What exactly is faith? For some it is a strong, even unwavering, belief. Others would say it is ethereal, indefinable. Many would say that is it “a system of beliefs” as in, “I am of the Christian faith.” Some think that ‘faith’ is interchangeable with ‘hope’. Humanly speaking, we can say that we have faith that our team can win, or that it will rain today. And that can be a problem. Words that had an original meaning when written the Bible have become something different nowadays. Biblical faith is something different from these previous examples. It’s much more special than the flippant way the word ‘faith’ is thrown around these days. The problem is that we tend to take the superficial faith that is around us and apply to Bible lessons. We miss out on something great when we do.
To find out what real, biblical faith is, we need to go back to the Bible. Hebrews 11:1 puts it this way, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” If you are a Bible reader or regular churchgoer, you probably have heard this verse or a reference to it a thousand times. You may even know that it belongs to the great “faith chapter.” But have you given that verse a good, deep study?
Look at the verse again. It says that faith is a substance. Substances are tangible. They can be seen, touched or tasted. In the second part it says that faith is an evidence. Evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something, or simply ‘proof.’ It could be said that your faith can be proven by what is seen in your life.
Let’s see how this tangible, visible faith is demonstrated in the Bible. Right there in Hebrews 11, Abel made an offering, Enoch was translated, Noah built an ark, Abraham left home, Sarah had a baby, Abraham offered Isaac, Moses forsook Egypt, and the list goes on. All of these things were evidences – visible demonstrations – of the faith our spiritual forefathers had.
Where can we get faith like Abraham had? The Bible has that answer. Look at Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Biblical faith is not based in whatever you happen to believe today. It has a foundation on the Word of God. If the Bible says it and you believe it enough to take action, you have faith. And the only place to get faith is from the Bible.
Go back to Hebrews 11. God told Noah to build an ark because a flood was coming. Noah could have believed that with all his heart. He could have told the whole town and preached it for a hundred and twenty years. But that wouldn’t be faith. The faith was when he started cutting down trees, hewing timbers and building a huge boat in the middle of the forest. (I’m guessing it was a forest, where else would he get all the trees?)
If we distill down what has been said so far, here is what we have – Faith is believing the Word of God so strongly that it spurs a visible, tangible action. How does this definition play out in scripture? Let’s look at a few examples.
There were many places in the Old Testament that prophesied of what Messiah would do when He came to Earth. For instance, Isaiah 35 tells of healing the blind and lame. Other passages tell of cleansing lepers, preaching the gospel of peace to the poor. These prophecies were the ones that Jesus referred to when the disciples of John the Baptist came to ask if He was the one everyone was looking for or if another was coming. Most people in Israel knew of these prophecies. And because they knew, they brought their sick and lame to Jesus to be healed.
The four in Mark 2 knew the Word of God and took action by taking their paralyzed friend to Jesus and letting him down through the roof. They were praised for their faith.
Read the story about a centurion who had a sick servant in Luke 7. This centurion loved Israel and had built a synagogue in verse 5. This makes me think he was a proselyte and knew the prophecies of Messiah. He probably also knew how God had spoken the world into existence and how He was Lord of everything. This would explain why verses 7 and 8 he tells Jesus just to speak and the servant would be healed. Jesus praised the centurion for having the greatest faith in Israel.
There are many places that give examples of faith at work. And there are some examples of lack of faith as well.
In Matthew 14:28 Jesus rebukes Peter’s lack of faith. Why? Because the Word of God (Jesus being the Word incarnate) told Peter to come out of the boat and walk on the water. But Peter’s belief was not strong enough to complete the action, so he began to sink. Peter was paying more attention to the wind and waves than to Jesus’ clear command to walk on the water. That’s why Jesus said that Peter only had a little faith.
In Luke 8:25 Jesus rebuked a whole boatload of disciples for a lack of faith. Why? Because up in verse 22 Jesus said, “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.” It was clear that the Word and the Will of God was to go to the other side. But the disciples didn’t believe it strong enough to actually get it done. They thought they were going to perish.
Once again, Biblical faith is understanding what the Bible says and believing it so strongly that you take action on it. But, you have to make sure that what is being said is applicable to you. In Mark 3:5 Jesus spoke to the man in the synagogue with a withered hand that he should stretch it out (Word of God) and the man (applicability) stretched his hand (action) and was healed. That doesn’t mean that if I had a withered hand I could claim this verse and just stretch out and be healed. Nor could I walk on water or move a mountain just because I had a strong belief that it was possible. I would have to have some biblical command to do so. Understanding and believing. Visible action. Applicability. All these go together.
Now at the end we come to the beginning. How did I start my search for what faith is and why is it life-and-death important? I started with part of one single verse, Ephesians 2:8. It says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith;”. Take our definition and apply it to this verse. First, what does scripture say? Galatians 3:22 says that the scripture has concluded that all of us are sinners. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death – death being eternity in Hell (Revelation 20:14). There are many other verses that talk of the total depravity of man and the eternal punishment we face.
But the good news is that we can be saved from this eternal damnation. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The second half of Romans 6:23 offers the solution “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Other verses tell of how Jesus was sent to die in our place (Romans 3:25 for instance). How there is no other way but Jesus to be saved (Acts 4:12). How we should be saved today if we are not already (2 Corinthians 6:12). How we cannot get to Heaven unless we are saved, or born again (John 3:3). There are too many verses to list here that document how we are sinners from birth (Romans 5:12) and by own actions (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Once we understand that we are sinners and that the punishment for being a sinner is eternal separation from God; and we understand that we don’t have to go to Hell because Jesus paid that penalty (that was what Calvary was all about). Then we look to scripture to find out what to do about it. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Again in verse 13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Salvation is a free gift, all you have to do is ask.
Back to our faith definition – believing the Word of God that applies to us so strongly that it spurs a visible, tangible action. We believe what God says about us being a sinner. We believe what God says about the eternal punishment. We believe what God says about Jesus being the payment for our sins. We believe that all we need to do is accept this gift and ask Jesus to save us from Hell. And then we are spurred into action – asking for forgiveness with our mouth, professing that we are sinners and that we want Jesus to save us. We make a public confession of the resulting salvation (Matthew 10:32). After we are saved, we begin to live a life of repentance (Luke 5:32, et al). “Repentance” meaning that we turn and live a different, holy life (but that is another lesson).
So then, we are saved by faith.