The Faith's Foundations - Part 2: Faith

Introduction

When I was 16 and broke my wrist.

Point: misplaced faith. I put blind faith in the tree. I had no evidence that it would hold me or that it was a good tree. I simply assumed it. . . .

This week we look at Part 2 of our series on The Faith’s Foundations: Faith. We’ll look at: (1) faith is about truth, (2) faith is belief and trust in the truth, and (3) faith is confidence in the truth.

1. Faith is about Truth

If you recall from Part 1: Truth, we discussed that truth is objective, i.e., independent of one’s feelings, perception, likes or dislikes, and beliefs. We saw that truth was also about reality, about the real world, the way it really is.

Faith is much the same way: it is objective and real. I.e, Faith is about truth. Faith is about the way the world really is.

Faith is Objective and Real (1 Cor. 15:3-8)

This may be a difficult concept to grasp. The reason why is because our society views faith as something entirely disassociated with reality. Faith has nothing to do with knowledge, facts, and truth. It is merely a choice to believe something merely upon self-experience and feelings. It’s become a somewhat of a psychological phenomenon.

Faith is often viewed as being contrary and in opposition to what is objective and real.

Dan Brown, in the Da Vinci Code: “That is the definition of faith - acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.”

Jerry Coyne’s book “Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible”

Some Christians are quick to accept this atheistic idea that faith is purely subjective and not really real:

Discussion Board: “Do you agree that the CWV rises or falls with the resurrection of Christ?”

Student: “I do not believe that CWV rises or falls with the resurrection of Christ. I do not believe that because when you believe in something such as religion your faith is based on how you perceive something in my opinion. I believe that when you have a strong faith if one thing that does not make sense or does not have evidence it does not change how you feel.”

But this idea that faith is not objective and real is actually contrary to reason itself and thus not a Christian view of faith:

There are bad logical and necessary consequences if faith is purely subjective and detached from reality (based only upon experience and feelings)--

(1) If faith is neither true nor false and doesn’t reflect reality, then it does not really matter what you believe and trust in. (Just get up in the morning and draw straws as to what religion you will be, or no religion for that matter.)

(2) If it does not matter what religion you believe or trust in, then there is no good reason to believe and trust in any religion. (You might as well choose no religion.)

Ultimately => Faith is just a fairy tale and a fiction

This view of faith is not just irrational, it is not a biblical view of faith.

The Christian View of faith:

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 NASB95

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Creeds of Christianity believe that Jesus in fact rose from the dead; that is was objective and real.

Apostle’s Creed (2nd part):

“I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,       who was conceived by the Holy Spirit       and born of the virgin Mary.       He suffered under Pontius Pilate,       was crucified, died, and was buried;       he descended to hell.       The third day he rose again from the dead.       He ascended to heaven       and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.       From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

The entire Christian faith is based upon the bedrock truth/fact that Jesus really rose from the dead. It is a claim about reality. It is a claim of objective truth.

I am not a Christian because I say the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are so, but because the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are so. Faith in Jesus Christ is true because it corresponds to what really happened in history.

Application: Is this why you have faith in Jesus? Do you believe he is really who he claimed to be . . .

But faith is more than objective and real; it is also reasonable and evidential.

Faith is Reasonable and Evidential (John 20:26-29)

Faith is often viewed as being contrary and in opposition to what is reasonable and evidential.

Richard Dawkins: “Faith [is] belief that is not based on evidence.” Elsewhere: “Religious faith not only lacks evidence; its dependence from evidence is its joy, shouted from the rooftops.” [quoted in Lennox, God’s Undertaker]

French writer, Voltaire: “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”

Many Christians easily accommodate this idea:

“The Baxters”

“Faith is blind.” It has no reasons, and in fact, believes contrary and in opposition to reason (and evidence).

But this is actually contrary to reason itself and is therefore not the Christian view of faith:

“Faith” = fide (Latin) = get our word “fidelity,” hence its basic meaning is “reliance, trust”

John Lennox points out that the OED says faith = “belief, trust, confidence, reliance, and belief proceeding from reliance on testimony or authority” [Gunning for God, 38]. As such, to have faith means the same thing as to trust, to believe, to have confidence.

We have faith in numerous things besides Jesus and his resurrection:

We often have faith in science . . .

We often have faith in our spouses . . .

Point: faith (belief, confidence, and trust) is based upon something. It’s not blind.

Illustration: 4th of July with my friends when I was in high school; firework in car

This view that faith is not reasonable and has no evidence is not the biblical view of faith:

John 20:26–29 NASB95

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

This passage often used to support “blind faith.” But note:

(1) Jesus does not rebuke Thomas

(2) Jesus provides Thomas with evidence/reasons

(3) The very next two verses claim to provide evidence and reasons to believe:

John 20:30–31 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

1 John 1:1–3 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Faith, therefore, is about truth, that which is absolute, objective, and real. It is not made up.

