What is Faith?

What is faith? Or more directly - what is faith in Jesus?

Is it simply believing in your mind that He is your Savior and nothing more?

James says even the demons believe. Are they saved? Certainly not. So what is faith?

Paul says in Romans 10:17,

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

So true faith in God comes from hearing His Word....but not only hearing, but acting on it.

Let me explain.

Genesis 15:6 says, "Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

So that must be it, right? Just believing?

James says that faith without works is dead. So what is James saying, that we must have works to be saved? Well, let's look a little more into Abraham's situation, shall we?,

When did Abraham believe God? Was it there in chapter 15 like we just read? And what was he believing God about? What had God said to him? Abraham's journey actually started a while before.

"Now the LORD had said to Abram:
Get out of your country,
from your family
and from your father's house
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and I will curse him who curses you;
and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."
Genesis 12:1-4

Notice that the LORD told Abraham (still named Abram at that point) to leave everything behind. His country, his family, his father's house....everything!
Many of us would have a difficult time doing something like that, even if we knew that the LORD was calling us to do it. Yet if we have faith in Him, then we must obey. Abraham obeyed the LORD. He trusted in Him and had faith enough to believe Him so he left his homeland and his father's house behind.

Notice, too that Abraham was from Ur originally, which was in Mesopotamia (Babylon). Abraham was a Gentile living in a pagan, Gentile nation. The LORD called him out to show him to the land of Canaan, which Abraham was to inherit.

The significant part is, though, that Abraham was told by the LORD to do something (leave everything behind) and he DID IT! He didn't just say "Okay Lord, I believe you, and so I'm going to just stay right here." NO! Abraham actually left his country and family behind! That's real faith!

God spoke again to Abraham some years later saying this:

"Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, 'I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it. And he said, 'Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?'"
Genesis 15:5-8

The LORD proceeded to show Abraham through a vision that his descendants would be enslaved in another land (Egypt) and they would then be rescued by the LORD and be brought back into the land.
The LORD reminded Abraham that He called him out of his homeland, and HE was the One to give Abraham the land of Canaan. He was reminding Abraham of the promise He made to him and that Abraham had responded to the LORD and did something....he left his home.

The letter to the Hebrews tells us more about what Abraham did:

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going."
Hebrews 11:8

Notice again, by faith Abraham obeyed and went out.

Some argue that what Paul writes in Romans and what James writes about in his epistle contradict each other, concerning faith. If that's true, then we have a serious problem in the Scriptures! However, we can rest assured that the Word of God is whole and complete and absolutely true! Let's look at those passages.

"For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt." Romans 4:3-4

It sounds like Paul is saying that all we have to do is just believe. But we must look at what Paul is saying through the entirety of his letter to the Romans. Look just a few verses back, at the end of chapter 3.

"Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." Romans 3:31

But wait a minute! I thought the law was works! No. Paul, in Galatians 2:16 says "for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." Yet in Romans 2:13 he says, "for not the heares of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;"
Hold on! What is Paul doing here? Is he back tracking? Is he contradicting himself? Not if he's inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these things.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 5,

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your rightousness exceeds the rightousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:17-20

Now while that may seem to make matters more confusing, look at what the Lord is saying. Besides the fact that He didn't come to do away with the Torah/Law of God, He also said that anyone who breaks even the smallest commandment would be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. That doesn't mean that someone would be in the lowest position in heaven, but rather, that those called the least in the kingdom of heaven will be cast out from it. He clarifies this in verse 20 by saying that one's righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The scribes and Pharisees taught the Law, but they did not apply it to their lives by faith. And not only that, but they added to and/or took away from God's commandments by adding their own additions and subtractions to His Law. Their "oral torah" was a burden for many and they tried to establish their own righteousness instead of trusting in Yahweh completely.

