What is faith?

[Jason of Iolkos]

Hi folks! :wave:

I am currently reading through John Pless's book "Handling the Word of Truth" which is basically a summary of C.F. Walther's book "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel". One of the chapters deals with the topic of what is faith and as I read it actually made me think: What is faith?

I know that faith is not a work that we must do neither is it merely an intellectual ascent to certain truths. So the question that I have and have wondered about for a while now is what exactly is faith? :confused: Since it is not something we must do and it is not simply knowledge about something.

Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

Justin

[MORTANIUS]

Faith is not an intellectual ascent to truth. If intellectual ascent was required, faith would not exist. We would all be doubting Thomas'. Let me get back to you about this matter. I believe an appropriate answer rests in Esdras 1 or 2? I have to look.

[theologia crucis]

I've seen it written where faith is essentially trust. I know in the German, the word is glauben [insert umlaut in the proper place], which is a lot stronger than the English word "faith". Recht gave me something real good about that one time...

Anway, in the Lutheran understanding, faith does NOT justify in and of its self (see BoC). What justifies us is the OBJECT of faith, i.e., Christ Jesus.

There are some various aspects to faith. Classically, there are three main parts in the Lutheran understanding of faith: knowledge, assent, and trust.

There are lots of folks that know the story of Christ, and may think it's true, but that in and of itself does not save.

There are many that assent that the story is real.

The essential part is that the believer truly TRUSTS that Christ died for their sins in particular. This trust is the conduit by which we are connected to Christ, and hence justified and declared righteous.

It's a real short answer, and I know I'm rusty, but I think I'm generally hitting the point without going into too much detail...

Lastly, from the BoC, Formula of Concord, Epitome, III, 6:

4. We believe, teach, and confess that this faith is not a bare knowledge of the history of Christ, but such a gift of God by which we come to the right knowledge of Christ as our Redeemer in the Word of the Gospel, and trust in Him that for the sake of His obedience alone we have, by grace, the forgiveness of sins, are regarded as holy and righteous before God the Father, and eternally saved.

Emphasis added.

Read this (http://bookofconcord.org/fc-ep.html#III.%20The%20Righteousness%20of%20Faith%20Before%20God.) and/or this (http://bookofconcord.org/fc-sd/righteousness.html) for a more complete treatment in the BoC. Also, you can read Apology IV (http://bookofconcord.org/augsburgdefense/4_justification.html) (I forget what paragraphs...) for an in depth description of faith...

I hope I haven't confused you...

[KagomeShuko]

One of my many favorite Bible verses. . ."Now faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

If we try to define faith, up to a certain point, it seems that it is no longer faith.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[ByzantineDixie]

Theo is right...faith is trust. But I would also say that trust is a relationship. Therefore to have faith in Christ is to be in relationship with Christ, united with Christ.

[SPALATIN]

I am with Rose and Theo on this. There is an assurance aspect as well. Kind of like an insurance policy. You know that things will be taken care of but you don't understand all the small print that is used to underwrite the policy.

[Qoheleth]

I know that faith is not a work that we must do neither is it merely an intellectual ascent to certain truths. So the question that I have and have wondered about for a while now is what exactly is faith? :confused: Since it is not something we must do and it is not simply knowledge about something.



Belief and trust in Christ as one's Savior. One is saved by faith through grace—a living faith manifested by a righteous life ( Rom. 5; Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8; James 2:14 17).

Saving faith is not mere belief but a commitment to Christ that is manifested by works of righteousness


Martin Luther agrees:


"Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of
God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.
Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy,
joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The
Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you
freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve
everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who
has shown you such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible to
separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from
fire!"
("An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans," Martin Luther)


Although a Christian is saved by belief in Christ, faith without action is hollow and void of the righteousness necessary to salvation ( Rom. 5; Matt. 7:21; John 3:16; James 2:14 26).

Q

[LilLamb219]

As was said above, faith is not a work.

I am not sure where I grabbed this quote, but I have it here in my notebook:
"But the Spirit is received by faith, according to Paul's word (Gal. 3:14), 'That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'" (Apol. IV:127)

Faith receives the truth that Christ died for us and all our sins are forgiven.

I have another quote that someone posted on another board by Professor Nagel:
"You don't ask someone if they have faith (law). You ask them if they have a Savior (gospel)."

[Jason of Iolkos]

So would it be fair to say that faith is trust in the proclamation of the Gospel and that "faith" is not a work done by a person but something done by God in the heart of the person?

Again thank all of you for helping me out :thumbsup:

Justin

[theologia crucis]

I have another quote that someone posted on another board by Professor Nagel:
"You don't ask someone if they have faith (law). You ask them if they have a Savior (gospel)."

This reminds me of what my pastor asked us one time:

How do you answer this question: Why are you saved?

If you answer: "Because I have faith", you are wrong, because you have turned faith into a work.

If you answer: "Because Jesus died for me", you are correct. This demonstrates the trust that you know Jesus lived His life for you, and died to atone for your sins.

[theologia crucis]

Here's the quote (it's a Deutschlander):

der Glaube –ns; faith.
The words Glaube and glauben have a much more precise meaning in German than do the English equivalents. In common English usage the words “to believe,” and “faith” are used as synonym for “to feel,” “to have an opinion,” “to hope,” all of these with or without any reason or basis in fact. Thus, for example, the mother of the confessed ax murderer is heard to say outside of the courtroom: “But I still believe that he is innocent and a good boy;” or the soap opera heroine says to the victim of some unimaginable disaster: “You’ve just got to have faith!” In both examples, faith/to believe are used with total indifference to facts, evidence, any reason or basis, to the point that faith and facts, faith and history virtually become opposites. Orthodox German Lutheran writers never use Glaube/glauben that way. In orthodox German Lutheran usage these words are rooted in facts, in history, in knowledge. In English someone may ask the question: Why do you believe that? and get the answer: That’s just the way I feel about it. In German glauben would not be used that way. If we accept St. Augustine’s definition of faith as “scientia, assentia, fiducia,” the German emphasizes scientia and the English fiducia. almost to the exclusion of scientia. For the Lutheran pastor the point is an extremely important one: if in his speaking and preaching and writing he uses the words “faith” and “believe” in a German (as well as Latin and Greek) sense, but his hearers understand him in an English sense, he may unintentionally mislead his audience. What does the speaker mean and what does the hearer understand by the sentence: “All you’ve got to do is believe and have faith.” If the speaker is a good Lutheran (though a sloppy speaker), he means: “Jesus really did come and die for the sins of the world, and therefore for your sins; his payment is an accomplished fact, and your forgiveness was won by Him alone; through this message God bids you trust in this accomplished fact as it applies to you.” If the speaker is careless and does not explain himself, the hearer may understand something quite different: “I’m supposed to decide that everything is OK–if I decide that, it’s true; if I decide the opposite, then that’s true, and if someone else decides a third thing, then that’s true for him; thus Christianity is a feeling that everything will work out right as long as I believe it, and I can believe what I want, as long as I believe something.”

[LilLamb219]

So would it be fair to say that faith is trust in the proclamation of the Gospel and that "faith" is not a work done by a person but something done by God in the heart of the person?

Yes, as faith is a gift from God. It's not something we can come up with on our own, but what He gives to us in order to believe that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves...He's already taken care of that and the Gospel, the Good News, brings the reality of the cross to us :)