Hebrews 11 · Value 4 of 41 · Featured Study
Faith
Faith is trust in God and in His word, grounded in God's own faithfulness.
The Gospels record Jesus marveling twice, at a Roman centurion's faith and at His hometown's unbelief.
Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
- Anchor text
- Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the…”
- Its opposite
- Unbelief, and trust placed in people or in strength
- Hold in memory
- Hebrews 11:1, Proverbs 3:5 to 6
Summary
Scripture asks for faith before sight. Abraham left his country at God's call before he saw the land he was to receive (Hebrews 11:8), and the people of Hebrews 11 died without receiving what had been promised. Jesus received faith mixed with doubt (Mark 9:24), and the apostles called every hearer to believe in Him.
- God remains faithful even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13).
- Genesis 15:6 says that Abram believed the LORD and that it was credited to him as righteousness.
- Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
- Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain (Matthew 17:20).
What Faith Is
Four words of Hebrew and Greek carry what Scripture means by faith and trust.
Faith joins believing with firmness and faithfulness in its Hebrew and Greek words, and its best-known chapter, Hebrews 11, follows faith from Abel to the prophets. The question faith raises for every reader is how a person can trust God for what He has promised and not yet shown, and on what that trust rests. This study gives the words, the key texts, the commands and their ground, the sayings of Jesus, the people who believed, the practice and the opposite, the stories and the voices of faith.
Aman, to believe
106 uses in the canon
The Hebrew verb aman (Strong's H539) means to be firm or faithful, and in the form Genesis 15:6 uses it means to believe.
Emunah, faithfulness
49 uses in the canon
The noun emunah (H530) means firmness and faithfulness, and Habakkuk 2:4 says the righteous will live by it.
Batach, to trust
120 uses in the canon
The verb batach (H982) means to trust and to be confident, and Proverbs 3:5 commands it with all the heart.
Pistis, faith
242 uses in the canon
The Greek noun pistis (G4102) means faith and trust, and in some places faithfulness, and Hebrews 11 opens with it.
Aman, to believe, Emunah, faithfulness, Batach, to trust, Pistis, faith, The Words Emunah and Pistis, the study in brief
The Key Texts of Faith
Faith is asked of God's people in every part of the canon, from Abram under the stars to the church at Smyrna.
Law
Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Paul builds his argument in Romans 4 on this verse.
Genesis 15:6BSB
History
Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be upheld; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”
The call comes from a king, so faith is asked of a whole nation in its public life.
Wisdom
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
The text turns on a choice between two places to lean.
Prophets
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.
The song names peace of mind as what trust brings.
Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—
Paul and Hebrews quote this line three times in the New Testament.
Habakkuk 2:4BSB
Gospels
“Have faith in God,” Jesus said to them.
Jesus names the object of faith before He speaks of the mountain.
Mark 11:22BSB
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.
Jesus places Himself beside God as the One to be trusted.
John 14:1BSB
Acts and Epistles
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Paul and Silas gave this answer to the jailer at Philippi after the earthquake opened the prison doors.
Acts 16:31BSB
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
The verse makes faith the condition of coming to God at all.
Hebrews 11:6BSB
And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.
John joins believing in the Son and loving one another in one command.
1 John 3:23BSB
Revelation
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The canon's last call to faith is spoken to a church about to suffer.
2 Chronicles 20:20, Proverbs 3:5 to 6, Isaiah 26:3 to 4, Habakkuk 2:4, Mark 11:22, John 14:1, Acts 16:31, Hebrews 11:6 and 2 more
Where Scripture Commands Faith
Moses and the prophets call His people to believe, and the New Testament repeats the call.
The prophets tie a people's standing to its faith. Isaiah warned King Ahaz that his throne would stand or fall with his faith, and in the Hebrew of that verse the words for standing firm and for believing come from one root.
The same call runs through the Gospels and the letters to the last book of the canon.
But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”Moses speaks at the sea, with Pharaoh's army behind Israel and the water before them.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.’”Isaiah gives the word to a king afraid of two invading armies.
