What is faith?

Announcer: Welcome to Sword of the Spirit, written and presented by Colin Dye, senior minister of Kensington Temple and leader of London City Church. Sword of the Spirit is a dynamic teaching series equipping the believers of today to build the disciples of tomorrow. We pray that you find these programs inspiring, and a catalyst in deepening your knowledge of God, your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and your intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

Colin Dye: Hello, and welcome to The Sword of the Spirit, a school of ministry in the Word and the Spirit. Today we’re beginning a new topic—Living Faith. And throughout these programs, I’m going to be teaching you from the Bible—the Word of God—just what is faith. A lot of people talk about having faith, but what does it really mean? Does it mean to believe in God? Does it mean more than that? Does it affect our lives? Does it affect the choices we make? Well, I’m going to be answering all these questions in these programs. We’re going to be looking at how faith operates in our lives; why it’s such an important foundation for our lives. I’ll also be teaching on how to listen to God’s Word, because the Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” We’ll be talking about how important it is to put our faith into practice, because it’s the foundation of a deep assurance in our lives as we live for God.

Hello, and welcome to the Sword of the Spirit school of ministry. In these sessions, we’re looking at living faith—that vital subject central to all that we do and all that we understand. Now when people talk about the Christian faith, it gives the implication that faith is all about intellectual belief. And then we make certain judgments about others concerning their beliefs and we have even Christians falling out with one another because of belief. And yet the Bible teaches that faith is more than intellectual assent. It’s more than some kind of cerebral understanding. The question is we ask concerning the faith’s role of honor in Hebrews chapter 11. Well were these believers commended because of their intellectual beliefs or because of what they did with those beliefs—their actions—or perhaps, because of both? For faith is surely more than something that’s in the mind. It leads to actions, but actions without faith are futile, just as faith without actions is dead. Then we have the controversy surrounding faith and works. The great reformation principle of justification by faith alone has led some people to question the place of works in the Christian life. And we shall see, as we go through this program together, that faith and works together are necessary. We are justified by faith alone, quite apart from works, but the faith that God gives us is a faith that is expressed through deeds and actions and marvelous manifestations of God. And then in more recent years, we’ve had the controversy surrounding the so-called faith movement. And some have criticized this movement as suggesting that we should be able to receive the manifestation of all God’s promises and all the things that He speaks to us about in the Word immediately, without any kind of struggle. Now I know no faith teacher actually teaches that, but it does highlight the fact that the correct balance of biblical understanding and the practice of faith and belief is so important for us. And in this whole series of the Sword of the Spirit, I’m very concerned to emphasize both the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It is a school of ministry, both in the Word and the Spirit. We are concerned to balance everything biblically and spiritually in our lives. Now my prayer is, at the end of this time together, as we study this subject, that your faith will grow, that your faith will be established, that you will know everything that God has called you to be and to become and how you can grow in your faith. Throughout this series, I speak about faith as a tiny seed, just as Jesus spoke about it. But that tiny seed needs to grow in your life that you may grow and develop your faith so that you may have a strong, vital, overcoming faith so that your life will be full of fruit in the name of Jesus Christ.

