What Is Faith? - According to the Bible

Just like our English words, Hebrew words can have many different meanings depending on the context, so I like to use a concordance to look up the original Hebrew or Greek words to see if there's a deeper meaning. I'm not an expert, and anyone can do this, but sometimes the meaning is much more complex than the English word we translate it to.  Here's the Hebrew word for "faith": 

• Hebrew emun, emunah (faith) can mean established, trustworthy, truth, firmness, security, fidelity, steady, stability 

These are all words you'd use to describe something you can depend on.  Faith can keep us steady and stabile in a stormy world. Faith is also being loyal to the God who loves and blesses us (fidelity). 

" Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." Hebrews 11:1-3

There is so much in this short passage! Let's break it down: 

• Greek hupostasis (substance) in a literal sense means at "setting under" or a support, and used figuratively it means an assurance or confidence
• Greek elegchos (evidence) simply means "proof" or conviction
• The "elders" described in Hebrews 11 are Old Testament people named in the chapter from Abel to Moses, and they "obtained a good testimony" because of their faith in God
• We weren't there 6,000 years ago to see God create the world, so we can only have faith that He made something out of nothing, but our faith has a solid basis
• "Things hoped for" - looking forward to Jesus' second coming when we can meet and talk with God and angels face to face. Right now it's "things not seen", but then you won't be able to miss it! 

I'm such a practical, down-to-earth, black and white guy, it's hard for me to understand abstract things and ideas. That's why this next passage means so much to me: 

"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NLT

 God has shielded me from a lot of the pain and suffering in this world, but I see it every day, and I lost my mother to a drunk driver at 5 years old, then had to battle cancer at 8 years old.  It's so encouraging to know that this is temporary, but I only know that through faith in God's promises, which I find in His Word. (Romans 10:17) We need faith to see those things that cannot be seen with our eyeballs.

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

That sounds so simple, but how does this actually work? After all, we humans are very in-tune with our  senses and the physical world around us. So much so that we're often distracted and disconnected from spiritual things. But at the end of the day, the physical and the spiritual are both parts of who God designed us to be. 

• Hebrew aman (faithful) means to build up or support, to foster as a parent or nurse, to trust and believe, to be true and certain

This is a word describing someone who is faithful and how they behave. So being faithful in a biblical sense mirrors God's character in the same way the Ten Commandments do (last six = love/respect for fellow humans, first four = love/respect for God). We should build up and support each other, while believing and trusting God. 

There are several descriptions using the word "aman" in Proverbs, so to make it more easily digestible, I created a table.

In the New Testament there is a word for faith, as well as lack of faith or "little faith". 

• Greek pistos (faith) means moral conviction in religious truth/God's truth, reliance on Christ for salvation, assurance and belief
• Greek oligopistos (little faith) means incredulous, or unwilling or unable to believe, also lacking confidence

Here are a couple verses that show how important faith is: 

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8

• It's interesting that James uses the same ideas in the New Testament which are associated with faith (emunah) in the Old Testament: someone without it is "driven and tossed by the wind", "double-minded", and "unstable". 
• God wants to give us His wisdom, and "liberally" without shaming us, if we just ask
• A big part of faith is obviously believing that God is able and willing to answer our prayers

There were a few times Jesus used the term "little faith" or oligopistos, so here's another table: 

Jesus also told people they were healed because of their faith: 

These people all had three things in common: 

1. They knew they were sick and needed healing
2. They really believed that Jesus could heal them
3. They took action based in faith

Did Jesus mean that people can heal themselves if they have faith? No, but when we have faith, God can work on our behalf in greater ways.  Freedom of will and our choices play into this.  God doesn't need our permission to work in our lives, but He won't force His way in or do something if we aren't open to Him. 

Jesus wasn't only interested in healing people of physical ailments and disabilities. His ultimate goal is to save us out of sin. In the future world where sin does not exist, the physical sickness, deformities, defects will not exist. Sometimes the healing you and I need is not physical. It could be: 

• Addiction to pornography or violent movies
• Hate and resentment for people who have wronged us
• Anxiety or fear of the future
• A delusion that we are self-sufficient (pride) 

I'll be open and honest with you. I studied martial arts for 20 years, and along with that I enjoyed action movies with lots of fight scenes. I still participated in my church, still believed in God, but I was fooling myself that because I knew the truth, engaging in violent entertainment did not deceive me.  But I wasn't filling my mind with God's Word either, and what happened? 

As a result my faith got weaker without me even realizing it. A few years ago, when the Holy Spirit finally woke me up (I'll tell that story sometime) I was shocked to realize how shallow my faith in God had become.  Not only that, but my heart had no peace.  There were times when I felt like a dark cloud was hanging over me, and there was a feeling of foreboding, like something bad was going to happen but I didn't know what exactly.  Anger and a short temper has never been a problem for me, but I got to a point where things would go wrong and I could feel a rage boiling up inside my chest. 

After a little over 6 months of studying the Bible and avoiding violent movies and video games, the biggest change was peace.  The anxiety and anger flashes melted away. Instead I felt a calm assurance, and a feeling that no matter what happened, everything was going to be alright.  This kind of freedom comes from faith in God. It's not the freedom to do whatever you want, no matter the cost to yourself and others (we'll also look at self-discipline from a biblical perspective in a future post).  

"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:4-5

We overcome a sinful, physical world when Jesus' example, sacrifice, heavenly advocacy, and second coming are just as real to us - because of our faith.  These things are all physical as well, but we just can't see or touch them yet. What did Jesus say to Thomas? 

"Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” John 20:29

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:6-9

• Our faith enables us to endure the trials in this world before Jesus returns
• Because of our faith, we can be excited and happy about the future God has for us, even as we're being tested by fire
• We haven't seen Jesus face to face, but if we have faith in Him now, the end result of that faith is salvation.  
• "if need be" indicates that our characters are refined by trials, and those of us who are slow learners... Let's just say when I have trials, I want to look for the lesson I'm supposed to learn so it can be over sooner! 

There's a lot more in the Bible about faith, but I think I'll cover some of that in the next post.