Exodus 14:13 to 14, Isaiah 7:9, Trust in the LORD with All Your Heart, the study in brief
Faith Rests on God's Faithfulness
God keeps His covenant, He cannot deny Himself, and every promise of God is Yes in Christ.
Scripture names God faithful before it asks faith of His people. The song of Moses calls Him "A God of faithfulness without injustice" (Deuteronomy 32:4).
His faithfulness does not wait on ours, and Paul gives its reason, that God cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).
The Hebrew words for a person's believing and for God's faithfulness are words of one root, and so is Amen. Paul writes that "all the promises of God are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through Him, our 'Amen' is spoken to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Faith leans its whole weight on the One who keeps His word.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.The command to know who God is comes before any call to trust Him.
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.Hebrews grounds the hope of believers on the character of the One who made the promise.
Deuteronomy 7:9, Hebrews 10:23
What Jesus Taught About Faith
Five sayings of Jesus, from the father of Mark 9 to the question of Luke 18:8, show what faith is.
In each saying Jesus sets a small faith against a great obstacle.
| Verse | Jesus' words | The faith |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 17:20 | "you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" | Faith the size of a mustard seed |
| Mark 11:23 | "if anyone says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and has no doubt in his heart" | Faith with no doubt in the heart |
The gap in scale points to the One faith takes hold of, and a seed's worth of real faith is enough because the power belongs to God.
"I do believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:22 to 24)1 quotation, 1 verse, 1 paragraph
A father brought Jesus his son, whom a spirit threw into fire and water, after the disciples had failed to drive it out. Jesus healed the boy. The mixed faith of a desperate man, honestly confessed and pointed at the right person, was enough. John Gill wrote in his Exposition of the New Testament, "As the man put an ‘if’ on the power of Christ, Christ puts an ‘if’ on the faith of the man".
“It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” “If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!” Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”In three verses the plea, the reply and the cry move from doubt about Jesus to trust in Him.
“Seeing the case stood still, waiting not upon the Lord's power but his own faith, the man becomes immediately conscious of conflicting principles, and rises into one of the noblest utterances on record.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · on Mark 9:23Reformed
"Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5 to 6)2 verses, 1 paragraph
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown called the request "the only instance in which a spiritual operation upon their souls was solicited of Christ by the Twelve". Albert Barnes wrote, "This duty of forgiving offences seemed so difficult to the disciples that they strongly felt the need of an increase of faith". His answer turned them from the amount of their faith to its object.
Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”The request for more faith follows directly on this command to forgive.
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord answered, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.Jesus answers a request for more faith with the smallest seed.
The mountain moved in prayer (Matthew 21:21 to 22)1 verse, 1 paragraph
In this saying Jesus gave faith its largest promise. Adam Clarke wrote that "many of the rabbins are termed rooters up of mountains, because they were dexterous in removing difficulties". Matthew Henry wrote, "Faith is the soul, prayer is the body; both together make a complete man for any service."
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”Jesus spoke these words to disciples who marveled that the fig tree had withered so quickly.
"Your faith has healed you"1 verse, 1 paragraph
The Gospels record Jesus sending people away with words that named their faith. He said them to the woman who touched His cloak (Mark 5:34), to blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:52) and to the Samaritan leper who came back (Luke 17:19). To the woman at the Pharisee's table He said, "Your faith has saved you" (Luke 7:50). To two blind men He said, "According to your faith will it be done to you" (Matthew 9:29). The power that healed them was His, and He gave the credit to the trust that received it.
“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your affliction.”The sentence follows the woman's own confession before the crowd.
"Will He find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8)1 quotation, 2 verses, 2 paragraphs
Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow so that His disciples would pray at all times and not lose heart (Luke 18:1).
The verse speaks of the coming of the Son of Man and asks what He will find, which turns every reader from the date of His coming to his own faith. John Wesley read it in his Explanatory Notes as a warning that whenever the Lord should appear, "how few true believers will be found upon earth!"
I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”The question stands at the end of the parable, and Jesus gives no answer to it.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews names Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, the One the reader looks to for it.