Stuart Briscoe: Christian author, international speaker and senior pastor of Elmbrook Church, in Brookfield, Wisconsin:

Faith is only as valid as its object. You could have tremendous faith in very thin ice and drown.… You could have very little faith in very thick ice and be perfectly secure.

—Stuart Briscoe

Stuart Briscoe

Application: Is this the kind of faith you have? Do you have reasons and evidence of why you believe in Jesus?

But faith is more than just mere affirmation of that which is true.

2. Faith is Belief and Trust in the Truth

Belief That Which is True (John 8:24)

John 8:24 (NASB95)

“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

John 20:31 “But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Romans 10:9 “. . . that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”

Faith is belief in something that is, in fact, true. It’s a mental assent, or affirmation, that something is true.

The very core of Christian faith, in particular, is belief that Jesus is who he said he was: the God-man, God in the flesh, The Son of God—that he died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead.

More broadly, faith in the Christian view of things is belief that everything Christianity teaches is factual, true. . . .

Here again we should note that faith is a part of every belief system. Atheism believes that the entire neo-Darwinian narrative is true, i.e., it has faith in neo-Darwinism. Pantheism believes that everything is god and that the physical world is an illusion, i.e., it has faith that everything is god and illusory.

No matter what system, philosophy, or religion one adheres to, the person has faith that something is true. Faith is a part of every system.

Every man lives by faith, the non-believer as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God.

A. W. Tozer

But faith is more than just mere affirmation of that which is true. It is also trusting in what is true.

Trust, or Belief In that Which is True (John 3:16)

John 3:16 (NASB95)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

John 12:36 “‘While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.’ These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.”

It is one thing to believe that Jesus is the Christ; it’s quite another to believe IN him. Faith includes both believing that and believing in.

When we say we have faith in science or our spouse, we mean more than believing that science or spouse is true; we mean we have confidence and trust in them.

If I merely believed that science gave at least approximate truth of the physical universe but did not trust it, it would ultimately have no impact on my life. E.g., I can have all the belief in the world that it is true that my coffee cup will hold hot brew without getting me burned, but if I don’t trust that my mug will keep me from being burned, then I won’t use my coffee mug.

Likewise, if I just merely believe that my spouse is who she says she is and that she speaks truth but I don’t trust her or have confidence in her, I’m not going to have what is essential to a marital relationship. Faith must be both believing that something is true and having confidence and trust in it.

It is the same when it comes to faith in Jesus Christ. We must not just believe that Jesus is the Christ; we must have trust in him.

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”

The difference between having faith that Jesus is the Christ and having faith in him is the difference between demonic faith and Christian faith. It’s the difference between Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Savior and Lord. It’s the difference between being interested in Jesus and being committed to Jesus.

How committed are we to Jesus, his Kingdom, his church, his Word? When we become Christians and are baptized, do we understand what that really means? We are giving our lives and our very selves over to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We have more than mere belief that he is the Savior; we have trust in him and we are committed to him and all that he stands for and teaches.

Imagine if we were all committed--had the faith which is described in Scripture. Think of all the ministering, edification, discipleship, faith growth, congregation growth, outreach, evangelism . . .

We are going to have a “Show Up Sunday” in the near future.

Faith is belief that which is true and belief in it, or putting trust in that which is true, which indicates one final aspect of faith:

3. Faith is Confidence in the Truth (Heb. 11:1)

A Guarantee of What is True (Heb. 11:1a)

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB95)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for . . .

Better translation: "Now faith is the guarantee/title-deed of things hoped for"

Cambridge Dictionary: “a document that states and proves a person's legal right to own a piece of land or a building.”

"Faith is a guarantee of the heavenly realities for which we hope. . . . It is, in itself, an objective assurance of our definite enjoyment of them." [Spicq, quoted in Hughes, Hebrews, 439]

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, etc., and we trust in him for our salvation (if we have the kind of faith Scripture talks about), then we have confidence—we have a guarantee—that our salvation will come to its fullness in the realities of heaven.

A Proof of What is True (Heb. 11:1b)

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB95)

. . . the conviction of things not seen.

Better translation: "the proof of things not seen"

"Though the blessings promised are not yet revealed, the man of faith is convinced of their reality." [Philip Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 440]

Full translation: “Now faith is the guarantee/title-deed of things hoped for [salvation/heaven], the proof of things not seen, the things to come.”

Amplified Bible:

“NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Conclusion

What kind of faith do you have? A blind one or one that is based in reality?

There was another time my friends and I played hide-n-seek at night. . . .

Faith is just like that clothesline: it’s about reality. My friend had all the faith in the world that he could run free and nothing was in his way. It turned out he had a blind faith and found out rather quickly. Similarly, you can have all kinds of faith/mere belief that something is true (say, religion), but if it’s not, eventually you will be knocked down by it. True faith isn’t blind. It is based upon evidence and reasons. This is an essential foundation of Christianity. In Christianity, faith is about reality: the historical fact that Jesus is the God-man who died on the cross, was buried, and was resurrected for our sins. If we put our faith (belief) in him, we shall be saved from death and sin and all their effects.