24, 2004)

Is it possible for your faith to have an effect on the spiritual well-being of someone else? The author of this article seems to think so.

http://www.christourkingcolumbia.org/lorica/03sep.html

In reading this article I found that many assumptions I had about the nature of faith had no logical ground. In spite of everything I've heard before about one's &quot;personal responsibility to His God&quot; (which I do not deny), I found that I could not argue with this man's reasoning. The three examples he provides appear to indicate that Christ forgave (justified) people on behalf of the fervent faith of others. 

Would you say, then, that the faith of your brethren works to your personal spiritual benefit? Is one sanctified by the holiness of one close to him (or her)? Does God save your unbelieving friend on account of not only your fervent prayers but your fervent faith as well?

AnonRex


----------



## pastorway (Mar 24, 2004)

This article is actually quite troubling!

No one is justified without their own faith. We cannot [i:9ce9608f5b]believe[/i:9ce9608f5b] someone else into the Kingdom of heaven. 

I think that th author of this article is reacting to individualism but is moving too far the other direction and trying to find Biblical warrant to say that our faith can save others. That denies the gospel, the responsibility of men to repent and believe, and in essence opens the door for universalism, for if what he proposes is true then we should all start believing for all the lost people we know. They can be saved by proxy. Instead of preaching the gospel we will just use our power of &quot;intercessory&quot; faith to usher them into salvation whether they believe or not.

Then instead of preaching the gospel we end up in the same dilema that faces the Word Faith movement - for when we fail, it is our lack of faith that has doomed us and all those around us!

Jesus responding to the faith of a parent and healing a child is not the same as Jesus saving a person because someone else believes.

In the story of the man let down through the roof, can we say that &quot;their faith&quot; was the faith of the group including the paralytic? That seems to be the normal reading of the passage and the truth as it relates to the rest of Scripture. To take this one instance recorded in Matthew 9:2, Luke 5:20, and Mark 2:5 and try to rewrite the nature of saving faith by excluding the paralytic from believing and yet insisting that he was saved as a result of his friends faith suddenly rips apart the gospel of justification by faith alone.

Gill agrees that the sick man had faith too:

[quote:9ce9608f5b]And when he saw their faith,.... That is, Jesus, when he saw the faith both of the paralytic man, and of the men that brought him, which was shown in the pains they took, and trouble they were at, in getting him to him;

And Jesus seeing their faith; the faith of the bearers of him, his friends, who brought out a man to be healed, who was otherwise incurable; and though they could not, for the multitude, bring him directly to Christ, they were not discouraged, but took the pains to carry him to the top of the house, and there let him down through the roof, or tiling; as both Mark and Luke say; and then set him down before him, believing he was able to cure him: moreover, Christ took notice not only of their faith, but of the sick man's too, who suffered himself to be brought out in this condition, and was contented to go through so much fatigue and trouble, to get at him; [/quote:9ce9608f5b]

And Calvin says of these verses in question in his harmony of the gospels:

[quote:9ce9608f5b]With regard to the present passage, though Christ is said to have been moved by the faith of others, yet the paralytic could not have obtained the forgiveness of his sins, if he had had no faith of his own. Unworthy persons were often restored by Christ to health of body, as God daily maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, (Matthew 5:45) but there is no other way in which he is reconciled to us than by faith. There is a synecdoche, therefore, in the word their, when it is said that Jesus saw their faith: for Christ not only looked at those who brought the paralytic, but looked also at his faith.[/quote:9ce9608f5b]

Phillip


----------



## AnonymousRex (Mar 24, 2004)

Pastor,

No facts you have stated are necessarily wrong. I realize that both Calvin and Gill are adamant about the paralytic having his own faith, and I am not one to argue with them. However, I don't think it's safe to dismiss this concept too abruptly.

[quote:2e8f8fdffb]I think that the author of this article is reacting to individualism but is moving too far the other direction and trying to find Biblical warrant to say that our faith can save others. That denies the gospel, the responsibility of men to repent and believe, and in essence opens the door for universalism, for if what he proposes is true then we should all start believing for all the lost people we know. They can be saved by proxy. Instead of preaching the gospel we will just use our power of &quot;intercessory&quot; faith to usher them into salvation whether they believe or not.[/quote:2e8f8fdffb]

When I read his article, I don't think the author intended to advocate any sort of &quot;universalism.&quot; As a good Presbyterian (one would hope, anyway), this man would emphasize the fixity of God's decrees and that men are either chosen or damned to all eternity from all eternity. However, what if we were to look at it another way, in light of this decretive fixity? We may say that our faith is effectual in that God works through it to bring about the salvation of another one of his chosen. God not only ordains the ends but also the means. Intercessory faith could be yet another means whereby God grants to the regenerated soul the gift of faith he or she then exercises.