“The question implies a strong negation: No, he will not; he himself foresees it. This supposes that it is on earth only that there is occasion for faith; for sinners in hell are feeling that which they would not believe, and saints in heaven are enjoying that which they did believe. It supposes that faith is the great thing that Jesus Christ looks for.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Luke 18:8Puritan
In Jesus' teaching faith is like a hand, small and often trembling, and its strength lies in the God it takes hold of, whatever the believer feels. Jesus asked for real faith in Him, and He supplies what that faith lacks.
Jesus Himself trusted the Father to the end. On the cross He called out in a loud voice, "Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit" (Luke 23:46).
Who Believed
Six people in Scripture trusted God, from Sarah, past the age of children, to Paul at the end of his race.
He trusted the LORD who had saved him from the lion and the bear to save him from the Philistine.
1 Samuel 17:37
David, Mary, Thomas, Paul
The Practice of Faith
Scripture names eight practices of faith, each with the verse that gives it.
- 1Hear the wordRead and hear Scripture often, since Paul ties the birth of faith to the word of Christ.Romans 10:17
- 2Ask in faithJames tells the one who lacks wisdom to ask God, who gives generously, and to ask without doubting.James 1:5 to 6
- 3Commit your wayThe psalm tells the reader to commit his way to the LORD and to trust that He will act.Psalm 37:5
- 4Cast your anxiety on HimPeter tells believers to cast all their anxiety on God, because He cares for them.1 Peter 5:7
- 5Remember His worksThe psalmist answers his trouble by remembering the works and wonders of the LORD.Psalm 77:11
- 6Walk by faithPaul says that believers walk by faith while they do not yet see what they hope for.2 Corinthians 5:7
- 7Confess Jesus as LordPaul joins believing in the heart with confessing with the mouth that Jesus is Lord.Romans 10:9
- 8PersevereHebrews tells believers to persevere so that they will receive what God has promised.Hebrews 10:36
Ask in faith, Commit your way, Cast your anxiety on Him, Remember His works, Walk by faith, Confess Jesus as Lord, Persevere
What Stands Against Faith
Scripture names unbelief that refuses God and trust placed in people or in strength as what stands against faith.
The psalmist sets two kinds of trust side by side: "Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Psalm 20:7).
Doubt and fear can rise in the middle of faith.
And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
The question comes after the spies' report at Kadesh.
So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.
Hebrews draws its warning to Christians from the wilderness.
Hebrews 3:19BSB
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
The prophet sets this curse beside the blessing of Jeremiah 17:7.
Hebrews 3:19, Jeremiah 17:5
After the spies' report the people wept and wanted to go back to Egypt.
Numbers 14:1 to 4
Frightened by the wind, he cried, "Lord, save me!", and Jesus took hold of him.
Matthew 14:30 to 31
Jesus asked them why they were so afraid and whether they still had no faith.
Mark 4:40
Numbers 14:11, Hebrews 3:19, Jeremiah 17:5, The wilderness generation, Peter on the water, The disciples in the storm
Faith in the Stories of the Bible
Four stories tell of faith under the night sky of Canaan, on a wall at Jericho, in a furnace at Babylon and in Capernaum.
Abram under the starsGenesis 15
The LORD told Abram to leave his country for a land He would show him, and promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. Abram left Haran at seventy-five, and years later he was still childless.
The LORD took him outside and told him to count the stars, and said, "So shall your offspring be" (Genesis 15:5).
Rahab at JerichoJoshua 2
Joshua sent two spies to Jericho, and they stayed in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. When the king demanded them, she hid them under stalks of flax on her roof and told them what Jericho had heard of the Red Sea.
She let the men down from her window in the wall and tied a scarlet cord there, and when the city fell Joshua spared her household.
Read the story of Rahab and the scarlet cord 8 sections, 11 verses set out
The furnace at BabylonDaniel 3
Nebuchadnezzar, furious with rage, asked Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego which god could deliver them from his hands.
The three fell bound into a furnace heated seven times hotter, and the king saw four men walking unbound in the fire. They came out with no smell of fire on them, and he blessed their God, "who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him" (Daniel 3:28).
