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What is Faith?

Kolibri

Well-Known Member
What does it mean for a Christian to "have faith"?

"put your trust in"...this will be demonstrated by your actions along with patiently waiting for that hope to be realized.

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as 1) assured expectation of what is hoped for and 2) living convinced by evidence of realities we cannot see with our physical eyes.

For it to be "faith" it cannot be based on a false hope and still fit this definition, so it has to be based on some kernel of accurate knowledge to be legit.

Hebrews 11:4-40 relates specific examples of men and women of faith, and how their "having faith" gave them strength and courage even when they knew their hope would not be fully realized before they would die. These ones are still waiting for the resurrection that has not happened yet. When they do wake up they will be able to look back and around to see that all they were promised has been realized.

"In faith all of these died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises; but they saw them from a distance and welcomed them and publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land. For those who speak in such a way make it evident that they are earnestly seeking a place of their own. And yet, if they had kept remembering the place from which they had departed, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they are reaching out for a better place, that is, one belonging to heaven. Therefore, God is not ashamed of them, to be called on as their God, for he has prepared a place for them." - Hebrews 11:13-16
 

URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
What does it mean for a Christian to "have faith"?

The type of ' faith ' Jesus had was Not credulity ( blind faith ) but logical reasoning on the Holy Scriptures.
Jesus based his faith by referring to Scripture as being religious truth.- John 17:17

When a child has faith in a trusted loving parent, he has the confidence to trust that parent.
Jesus trusted (had faith ) that his confidence was Not misplaced for his Heavenly Father.
That is why Jesus could endure all the adverse conditions he experienced knowing that his faith and belief would Not be in vain.
We too can endure and ' have the faith ' that what the Bible really teaches will come to pass.
Jesus, as King of God's governmental Kingdom, will fulfill God's promise to father Abraham that ALL nations of earth will be blessed with the healing of earth's nations. - Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Revelation 22:2
We have the faith (confidence ) that humble meek people will be the ones who will inherit the earth - Psalms 37:11; Psalms 37:29; Matthew 5:5
Whereas the wicked ones will be destroyed forever - Psalms 92:7
 

URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
By Paul's definition, it is 'to believe that Christ died, and was raised from the dead for you'; which he calls 'the faith'. ;)

Yes, by God's inspired word Paul penned about the resurrection of Christ - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Resurrection on the basis for: faith - 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Faith that there will be physical bodies resurrected besides those resurrected in a spirit body as Jesus was.- 1 Corinthians 15:35-49
Those resurrected in spirit bodies will govern over earth with Christ for a thousand years - Revelation 20:6; Revelation 5:9-10
They are the firstfruits - 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 - they rank as having a first or earlier resurrection.
Whereas the majority of mankind - John 3:13 - will have a future healthy physical resurrection during Jesus' coming 1,000 year rulership over earth when Jesus will have earthly subjects from sea to sea - Psalms 72:8; Acts of the Apostles 24:15
Faith that Jesus' words of Matthew 5:5 will come true that the humble meek will inherit the earth. - Psalms 37:11; Psalms 37:29
The ' earthly realm of God's kingdom ' when mankind on earth will see the return of the Genesis ' tree of life ' as mentioned at Revelation 22:2
 

Ben Dhyan

Veteran Member
It is said that what the human eye has never seen, the human ear has never heard, and the human mind has never imagined....that is what awaits those who love God.. God and the divine are beyond space and time as mortals understand it.....no mortal has ever seen God or Heaven, nor will they ever....so the one who is worthy of salvation is the one whose life is lived in faith loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength...all else will unfold naturally...
 

JRMcC

Active Member
"put your trust in"...this will be demonstrated by your actions along with patiently waiting for that hope to be realized.

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as 1) assured expectation of what is hoped for and 2) living convinced by evidence of realities we cannot see with our physical eyes.

For it to be "faith" it cannot be based on a false hope and still fit this definition, so it has to be based on some kernel of accurate knowledge to be legit.

