Faith is a common aspect of the Christian life and all spiritual systems. Faith is so essential; the writer of Hebrews states, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) This is why it is essential. It all starts with faith, and it all rests on faith. But what is faith? The writer of Hebrews answers, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by this our ancestors were approved. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.” (Hebrews 11:1-3) A slightly more literal translation of verse one goes, “Now faith exists as the confident assurance of the actions hoped for to already be done, it is the proof of things that are not seen.” Faith is trusting what you cannot specifically prove.
For a more dictionary-style definition, faith is trust. But there must be an object of faith or trust. For Christians, God is the object of our faith. Faith is the trustful human response to God’s self-revelation. God initiates this relationship between Himself and humanity; He reveals Himself through His word and the natural creation around us. God expects people to trust Him; His mighty acts demonstrate His trustworthiness. Remember, it is impossible to please God without faith. It is His Word that builds our faith in Him. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
The concept of faith simply being trust is universal, since every individual has a level of faith in something, which is primarily in a particular object. For example, when you sit in a chair, you have faith in the chair to hold you and not collapse. When you drive or walk over a bridge, you have faith that the bridge will hold up for you to cross. When you fly in a plane, you have faith in the stability and reliability of the plane mechanics, not to mention the pilot’s capability and the engine’s strength.
God’s trustworthiness goes beyond just being the object of mere trust. The Old Testament emphasizes more than trust in Him. There is peace (Jehovah Shalom, Judges 6), security (“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” [Psalm 18:2]), comfort (Psalm 23), and stability (“And He will be the security and stability of your times, A treasure of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is your treasure.” [Isaiah 33:6]) These other attributes further the fact that God is trustworthy and should be the object of our trust.
The whole of our salvation is our faith in Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He did. That He died on the cross and paid the penalty for our high crimes and misdemeanors against God. And that He was resurrected by the Holy Spirit three days later. Believing in this, trusting in this, and clinging to this give us the forgiveness of our sins and adoption as children of God. “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].” (John 3:16-18)
“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) You are only saved because of God’s grace. He gave you the faith to believe and understand the things of the spirit. It is God’s grace through your faith, not through works. You cannot work your way into heaven. You aren’t going to heaven because you go to church or you do things for the church or others. You aren’t going to heaven because you are a ‘good person.’ You aren’t going to heaven because you give to charity, preach the gospel, or live humbly. You are going to heaven because of Jesus. And what He did. You trust that He died for you, suffered God’s wrath on your behalf, and paid the penalty for you. That’s why you are going to heaven. No one can boast because they are going to heaven. You didn’t do it; He did. No one can claim a sense of superiority. We don’t deserve to go to heaven. And you can’t boast about what you don’t earn.
But salvation is not the only reason we place our trust in God. It is the most important and the beginning of our relationship with Him, but it is not the only one. We also trust in God for or due to His promises to His people, those whom He calls, and those who seek after Him. It’s not just that He saves us but He also takes care of us. God is faithful; He will always be with us and never abandon us. “The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 31:8). We will find true comfort and rest in Him. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29) He will give us the wisdom that we need. “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5). These are merely three of the many promises of God. God’s Word is filled with promises. These promises also demonstrate His trustworthiness. The more we learn, the more we walk with Him, the more we trust Him. We look to the author and perfecter of our faith. “keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) We trust in Him, the One who will keep us even when we don’t keep Him; the One who will keep us on the right path. It’s all based on Him. He is our everything.
Faith can also be defined as a conviction based on testimony or authority. This can be personal testimony, someone else’s testimony, or the authority of Scripture. All three of these can include feeling. Though God’s authority, sovereignty, and promises trump our feelings (we go by what God said, not how we feel), God did give us emotions to stir us and make worship a real act. The Holy Spirit can evoke these feelings from personal or otherwise testimony. The Westminster Confession states, “We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to a high and reverend esteem of the Holy Scripture; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of its doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, not withstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.” While people can fake feelings, and many have faked the testimony of feeling, there is also the authority of Scripture—the personal study by believers to understand their faith.
Faith does not leave logic at the door. On the contrary, it is the logic that reinforces faith. Thomas Aquinas argued that faith uses reason, and reason cannot succeed in finding truth without faith. Though, “faith can never be based on reason. At best, it can only be supported by reason.” “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.” (Romans 1:18-23). Charles Hodge, in his book Systematic Theology, writes, “it is impossible for the mind to affirm anything of that of which it knows nothing…Truth must be communicated to the mind, and seen to be possible, before, on any evidence it can be believed. If, therefore, we cannot know God, we cannot believe in Him.” Thus logic and reason are not opposed to faith but are amicable.
