The Biblical Meaning of Faith
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The Biblical Meaning of Faith
The Biblical Meaning of Faith
In the previous weeks we have studied and talked
about:
The attributes of the Holy Spirit
How we should pray
The importance of growth after salvation
The assurance of salvation
And today we’re going to learn and talk about the biblical meaning of “Faith”
What does the word faith mean in our culture today?
According to Daniel Webster, his first definition of faith was, a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers, that controls human destiny. What the heck does that mean? His second definition was complete confidence in something. Confidence in what? I like this definition a little better. I guess what he’s saying is that having complete confidence, in whatever the subject, is considered as having faith.
We need to take a look at the word belief or believe in his first definition. According to Mr. Webster the meaning of the word believe is to accept as being true or take to be true. That’s plain enough to understand. So, I take it, his meaning of faith is that whatever the subject is, it’s true. “No” we’re not going to look at the meaning of truth. I think you get the gist of it, I could go on forever defining every word.
Now that we’ve discovered Mr. Webster’s definition of faith, let’s take a look at how “God” defines faith in his word, the holy scriptures, the bible. God’s written definition of faith, that’s clearest for us to understand, is found in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, the first verse. Heb 11:1.
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The NIV states it like this: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
In Rom 4:3 the apostle Paul tells us about how God saw Abraham:
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Paul was quoting Gen 15:6 when he wrote this, right after God had made His covenant with Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.
This tells us, without any doubt, that God’s definition of faith is believing what He says. And that should be our definition as well. “Believing what God says” is the true definition of biblical faith.
Now that we are rock solid on God’s definition of faith, let’s look at some examples of that faith that’s written for us in the bible. First off we’re going to look at:
The role of “faith” in salvation:
The apostle Paul states in Rom 1:16:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Believes in what? The gospel of Christ. 1 Cor 15:1-4.
In Rom 10:9 Paul tells us:
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Again, believing in Paul’s gospel of Christ.
In Rom 10:11 Paul adds to that:
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Paul is re-quoting here what he said in Rom 9:33.
33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
And in Rom 10:17 he states:
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
In the book of Acts chapter 16, after the Lord had freed Paul and Silas form the jail in Philippi, in Acts 16:31, when the Philippian jailer ask how he might be saved:
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
We’ve talked about this verse before, that there is no tag along salvation. Salvation is an individual response.
The apostle John writes in his gospel in chapter 1, John 1:12:
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
Remember: What people had to believe for salvation before the currant “age of grace” was different than what we have to believe today.
The apostle John also when writing about Jesus’s exchange with Martha when he went to raise Lazarus from the dead in John 11:25-26 states:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Now that we’ve looked at examples of faith in salvation, lets look at other examples of faith throughout the bible.
We could start off by taking a look at the whole chapter of Hebrews 11, but I’ll let you read that in your next personal bible study time. But in Heb 11:7, the writer states:
7 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 righteousness which is according to faith.
In verse 11, of that same chapter, the writer says:
11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
Sarah believed what God told her just like her husband Abraham. Believing what God says.
In Luke’s gospel when Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus back to life in Luke 8:50, Luke writes:
50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”
She was not only made well, but Jesus raised her back to life. Just remember though, that all the people who were raised back to life in the bible, died a physical death a 2nd time. Only Jesus, so far, has been raised to life bodily for eternity. But that is the blessed hope that we believers are all waiting patiently for. The lost do not have this hope.
In Matthew’s gospel just after Peter, James, and John’s experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was healing a demon possessed boy that the disciple’s could not heal due to their lack of faith. Mat 17:20, assures us how important faith is in our lives today. We have to believe what the bible tells us.
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Paul tells Timothy just before he was killed in the last recorded words of our apostle to the gentiles, in 2 Tim 4:7-8, that:
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Have you fought the good fight? Are you going to finish the race? Are you keeping the faith? Only you and God can answer these questions!
Finally let’s take a look, real quick, at faith in the life of the believer.
The apostle Peter tells us about joy that faith brings to the lives of believers in 1 Peter 1:8-9
8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
And the apostle Paul tells us that Jesus dwells in the hearts of believers and loves us beyond all understanding in one of his great prayers recorded in Eph 3:16-19, Paul prays:
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Paul is saying here that the love of Christ is greater than being in 3D. Christ’s love is in 4D. Width, length, depth, and height.
Now that we totally understand what faith is, we know that God will do what he says he will do. If for some reason, whatever that reason might be, if you have never asked Jesus to come into and be a part of your life, you can do it right now. Right at this very moment. Don’t put it off. It’s the most important thing you will ever do. It’s God’s will that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And by hearing the message today you can have faith that God will save you if you believe the gospel and just ask him too. 1 John 5:14-15 says:
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
We know that it’s God’s will that everyone would believe the gospel and be saved.
That is assurance of “SALVATION” !!
If we “BELIEVE” !!
