Help needed! What is Faith?

[SonOfSophroniscus]

What is it to be one of 'the faithful'? I have asked myself time and time again what this is, and because I am younger than many and relatively new to religion so this is probably why. I do say that I have faith, but how do I know I have it if I cannot describe precisely what it is? I have attempted various descriptions but they just fall apart. If you have true faith, then please, please, help this beleaguered soul - be as a Good Samaritan to me, and you will have my unending gratitude.

I have begun this conversation with others, but to illustrate the answer, I know that one cannot speak of a thing that one does not know. Like a person could not describe a bowler-hat if he first did not know what a bowler-hat was. I am aware that the issue is more complex, but that will serve as a rule of thumb.

Now, to take the above example, if one knows of what a thing is then one can talk of it -- And if I asked what was common to all bowler-hat, and you knew because you could tell me, then you would say something along the lines of "It's a piece of headgear with a flat brim and a semi-spherical cavity", or words to that effect. In much the same way, if I asked you what Faith was, you could tell me of the property (or properties) that were common to all faithful acts, or people with faith, and so forth. So this is what I ask you -

What is Faith? That property, which when added to a thing, makes it possessed of such?

Thankyou brothers, and I pray the search ends soon.
-Sophroniscus

 

[WarriorAngel]

Lets put it this way...
God's spirit [our souls] inhabit us all, and we innately know there is a greater Being.

We all have the knowledge of God, and we all carry Grace through out our childhood.

When we grow older and as some consider 'wiser' and refuse to believe in God...we lose Grace to know Him.

Grace comes from God and it is the mysterious innate way we have faith.

Faith is the fruit of Grace.
Grace is a perfect gift given by God.
Grace can be shut off by our choosing to disbelieve.

OR Grace can grow abundantly in us as we seek more from God.

The more we believe, the more faith grows. The faith that is from the Grace given by God to humanity.

WE choose not believing when we allow satan's pride to enter into us, and we also become proud of our ability to 'think for ourselves.' [or so some will have us believe free thinking means]

It is when we deny Grace that we cannot see the forest for the trees.
IE, we can no longer see God and Grace because we refuse it, and allow satan to be our father of lies. Deceiving us to believe God doesnt exist, and better yet, that he himself doesnt exist either.

Does this clarify anything for you?
Let me know.
God Bless!

 

[TruthMiner]

What is it to be one of 'the faithful'? I have asked myself time and time again what this is, and because I am younger than many and relatively new to religion so this is probably why. I do say that I have faith, but how do I know I have it if I cannot describe precisely what it is? I have attempted various descriptions but they just fall apart. If you have true faith, then please, please, help this beleaguered soul - be as a Good Samaritan to me, and you will have my unending gratitude.

I have begun this conversation with others, but to illustrate the answer, I know that one cannot speak of a thing that one does not know. Like a person could not describe a bowler-hat if he first did not know what a bowler-hat was. I am aware that the issue is more complex, but that will serve as a rule of thumb.

Now, to take the above example, if one knows of what a thing is then one can talk of it -- And if I asked what was common to all bowler-hat, and you knew because you could tell me, then you would say something along the lines of "It's a piece of headgear with a flat brim and a semi-spherical cavity", or words to that effect. In much the same way, if I asked you what Faith was, you could tell me of the property (or properties) that were common to all faithful acts, or people with faith, and so forth. So this is what I ask you -

What is Faith? That property, which when added to a thing, makes it possessed of such?

Thankyou brothers, and I pray the search ends soon.
-Sophroniscus

I asked this same question many years ago and searched long to find the answer. I have the answer for you.

Some try and claim Hebrews 11:1 is a definition because it contains the word "is" in the statement "Faith IS..." This is incorrect. Just because you say something that is true, it does not necessarily make that statement a definition. I can say "Christian Forums IS an interesting place." That would not be a definition would it? It is the same with Hebrews 11:1. That verse says some interesting things about faith but it is not a defintion per se.

Faith is obedience to truth. Well, faith is actually obedience to knowledge since we could actually have faith in something that is not the truth. But let us forget about that and focus on faith as obedience to the kind of knowledge that is truth.

