What is faith?

What the Bible says

The letter to the Hebrews gives the Bible's best-known description of faith.

Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

Heb 11:1

Faith here is not a vague mood or a wish. It is a settled grip on what cannot yet be seen. And in the Bible faith always points to someone. The same chapter says that "anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Heb 11:6). Faith does not stop at nodding to a claim. It believes who God is and comes to him.

The first great picture of faith is Abraham.

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Gen 15:6

Abram was old and childless. Centuries later Paul looks back on that moment.

Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.

Rom 4:19-21

Abraham did not look away from reality. He faced his own body's limits and trusted that the one who promised was greater than they were.

Where does such faith come from? Paul answers: "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17). Someone speaks, we hear, and we come to trust the one who spoke. Faith is not a jump into empty air. It is an answer to a word.

Scripture is equally clear that faith is not a credit we earn.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

Eph 2:8-9

Faith is the empty hand that receives a gift. Yet the very next verse says we are "God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works" (Eph 2:10). James comes at the same truth from the other side: "faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead" (Jas 2:17). Finally, faith is not the absence of doubt. A father who had brought his son to Jesus cried out:

I do believe; help my unbelief!

Mark 9:24

The church's witness

The church has always understood faith as more than agreement in the head. The Apostles' Creed begins "I believe," and that is more than a list of facts to admit: it is a confession of trust in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit The Apostles' Creed. The Heidelberg Catechism says true faith is not only knowing that God's word is true but a deep, heartfelt confidence that what the gospel promises is given to me as well Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 21. The Westminster Shorter Catechism calls saving faith a grace by which we receive and rest on Christ alone as he is offered in the gospel Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 86.

Matthew Henry, writing on James, says: "There is not only to be assent in faith, but consent; not only an assent to the truth of the word, but a consent to take Christ" Matthew Henry. On Abraham he adds: "Faith is a grace that of all others gives glory to God" Matthew Henry. Gregory, commenting on Thomas, says: "For he only really believes, who practices what he believes" Gregory.

The church has also spoken gently about doubt. Why did the father in Mark 9 say "I believe" and in the same breath ask for help with his unbelief? Bede answers that "he who had not yet believed perfectly was at once a believer and an unbeliever" Bede. Faith grows, and the Lord receives it when small.

One question divides Christians. In Ephesians 2:8, is ‘this’, the gift of God, faith itself or the whole of salvation by grace through faith? In Greek ‘this’ is neuter and ‘faith’ feminine, so many interpreters read it as the whole. The deeper question is how grace and the human response meet. The Reformed tradition stresses that even faith is the Spirit's gift to the elect. The Wesleyan-Arminian tradition says grace enables everyone to respond, and the person freely responds. Catholic teaching also calls faith a gift of God, and with the Orthodox it points to Galatians 5:6, "faith expressing itself through love." All of them agree that no one earns salvation by faith or by works.

In the original languages

The New Testament word is pistis (πίστις). It can be translated "faith" or "faithfulness" (pistis), which shows how closely trusting and being trustworthy belong together. The verb pisteuo (πιστεύω) means ‘to believe’, and when it is followed by ‘in’ or ‘into’ it expresses personal trust and reliance, not mere credence. To "believe in Jesus" therefore means more than regarding facts about him as correct. It means leaning on him.

The Hebrew root is aman (אָמַן), "to be firm, to be reliable." It is the root of the word "Amen." In Genesis 15:6 the word "believed" is this verb: Abram counted God as firm and put his weight on him. The related noun emunah (אֱמוּנָה) means "faithfulness."

Common objections

"Faith is believing without evidence." This is the most common objection. In everyday speech, taking something "on faith" often does mean accepting it with little support. The Bible, however, does not use the word that way. The risen Jesus said, "Touch Me and see" (Luke 24:39), and Paul points to witnesses who were still alive. Hebrews 11 rests faith on what God has already done. Trust in a person works like this: it begins with what you have good reason to expect of him, and then goes further, to entrust yourself to him. Honesty requires one more admission: faith is not mathematical proof, so some risk of entrusting remains. But it is not groundless. See also Do science and faith conflict?.

"I have many doubts. Does that mean I have no faith?" The Bible does not say so. Thomas wanted to touch the wounds, and the Lord did not send him away. The father in Mark 9 admitted that belief and unbelief were mixed in him, and Jesus answered his prayer. The apostles themselves asked, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5). The path Scripture shows is not to hide doubts and pretend, but to bring them to Jesus. If doubt is only an excuse to avoid God, it is worth examining. As a question, it is welcome.

"Paul says faith alone, James says works. Don't they contradict each other?" James 2:24 says "a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone," and at first reading that does seem to clash with Paul. But Paul is arguing against the idea that a person can earn righteousness by his own deeds, while James is arguing against a faith that is only words, the kind of agreement even the demons have (Jas 2:19). Protestant tradition says we are justified by faith alone and that works are its fruit. Catholic and Orthodox traditions stress that faith must be alive in love. Both agree that faith without action is dead and that no one buys salvation with deeds.

Going further

Faith is not a grade on a report card. It is a relationship of trust. A child takes her father's hand not because she understands all his reasons but because she knows him. If you are not yet sure, that is all right. Jesus taught that faith as small as a mustard seed is enough when the one trusted is great.

You might ask yourself some questions. Have I thought of faith only as agreement with a theory? Have I ever laid my doubts honestly before God?

To read further, see What is grace? and What does it mean to be saved?. If you would like to take a first step, How can I begin to believe? may help.