Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of God

How does one obtain faith? Joseph S. Exell, in his 1887 Biblical Illustrator, offers a vivid comparison: as the thirsty man needs only be directed to water—"There's the water, drink"—so the anxious soul requires but one directive: "Faith cometh by hearing." Elaborate explanations about reservoirs and river sources belong to another moment; immediate need calls for immediate provision.

Exell then systematically dismantles five false paths to faith. Faith does not descend through bloodline, for believers are born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." Nor does it arrive through sacraments—faith cannot be sprinkled, immersed, poured from a chalice, or generated by consecrated bread. Neither does it originate in feeling; religious biography may inspire emotion, but emotion breeds no genuine faith. Dreams and visions deceive: seeing angels proves nothing of one's eternal destination, as Exell wryly notes—witnessing the Pope's bodyguard would not make one a Cardinal. Finally, faith rooted in a preacher's eloquence or earnestness will wither, born of flesh and destined to die, unlike the incorruptible Word of Yahweh, which "liveth and abideth for ever."

Faith arrives positively through one means alone: hearing the simple gospel statement. When the Word of God enters the ear, faith takes root in the heart—not through human artifice, but through divine rhema, the living Word that accomplishes what it proclaims.