What is Faith?

[Charlie24]

I find it amazing that God chose faith as the path for fallen man to come back into relationship with Him. The scientists can explore the crust of the earth for visible evidence and even the universe, but they can't explore the faith in the heart of man.

I did a study on Hebrews 11 some years ago and found somewhat of a deeper meaning of faith. I won't go into all the detail but will hit only the high spots of the first verse of Hebrews 11. Many authors and scholars were involved in this information in Hebrews 11:1.

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

"Now faith is the substance...." Substance in the Greek is "hypostasis" and refers to ones property or effects. The Romans referred to it as the whole body of documents bearing on the ownership of a person's property, deposited in the archives, and forming the evidence of ownership. In other words, a title deed.

So we have "Faith is the title deed..."

"of things hoped for..." This is the declaration of the action of faith. What we all believers hope for are the promises of God. For example, Abraham was promised by God the land of Canaan, but he died in the action of faith only having a small burial plot for his family. The promises of God would come later to a large extent.

"So we have "Faith is the title deed to the promises of God..."

"the evidence of things not seen" Evidence in the Greek is "elegchos" which means a proof, by which a thing is proved or tested. But this evidence is not proven based upon the senses that yield uncertainty, but by the Word of God.

So we have, "Faith is the title deed of the promises of God, based on the Word of God."

The vast majority of scientists will never figure this one out, it requires trusting in the Word of God!

 

[lentz]

I find it amazing that God chose faith as the path for fallen man to come back into relationship with Him. The scientists can explore the crust of the earth for visible evidence and even the universe, but they can't explore the faith in the heart of man.

I did a study on Hebrews 11 some years ago and found somewhat of a deeper meaning of faith. I won't go into all the detail but will hit only the high spots of the first verse of Hebrews 11. Many authors and scholars were involved in this information in Hebrews 11:1.

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

"Now faith is the substance...." Substance in the Greek is "hypostasis" and refers to ones property or effects. The Romans referred to it as the whole body of documents bearing on the ownership of a person's property, deposited in the archives, and forming the evidence of ownership. In other words, a title deed.

So we have "Faith is the title deed..."

"of things hoped for..." This is the declaration of the action of faith. What we all believers hope for are the promises of God. For example, Abraham was promised by God the land of Canaan, but he died in the action of faith only having a small burial plot for his family. The promises of God would come later to a large extent.

"So we have "Faith is the title deed to the promises of God..."

"the evidence of things not seen" Evidence in the Greek is "elegchos" which means a proof, by which a thing is proved or tested. But this evidence is not proven based upon the senses that yield uncertainty, but by the Word of God.

So we have, "Faith is the title deed of the promises of God, based on the Word of God."

The vast majority of scientists will never figure this one out, it requires trusting in the Word of God!

Faith is as simple as taking God at his word and placing total trust in what he said.
But,sometimes not so simple to do. But that is the total definition of faith

 

[Curtis]

Faith is a "spirit" and the "spirit of faith" comes when it hears the Word of God.

2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

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

 

[KingJ]

In the biblical sense, faith is a verb, an action verb.

As such, it frustrates me terribly when I see people say 'have faith'. Treating it as though it is a noun. Saying 'have faith' is like saying 'have energy'. The poor audience is left completely dumbfounded and unsure of what exactly you are espousing.

When a healing preacher says 'have faith' we assume it is in God's ability to heal.
When a prosperity teacher says 'have faith' we assume it is in God's ability to provide and meet our needs.

I hate assumptions. Preachers need to be crystal clear on what the exact type of faith they are referring to / expecting us to muster up, is.

There are a couple of scriptures where we see certain types of faith are mocked.

1. James 2:19: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.

Faith in the existence of God. You believe God exists, well done. The relevance and importance of your faith is a 0.01% achievement. Next to nothing burger, something that should be a 'given' for a Christian.

2. Matt 17:20-21: For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you

You believe God of the universe can move a mountain, well done. The relevance and importance of your faith is a 0.01% achievement. Next to nothing burger, something that should be a 'given' for a Christian.

3. Matt 8:26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

As a Christian, if you believe 'an act of God' will prematurely remove you from the earth when it is clear that He needs you and you are serving Him, eish. It should be a given for a Christian that God spare you from a storm / snake bite / whatever else.

----------------------------------------------------

As you can see it is very important to qualify the type of faith we are referring to when we speak. There is a faith that God wants from the unsaved and then a different faith God wants from the saved.