By looking at the world and universe around us, it is evident that there must be a creator—for example, the intricate details of nature, the cosmos, and even the human body. The golden ratio is a mathematical ratio between two numbers that equals roughly 1.618. This ratio is found all over nature, the cosmos, and the human body–even in art and architecture. The way that two given numbers, for example, moving from the base of your index finger to the tip, each section is larger than the next by 1.618. According to Carl Sagan, in 1973, the probability of life evolving is one in 10 to the power of 2,000,000,000. That is 1 in 1 with 2 billion zeros after it. Richard Dawkins, in 1982, wrote, “The more statistically improbable a thing is, the less we can believe that it just happened by blind chance. Superficially the obvious alternative to chance is an intelligent Designer.” With this statistic and admission by reputable sources in the scientific community, even belief in the Big Bang and evolution requires a certain amount of faith.
Is there evidence of the Bible’s validity, authority, and accuracy? This could be another essay in itself, as it depends. There is adequate evidence all around us, as Paul writes in Romans 1; true believers don’t just believe without conviction. However, short of the numerous historical and archaeological discoveries, the second coming of Christ, and most of all, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, there will never be enough evidence for a nonbeliever to rest upon. Our faith itself comes from God, and so without Him revealing Himself and giving us this faith, no amount of evidence can convince us. For example, the most hotly debated and furiously attempted to disprove piece of our faith is the resurrection. John finishes his gospel account with, “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:24-25) Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Notice verse 6; most are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. When Paul wrote this letter, many people who saw the resurrected Jesus were still alive and could give an account. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote in 93AD, “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.” This is only a tiny selection of evidence for the resurrection.
Your faith is precious; it is a gift from God and must be cherished. “But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.” (Jude 1:20-21) Jude mentions that we should build up our faith, nurture it, cultivate it, and allow it to grow.
- We pray: Prayer is an excellent way to build faith. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, meaning to pray all the time; wherever and whenever we can. It’s best to always have a set time in morning, night or both to pray and give thanks and ask for your needs.
- We walk in the light: This means to pursue holiness. To be in the Word and to be a doer of the word. Moving back to the beginning, faith comes by hearing the word of God. The best way to strengthen your faith is to read and study scripture. To know and understand His will for our lives. Like with Prayer this can be a solo venture or a communal venture.
- And we defend our faith. “But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:14-15) To give a defense means to give an answer. To tell someone why you believe what you believe. Not every believer needs a degree in theology. Still, every believer should be able to answer the questions. It is important to answer why they have faith in Christ, why God allows evil and suffering, and how the Bible they read is precisely what was written thousands of years ago.
You don’t need to be an intellectual to answer these questions. Why do you have faith in Christ? Apart from being chosen before the foundation of the world to believe in Him (Ephesians 1:4-6), the prophecies of the Old Testament spoke of Jesus. There are over 60 prophecies that talk about Him. These prophecies were written hundreds of years before He came down to earth. The probability of anyone fulfilling only 8 of the 60 prophecies is estimated to be 1 in 10 to the power of 17, or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000, let alone fulfilling all 60. You have a greater chance of winning the PowerBall lottery multiple times than fulfilling these prophecies. As stated above, the resurrection has been verified by sources outside of the Bible (a great resource on this is the book and movie The Case for Christ). In addition to this information, Christ has touched your heart in some way that has convinced you, be it a personal testimony or something else.
Why does God allow evil and suffering? This is a topic for another discussion. However, a short answer is: I think God allows this as a reminder. A reminder of what sin is and does. At the decay and destruction it causes. That the lie of being just like God is a lie. When we overstep our bounds, we mess things up. That’s just what happened when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. But on the contrary, it’s also a reminder that the issue of sin has been dealt with. That Christ has conquered the world, and through Him, so can you. This world isn’t our home and no matter how hard we try, we cannot save this world; it is passing away and will pass away. We are just strangers passing by. Our true home is exceedingly more incredible than this world. And to make us detach from the world and look towards the blessed hope when he comes back for us and wipes away the oceans of tears on the best day ever.
How do you know that the Bible you are reading is exactly what was written thousands of years ago? This depends on translation. However, most translations still capture the essence of what is being stated. There is never a pure 1:1 translation from one language to another; however, what we have is the closest we can get to these language barriers. The Jewish people carefully preserved the Old Testament for thousands of years. It was already preserved and established as the inspired Word of God before Jesus was born. The Dead Sea Scrolls have even reinforced this fact by showing that what we have is definitely what was written. The most famous example is the Book of Isaiah. The original Hebrew book of Isaiah matched up 95% with the scroll found in the Dead Sea. The other 5% was due to scribal/grammatical errors. For the New Testament, it’s even more staggering. There are over 5700 manuscripts or copies of the New Testament. Though not all of them are identical, the differences are scribal/grammatical errors or changes in the order of the words. In comparing these manuscripts, the full text of what was originally written is precisely what we have. In comparison, the Greek epic The Iliad by Homer has only 1757 known manuscripts or copies, Plato’s Tetralogies has 210, and Beowulf only has 1. Yet historians conclude these are all accurate and correct. Shouldn’t a book that has over 5700 be just as precise, if not more?
