The first principle of the Gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How simple a statement, yet how profound a doctrine.
According the Joseph Smith we define faith as “the first princple in revealed religion, and the foundation of all righteousness. Faith…is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things; by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeable to the will of God.” (Lectures on Faith 1:1, 22-24)
Alpha: Faith is the moving cause of all action…in all intelligent beings. Every being has faith in this sense. This is not saving faith unto exaltation. Saving faith centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Alma 32:21 faith (and versus 26 – 32).
Since faith is the moving cause in all temporal matters, this same truism exists in the spiritual realm. (Lectures on Faith 1:10-13.)
Omega: The faith on which men and angels act is a principle of power. FAITH IS POWER.
Where there is power, there is faith.
No power – no faith.
“Through faith the heavens and the earth were formed. (Hebrews 11:3) The power that organizes chaotic matter; the power that sends worlds without number into governed orbits; the power that gives order and system, location and appointment, to worlds and life–that power is named faith.” (McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pg. 164.)
