What is "Faith?"
You believe in God. Does that mean you have "faith?"
The word “faith” comes up a lot during religious discussions.
“Do you have faith?”
“How do you observe your faith?”
What do we mean by faith and what does it mean to “have faith?”
Defining Faith
I looked at the Dictionary app that came with my Apple MacOS operating system. It defines faith like this:
faith | fāTH | noun
1 complete trust or confidence in someone or something: this restores one's faith in politicians.
2 strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof: bereaved people who have shown supreme faith.
• a system of religious belief: the Christian faith.
• a strongly held belief or theory: the faith that life will expand until it fills the universe.
If you asked the popular culture at large to define “faith,” it would probably come back with a definition like second one — faith is a belief in God and/or the participation in religious services. If you “believe in God,” you “have faith.” If you attend church, you are “practicing your faith.”
Further, as the definition says, this belief is “based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” What does that mean? “Spiritual apprehension” means spiritual understanding. To put it another way, you believe in God or religious doctrine because you feel it in your bones, or in your gut, not because of any rational proof.
Weak Faith
I’d like to to suggest that the faith described in definition number two is a weak faith, one held by immature and cultural Christians. It’s the kind of faith that fails when tested. And we know that we will be tested, because Christ told us we would be (e.g., Matthew 10:16-23; Matthew 13:18-23; Mark 10:29-31; Luke 21:10-19). That shouldn’t surprise us or scare us.
What makes it weak?
It’s weak because it’s rooted in the mere belief in God or religious doctrine. Worse, it’s rooted in blind belief, not founded on facts. I believe because… I think it’s true. It’s self-referential. If you were to push somebody with this level of faith, asking “But why do you have faith?” they would finally reach a point of exasperation and reply, “Because I just do!”
In the Parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13), Jesus describes this faith as the seed that falls on rocky ground. In Matthew 13:20-21 (ESV), he says, “20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”
That’s not a good place for a Christian to be.
First, let’s admit that religious doctrine by itself is not powerful. Believing in religious doctrine outside of any belief in God himself is highly misplaced. Surely, right doctrine is important, but such doctrine is important in the context of a greater, stronger faith.
For instance, the Bible says that believers should meet together periodically. Fellowship with other believers strengthens a believer’s relationship with God. Thus, going to church is good doctrine. But going to church won’t save you. There is no spiritual power in merely walking into a building, listening to a few songs and a speaker, and walking out again. You can’t believe in doctrine outside of the direction of God.
It’s import to understand that God doesn’t call us to this sort of weak faith. In fact, as described in the Parable of the Sower, he warns us about it.
Strong Faith
Instead, God calls us to a strong faith based on evidence. Further, God doesn’t just want us to believe in him. He also wants us to believe that he is who he has revealed himself to be.
Let’s start with evidence.
Popular culture suggests that belief in God must necessarily be a blind belief.
“You cannot prove the existence of God,” they’ll say. And that’s true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t prove that belief in God must be a blind belief.
For instance, we can verify certain things about the world around us and square those with the Bible. There are archaeological findings that confirm certain portions of the Bible. We’ve written about some of those before:
The historicity of John the Baptist, Jesus, Jesus’s crucifixion, and the disciple’s belief that he rose from the dead are all documented in extra-Biblical sources (e.g., the histories of Josephus).
Now, can I prove that God exists? No, I can’t. But I can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that, among other things,
King David existed (Moabite Stone)
King Hezekiah existed (Sennacherib’s palace)
John the Baptist existed (Josephus)
Jesus existed (Josephus)
Jesus was crucified by Pilate (Josephus)
People believed Jesus was the Christ (Josephus)
The disciples believed Jesus rose from the dead (Josephus)
That’s just from three sources. There are more. (Just research all the various details that appear in the Gospel of Luke that are being proved by archaeology, for instance).
Now, do those things prove everything in the Bible? No. Do they prove that God exists? No. But they do prove portions of the narrative captured in the Bible. And from those proved items, it’s a lot less of a jump to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. And from that, it’s a pretty easy jump to believe the rest of the Bible is true.
In particular, these archaeological finds refute the idea that the Bible was just written hundreds of years after Jesus was supposed to have lived by various priests and scribes making it all up out of whole cloth.
The Object of Faith
Now, let’s talk about the object of your faith. That is, what do you have faith in? Do you just believe that God exists? If so, that’s a pretty thin faith.
God has left evidence of his existence throughout the world. Psalm 19:1 (ESV) says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” James write, in James 2:19, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” Satan knows that God exists; that doesn’t mean much.