Well, that’s where we’re heading, so let’s begin. In Section One in your manuals, we have a look at the first part of Living Faith. And we ask the question, what is faith? It’s impossible to read the New Testament without noticing that the idea of faith, or belief, seems to be absolutely central. In fact, it’s so fundamental that Christianity, as I’ve already said, has become known as the ‘Christian faith.’ And that followers of Christ are called ‘believers.’ And so the first impression that we have is confirmed when we begin to study the New Testament. We find out, for example, that the word ‘pistis,’ which is the Greek word for ‘faith,’ and the verb ‘pisteuo,’ ‘to believe,’ each occur more than two hundred and forty times. And then we have the adjective ‘pistos,’ ‘faithful,’ or ‘believing.’ It appears nearly seventy times in the New Testament. So this must surely tell us the centrality of faith in the New Testament and also the importance of beginning with this word, faith, itself. Pistis—faith—means ‘a firm persuasion.’ It refers specifically to a conviction which is based on hearing. And repeatedly, we’re going to see the connection between hearing and faith. Immediately, we can think of a verse that says, “Faith comes by hearing.” And so pistis—firm persuasion, faith—is a conviction based upon hearing. And it’s closely related to the verb ‘patho,’ which means ‘to persuade.’ And so pistis means when we understand it literally we can say it means faith only when we have been firmly persuaded by something that we have heard. Now it’s much more than that, but that’s a foundation. That’s the beginning. Now in the New Testament, pistis is used in different ways. It’s used of God’s faith—God’s own faith—and the faith of Jesus Christ Himself. You know God has faith? Jesus Christ has faith. And the Bible speaks about God’s faith and Christ’s faith. It also speaks about our faith in God or our faith in Jesus Christ. And then it also refers to other spiritual matters. Now let’s have a look at several ways in which the word ‘faith’ is used in the New Testament. We’ve come across this kind of thing before in the Sword of the Spirit series. For example, you’ll have one word translated in different ways in the New Testament, and one word, which is the same word in the Greek, used in different ways. So we have the word faith—pistis—is used of faith itself. That’s an obvious one. We find it in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 5. It says there, “So that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” And so what’s he speaking about here? He’s speaking about our faith. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 24 says, “Not that we have dominion over your faith, but you are fellow workers, we are fellow workers for your joy. For by faith you stand.” So this is talking about the faith of people. That’s an obvious reference and that’s what we’d most naturally think about. Then the word faith—pistis—is used of faithfulness. In Romans 3 and verse 3, it speaks of God’s faithfulness. “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?” so here we have the word ‘faith’ being used of faithfulness—God’s faithfulness in Romans 3. In Romans 5:22, [correct reference is Galatians 5:22] it’s also speaking about the faithfulness that we should have. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” or faith. Some Bible translations translate the word there as faith, but it’s speaking about a quality of faithfulness—being full of faith and being faithful.  And so we see, also it’s used, the word ‘faith,’ is used about the content of our faith—what we believe. Like the Christian faith very often means the content of our faith—what we believe. Not just that we believe, but what we believe. And we read about this in Acts chapter 6 and verse 7, where it says, “Then the Word of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” There it is speaking about the faith that was being preached by the early apostles. That was the content of their belief in what was being preached. Similarly, in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27, Paul says, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that when I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” So the word ‘faith’ there is used to describe the content of our faith—what we believe. And another interesting use is in Acts chapter 17 verse 31, where it’s used as the ground for faith—some kind of assurance. Acts chapter 17 verse 31, “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” So the word ‘assurance’ there is a word that speaks of faith or a kind of ground for faith. So God says, “I am giving you an assurance. You can be sure that I am going to judge the world because I have raised Jesus Christ from the dead.” And then finally, the word ‘faith’ is used of a pledge given in faith—1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 2. Here it is, speaking about widows who are young widows, and Paul says to Timothy, don’t include them on the widow list. Don’t give them all this material support, because they’re going to get married again. They’re not going to hold to their state of widowhood or singleness. They’re going to get married again. Let them marry again. And so in verse 12—I’m only interested in this point—“having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith.” So he’s talking about women who have not remained faithful to their first commitment but now are making another commitment. It’s no comment about people who are marrying again after they have lost their husband or wife, but it’s talking about the original pledge that they made. And the interesting point is that it’s the word for faith. So we can see how faith is used in all these different ways. The term faith. Now I’m concerned to be thorough in the teaching, which is why I’m going into the kind of detail that I’m going into. We’re digging deeply into the Word.

