What is Faith?

[DamianWarS]

Trust is belief. Not only does such faith require no work to be saved, one must not work to be saved in order to qualify for salvation.

"to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works" Rom 4:5,6

There are those who reject the grace of God and rely upon a salvation by works covenant, namely the covenant of the law, or a modification of it which they manufacture for themselves by misreading scripture. They are of a different faith than myself.

so Faith does not account for the things you do but rather the things you believe.

 

[bcbsr]

so Faith does not account for the things you do but rather the things you believe.

Nope, didn't say that. Guess again. You might want to try to exercise some basic reading comprehension skills this time.

 

[DamianWarS]

Nope, didn't say that. Guess again. You might want to try to exercise some basic reading comprehension skills this time.

Let's play nice

 

[GingerBeer]

1. Faith is about the things we believe
2. Faith is about the things we do
3. Faith is about the things we believe and the things we do

Which statement best fits what Faith is?

None of the above taken one at a time and even in combination they do not provide a comprehensive definition.

 

[DamianWarS]

None of the above taken one at a time and even in combination they do not provide a comprehensive definition.

It not intended to be comprehensive but rather what best fits

 

[GingerBeer]

It not intended to be comprehensive but rather what best fits

None of them fits well so I'll keep to "none of the above".

 

[JLB777]

So if we don't act is there faith?

No.


Faith is the substance of the thing we are hoping for.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1


Faith is received from God when He speaks to us.


So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17


Once we have faith from God, it must be activated, by our obedience, in order for the faith we have to produce the intended divine result, otherwise our faith will remain dormant or dead and will not function as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is dead without the corresponding act of obedience.


21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? James 2:21


The “work” that Abraham did was to obey the voice of God to offer Isaac on the altar.

Faith is incomplete without obedience.


JPT

 

[Ken Rank]

1. Faith is about the things we believe
2. Faith is about the things we do
3. Faith is about the things we believe and the things we do

Which statement best fits what Faith is?

#3, without question. Paul wrote that faith "comes by hearing the Word of God" and James wrote, "faith without works is dead being alone." So we must HEAR and then ACT/DO/React based on what we hear. To simply believe is NOT faith because I can believe something and not have heard the word of God. And it can't be only based on what we do, because we have to hear first.

Faith = hear and do.

 

[spockrates]

#3, without question. Paul wrote that faith "comes by hearing the Word of God" and James wrote, "faith without works is dead being alone." So we must HEAR and then ACT/DO/React based on what we hear. To simply believe is NOT faith because I can believe something and not have heard the word of God. And it can't be only based on what we do, because we have to hear first.

Faith = hear and do.

Hope you don’t mind my asking. Are you saying an act of faith is faith? (I’m not saying this isn’t true - just trying to understand you!)

 

[Ken Rank]

Hope you don’t mind my asking. Are you saying an act of faith is faith? (I’m not saying this isn’t true - just trying to understand you!)

What I am saying is... that when we believe God is going to do something, not because God said so, but because we believe He will... we call that faith. Did you see God's Not Dead? Remember the scene toward the end when the pastor and the missionary went to the pastors car and he was going to try to start it one more time... and the missionary told him to "have faith God will start the car for us... put your luggage in the car?" OK, that isn't faith, that is belief... it is only faith when what we are acting on came from God. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." One must HEAR and if God's didn't say, "I am going to start your car, put your luggage in it," then we are treating Him like a genie, not like a God.

Look at the great faith chapter... Hebrews 11. Noach hears that a flood is coming and that to survive he has to build the boat, and he does... that is faith. Moses hears that if he holds his rod out over the sea that God will provide safety so he does, and they all live. That's faith. Abraham heard God tell him to move to a foreign nation and he would be blessed... so he packed up and left... that's faith.

We hear God and then act on what we hear... that is faith. And, it has always been this way. Go back to Deut. 6 where you find, "Hear O Israel....." The word for hear is shema. ANY Hebrew student who has been studying Hebrew for more than a year or two will tell you that shema is not just hear... it is hear and obey... hear and do.... hear and guard.... hear and act. That's faith... faith comes by hearing and faith without works (action) is dead.

Like I said, when we expect God to act because we think He should... He is being treated like a genie, not like the Supreme Being He is.

Blessing... and by the way... I love you user name!

 

[spockrates]

What I am saying is... that when we believe God is going to do something, not because God said so, but because we believe He will... we call that faith. Did you see God's Not Dead? Remember the scene toward the end when the pastor and the missionary went to the pastors car and he was going to try to start it one more time... and the missionary told him to "have faith God will start the car for us... put your luggage in the car?" OK, that isn't faith, that is belief... it is only faith when what we are acting on came from God. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." One must HEAR and if God's didn't say, "I am going to start your car, put your luggage in it," then we are treating Him like a genie, not like a God.

