keep the faith

​Have you heard the phrase 'keep the faith'? Rev 14:12 says 'here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus'. That's the closest mention in the bible.
 
What is the faith of Jesus? Paul says that we obtain righteousness by faith of Jesus Christ, that when we are justified by faith, we make peace with God though Jesus Christ and that we are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and not by law (Rom 3:22, 5:1, Gal 2:16).
 
You see, Abraham believed what God told him to do and by his faith, acted on it and so attained the righteousness of God (Gal 3:6). This was at a time before Jesus was born. Now, Jesus not only obeyed God and crucified himself for our sins (Isa 53:7), He also said that he could do nothing except the will of God and only what God Himself did (Jn 5:30, 19) In other words, Abraham and Jesus did what God told them to do. The faith of Jesus Christ is to do with the obedience of God.
 
It's like this; Rom 10:9 says those who believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead will be saved, provided they declare it out loud with their mouth. See, we were not there when Jesus was crucified. We didn't see him crucified with our own eyes. Yet Christians are those who believe that Jesus did die for us and was resurrected so that we declared out loud that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. That is faith - when you believe what God says whether by hearing or in His word that you act accordingly.
 
To say, 'keep the faith' is like saying 'just believe'. But Abraham, Noah, Moses, David and Jesus did not 'just believe' and did nothing. Instead, they did what they were told because they believed. There is nothing in the bible that tells us to 'just believe'. Believing alone bears no fruit. It's believing and doing what you've been told that makes it, faith.
 
So, the next time someone tells you to ‘keep the faith’, explain this to them; there is no such thing as ‘keeping the faith’ except the faith of Jesus Christ, which is of obedience to God. This is the faith we are called to have to be justified and to obtain the righteousness of God to the salvation of our souls.
 
Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead - James 2:17