Hebrews 11:4-40 relates specific examples of men and women of faith, and how their "having faith" gave them strength and courage even when they knew their hope would not be fully realized before they would die. These ones are still waiting for the resurrection that has not happened yet. When they do wake up they will be able to look back and around to see that all they were promised has been realized.

"In faith all of these died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises; but they saw them from a distance and welcomed them and publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land. For those who speak in such a way make it evident that they are earnestly seeking a place of their own. And yet, if they had kept remembering the place from which they had departed, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they are reaching out for a better place, that is, one belonging to heaven. Therefore, God is not ashamed of them, to be called on as their God, for he has prepared a place for them." - Hebrews 11:13-16


Do you think it's usually that we have faith that something specific will happen or work out, or can faith be a state of mind in a way?
 

Kolibri

Well-Known Member
Do you think it's usually that we have faith that something specific will happen or work out, or can faith be a state of mind in a way?

People "have faith" all the time in non-spiritual matters. I have faith that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west each and every day. This is well-founded by observation and it effects how I make decisions in my everyday life. When I observe a close friend and get to know him, I develop faith that he will respond according to a set pattern consistent with his personality and values system. What I have faith in is his future responses following a set pattern. That faith is based on a shared history and my observing him. But my faith is in what is "unseen" because the future can not be seen with our literal eyes until it becomes the present. Likewise when I see an airplane flying overhead, I have faith that it had an intelligent designer. I have never seen that designer but I "know" he exists or existed. As I get to know more about airplanes, I come to have faith that someone refuels it. I have never seen this person, but I know he exists. These "unseen realities" may not have a large impact on everyday life, but they do help me construct a mental picture of what is real.

So to answer your question, it is a bit of both, but in both cases there are solid reasons for setting aside doubts and putting confidence in the promises of future realities and in unseen present-day realities.
When it comes to promises of God for future blessings, our faith becomes the title-deed to those future realities.

"Moreover, without faith it is impossible to please God well, for whoever approaches God must believe that he is (or "exists.") and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him." (Hebrews 11:6)
 
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URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
It is said that what the human eye has never seen, the human ear has never heard, and the human mind has never imagined....that is what awaits those who love God.. God and the divine are beyond space and time as mortals understand it.....no mortal has ever seen God or Heaven, nor will they ever....so the one who is worthy of salvation is the one whose life is lived in faith loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength...all else will unfold naturally...

Yes, Paul at 1 Corinthians 2:9 made reference to Isaiah 64:4 regarding the things God has prepared......
We can now see or understand spiritual blessings - Proverbs 4:18; Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:9

Unless a mortal is granted immortality - John 5:26 - they will Not see heaven.
There is both a resurrection in a spirit body as Jesus was resurrected by God in a spirit body.
Those resurrected to heaven have a first or earlier resurrection - Revelation 20:6
Also, there will be a healthy physical resurrection back to life on earth during Jesus' coming 1,000-year governmental day of ruling over earth.
At the soon coming ' time of separation' of Matthew 25:31-32 ' Salvation ' is going to be by either living through the coming great tribulation of Revelation 7:14, or if already dead ' salvation' for the majority of mankind by having a future healthy physical resurrection back to life on earth - Acts of the Apostles 24:15
 

URAVIP2ME

Veteran Member
Do you think it's usually that we have faith that something specific will happen or work out, or can faith be a state of mind in a way?

I would like to take the liberty to add to Kolibri's post. When we would go a distance to visit a close friend we can have the faith we will specifically see our friend when we arrive. We can also have faith that any plans we have worked out will probably work out.

