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Two Kinds of Faith

The Bible talks of two kinds of faith: the common and the personal.

1. Common Faith. It is the faith that is declared by God for all people generally. It is the general truth of God's revelation that can never be changed at any cost. It applies to everyone regardless of place or time. It is our common faith. (Titus 1:4, Jude 1:3). It comprises the basic doctrines and tenets of the Christian faith that are essential to the identity of being Christian. The core of this faith is belief in salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

2. Personal Faith. It is the faith that is specific to a person and may not apply to someone else' temperament, mind-set, or context. For instance, in Romans 14, Paul talks about someone's faith that is not offended by eating meat, while someone else' faith that is offended by the same. In such contexts, Paul urges we do not become judgmental of someone else' "weakness" of faith, but avoid things that may offend a fellow-brother. This is the level at which personal faith functions. Eating particular meats or avoiding them, watching certain TV programs or not watching them (even News Channels), wearing ornaments or not wearing them, being interested in sports or not being interested, and several such issues fall in the domain of personal faith. They are not absolute issues, but relative to persons. However, when things leap over the personal and disagree with the general commandments of God, or when they flow out of a spirit of lovelessness and godless passion, they are certainly evil. And, of course, any permitted pleasure that is stretched to extremity (at the expense of the divine pleasure) is opposed to God. But, at the personal level, the Scripture enjoins:
Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23)
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