- From the unsaved, God wants faith in Him saving them from death if they repent of their sins. Giving validity to repentance.

- From the saved, God wants us to live by faith 'in Him'. A trust in Him. Trust that He will keep us, meet our needs, grow in faith in scripture and yes His 'promises',

<<I put promises in inverted commas as God's promises taught in many 'prosperity' churches today are not necessarily His 'promises'>>

 

[lentz]

In the biblical sense, faith is a verb, an action verb.

As such, it frustrates me terribly when I see people say 'have faith'. The poor audience is left completely dumbfounded and unsure of what exactly you are espousing.

When a healing preacher says 'have faith' we assume it is in God's ability to heal.
When a prosperity teacher says 'have faith' we assume it is in God's ability to provide and meet our needs.

I hate assumptions. Preachers need to be crystal clear on what the exact type of faith they are referring to / expecting us to muster up, is.

There are a couple of scriptures where we see certain types of faith are mocked.

1. James 2:19: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.

Faith in the existence of God. You believe God exists, well done. The relevance and importance of your faith is a 0.01% achievement. Next to nothing burger, something that should be a 'given' for a Christian.

2. Matt 17:20-21: For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you

You believe God of the universe can move a mountain, well done. The relevance and importance of your faith is a 0.01% achievement in a direction that matters to anyone. Next to nothing burger, something that should be a 'given' for a Christian.

3. Matt 8:26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

As a Christian, if you believe 'an act of God' will prematurely remove you from the earth when it is clear that He needs you and you are serving Him, eish. It should be a given for a Christian that God spare you from a storm / snake bite / whatever else.

----------------------------------------------------

As you can see it is very important to qualify the type of faith we are referring to when we speak. There is a faith that God wants from the unsaved and then a different faith God wants from the saved.

- From the unsaved, God wants faith in Him saving them from death if they repent of their sins. Giving validity to repentance.

- From the saved, God wants us to live by faith 'in Him'. A trust in Him. Trust that He will keep us, meet our needs, grow in faith in scripture and yes His 'promises',

<<I put promises in inverted commas as God's promises taught in many 'prosperity' churches today are not necessarily His 'promises'>>

I believe the faith scripture speaks to is faith in the gospel and that he is able to deliver your soul.
When thinking about it,what else really matters?

 

[KingJ]

I believe the faith scripture speaks to is faith in the gospel and that he is able to deliver your soul.
When thinking about it,what else really matters?

Scripture speaks to many types of faith. You cannot say it speaks only to these two you mention.

What is your support for those two?

 

[lentz]

Scripture speaks to many types of faith. You cannot say it speaks only to these two you mention.

What is your support for those two?

I didn’t mention 2.
Faith in gospel and Christ. One faith, one baptism,one hope of your calling

 

[Curtis]

Faith must have a descriptor that describes what it is to perform. There are thousands of promises in the Bible and every promise gives a description of what the faith that it gives will do. There is only "one faith" but there are many many instances of that "one faith".

Faith is very specific to the promise from which it came. If you are saved you have saving faith which caused the new birth, but saving faith cannot be used to bring healing to your body that would require healing scriptures that would describe what faith it gives and what it will do to your body.

You can have faith in one area of your life and have zero faith in another.

 

[Dave M]

True Godly faith only comes from the word of God.

Romans 10:17 ​

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

We are only complete when we have the word of God in us, only the word of God equips us for good work, only scripture is good for teaching and learning

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ​

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

 

[lentz]

Faith is a "spirit" and the "spirit of faith" comes when it hears the Word of God.

2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

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

I don’t think the use of the word spirit in those verses are the same as in speaking of deity.It’s like saying the spirit of fair play.

 

[KingJ]

I didn’t mention 2.
Faith in gospel and Christ. One faith, one baptism,one hope of your calling

Just going to nitpick

You said faith in A. the gospel and B. that he can deliver your soul.

A number of different types of faith are required here.

A. We have faith in the gospel because over time it proves itself to be the word of God. Or it can be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, that it is the word of God 1 Cor 12:3, when we get saved / born again.

B. Delivering our soul requires faith in 1. God's power. 2. His goodness 3. His honesty and 4. His commitment to keeping His promise to forgive and wash clean all who repent of their sins.

Point B can be summarized as a faith 'in' God being good and Point A can be summarized as a faith in scripture being His word.

 

[KingJ]

Faith must have a descriptor that describes what it is to perform. There are thousands of promises in the Bible and every promise gives a description of what the faith that it gives will do. There is only "one faith" but there are many many instances of that "one faith".