Faith can also be a ' state of mind ', so to speak, because we can see with the mind's eye the final ' unforeseen future ' through the word pictures of Scripture. In a nut shell, God promised father Abraham that through him all families of earth will be blessed, and all nations of earth will be blessed. Blessed through Christ, as Messiah, that all earth's nations will be healed - Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Revelation 22:2. <- Please notice for earth the return of the Genesis ' tree of life ' for mankind meaning everlasting life on earth, living forever on earth, in perfect health when No one on earth will say, "I am sick" - Isaiah 33:24
 

masterp48hd

New Member
Having faith is accepting a determined dogma without the need to see evidence of this dogma being an.actual real fact, it's like a somewhat blind trust
 

lovemuffin

τὸν ἄρτον τοῦ ἔρωτος
I think that within Christian tradition there is more than one way of defining "faith" and different nuances about what it means to "have faith" are possible, so I'm not going to suggest that whatever I'm about to say amounts to a definitive account of what faith is, but I have a few comments

By Paul's definition, it is 'to believe that Christ died, and was raised from the dead for you'; which he calls 'the faith'. ;)

Having faith is accepting a determined dogma without the need to see evidence of this dogma being an.actual real fact, it's like a somewhat blind trust

I think it's useful to distinguish between faith as a human faculty in general, especially from the standpoint of a "Christian" epistemology or anthropology, and the content of "the faith", as in a creed or doctrine. This gets somewhat to the distinction JRMcC was drawing between faith as a trust in some specific proposition and faith as a state of mind.

In one sense, it's possible to reduce faith to a purely epistemological category, especially when evaluating faith as an intellectual assent to such a proposition as "Jesus died and rose from the dead". Following Greek tradition, as masterp alludes to, "faith", as an epistemological category, is opposed to knowledge: it's belief absent a rational justification. The problem is that such a reduction seems inadequate to represent the symbolic richness of faith in Christian tradition, where having faith is not just a question of accepting particular doctrines or accepting that certain events occurred in the past, but instead an entire way of life, an attitude and a practical approach to being human, as in "the just shall live by faith." Life is certainly more than belief, and the Greek philosophical tradition is insufficient to capture that aspect of faith, since it goes beyond a theory of knowledge, although it also certainly embraces ideas about knowledge.

If you look at the broad development of Christian theology and philosophy relating to faith and knowledge, from Paul, to the gospels, to Greek Christian theologians like Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus Confessor, Aquinas and the scholastics, and to modern Christian existentialists like Paul Tillich, I think there is thread that develops that understands faith as a kind of fundamental human capacity; an openness to the transcendent, and to that which is experienced as transformational and divine and yet can't be captured by a purely objective and epistemic knowledge, and yet is "known" in a different way -- by love which unites a person towards that transcendent God, and through union grants understanding beyond the rational.

1 Corinthians 13 is perhaps the most well known Pauline reflection on these ideas, and I think provides a useful way of summarizing the much longer tradition:

"If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away...

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known..."
What I would suggest is that, in this text, "faith" is being treated first in the sense of the epistemological category, and as such contrasted to a Christian understanding of love which allows us to see "face to face", and that this knowledge created through the experience of love is the "full" knowledge. The ordinary human process of knowing and experiencing is compared to seeing things reflected in a mirror, and "darkly" is the Greek word ainigmati: for now we see as if in enigmas. There is a fundamental mystery to reality, such that our sense experience and discursive reasoning both reveals that reality to us while also obscuring it in an enigmatic way, while faith, through love, reveals it directly. This is not just a question of believing whether or not God exists. Paul, who of course did not have the benefit of modern scientific cosmology and biology, took the mere existence of some Deity to be evident purely as a matter of reason (cf. Romans 1:19-20).

It's also noteworthy, and I omitted the verses, that even in this context where love is being related to fullness of knowledge, it is not divorced from its practical, psychological, and inter-personal meanings. Love is patient and kind, it is not self-seeking, it is full of hope, joy, and forbearance. The reflection on love colors and fills out a Christian view of faith, as both faith and love are primary symbols of a Christian world-view. In essence, it involves an anthropology that includes a human faculty that may be called faith by which we can be open to the other side of the "mystery" of reality. It involves an epistemology which accepts love as an act and disposition, including all its practical connotations as a Christian virtue, as the primary path by which we can become aware of, and be transformed by, that reality which transcends rational knowledge.