Additionally, “What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.] If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do? So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].” (James 2:14-17) If your faith is genuine, you will live for Christ and let Him change you. As a result, your life will change, and you will prove your faith and do things for Him. As stated in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Works do not save us, but we are saved for works–to do good works to glorify God. When reading the rest of Hebrews 11, you see “by faith…by faith…by faith.” These people did things they never expected to do; some did things they didn’t want to, and others did things they never thought they could do. But it was all by and through faith in God. In who He is and the promises He made to them. The promises that still ring true to us today. Works don’t save, but they prove that you are saved.
So, what kind of faith do you have? Do you trust Him only when things are going well, or do you trust Him regardless? If you trust Him only when things go well, you may have a profitable faith. This means you only trust and praise God when you profit from it. This is known as the Prosperity Gospel. This is another gospel, as Paul explains in Galatians 1. This other gospel teaches that you are in control and that God is your genie. It tells people that you use God to do what you want instead of God using you to do what He wants. Remember, God is the sovereign one, not us. We are to fulfill His will for our lives, not our own, as His will is for our ultimate good. Our own will may seem like our ultimate good, but as Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
The Prosperity Gospel promotes that words have power. Don’t misunderstand; words have power; as Proverbs 18:21 states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” But not the kind of power that the Prosperity Gospel thinks. Biblically, what you say comes from the abundance of your heart. A judge and jury can determine if the defendant lives or dies by words–guilt or not guilty. If someone insults you and hurls profanity at you, your emotions are hurt. The truth is the Bible does emphasize the words you say. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have stated, “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37) The Prosperity Gospel borrows from the New Age Movement, the ‘Name it and claim it’ group. However, it’s called Positive Confession for them. If you speak positively, only positive things will happen to you. You’ll have a long, healthy life and plenty of material wealth. And most of all, God wants to give this to you.
What many false doctrines teach is only the good aspects of God, that He can bless us, heal us and make us happy. They neglect the scary aspects, His justice and holiness. When we preach about Him in this manner, we don’t preach about Jehovah, the true sovereign; but a man made idol. The truth is that God can give you a long, healthy life and plenty of material wealth, but that doesn’t always happen. He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Bad things happen to all of us. But as believers, we know who is in control. The adherents to the Prosperity Gospel will fall away when they go through trials and the wilderness as their faith is only rooted in their wallet. When that is taken away, they will lose their faith. What He does for us is for His glory, not ours. Often, the poor, the fools, or the weak glorify God the most. That’s usually who God uses for His glory, per 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. We all would like an easy life, plenty of health and wealth. But those things can inhibit our service to and our relationship with God. And nothing is worth missing out on a relationship with your creator who knows you far better than any human will or even you know yourself.
Conversely, true faith is rooted far deeper than just the pocketbook. True faith cannot be taken away even when the world crashes around you. A perfect example is Job. Through the course of one day, Job lost everything except his wife and his life. He had lost all of his wealth, all of his servants, all of his livestock, all of his land, and worst of all, all of his children. Yet the Bible says Job fell to his knees and worshiped God, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) That is true biblical faith. When everything goes wrong, and you don’t understand, you still trust and praise Him. Because even when life isn’t good, God still is. Throughout the Book of Job, he maintained his faith, even though he did err in his thinking. But God was gracious and rebuked Job, as He chastens those He loves. And Job received twofold what he lost. That doesn’t mean you will receive twofold for anything you lost, but it does mean that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. May believers in Christ continue to walk with Him and strengthen their faith.
“I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will bless you and be kind to you! May God bless you with his love, and may the Holy Spirit join all your hearts together.” (2 Corinthians 13:13)
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Got Questions Ministries. “What is Faith in God?” GotQuestions.org, January 4, 2022. https://www.gotquestions.org/faith-in-God.html.
Got Questions Ministries. “What is the Definition of Faith?” GotQuestions.org, February 1, 2024. https://www.gotquestions.org/definition-of-faith.html.
Got Questions Ministries. “Is It True That Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue?” GotQuestions.org, January 4, 2022. https://www.gotquestions.org/power-of-the-tongue.html.
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Piper, John. “What’s the Difference between Faith and Hope?” http://www.desiringgod.org, August 19, 2022. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/whats-the-difference-between-faith-and-hope.
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