As well, I don't think the author is attempting to posit intercessory faith as an alternative to evangelism. Show me where he does this in the article.

[quote:2e8f8fdffb]Then instead of preaching the gospel we end up in the same dilema that faces the Word Faith movement - for when we fail, it is our lack of faith that has doomed us and all those around us.[/quote:2e8f8fdffb]

This would be true if we were assuming an Arminian understanding of faith. The Word Faith movement is thoroughly Arminian in its thinking and would assert the blasphemous idea that our faith can direct the course of God's plan. The author is a Presbyterian Calvinist. He wouldn't dare say something like that. The evil perish because of their sins, not because someone else failed to believe on their behalf. However, one's faith may intercede on behalf of someone else if that faith was within God's sovereign plan to bring about that individual's salvation.

Interestingly, Spurgeon had no problem using the term &quot;intercessory faith&quot; to describe Abraham's pleas to God to spare the inhabitants of Sodom. Those that were of the elect were delivered, and the rest perished in their iniquities. Since Scripture itself includes this dialogue between Abraham and God, one can't deny that it was instrumental in God's plan to save some who were in Sodom.


AnonRex


----------



## JohnV (Mar 24, 2004)

Rex:
Don't you think, though, that there is a strong pull toward Catholicism? If the faith of Gen. Jackson could do what he had hoped for Gen. Gregg, then what would prayer to the departed saints do? There is no merit in our own faith for ourselves, how can there be merit in it for others? 

There can be intercessory prayer because of faith and fellowship. In this way one's faith can be intercessory for another. But assuming that the slave, or the paralytic, or the child had no faith is baseless. In all three the focus was in areas which would assume the faith of these. One would assume that the the servant was a Jew; that he had heard of Jesus' fame and also wanted healing; that his godly master wished to make it so for him; and that the master was acting almost as the servant of his servant to accomplish the wishes for the man whom he loved. The text, at least, would suggest that much more than that the servant did not have faith. 

Similarly with the paralytic. Jesus was focused on the questionings of some of the bystanders; so one would assume the faith of the paralytic. And it would also be assumed that it was the paralytic who asked his friends to take him to Jesus, not the friends imposing their will upon an unwilling or complacent paralytic. And what can be more basic than a mother asking for her daughter's welfare, knowing Jesus' delight in children's trust in their parents as symbolic of faith in a believer? 

I would say the the author stretched Scripture to try to justify Gen. Jackson's remark to Gen. Gregg, as if he meant to gain heaven for him on his behalf by his own faith. And even if all he meant to say was that his own faith would have to suffice to prepare him for death, rather than have faith himself, then that is not better, but worse. 

At best Gen. Jackson may have meant that, since it was too late for Gen. Gregg to read the Scripture for himself, that his own testimony would have to do as a preparation to face the final judgment. In which case Gen. Gregg could conceivably come to faith through Gen. Jackson's testimony of faith. But this does not seem to come into the discussion, and does not seem to be the author's focus or intent.


----------



## Me Died Blue (Mar 24, 2004)

While I certainly agree that we cannot &quot;believe someone else into the Kingdom,&quot; and that everyone has the responsibility for exercising faith in Christ, and that God's unconditional election is fixed, I do agree with Rex that our prayers can have an affect on God's actions, since, as he pointed out, God decrees the means as well as the end. This is seen countless times in the Old Testament, as when Moses pleads with God, etc. Furthermore, we are told to &quot;pray for those who abuse [us] (Luke 6:28),&quot; pray that God will &quot;grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:25).&quot; Who are we to say that God, after unconditionally electing someone to salvation, did not in turn also providentially guide a friend of theirs to pray for their soul so that God could answer that prayer with regeneration?

Chris


----------



## pastorway (Mar 24, 2004)

Summarizing my criticism, you cannot say that one might substitute his faith for another person who lacks faith.

If I have faith, and pray for the salvation of a loved one, and they do not come to Christ in faith (that they possess), they will not have benefitted eternally from my faith at all.

In the example of Sodom, Lot and his family still had to believe the message of impending doom and flee. They had to have their own faith and obey!

So if we are to use the term &quot;intercessory faith&quot; we must do so with the explicit understanding that we cannot impart the faith we possess to another, but we must testify of our faith with the hope that God will grant them faith of their own with which to believe His promises.

Phillip


----------



## Me Died Blue (Mar 24, 2004)

Agreed.


----------