The more important questions are:
Who do you believe God is?
What do you believe is true about him?
In particular, do you believe that he is the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Do you believe that he sent Jesus to earth to pay for the sins of humanity?
Further, do you believe both what he has revealed about himself (his character) and his promises?
In other words, do you have the kind of faith that is described in the first dictionary definition, above: “complete trust or confidence in someone or something?”
In the Bible, we learn that God has a number of attributes listed below. Do you believe this?
All powerful (omnipotent)
All knowing (omniscient)
All present (omnipresent)
Outside time
Immutable
Self-sufficient
Wise
Loving
Joyful
Peaceful
Patient
Kind
Good
Faithful
Trustworthy
Just
Merciful
Gracious
Holy
Forgiving
Intellectual Faith vs. Active Faith
In James 2, the brother of Jesus is challenging believers to a bigger faith, one that is not merely intellectual. James writes
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Basically, James is saying, “If you really have faith, you’ll live it out in your life. A mere faith that God exists or an intellectual faith is weak. A strong faith can’t be hidden; it will show itself in what you do.”
A strong faith is active. A person with a strong faith demonstrates that faith through their actions, taking decisions that they would not take if the did not believe that God is who he says he is.
Take King David, for instance. In 1 Samuel 17, he confronts Goliath on the battlefield.
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
In human terms, David is completely outclassed. Goliath is a warrior. David is a boy. But David believes God. He believes that God has told him to face Goliath and he believes that God is powerful enough to defeat the giant. He doesn’t need a sword. He can do it with his own sling. David doesn’t have a mere intellectual belief in God. David believes that God is who he says he is, and so he’s standing on the battlefield, facing a giant with a sling and five stones. That’s an active faith. And God doesn’t leave him hanging. God demonstrates his own character trait of faithfulness and power by showing up and helping David defeat Goliath with a single stone.
It’s important to note that an active faith isn’t just challenging God to show up in every situation while we sit back and relax. Again, active faith is active. David didn’t ask God to kill Goliath and then go back to Bethlehem while God made it happen. He walked out on the battlefield with God.
How much of a witness for God would we be if we lived our trust for God “out loud” in the same way David did. Would we have to evangelize if we always said, “God will solve this for me,” to our friends and neighbors and then God did?
Faith vs Hope
Before we stop, I’d like to say a word about “hope.” It’s a great word and the Bible is clear that we should have hope. But hope that isn’t rooted in anything is probably going to disappoint you. Unrooted hope is just human wish-casting. It’s the kind of hope where people say “hope is not a strategy.” This type of hope is a desire for something to happen but absolutely no basis for that to be likely.
But as with faith, the Bible doesn’t ask us to have a blind hope. In fact, the Bible wants us to have a well-founded hope, based on faith, which in turn is based on evidence. We should hope for the future, our future, because Jesus died for our sins and because God is who he says he is.
Mature Faith
So, in the end, we’re left with a mature faith built in a series of steps like this:
I believe that archaeology has shown that the Bible is not a fabrication.
I believe that science confirms many things in the Bible and shows that it’s not a fabrication.
Because of this, I believe that the Bible is true, God exists, and Jesus rose from the dead.
Based on Jesus’s rising from the dead, I believe that he is who he claimed to be: the Messiah who can forgive sins and redeem the lost.
Because I believe the Bible is true, I believe God does in fact have the character traits that are revealed there.
Because I believe God has these character traits, I’m called to take actions that are consistent with those character traits.
Based on all of this, my hope is that I will live with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in perfect relationship forever.
Ultimately, that’s what real, mature faith looks like. It’s rooted on facts and ultimately culminates in an active faith that takes actions consistent with the belief that God is who God says he is.
Today’s Prayer
Holy Father, maker of all things, we ask that your Kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you that you don’t ask us to have a blind faith, based on nothing more than our own feelings. Thank you that you have given us concrete evidence on which to base our faith. Help us to see those times that you demonstrate your character in our lives, that our faith might be strengthened. Help us to step out in faith like David before Goliath, believing that you are who you say you are and that you can do the things you say you can do. Thank you for the hope you have given us in Jesus, that he paid the penalty for all our sins and that we can claim his own righteousness as ours when we come before you on judgement day. Amen.
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All I know is that from the moment I said, "I give up, I believe," there has never been a time when I was not aware of His presence in my life. Knowing God, believing God is all that matters.
With the indwelling Christ, we HAVE His faith imputed to us. We don’t need more faith, we need to kill unbelief. When Peter walked on the water, he sank when unbelief took hold. Live FROM the faith of Christ. It changes your prayer life.