The word faith seems simple enough, but understanding it can mean the difference between a liberating relationship with Christ, or slavery to religious ritualism. In today’s world, the word is colored with many different meanings. We often hear secular songs on the radio talk about “keeping the faith,” but faith in what? Or who?
The original Greek root for faith is “pistis,” meaning “conviction of the truth of anything, belief” (Thayers Greek LExicon). In the context of the Bible, it generally means belief in relation to God. One of the central beliefs of the Reformation, the time when Protestants challenged the widespread corruption in the Catholic Church (16th century A.D.), was that Christians are saved by sola fide, or “faith alone.” This doctrine of course, comes from the New Testament where Paul says Christians are saved “by grace through faith,” and “we … know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ,” (Ephesians 2:8, Galatians 2:16). Jesus also confirms this in the Gospel of John when His followers ask, “what must we do to perform the works of God?” His answer? “The work of God is this, to believe in the One He has sent.” (John 6:28,29). Finally, before listing many heroic examples of faith, the author of the book of Hebrews gives us this proper definition, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). So then, faith is obviously central to Christian life, but is it possible that we over complicate it sometimes?
IS BELIEVING ENOUGH?
I believe the answer, for many of us, is yes. Faith, while many of us tend to add layers upon layers of extra theology to our definition of faith, the original meaning is all that’s necessary. It is simply a conviction, or belief, in the historical person and word of Jesus Christ. Why is that so revolutionary? Because unlike belief in, say, science, or weather predictions, when we believe in the reality of Jesus, He comes to live inside our hearts. It’s like the sun is shining outside, and all we do is open the door and let the sun into our living rooms. This is why Paul prays for the Ephesians that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,” (Eph. 3:17). Faith forms a bond between us and the God who created the universe. How? It allows us to enter into the covenant that God enacted between Himself and humans when Jesus shed His blood for our sins (Matthew 26:26-28, Jeremiah 31:31-34). The Bible calls this the “covenant” or contract between us and God. We affirm what God has done for us, and in turn, we enter into relationship and freedom with Him.
The Biblical understanding of faith is simple, it just means belief. And while many may say, it means belief, but a “trusting kind of belief,” that’s true as well. But it’s important to realize that real, genuine belief already includes trust. If the weatherman tells us there’s going to be a hurricane on our doorstep tomorrow, and we take the necessary precautions, or evacuate altogether, it means we trust them. Is there a difference between believing in what the weatherman said and trusting him? Probably not. In the same way, belief, or faith in God, necessitates action. You cannot take the claims of Jesus seriously and not act on them. That would be like believing in an incoming natural disaster and not preparing.
REMEMBERING PRACTICE
The reason we get faith wrong sometimes, is that we often fail to “put our money where our mouth is,” or live the way we claim to believe. But instead of treating that as a sin or some kind of failure, we need to realize its root: belief. Sometimes we kid ourselves by preaching to others, but lacking faith ourselves. When the famous Revivalist John Wesley was sailing across the ocean on a ship that looked like it was going to sink, he began to panic like the disciples in the boat in Galilee. Also on that ship were the Moravians, a group of dedicated missionary Christians rooted in Czechoslovakia. They were steadfast and unafraid of what could happen. Wesley was embarrassed by his panic and the Moravians faith, he wondered if he should preach about faith anymore. The Moravians insisted however, that he should “preach faith until you have it.” Wesley did that and went on to become one of the biggest Revivalists of all time.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
So to summarize, faith is belief, simple and plain. Belief in Jesus, belief in the Bible and belief in God’s promises. And it is trust, just like any other belief, even math is something we have to trust in. Faith is not “blind” as many would have it, but based on certain historical and evidential realities in the Bible. As the famous Church Father Augustine put it, ”Everything that is believed is believed after being preceded by thought … Not everyone who thinks believes, since many think in order not to believe; but everyone who believes thinks, thinks in believing and believes in thinking” (Wilkens reading). In other words, in order to truly believe in something, it has to be real to you in the first place, otherwise we fall into what’s called “cognitive dissonance,” saying we believe in one thing while thinking it’s a lie. That’s why real faith in Jesus Christ, changes lives. It anchors us to a final destination in heaven and provides us with an immovable source of security on earth. The world can feel like a scary place if its random and danger could strike at any moment, but with faith in God, we know we’re taken care of no matter what may come. And at the end of the day, in the words of the popular modern hymn, “when my strength is failing, the end is near and my time has come” we can rest assured that we will always be in safe hands. Have you put your faith in Jesus yet? If not, now is always a good time.