Put another way, faith is the RESPONSE of obeying truth.

If I say, "Do you believe the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

Or, if I say, "Do you have faith in the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

And if I say, "Are you obedient to the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

As you can see, it is the same thing.

Read this passage very carefully and observe how faith and obedience are used interchangeably as words for the same thing:

Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still "today," so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end, for it is said: "Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 'Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.'" Who were those who rebelled when they heard? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt under Moses? With whom was he "provoked for forty years"? Was it not those who had sinned, whose corpses fell in the desert? And to whom did he "swear that they should not enter into his rest," if not to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they could not enter for lack of faith. Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened....Therefore, since it remains that some will enter into it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience... Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 3-4).

There are more passages that show the same thing. Faith is obedience to truth.

However, in Christianity, we are not simply obedient to concepts and believe in concepts. This is not what Christian faith is about. Many people seem to think if they believe certain things about Jesus are true (i.e. agree the Gospel message is in fact true), then this is the faith they need and it saves them. This is very wrong.

In Christianity, our truth is not simply a set of concepts. It is a person named Jesus Christ. He IS the Truth, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." So to have faith in Jesus is not simply to believing things about Jesus are true. Faith is obedience to truth. Our truth is Christ the Word of God. Christian faith is obeying Christ our truth from God. HE is the Word in which we put our faith and we do this by obeying Him, our Truth.

The Gospel message is not an end to put faith in. It is a sign pointing to something else to put your faith in - the Word of God - the PERSON Jesus Christ. Put your faith in this Word - Jesus - obey Him. THIS is our faith. This does not mean believing certain things about Jesus to be true. Christianity is not simply a head game of agreeing with theological concepts about Jesus. It is being faithful to our Truth, Jesus Christ. Obey this Truth. Obey HIM.

 

[Optimax]

What is it to be one of 'the faithful'? I have asked myself time and time again what this is, and because I am younger than many and relatively new to religion so this is probably why. I do say that I have faith, but how do I know I have it if I cannot describe precisely what it is? I have attempted various descriptions but they just fall apart. If you have true faith, then please, please, help this beleaguered soul - be as a Good Samaritan to me, and you will have my unending gratitude.

I have begun this conversation with others, but to illustrate the answer, I know that one cannot speak of a thing that one does not know. Like a person could not describe a bowler-hat if he first did not know what a bowler-hat was. I am aware that the issue is more complex, but that will serve as a rule of thumb.

Now, to take the above example, if one knows of what a thing is then one can talk of it -- And if I asked what was common to all bowler-hat, and you knew because you could tell me, then you would say something along the lines of "It's a piece of headgear with a flat brim and a semi-spherical cavity", or words to that effect. In much the same way, if I asked you what Faith was, you could tell me of the property (or properties) that were common to all faithful acts, or people with faith, and so forth. So this is what I ask you -

What is Faith? That property, which when added to a thing, makes it possessed of such?

Thankyou brothers, and I pray the search ends soon.
-Sophroniscus

Faith is

Scriptural faith takes what God said (Scriptures) about us or any situation we are faced with and believes what God said instead of what the five physical senses (taste, feel, see, etc.) are telling us as well as what others are telling us.

We walk by faith not by sight. This walk also includes speaking out loud what we believe (what God said known as Scripture), not doubting, which changes the “facts” that are against us to the reality that God provided for us.

 

[Ceridwen]

Trusting in jesus alone as your only ground of forgiveness and future joy.

 

[Paleoconservatarian]

Faith is not obedience. Faith is accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. This is true faith by which a believer receives the righteousness of Christ, and in which he continues his whole life. Faith necessarily results in obedience, but it is not obedience. To confuse faith and obedience, especially in the act of justification, is a deadly confusion of law and gospel.

 

[Ceridwen]

God will punish those who don't have faith.

Psalm 2:12 (New International Version)
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

 

[TruthMiner]

Faith is not obedience.

Incorrect. And I will show you precisely why if you are prepared to answer questions.

This thread is about the definition of faith.

Faith is accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. This is true faith by which a believer receives the righteousness of Christ, and in which he continues his whole life. Faith necessarily results in obedience, but it is not obedience. To confuse faith and obedience, especially in the act of justification, is a deadly confusion of law and gospel.