Look at the great faith chapter... Hebrews 11. Noach hears that a flood is coming and that to survive he has to build the boat, and he does... that is faith. Moses hears that if he holds his rod out over the sea that God will provide safety so he does, and they all live. That's faith. Abraham heard God tell him to move to a foreign nation and he would be blessed... so he packed up and left... that's faith.

We hear God and then act on what we hear... that is faith. And, it has always been this way. Go back to Deut. 6 where you find, "Hear O Israel....." The word for hear is shema. ANY Hebrew student who has been studying Hebrew for more than a year or two will tell you that shema is not just hear... it is hear and obey... hear and do.... hear and guard.... hear and act. That's faith... faith comes by hearing and faith without works (action) is dead.

Like I said, when we expect God to act because we think He should... He is being treated like a genie, not like the Supreme Being He is.

Blessing... and by the way... I love you user name!

Thanks! Yeah, yeah, I love Spock for his logic and Socrates for his love of learning new ideas.

So, I think I see what you mean. We should pray, “Not my will, but Thy will be done,” so to speak. I mean, I guess what you’re saying is faith is trusting that God will do right by us, even though we don’t yet see it. Thanks!

 

[Ken Rank]

Thanks! Yeah, yeah, I love Spock for his logic and Socrates for his love of learning new ideas.

So, I think I see what you mean. We should pray, “Not my will, but Thy will be done,” so to speak. I mean, I guess what you’re saying is faith is trusting that God will do right by us, even though we don’t yet see it. Thanks!

Exactly.... His will. Let me give another way to see this.

In Hebrew the word for name is shem, and while dealing with what we call a person, it is also dealing with the name bearer's character, reputation, and authority. So, to walk in the name of God has nothing to do with saying or not saying His name... it has to do with walking in a manner that is consistent with His character, that is in line with His authority, and that adds to His reputation. Profaning His name is the opposite... walking in a manner that doesn't reflect His character, that is outside of His will and authority, and that takes from His reputation.

So, what about praying in His name... asking for something in His name? It won't be because we SAID, "In Jesus name" at the end of the prayer... it will be because what we prayed and what we asked for was in His will, in harmony with His character, etc.

And yes, faith is TRUSTING that God will do right.

Faith = hearing God, believing what we heard because the source of what we heard was God. Then trusting what we heard, and then, if what we heard calls for action, acting on whatever we heard.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Faith is about how we orient our hearts and how we live our lives.

Simple mental assent is not faith - even the demons believe and tremble. But they don't have faith. They have sure knowledge in fact - but not faith.

 

[BNR32FAN]

1. Faith is about the things we believe
2. Faith is about the things we do
3. Faith is about the things we believe and the things we do

Which statement best fits what Faith is?

Let’s examine the Greek word that is translated to the word faith which is pistis. This will give us a better idea of the message that the writers of the New Testament we’re trying to convey.


faith


G4102


Lemma:

πίστις


Transliteration:

pístis


Pronounce:

pis'-tis


Part of Speech:

Noun Feminine


Language:

greek


Description:

1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it a) relating to God

1) the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ b) relating to Christ

1) a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God c) the religious beliefs of Christians d) belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same

2) fidelity, faithfulness a) the character of one who can be relied on


Grammar:

from πείθω; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.


Occurrences in Bible:

244


Occurrences in Verses:

228

 

[Chinchilla]

1. Faith is about the things we believe
2. Faith is about the things we do
3. Faith is about the things we believe and the things we do

Which statement best fits what Faith is?

When you sit on chair you have faith that it will hold your weight , you do not bow to it nor do you beg it for mercy , you simply put your trust that the chair will hold your weight without second thought .

That's what faith is .

 

[DamianWarS]

When you sit on chair you have faith that it will hold your weight , you do not bow to it nor do you beg it for mercy , you simply put your trust that the chair will hold your weight without second thought .

That's what faith is .

there are 2 things in there. belief that the chair can support the weight and sitting on the chair.

 

[~Anastasia~]

And you don't beg a chair for mercy or bow to it because ... it's a chair.

That doesn't mean it's inappropriate to petition or honor God.

Surely that's not what you mean though?

 

[Chinchilla]

And you don't beg a chair for mercy or bow to it because ... it's a chair.

That doesn't mean it's inappropriate to petition or honor God.

Surely that's not what you mean though?

Salvation is not of works you don't have to pray , beg mercy or bow to receive it .
Ephesians 2:8-9

It's underserved gift that's why it's called grace so don't try to be worthy to receive it because you can't .

 

[Loren T.]