Now we’re going to have a look at the verb ‘pisteuo.’ Pisteuo. And this is normally translated in English ‘to believe.’ And it sometimes suggests that faith and believing are distinct and different. But you can see, as I’ve written the Greek words for you, pistis and pisteuo, they’re the same words in the Greek. It is the noun form and the verbal form. Pistis is the noun, pisteuo is the verb. Now the noun form in English is translated as ‘faith,’ and the verbal form is translated as ‘to believe.’ So some people, then, think that to have faith and to believe is different. It’s simply because we don’t have the English equivalent. As you’ll see, I suggest in the notes maybe we should talk about you know, ‘faithing’ as opposed to ‘believing.’ Then we’d understand what we meant in that particular way. So I believe that we need to see clearly that it’s the same thing that God’s talking about, whether it’s in the noun form or the verbal form. Pisteuo, as a verb, literally means ‘to be persuaded of,’ or, ‘to place confidence in something.’ And it’s vital that we grasp from the beginning that pisteuo implies both what I call notional confidence and relational confidence. This answers some of the questions that I was raising in the introduction. Notional confidence means that you are mentally and intellectually convinced and persuaded in your mind. But it is more than simple mental persuasion. You can be absolutely sure about something and be totally wrong about it. Or you can indeed be absolutely sure that the Christian faith is the true faith and that the Bible is the Word of God and you can believe that intellectually, or notionally. But God wants us also to be involved relationally, which means that there is more than an intellectual relationship with what we believe, but there is a practical relationship. And in particular, it is to do with a person. Why are we Christians? I’m a Christian because of a person, and His name is Jesus Christ. I’m in relationship with Jesus by faith. And so faith has to do with a relationship. It’s all about Jesus. We believe because of Jesus. We believe because Jesus said it. We believe because we trust Jesus. So it involves notional confidence and relational confidence. It involves reliance and credence. Now I’m using long words here, but they’re written for you. Reliance and credence—what do I mean? Reliance means that you are trusting something; you’re not just believing it. You are prepared to trust yourself to it. And the great illustration of this is of the tightrope walker, Blondin, who strung a tightrope right across Niagara Falls and he walked across Niagara Falls. And everybody applauded him. Then he wheeled a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls on this tightrope and everybody thought how marvelous it was. And then he said, “How many people believe that I could wheel them across on this wheelbarrow?” And everybody said, “Yes, we believe it. We’ve seen you can do it.” And then he said, “Right. Who will be the first one?” Well, there were no volunteers that day. People had a kind of notional confidence. They had an intellectual assent to this. They gave it credence, but they didn’t—weren’t prepared to give him reliance. They weren’t prepared to rely on him and to trust in him. Jesus says, “Don’t just believe that I am the Son of God; put your trust in me. Rely on me.” So quite simply, pisteuo is something we do as well as something we think. Now it’s clear, particularly in John’s gospel, where John stresses the activity of believing. And he never uses pistis, the noun, but he uses pisteuo, the verb, over one hundred times. So John, in John’s gospel, is particularly keen to point out the fact that faith is more than just intellectual understanding or mental assent. His whole purpose is that we should put our faith into action and be saved. And now when Jesus uses this word in John’s gospel chapter 1 [verse 51] describing Nathaniel, who is believing, He says, “Nathanael, if you believe after just hearing this, what are you going to be like when you see the Son of Man ascending and descending from the throne of heaven?” and so this is a classic example of faith in action.  First of all, we see that Nathanael, from Nathanael, he heard what Philip had said about Jesus. That’s in John’s gospel, chapter 1 and verse 45. It says, “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of who Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’” Then secondly, we see that Nathanael came to Jesus—verses 46 and 47. Now the response that Nathanael had was—Nathanael said to him, Philip, “’Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’” He didn’t believe it to begin with. And Philip said to him, “’Come and see.’ So Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’” And so he came to Jesus. So his initial intellectual curiosity and his beginnings of faith happening within him led him to investigate further and he came. There was some action. He came to Jesus. Thirdly, he heard, then, what Jesus said, “An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.” And Nathanael said to him, verse 48, “’How do you know me?’ and Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’” And so this was a revelation. Jesus was using a word of knowledge. And of course, Nathanael believes. And then in verse 49, fourthly, Nathanael confessed Jesus’ deity and His rule. And it says, “Nathanael answered Him and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.” What an amazing step that was for Nathanael. Faith is beginning to make progress in his life. So he heard what Philip said about Jesus—number one; he came to Jesus—number two; number three, he heard what Jesus said; number four, he confessed Jesus’ deity and rule. I’m sowing seed now that will spring up later on as we continue in the series and talk to you about it. Because you see, the importance of confession already is very clear. He confessed Jesus’ deity and His rule. And then he began to follow Jesus as a disciple. We know about that. That’s exactly what happened next. And we read about the discipleship of Nathanael way later on in John’s gospel, chapter 21 and verse 2, where Simon Peter called Thomas—Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin; Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and the two other of His disciples were together. So he kept on following Jesus Christ. And so this is one of the marks of faith; how faith progresses. It’s centered on Jesus, it confesses Jesus, it follows Jesus, and it takes up the discipleship call of Jesus.