Please describe how you go about doing this faith. What do you do? Trust that some things about Jesus are in fact true? How do you go about this "accepting?" How do you go about this "receiving?" How doyou about this "resting?" These words are meaningless "sounds good" words unless you qualify your response.

 

[CaDan]

"How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?"

"Four."

"And if the Party says that it is not four but five--then how many?"

 

[Rut]

I think faith is what Hebrews 11:1 say it is but on same time to have knowledge about things Proverbs 2:3 - 5, John 17:3 talks about to know someone.The greek words mean to have knowledge about that person (know this person deep)

 

[TamaraLynne]

The faithful are the lambs needing to be fed the milk of the word............they know they will grow in understanding and they will wait upon the promises of God.The Saints are the sheep........they have more understanding and can stand knowing beyound doubt that Gods word and promises are real.


Kinda like a little kid who knows that a car carries people from place to place but has no knoweledge on how to drive and has no idea how the car actually works but he just knows it does. This child is the faithful.........

Faith to me is inviting Jesus in to dwell within us and that all he promises to do through us..........he will dur armor is God..........given to us by God.

It takes alittle while for lambs to grow into sheep though....................



I've had other ideas in the past but oh was I wrong......

This is my understanding now

Love
Tam

 

[Eldaah]

Incorrect. And I will show you precisely why if you are prepared to answer questions.

This thread is about the definition of faith.

Please describe how you go about doing this faith. What do you do? Trust that some things about Jesus are in fact true? How do you go about this "accepting?" How do you go about this "receiving?" How doyou about this "resting?" These words are meaningless "sounds good" words unless you qualify your response.

Ok the point of this thread is not to fight over whether Faith is obedience or belief or whatever. This thread's point is to help our brother with his questions. there are a couple things that have been said here that I don't agree with, but I won't comment on them, I'll let you guys believe what you want. I will tell SonOfSophroniscus what I believe about Faith. It is not going to help anyone to tell people that they're wrong. Instead we should honestly try to answer his question.

Here's what I think:

"Scriptural faith takes what God said (Scriptures) about us or any situation we are faced with and believes what God said instead of what the five physical senses (taste, feel, see, etc.) are telling us as well as what others are telling us."

I believe that this is faith. Faith is believing in God and His Son Jesus. Although,
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26

If we have faith, we will have works as well. Faith is not works, but works are the proof of faith. People can still do good things without faith, but works are evidence of faith.

 

[artjack]

What is it to be one of 'the faithful'? I have asked myself time and time again what this is, and because I am younger than many and relatively new to religion so this is probably why. I do say that I have faith, but how do I know I have it if I cannot describe precisely what it is? I have attempted various descriptions but they just fall apart. If you have true faith, then please, please, help this beleaguered soul - be as a Good Samaritan to me, and you will have my unending gratitude.

I have begun this conversation with others, but to illustrate the answer, I know that one cannot speak of a thing that one does not know. Like a person could not describe a bowler-hat if he first did not know what a bowler-hat was. I am aware that the issue is more complex, but that will serve as a rule of thumb.

Now, to take the above example, if one knows of what a thing is then one can talk of it -- And if I asked what was common to all bowler-hat, and you knew because you could tell me, then you would say something along the lines of "It's a piece of headgear with a flat brim and a semi-spherical cavity", or words to that effect. In much the same way, if I asked you what Faith was, you could tell me of the property (or properties) that were common to all faithful acts, or people with faith, and so forth. So this is what I ask you -

What is Faith? That property, which when added to a thing, makes it possessed of such?

Thankyou brothers, and I pray the search ends soon.
-Sophroniscus

It has taken some time and real experience to know that love is letting go,not holding on, having faith then is trusting someone else enough, which people have different leavels of, the more one learns to trust and see it work, the less one should need physical proof and physicality relienance and all this is possible just by believing,the last part is the hard part but in an earthly life time one comes across all the proof needed at different stages of our lives if we do not believe yet and become to believe by seeing the reward of ones listening, as it is throught ones listening one first is able to question what is heard as fact in their life stage and become wise enough to follow by practice at some point for ever.