From one of my old blog posts:

I propose that whether we know it or not, most of us think of faith as screwing up our belief dial to full volume so that God will come through for us. Kind of like Peter Pan and his friends chanting: “I do, I do, I do believe in fairys!”, until Tinkerbell gains some kind of mystical power from their words and comes back to life. That is exactly what faith in Christ isn't.

First of all, what are we to have faith in? Does it confuse the issue too much if I say that we have faith in Christ's faithfulness, His willingness to go through with His death and resurrection? Because, we are told again and again in scripture that this is the basis of our Justification. That to be in Christ is to be, at least symbolically, killed and risen with Him.

How does this help? It still sounds as if I have force myself to believe something that seems very improbable: that a man was tortured and killed and somehow came back to life, and that this somehow assures my eternal destination. Can you see how implausible this sounds to the skeptic? Why he can say: “I can't believe that, it's impossible and absurd.”?

But, faith is not about screwing up my courage to believe in the impossible or improbable. It is quite the opposite. It doesn't spring from my courage, strength or tenacity. That would require faith in myself, that I could somehow maintain the strength to holler for a lifetime: “I do, I do, I do believe in the resurrection!”

Rather, faith is self abandonment. It's admitting that I don't understand it all and will never really understand it all in this life. It's throwing myself on His mercy, telling Him I believe when in fact, I'm not sure I do, and asking for help with my unbelief. It's: “Here, Lord I give myself away, it's all that I can do.”

Instead of summoning up my supposed courage to believe, faith is all about dropping all of it, including my self reliance, especially my self reliance, at the foot of the cross.

Now, yes, there is a paradox or two here. Scripture is constantly telling us that the trip from the cross to the grave isn't going to be a cake walk.

“Take up your cross and follow me.” Jesus says.

“Stand firm against the devil.” Paul tells us.

And persevere, press on, finish the race, and so on.

It brings an old question back to mind: Is Christianity for wimps or warriors?

We are told to drop our burdens, yet take up our cross. Which is it?

Yes, Paul talked about fighting the good fight and keeping the faith, and finishing the race, but he would be quick to tell you (and does tell us in other places) that it is total reliance on Christ's work on the cross that carried him and carries us, not the strength of our wills.

But here's the paradox: I'm strong when I'm weak. Wimps or warriors? Yes.

Letting go of yourself can often be seen as wimpy, but is it? Letting go is often the hardest thing you can ever do. Bravery, in this case, is not striving harder, but ceasing to strive. And ceasing to fight against His proddings. Oh boy, do we like to fight for our own way, our rights to do what we want to do. Lay that one down and see what He can do without your selfish desires in the way. It's always the false self we discard, anyway, the lame poser who wants to be seen as strong, but inside is quivering like a scared puppy. Why would you want to hold onto that version of yourself, when you could fall on Jesus and let Him mold you into your true self, the one He meant when He made you, before sin twisted your image into a sad caricature of what you should be? You come to Him a wimp and He crafts you into a warrior.

This is all possible on the basis of Christs sacrifice. When we pray, we are not leaning on our own power, as if we had any. I guess you can see I'm a little squeamish about the whole naming and claiming thing. If we are going to claim anything, we claim the blood of Christ. And we can “plead the blood” over any situation or circumstance, because it's the blood that has the power, not our prayers.

Now, this might be off topic, but I question the idea that this is about Christ giving you His perfect righteousness. This will sound like sacrilege to some, so let me try to explain. If you truly had His righteousness, the righteousness that comes first and foremost from the act of dying and resurrection, you would be like Him, literally. Instead, you are still broken in many ways, but declared whole. You can't die to save yourself, you are not worthy. If this justification that occurs was about your sudden perfection, grace would be a one time deal. But in reality, “He giveth, and giveth and giveth again.” We are declared righteous because we are in Christ, not because we are able to do what He did. Maybe this seems like a distinction without a difference, but I don't think so. It is freeing to realize you are a work in progress, not a perfect person. How many times does Paul say we are in Christ? (About 80 times) Does he ever say we somehow acquire Christ's righteousness? Ok, enough food for thought there. By the way, I'm not dissing sanctification, or progress, or even talking about Salvation, but Justification, which is a whole 'nother animal. We are declared 'right' because we are now in the covenant people, in Christ, because of the cross. Because what God promised Abraham has come to fulfillment, the world has been blessed through him, through his Seed. More on all that later, maybe.

What is faith? Get over yourself and fall on Him. It's that easy and that hard.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Salvation is not of works you don't have to pray , beg mercy or bow to receive it .
Ephesians 2:8-9

It's underserved gift that's why it's called grace so don't try to be worthy to receive it because you can't .

Ah we are talking apples and oranges then.

I was checking to see if it was suggested as inappropriate to petition God, or to give him honor. It seems strange to suggest we ought to treat Him as we would a chair.

I think maybe we easily misunderstand one another and I wouldn't want that. Peace to you.