What Faith Is #1

WHAT FAITH IS NOT:
Sometimes it helps to discover what something is not, before trying to understand what it is. If we can rule out some common misinterpretations, we can narrow the parameters within which an accurate definition can be constructed.


Biblical Faith is NOT:

1. believing that God exists, or-
2. believing that God is real

This can be proven scripturally. The Bible tells us that the devils believe there is a God, and yet they do not have faith.


Faith is more than simply believing that God exists. Faith also must believe that God is a REWARDER of those that seek Him.


The devils believe that God is real, but they obviously don’t believe that God wants to reward them. If they did, then why are they trembling? They are certainly not trembling because they believe that God is going to reward them. They are trembling because they fear the punishment and wrath of God which they have been promised in the scriptures. They are hoping that Gods Word is not true, and the punishment won’t happen, but they tremble in fear that it will.

Why did they rebel in the first place then? Think about it. One only rebels if one thinks they can get a greater REWARD some-where or from some-thing else. If you truly believed that the greatest REWARD that you can ever get is by staying where you are at, you will stay.

In all candor, believing that God exists is simply proof that you are not a fool, nothing more. It is not faith.


Biblical Faith is NOT:

a reference to ones religious affiliation.

You can often hear people say things such as the Christian faith, or the Muslim faith.; the Protestant faith, or the Catholic faith. The English dictionary defines this use for us as follows:


Although the word is used that way often today, it is never used that way in the Bible. You can be assured that when you see the word FAITH in the Bible it is not referring to your religious affiliation.

Biblical Faith is NOT:

a verb.

The word FAITH is translated from the Greek word pistis (pē'-stēs) and is a feminine noun, (Ref:- Strong’s’ Greek Lexicon-G4102). If you don’t believe that FAITH is a noun, simply look it up in any lexicon or Bible Dictionary.

I know that we have all heard preachers say that FAITH is a verb, even some good preachers, but that doesn’t make it true. It is a noun; that is, a person, place or thing. (One can make a case for it being all three, but that is beyond the requirements of our current study.) For the sake of brevity, I think we can all agree that FAITH could best be described as a thing.

Now, that is not to say that FAITH doesn’t do something, because it does; namely it believes, it speaks, and it acts, (we will discuss what FAITH DOES later ). Those words describing what FAITH DOES are verbs, words that describe action; but FAITH itself is not an action, it is a THING.

As an analogy, imagine an automobile. The word automobile is a noun. When we describe what an automobile is, we would say that it is a vehicle made out of metals, plastics, paint and rubber; it is a thing, not an action. But the word drive is a verb. It is what we do with the automobile, we drive it somewhere, and that is an action. We don’t automobile to the store; we drive to the store in our automobile.

In the same way, FAITH is a noun. It is a thing, not an action. But the word believe is a verb. It is what we do with our FAITH, we believe God with it, and that is an action. We don’t FAITH God; we believe God with our FAITH.

Biblical Faith is NOT:

the same as trust.

The problem with equating 'trust' with 'biblical faith' is that 'trust' is humanistic.

Trust is an attribute that is exercisable by any human. It is part of the natural human condition, even in its fallen state. Trust is created in the human soul by an act of the human will; it is a choice that we make. We choose to trust our father, our mother, a brother, a friend. This by definition makes 'trust' an act of the human will, even in the sinner. It is therefore humanistic by definition.

Biblical faith on the other hand, is not humanistically endemic. That is, it is not an attribute of the natural fallen human condition. A sinner does not have the faith of God. Sinners can only acquire biblical faith through hearing the exceeding great and precious promises God’s Word. God’s faith can only be attained through the Word of God, because the Word of God is the only thing on earth that contains the faith of God.

You see, it is not our faith. It is Gods faith, and He imparts it to us. This makes the faith of God a divine impartation, rather than a humanistic attribute.

Trust is humanistic, while faith is deistic. It is as simple as that.

Now, that is not to say that trust is not necessary to releasing faith. Choosing to trust is the avenue by which we can use our human will to exercise the faith that God has given to us by way of revelation of His Word. Because of this, trust and faith go hand in hand. But that does not mean that they are the same thing. The one is an attribute of Almighty God which He shares with us through His Word, while the other is simply an attribute of the human heart, that anyone, even a sinner can choose to exercise.