The emphasis on love as the method, and the limitations of faith and knowledge in the epistemological sense suggested by the text, is itself a check against reducing Christian life to a matter of orthodoxy. What matters is to live in the fullness of Divine life, and even a complete knowledge of every mystery, as in "correct" dogmas and theology, is at best an obscure and enigmatic view, and without love is nothing. Therefore I think it is a mistake to characterize Christian faith as only having correct beliefs. Because human knowledge is limited, because the divine is mysterious and enigmatic, a more humble attitude is needed. The connection of "faith" in its Christian usage with the epistemological category is precisely in that to have faith is to recognize those limitations and the necessity of humility. To have faith, therefore, shouldn't be confused with an attempt to maintain some artificial psychological certainty about the truth of the unprovable, but an openness, in love, to the divine, the transcendent, the ultimate nature of reality of which we are also a part. Christian faith is tied very closely to the practice of Christian life and virtue. According to Christian tradition, it is through that practice, which is certainly guided by certain beliefs but can't be reduced only to them, that the experience of the fullness of Divine life is possible, as in "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"
 

rusra02

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
What does it mean for a Christian to "have faith"?
"Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities that are not seen...Moreover, without faith it is impossible to please God well, for whoever approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him." (Hebrews 11:1,6)
 

Ben Dhyan

Veteran Member
Faith is acceptance that something is true or real without sufficient evidence to back it up.
Of course there is subjective evidence of the Divine..but it is ineffable and thus beyond the understanding of the profane... The profane who have not experienced the 'calling' means they have not yet passed the test of worthiness....
 

leibowde84

Veteran Member
Of course there is subjective evidence of the Divine..but it is ineffable and thus beyond the understanding of the profane... The profane who have not experienced the 'calling' means they have not yet passed the test of worthiness....
This is also based on subjective faith. It is merely an unsubstantiated claim. You BELIEVE that "the profane who have not experienced the 'calling' means they have not yet passed the test of worthiness". But, it is nothing more than your opinion on the subject. You have "faith" because you "accept it" without any supporting evidence.
 

Ben Dhyan

Veteran Member
This is also based on subjective faith. It is merely an unsubstantiated claim. You BELIEVE that "the profane who have not experienced the 'calling' means they have not yet passed the test of worthiness". But, it is nothing more than your opinion on the subject. You have "faith" because you "accept it" without any supporting evidence.
Haha.....you are making a sweeping statement that disregards the broader implication of what faith actually means.. There are people whose faith in the Divine is based on belief alone...and who have not had any real subjective 'calling'....but then there are those whose faith is based on a subjective ineffable experience or calling that is evidence of the Divine, but not meant for anyone else, least of all the profane... What's that saying....oh yes....do not cast pearls before swine, less they trample them in mud and turn on you...
 

JRMcC

Active Member
People "have faith" all the time in non-spiritual matters. I have faith that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west each and every day. This is well-founded by observation and it effects how I make decisions in my everyday life. When I observe a close friend and get to know him, I develop faith that he will respond according to a set pattern consistent with his personality and values system. What I have faith in is his future responses following a set pattern. That faith is based on a shared history and my observing him. But my faith is in what is "unseen" because the future can not be seen with our literal eyes until it becomes the present. Likewise when I see an airplane flying overhead, I have faith that it had an intelligent designer. I have never seen that designer but I "know" he exists or existed. As I get to know more about airplanes, I come to have faith that someone refuels it. I have never seen this person, but I know he exists. These "unseen realities" may not have a large impact on everyday life, but they do help me construct a mental picture of what is real.

So to answer your question, it is a bit of both, but in both cases there are solid reasons for setting aside doubts and putting confidence in the promises of future realities and in unseen present-day realities.
When it comes to promises of God for future blessings, our faith becomes the title-deed to those future realities.

"Moreover, without faith it is impossible to please God well, for whoever approaches God must believe that he is (or "exists.") and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him." (Hebrews 11:6)

Isn't it true that we usually don't know what God has in store for us? To me it seems like having faith in God could mean trusting that the plan he has for you is the right one.
 
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