Faith is very specific to the promise from which it came. If you are saved you have saving faith which caused the new birth, but saving faith cannot be used to bring healing to your body that would require healing scriptures that would describe what faith it gives and what it will do to your body.

You can have faith in one area of your life and have zero faith in another.

I hear what you are trying to say (we agree) , but i feel you are over complicating it. You say there is ''one faith''. What is that one faith? I understand you are trying to make the point that faith is faith. IE Believe the unseen can be seen is the definition of faith. But, there are many 'unseen's that can be seen'. There are therefore many types of faiths. Not 'one faith'.

 

[lentz]

Just going to nitpick

You said faith in A. the gospel and B. that he can deliver your soul.

A number of different types of faith are required here.

A. We have faith in the gospel because over time it proves itself to be the word of God. Or it can be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, that it is the word of God 1 Cor 12:3, when we get saved / born again.

B. Delivering our soul requires faith in 1. God's power. 2. His goodness 3. His honesty and 4. His commitment to keeping His promise to forgive and wash clean all who repent of their sins.

Point B can be summarized as a faith 'in' God being good and Point A can be summarized as a faith in scripture being His word.

I think Paul (or Peter) described it as “THE faith “

 

[KingJ]

I think Paul (or Peter) described it as “THE faith “

'The faith' is what faith?

It is our job as Christians to properly explain what Christian faith is. What saving faith is.

A faith in the existence of unicorns or fairies is not going to help any get to heaven.

 

[lentz]

'The faith' is what faith?

It is our job as Christians to properly explain what Christian faith is. What saving faith is.

A faith in the existence of unicorns or fairies is not going to help any get to heaven.

Then…….
What do you tell those people what faith is?
To me….as I stated before,faith,is taking God at his word.
There is no better answer

 

[KingJ]

Then…….
What do you tell those people what faith is?

Please see post # 4.

 

[KingJ]

To me….as I stated before,faith,is taking God at his word.
There is no better answer

Ok so you have faith that 'you can take God at his word'. IE faith that God will do as He has said in His word. That is good. A good faith to have. It is certainly a Christian faith in God.

The only point I want to press home is that we need to always qualify the type of faith we refer to. Not merely say ''have faith''. You qualified your faith by stating what you have.

 

[lentz]

Ok so you have faith that 'you can take God at his word'. IE faith that God will do as He has said in His word. That is good. A good faith to have. It is certainly a Christian faith in God.

The only point I want to press home is that we need to always qualify the type of faith we refer to. Not merely say ''have faith''. You qualified your faith by stating what you have.

Total trust

 

[A servant of the Kings]

I find it amazing that God chose faith as the path for fallen man to come back into relationship with Him. The scientists can explore the crust of the earth for visible evidence and even the universe, but they can't explore the faith in the heart of man.

I did a study on Hebrews 11 some years ago and found somewhat of a deeper meaning of faith. I won't go into all the detail but will hit only the high spots of the first verse of Hebrews 11. Many authors and scholars were involved in this information in Hebrews 11:1.

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

"Now faith is the substance...." Substance in the Greek is "hypostasis" and refers to ones property or effects. The Romans referred to it as the whole body of documents bearing on the ownership of a person's property, deposited in the archives, and forming the evidence of ownership. In other words, a title deed.

So we have "Faith is the title deed..."

"of things hoped for..." This is the declaration of the action of faith. What we all believers hope for are the promises of God. For example, Abraham was promised by God the land of Canaan, but he died in the action of faith only having a small burial plot for his family. The promises of God would come later to a large extent.

"So we have "Faith is the title deed to the promises of God..."

"the evidence of things not seen" Evidence in the Greek is "elegchos" which means a proof, by which a thing is proved or tested. But this evidence is not proven based upon the senses that yield uncertainty, but by the Word of God.

So we have, "Faith is the title deed of the promises of God, based on the Word of God."

The vast majority of scientists will never figure this one out, it requires trusting in the Word of God!

Yes it is what you say like a title deed, but faith will result in knowledge, because truth we can experience God willing.

When we know truth, we do not need faith anymore, cause we have arrived at what the title deed promises

 

[B-A-C]

When we know truth, we do not need faith anymore, cause we have arrived at what the title deed promises

Huh?

John 8:45; "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
John 8:46; "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?

Truth without faith is nothing.

Rom 1:25; For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Even if you "know" the truth, you can still exchange it for a lie.

Gal 5:7; You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?