Now, looking at the word ‘pistos.’ This is the adjective. Usually it’s used actively and it means ‘believing’ or ‘trusting.’ Believing or trusting. Acts chapter 16 and verse 1, “Then he came to Darbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed. His father was Greek.” Here it is, Timothy, the believing one, the trusting one, the one who is believing. So it is taught—used actively here to describe believing. But when it’s used passively, it means ‘trustworthy’ or ‘faithful.’ for example, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 24, “He who calls you is faithful.” He is worthy to be trust—trusted. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. And so we see that it’s referring, of course, to God. It also refers to us as believers in other parts of the Word of God. So pistis is translated into English as ‘believer.’ Pistis—sorry, pistos is translated into English as ‘believer,’ ‘one who believes,’ ‘a believing one.’ Look at this—2 Corinthians 6 verse 15, “And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?”  So we are called believers. Pistos relates to believers. And so this reminds us that to be a believer is an act—an act of faith. A believer—one who believes—a believing one. It reminds us that it is also the act of being faithful. It’s the main characteristic of Christians. They are believers. Who are Christians? They are the believing ones. Now we need to get back to this. In this teaching series, I try not to preach too much because I’m teaching and communicating information for the purposes of this teaching course. But I find it hard to resist when I come to a point like this. We need to recover faith to the church of Jesus Christ. The early church was known by their faith—their act of faith—the fact that they were believers. They were the believing ones. Not half believers, not make believers, but true believers. That was an activity. They were constantly believing, constantly exercising their faith, constantly believing God. And we need to recover this so that we will be known by our faith. That there would be a place for us in faith’s hall of fame; faith’s roll of honor will include our names. We are the believers. I want to be part of that, don’t you? You can say ‘Yes,’ you know. That’s better. That’s better. All right.

Now let’s move on to saving faith. Saving faith. Now it seems to me that this is absolutely central to the Bible’s revelation on faith, and especially in the New Testament. To say that somebody’s a believer is to say they are saved, for we are saved by faith. We are justified by faith. We are saved by faith, justified by faith alone. That’s how central it is. That’s how important it is. And it’s all to do with what Jesus did. The revelation of the New Testament is that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world and Jesus accomplished our salvation by dying for us voluntarily as a sacrificial—with His sacrificial death on the cross. And so faith is the attitude and the action whereby we abandon all our own efforts to depend entirely and completely upon Jesus Christ for our salvation and to depend upon Jesus alone. Jesus alone is the Savior and our faith in Him is what brings His salvation into our lives. And we are depending upon Jesus for salvation and upon Jesus only for salvation. That’s why it’s so important for us to grasp how that faith and faith alone is necessary for salvation. Our faith qualifies us for salvation through Jesus Christ. And we know this quite categorically in many, many ways in the New Testament, but one of the most powerful parts of scripture that highlights this is Acts chapter 16 verses 30-31. here we have, if you remember, the apostle Paul and his team—they’ve been arrested, beaten, held in prison, an earthquake happens and then the jailer is going to commit suicide because he thinks all the prisoners have escaped, and Paul says, “No, we haven’t escaped. We’re all here. Don’t do yourself any harm.” And then anyway, this is what happens. Verse 30, “And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” So obviously, the apostles and those believers have made a profound impression upon thee Philippian jailer and he’s under conviction. He wants to know what it is—what he needs to do to be saved. Verse 31, “So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, and your household.’” You and your household. And so it’s salvation is by faith. And it’s much the same way in John 3:16. Faith is the one and only way in which we receive salvation. John 3:16. We could all say it together. Why don’t we do that together? Why don’t we say that together? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Recommended reading

Dye, Colin. Living Faith
Kensington Temple, 2007

Price, Frederick K. C. Faith, Foolishness, or Presumption?
Harrison House, 1979

Hagin, Kenneth E. Bible Faith Study Course
Faith Library Publications, 1992

Additional reading

Dye, Colin. Breakthrough Faith: Power in an Uncertain World
Hodder & Stoughton, 1998

Prince, Derek. Faith to live by
Whitaker House, 1998