Faith Working through Love: A Resource for United Methodist Teaching

By Council of Bishops of the Umc

“For in Christ Jesus . . . the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” —Galatians 5:6, NRSV

Faith Working Through Love invites us to revisit and reclaim essential Christian beliefs and practices as United Methodists. In an easy to follow question and answer format, the study recaps basic teachings and practices of Christian faith and underscores the core convictions of United Methodists.

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Why Read This Book?

People are struggling to cope with everyday life and our societies are divided and broken. Some wonder if lifting up the core doctrines of Christian faith divide us and cause further disagreements. But to the contrary, it is in times of uncertainty that we yearn to find our spiritual bearings by recalling our history and enduring teachings.

This book helps us know who God is, what God is doing in the world, and how God includes us in making the world more loving and just. The Methodist tradition springs from forbears in the faith who prayed, learned, and served their neighbors together to increase their knowledge of God and actively shared God’s love in word and deed in all the places they lived, struggled, and loved.

The teachings you’ll encounter in these pages are already making a difference in the lives of United Methodists around the world. We pray that through study and conversation with others, you too will encounter the Spirit of God who heals, strengthens, empowers, and transforms us. The questions and answers offered in this volume will challenge and embolden you as you grow in grace and love and to serve Christ.

Faith Working Through Love bids you to take up the contents of this volume and read it, discuss it, and reflect upon it; and may God use it to bless you and to make you a blessing in the world.

—David N. Field, Ecumenical Staff Officer for Faith and Order

Faith Working Through Love has been crafted as a foundational United Methodist teaching resource by the Committee on Faith and Order of The United Methodist Church and received and commended to the church by the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The United Methodist Publishing House
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781791026349

Book preview

1

Faith in the Triune God

1.1. What is faith in God?

To have faith in God is not only to believe that God exists, but to be in relationship with God, and to cling to and prize that relationship above anything else. Faith in this sense is more than accepting that something is true. It means staking everything on that conviction. To be a Christian is, before anything else, to place our trust in the God whom we encounter through Christ as loving and saving Lord, and to rest in that love.

Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. (Heb. 11:1)

[F]aith: that is, a sure trust and confidence that God both hath and will forgive our sins, that he hath accepted us again into His favour, for the merits of Christ’s death and passion. (John Wesley, Sermon 5, Justification by Faith, Works-Jackson, adapted, §IV.3)

1.2. Why do we believe in God?

We come to believe in and put our trust in God because we have encountered God’s love and goodness in countless ways. God’s grace goes before us to awaken faith and desire for God and gives us eyes to see God at work in our lives.

God is made present to us in the gifts of life and the world, including other people. We hear God in the Word spoken and read, and in the inward experience of our own our hearts and minds.

We see the power and majesty of God as Creator of the universe in all its grandeur. We meet God’s mercy and justice in the life and teaching of Jesus. We find his proclamation of the reign of God and the good news of salvation confirmed by his being raised from death, and we respond to his call to follow. We feel and know the strength and wisdom of God as constant guide and companion within us.

In God’s self-revelation, Jesus Christ, we see the splendor of our true humanity. Even our sin, with its destructive consequences for all creation, does not alter God’s intention for us—holiness and happiness of heart.…

We acknowledge God’s prevenient grace, the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God’s will, and our first slight transient conviction of having sinned against God. (BOD, ¶102)

[W]e boast in the hope of God’s glory.… This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Rom. 5:2, 5)

1.3. What does it mean to understand God as Triune? Isn’t our God one God?

Christians inherit from the Old Testament and our Jewish ancestors in faith the affirmation that the Lord our God is one. The early church searched for a way to express their conviction—without giving up the idea of God’s oneness—that, in Jesus, God truly walked the earth, and truly promised followers that they would be the dwelling place of the Spirit.

Over time, they came to declare their belief in one God who is made known to us in three Persons: as the Father who sends the Son to redeem the world, as the Son who comes to save, and as the Spirit who is with us to nourish and confirm our faith. Other language for naming the three Persons in whom God is known to us is also used within the broad tradition of Christian faith. Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, or Lover, Beloved, and Love are some of these alternatives. These three are one God, distinguished but not separated, united in a living and eternal communion of mutual love. This understanding of God as One-in-Three is called trinitarian.

Israel, listen! Our God is the LORD! Only the LORD! (Deut. 6:4)

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must have no other gods before me. (Exod. 20:1)

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. (The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church, Article I, BOD, ¶104)

We believe there is one God who reveals himself as the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, distinct but inseparable, eternally one in essence and power. (The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, Article I, BOD, ¶104)

1.4. Is belief in the Trinity biblical?

We encounter in the Old Testament the testimony that the God of Israel is One, Maker and Redeemer and ever-present Spirit giving life to all that exists. Christians still affirm this oneness, and the utter uniqueness of God as distinct from all that God has made.

But in the central Christian claim that God has become flesh in Jesus Christ, we also encounter the threefold aspect of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This mystery is not explained or argued for in the New Testament. It is simply shown forth in the story, as when the Son prays to his Father to send the Spirit upon his followers.

There is no formal doctrine of the Trinity presented in the Bible; doctrine comes later. It is the fruit of the church’s reflection on the whole of scripture, and on their experience of redemption through Christ.

But Jesus, in his teaching and his prayers, constantly addresses God as Father, and calls on the Spirit of God to empower and unite all who believe in him. It is the story of Jesus that most clearly presents us with God as One-in-Three, and the ancient Christian affirmation that God is Triune is the church’s effort to remain faithful to that central story.

"Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord. (Mark 12:29)

Look! A virgin will become pregnant and

give birth to a son,

And they will call him Emmanuel.

(Emmanuel means God with us.) (Matt. 1:23; see Isa. 7:14)

"I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth.… You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you. (John 14:16-17)

Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in [Christ], and he reconciled all things to himself through him. (Col. 1:19-20)

1.5. How does the life of Jesus reveal the Triune God?

God is revealed and addressed throughout Jesus’ life as Father and Spirit, and the union of the Son with God as Father and Spirit is repeatedly affirmed.

Before he is born, Jesus is identified in the Gospels as the Son of God who is conceived by the Holy Spirit. At his baptism, a voice from heaven identifies Jesus as my beloved Son, and the Spirit descends upon him. Jesus himself declares that those who have seen him have seen the Father. He prays that his followers may receive the Holy Spirit so that they may be one as he and the Father are one. After his resurrection, the apostle Thomas greets the risen Christ as my Lord and my God! and falls down in worship. And among his last acts on earth, Jesus sends his disciples out to baptize those who believe in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In all these ways we see both Jesus’ oneness with God and the distinction of persons in whom God is made known to us.

The angel said to [Mary], The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.’ (Luke 1:35, NRSV)

When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him. A voice from heaven said, This is my Son whom I early love; I find happiness in him. (Matt. 3:16-17)

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? … The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. (John 14:9-11)

I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:18-19)

1.6. Are there other ways in which the Bible reveals God as one and three?

There is no place in Scripture where this is said in so many words. But there are several places where God is presented as speaking in the plural (let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness) or is shown in a threefold way, as to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre or to Elijah on the mountain.

Genesis 1 speaks of the Spirit brooding over the face of the sea at the beginning of creation, and the Gospel of John declares that the Word who became flesh was also from the beginning, and all things were made by him.

Christian thinkers from antiquity have found in such passages indications that the one God exists as a communion of persons, and that these three are united as well as distinct, sharing in the work of creation, redemption, and restoration of the world.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while [the spirit of] God swept over the face of the waters. (Gen. 1:1-2, NRSV, n. b)

Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us. (Gen. 1:26a)

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the day’s heat. He looked up and suddenly saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from his tent entrance to greet them and bowed deeply. (Gen. 18:1-2)

In the beginning was the Word / and the Word was with God / and the Word was God. /… / Everything came into being through the Word. /… / The Word became flesh / and made his home among us. /… full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 3, 14)

1.7. How does the language of God as Trinity help us?

The mystery of divine oneness and communion remains a mystery. It is certainly not explained away by formulae about the Trinity. But speaking about God as One-in-Three keeps us faithful to God’s self-revelation in Christ. It says something true about how God has been revealed to us, while reminding us that our language will always fall short of the reality of God, who cannot be captured in any of the things we can say. This mystery encourages us not to settle too quickly for any single idea or image of God, whose being remains beyond human grasp and definition.

The language of Trinity enables us to affirm what Christians are committed to: both that God is one, and that God became flesh and sent the Spirit to abide with us. It does not explain, but simply creates space for the mystery of God-with-us that Christians proclaim and encounter in their daily life and relationship with God.

With Christians of other communions, we confess belief in the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This confession embraces the biblical witness to God’s activity in creation, encompasses God’s gracious self-involvement in the dramas of history, and anticipates the consummation of God’s reign. (BOD, ¶102)

[Methodists were] confident that there is a marrow of Christian truth that can be identified and that must be conserved. This living core, as they believed, stands revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal and corporate experience, and confirmed by reason. They were very much aware, of course, that God’s eternal Word never has been, nor can be, exhaustively expressed in any single form of words. (BOD, ¶103)

Theology is our effort to reflect upon God’s gracious action in our lives. In response to the love of Christ, we desire to be drawn into a deeper relationship with faith’s pioneer and perfecter. Our theological explorations seek to give expression to the mysterious reality of God’s presence, peace, and power in the world. By so doing, we attempt to articulate more clearly our understanding of the divine-human encounter and are thereby more fully prepared to participate in God’s work in the world. (BOD, ¶105)

1.8. How should we talk about the Triune God?

The Christian belief in the Trinity has its deepest roots in prayer and worship. It is the language of faith, rooted in confession rather than analysis. Believers across the ages have been touched by encounters with God in Christ through the Spirit. Their response was wonder and gratitude and praise, so that the first and most important use of this language is in address. Christians are not primarily occupied with talking about the Triune God but with talking to God, surrendering ourselves into the loving embrace of God in worship and prayer and adoration.

The hymns of Charles Wesley offer vivid expressions of the worship of the Trinity. They mirror a sense of awe and gratitude, but they do not attempt to explain how God can be One and Three. Similarly, for John Wesley it was the fact of the Trinity and not the manner of its relations that was the concern of faith. To believe in the Trinity did not mean that human beings can understand the mystery of God’s being, only that they had been embraced by the love of the Triune God and had responded in faith.

The Father Son and Spirit of love

One uncreated God we hail!

Not fully known by saints above

To us incomprehensible.

(Charles Wesley, A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodist [1780], 255)

One inexplicably Three

One in simplest unity

God, incline thy gracious ear

Us thy lisping creatures hear.

(Charles Wesley, A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodist [1780], 252)

"‘There are three that bear record in heaven…: And these three are One.’ I believe this fact also, (if I may use the expression,)