No one can be justified by doing any works, including those of the law, hoping to merit salvation. However, when we call on the name of the LORD to be saved and repent of our sins (doing something) then He saves us. Then when we obey the Lord and His righteous standard (the Law), He supplies us with His grace and righteousness. We are in right standing with Him, because of our faith which then produces fruit (works). Real faith produces fruit befitting salvation. If our faith isn't real, then we will show no fruit. That's why James says faith without works is dead. If faith is not accompanied by works, then it is lifeless and cannot save us.

We are not saved by works, but we are saved by faith - which should produce works - if it's real faith.

We cannot earn God's favor nor His salvation. It is a free gift for all those who would believe in Him. Our faith accesses His grace in our lives. Therefore we must define faith. As we've already seen, faith is not just saying you believe in something, but doing something about it.

Here's a passage that'll throw you for a loop. We all know the famous verse that we just read above, that Abraham believed God and "it was accounted to him for rightousness", right?

Well in Psalm 106 we read something very interesting,

"They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped. And that was accounted to him for righteousness to all generations forevermore." - Psalm 106:28-31

So what did Phinehas do? Well, I'd suggest going back to Numbers 25 to get the whole context, but essentially the Lord had commanded Moses to have the leaders of the tribes kill all those who had taken Moabite women and committed harlotry with them. Then a certain Isrealite man came and presented a Moabite woman that he had taken to his brethren in the sight of Moses and the rest of the camp, who were weeping in front of the tent of meeting. He then took this woman into his tent. Phinehas got up, grabbed a javelin and went into the tent and shoved the javelin through both the man of Israel and the Moabite woman - through her stomach actually. They were going to have children together which the LORD told His people not to do. Because of what Phinehas did, the Lord stopped the plague and honored him. Now to us that seems a tad bit harsh, to kill two people like that. But the Lord doesn't mess around with sin, because ultimately, that's what kills us. And because of what Phinehas did, it was accounted to him for righteousness!

By faith, Abraham did something - he left his country and family. Later on, he offered up Isaac as a sacrifice, by faith, to the LORD reasoning that the LORD would bring him back to life.
By faith, Phinehas did something.

Back in Hebrews chapter 11 we read a passage that ties this all together,

"by faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the rightousness which is according to faith."
Hebrews 11:7

Notice that Noah prepared, or built, the ark by faith! Now that's doing something. The ark was approx. 450' long by 75' wide by 45' tall. That's no small boat. Yet Noah built it by faith.
Also, because Noah did so, he saved his household and it says he condemned the world. How did Noah condemn the world by building the ark? He was proving that his faith in what God said was going to happen, was real. Thereby showing that God was going to bring judgment upon the world unless people repented.

It then says that he became heir of the rightousness which is according to faith. How? By thinking about building the ark? Or by actually trusting God and preparing the ark for the coming flood.

It's no different for us today. If God speaks to us, either through His written word or by those in His body, then we must have faith in what He says, and then act on it.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." - John 14:15

He didn't say "If you love Me, think about My commandments", OR "believe My commandments". No, He said "keep My commandments". Keep, or do, His commandments. Keep them close, like gaurding them as being precious to you. It's that simple. If we love Him and believe in Him, then fruit should come of that.

Ephesians 2:8-9 are some of the most quoted verses in the professing church. But what about verse 10?

Let's read all three;

8. "For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them." - Ephesians 2:8-10

Are we saved by works? No. Are we saved by anything we can do? No. We are saved by the grace of God, through our faith in Him. BUT, once we're saved, then we are to walk in His works which He has made beforehand just for us to walk in. His Law/Torah is His doctrine/teaching/instruction that He has given us to walk in because He loves us and cares for us. Because He died to save us from the wages of sin AND from the power of sin in our lives. Walking in His commandments is how we crucify our flesh. Dying to ourselves, we offer ourselves up as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1). If we love Him, let us keep His commandments, for they are not burdensome (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3)

So what is faith? Hearing the Word of God and acting upon it, believing and trusting in Him to perform that which He has spoken. Remember, real faith produces real fruit (works).