 

[billwald]

Hebrews is correct - faith is a conclusion about a metaphysical topic.

 

[SonOfSophroniscus]

Lets put it this way...
God's spirit [our souls] inhabit us all, and we innately know there is a greater Being.

Whilst this a good answer brother, I cannot but help think that if knowledge of God exists innately in us all, then it must be present in all people for it to be innate [I take it by 'us' you mean 'human beings'. Also, ehy did Jesus have to die on the cross?

Faith is the fruit of Grace.
Grace is a perfect gift given by God.
Grace can be shut off by our choosing to disbelieve.

My good friend, I do not wish to sound facetious, but it seems as if Grace is the cause of Faith, from this. If i were to ask you who a particular fellow was, and you said 'The son of Mr and Mrs Jones', you would not have actually answered my question.

WE choose not believing when we allow satan's pride to enter into us, and we also become proud of our ability to 'think for ourselves.' [or so some will have us believe free thinking means]

If free thinking is indeed a faculty given to us by Him, and Jesus is his son spreading His word, it seems that he told a lie that we should make use of all our abilities as best we can [when he told us of the man who made ten talents]. But I cannot believe that Jesus would do such a thing, so I am stuck as ever!

 

[SonOfSophroniscus]

This is a fine answer my friend, and just the kind my heart was searching for. But, to take a quick example -

If one obeys truth, then one has faith. This seems odd at first, because people often claim that they have faith in the most unlikely event possible happening. It may be just what I need:

If faith is the response of obeying truth, then I must first ask of you wiser Christians what 'truth' is, in the same manner that i have asked you what faith is. Let us ignore that however.

Now, a thing cannot possess a property and its contradiction, i.e be even in number and odd, or astute and slow-witted, etc. I''m sure that God has faith because he is omniscient. But if he does, it seems he is obedient to just about everything that is true [even though He is all-powerful]. This is absurd! Those things that are true are true by him and him alone.

I was hoping this would solve my problem good friend, and indeed it is a good answer. But i am afraid i am still sorely ignorant of what faith is

But firstly, let us examine this. As I am sure, He is obedient to know one, and yet he knows everything that ever was, is, or will be.

Put another way, faith is the RESPONSE of obeying truth.

If I say, "Do you believe the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

Or, if I say, "Do you have faith in the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

And if I say, "Are you obedient to the concept that 1 + 1 = 2?", You would say, "Yes, I do."

As you can see, it is the same thing.

 

[SonOfSophroniscus]

I thank you for your help, but I fear this doesn't answer the question. If i asked you what a faith was, and you pointed to a faithful act as opposed to telling me what that property actually is, which when added to a thing, makes it faithful, or possessed of faith. I know that it is impossible to talk of a thing which one has no knowledge of, and if one has no knowledge of it then one cannot surely say that something has it. Help!!

Faith is

Scriptural faith takes what God said (Scriptures) about us or any situation we are faced with and believes what God said instead of what the five physical senses (taste, feel, see, etc.) are telling us as well as what others are telling us.

We walk by faith not by sight. This walk also includes speaking out loud what we believe (what God said known as Scripture), not doubting, which changes the “facts” that are against us to the reality that God provided for us.

 

[SonOfSophroniscus]

Also, to put it foolishly, it no longer seems that blind people of faith need their sticks, or that people who had faith and then became dumb, yet retaining their faith actually have faith. I am sorry, but I really need to know!

We walk by faith not by sight. This walk also includes speaking out loud what we believe (what God said known as Scripture).

 

[SonOfSophroniscus]

God that has sent me upon this quest for knowledge, and I trust him with all my heart.

Trusting in jesus alone as your only ground of forgiveness and future joy.

 

[Optimax]

I thank you for your help, but I fear this doesn't answer the question. If i asked you what a faith was, and you pointed to a faithful act as opposed to telling me what that property actually is, which when added to a thing, makes it faithful, or possessed of faith. I know that it is impossible to talk of a thing which one has no knowledge of, and if one has no knowledge of it then one cannot surely say that something has it. Help!!

Mk 4:23
If any man have ears to hear , let him hear.

KJV