To begin with, understanding is very important to the Christian. This is why Solomon said, “with all thy getting get understanding”, (Proverbs 4:7). There are those who confuse scripture basically because they do not understand it. In saying that, it is not every scripture verse you read in the Bible that you will understand. In Acts 8:26-39, Philip was led by an angel to a eunuch of Ethiopia, who read the scriptures but did not understand it.

Now, coming back to my point, some might wonder why I would I say faith is the most important thing? After all, Paul said love is the greatest of faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). But to understand this, you have to journey with me through the scriptures. After all, we are not saved by Grace through love, but rather Grace through Faith.

Genesis 1:3-4 reads “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good”. Notice here that before God saw, He spoke. The whole of Genesis Chapter 1 talked about creation and before anything came into existence, God spoke. This is further affirmed in Hebrews 11:3, which reads “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear”. You notice here too that things, both visible and invisible have all been created by the Word of God.

In Proverbs 3:19, the Bible said, the “LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens”.  The Greek word used here is “Logos”. It is the same word used for Word of God. The Logos refers to Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:24 said Jesus is “the wisdom of God”.

Colossians 1:16 reads, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him”

The “him” here is referring to Jesus Christ. This was further testified in John 1:13, which states that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; without him was not any thing made that was made”.

Notice in the above verse also that nothing was ever made without the Word of God [Jesus]. Understanding this is very important to salvation.

The fall of man is as a result of disobedience to the “Word of God”, which is the essence of the existence of all things. In other words, man doubted God – the Word. As we have established, the Word of God created all things; and as such this was a very deadly sin committed by Adam and Eve. But notice the response of God to their sin. God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”, (Genesis 3:22).

You notice in the above verse that God said man has become “one of us”. The Bible is talking about the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son here – not the angels. Please notice that God did not say, “Man has now become like us.” Man never became like the Trinity. God did say, however, “The Man has now become like one of us.” Not all three of us, but only “one” of us. In saying man has become one of them; the question then is which of them has man become like? Obviously, it is not the Holy Spirit because as the Bible made it clear, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable (Mark 3:29).  Man could have lived forever if he had eaten the tree of life. And the Bible lets us know that Jesus is the tree of life (Proverbs 3:18). It should be pointed out here that death only came as a result of Adam and Eve leaving the Word of God. In Rev. 2:7; 22:14, the Bible encourages us to eat from the Tree of Life [Jesus]. As some would make you believe that the sin committed by Adam and Eve was Sex, the above verses in Revelations states otherwise. In any case, prior to their sin God said they should procreate and fill the earth – how is that possible if God forbids them sex?

Obviously man did not sin against the Father either. Man sinned against the Word by disbelieving the Word, which is the source of life. In other words, man chose not to believe the Word of God, but chose to live by another source – his own word. Man now was to live based on his own knowledge and wisdom. He left the Word in order to live by his own word. This is why God said, “Man had now become like one of us.” Man had become like the Word in the sense that man would create his own existence based on his knowledge of good and evil. This is the current state of man

As a result of this, man lost his spiritual union with God. He has become sense-ruled instead of spiritually ruled. Noticed what happened when they sinned.

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked”, (Gen. 3:7).

Prior to this they were spiritually minded and as such did not notice that they were naked, but once they left FAITH in the Word of God, they became concerned over what they saw. They now lived in the physical realm ruled by their five senses.

The good news is that God had a plan to redeem man. Since man had disbelieved the Word and thus replaced the Word with himself, God knew the only redemption would be to get man to believe in the Word again. But how was God going to do that? Man can only believe in what he sees.

That is it! God exclaimed. Since man had become like the Word, the Word would have to become like the man. The incarnation was the solution to get man to believe in the Word again.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The only way for man to believe in the Word is he must see his glory. God must become flesh so man could believe. God must enter the world of man.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)”  (I John 1:1-2)

Have you noticed the prominence of the senses? We have heard … we have looked at and our hands have touched …The life appeared; we have seen it. Unless man could touch the Word with his senses, he could not believe. So the Word had to become flesh.

If Jesus were to live among us forever, then there will be no need for faith. The testimonies of the Apostles made it possible for us to have that Faith back again. In other words, once we believed their testimonies, we moved from the physical real to the spiritual realm.

Conclusion
In conclusion, FAITH is the most important, which is why the Bible says that “without faith it is impossible to please him [God]”, (Hebrews 11:6).  Doubt is sin (Romans 14:23) and Paul made us to believe that “the just shall live by faith”, (Romans 1:17). He also made it clear to us that we are justified by only FAITH (Romans 3:28, 30). And if you notice in Hebrews 11, the faith hall of fame includes Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Joseph, etc.  – They were all justified by faith. All these people were different. None were perfect. When we look at the list for a common denominator, the writer wants us to realize that only one thread is woven through—and that was their faith. They were not necessarily kind, loving, or especially pure. Some got drunk. Others gave their wives away to other men. Still others brutally killed communities. A certain hero fell into adultery and plotted the murder of the husband. One particular man contemplated suicide. Despite their human frailties, God was pleased with them all. He was pleased because of one thing: they had FAITH. This is why faith is the most important THING for salvation and in this life! Without faith you cannot get to the Kingdom of God for no one is saved without FAITH!