Fighting Faith in Bavinck's Wonderful Works of God
In the Wonderful Works of God, Herman Bavinck writes that God's special revelation of Himself to Abraham is fundamentally a promise: "I will be thy God and the God of thy people." In the stories of the patriarchs we see God calling to Himself a people who must walk by faith. Bavinck finds in the three patriarchs three sub-categories of faith:
- Abraham's believing faith.
- Isaac's meek faith.
- Jacob's fighting faith.
Israel as whole, throughout its history, is fundamentally similar to Abraham in that, like him, it must "live by faith, must acknowledge that it owes the land of its inheritance not to its own strength but to God's grace."
Jacob, the fighter, embodies the reality that Israel can share in the great promise only when, "refined by suffering, broken in strength, it achieves the victory solely through the struggle of faith and prayer. I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me (Gen. 32:26 and Hos. 12:4)."
I used to struggle with Genesis 32, in which Jacob is said to have struggled with God and overcome. The primary point of tension, for me, was how to read this as anything but an affirmation that our salvation and our blessing from God comes as a result of our own work.
Bavinck's key insight appears to be that this story emphatically does not involve Jacob beating God in a fight or otherwise achieving salvation and blessing through work. Rather, Jacob first experiences great trials and suffering prior to arriving at Peniel ("face of God"), where the wrestling match is to take place. He arrives beaten down by life, fearing his brother, having fought his way through great hardships. All night, he wrestles the angel and can't win--instead, he ends up broken, with a permanent limp.
Jacob reaches a point of pathetic weakness, knowing he can't win this struggle through his strength or skill. Nevertheless, he doggedly clings to God's representative on earth, demanding to be blessed. This is fighting faith. Not that my works are perfect or my strength is enough to win the day. Rather, I cling to God and continue praying; I refuse to let go.
As Bavinck writes, both Jacob and God's people themselves, can achieve the victory "solely through the struggle of faith and prayer. I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me."