The centurion at CapernaumMatthew 8
In Capernaum a centurion pleaded with Jesus for his paralyzed servant. When Jesus offered to come, he answered that he was not worthy to have Him under his roof. He asked only for a word, because he knew what it was to give an order and have it obeyed.
Jesus said to him, "Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you", and the servant was healed at that very hour (Matthew 8:13).
Read the study of Little Faith and Great Faith 8 sections, 20 verses set out
Rahab at Jericho (Joshua 2), The furnace at Babylon (Daniel 3), The centurion at Capernaum (Matthew 8)
Faith in the Church's History
Five accounts tell of faith before a proconsul at Smyrna, in prison at Carthage, in a preface to Romans, in a letter from China and in the orphan houses of Bristol.
Polycarpabout 155
The church at Smyrna wrote an account of the death of its aged bishop. In the stadium the proconsul promised him his liberty if he would reproach Christ.
The letter records: "Polycarp declared, Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" (The Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 9, translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, 1885).
Perpetua203
Perpetua, a young mother held in prison at Carthage, wrote her own account of her trial.
She wrote, "Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian", and before the procurator she answered, "I am a Christian" (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, chapters 1 and 2, translated by R. E. Wallis, 1885).
Martin Luther1522
In the preface to Romans in his German New Testament of 1522 Luther set down what faith is.
He wrote, "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" (Preface to Romans, translated by Robert E. Smith, from the Erlangen edition of 1854).
Hudson Taylor1869
In China in 1869 Hudson Taylor wrote to his sister that he had striven for faith and found no rest.
A letter from his colleague John McCarthy turned it: "Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One." Taylor wrote, "As I read I saw it all!" (letter of 17 October 1869, in Howard and Geraldine Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, chapter 12).
George Müller1836
George Müller opened the first orphan house in Bristol on 21 April 1836, and on 18 June 1849 the orphans moved to the first of the new houses on Ashley Down.
He asked no person for money for the work. He made its needs known to God in prayer and published yearly Reports with the accounts in full.
Read the study of George Müller and the Orphans of Bristol 7 sections, 6 verses set out
Perpetua (203), Martin Luther (1522), Hudson Taylor (1869), George Müller (1836)
Voices on Faith, by Century
Three voices from the second, third and nineteenth centuries, each quoted from a work in the public domain.
Irenaeus (died 202)
Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4
Second century. God left a person's faith free and in his own control, as He left his works.
“And not merely in works, but also in faith, has God preserved the will of man free and under his own control, saying, ‘According to thy faith be it unto thee;’ thus showing that there is a faith specially belonging to man, since he has an opinion specially his own. And again, ‘All things are possible to him that believeth;’ and, ‘Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.’ Now all such expressions demonstrate that man is in his own power with respect to faith.”
on Mark 9:23Patristic
Clement of Alexandria (died 215)
The Stromata Book 2
Third century. Faith is a willing assent of piety to the things hoped for.
“But faith, which the Greeks disparage, deeming it futile and barbarous, is a voluntary preconception, the assent of piety-‘the subject of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,’ according to the divine apostle. ‘For hereby,’ pre-eminently, ‘the elders obtained a good report. But without faith it is impossible to please God.’ Others have defined faith to be a uniting assent to an unseen object, as certainly the proof of an unknown thing is an evident assent. If then it be choice, being desirous of something, the desire is in this instance intellectual. And since choice is the beginning of action, faith is discovered to be the beginning of action, being the foundation of rational choice in the case of any one who exhibits to himself the previous demonstration through faith. Voluntarily to follow what is useful, is the first principle of understanding. Unswerving choice, then, gives considerable momentum in the direction of knowledge. The exercise of faith directly becomes knowledge, reposing on a sure foundation.”
on Hebrews 11:1Patristic
Charles Spurgeon (1834 to 1892)
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2513: “How to Please God” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)
Nineteenth century. A faith that persuades a person he is in grace when he is not is more dangerous than none.
“There are some men who have a kind of faith, and these are, perhaps, in a more dangerous condition than those who have none at all because they are apt to deceive themselves and fancy that they are in a state of Grace, whereas they are still in a state of nature. The faith which pleases God is no mock faith, no dead faith, no false faith, no faith in a lie! It is faith in the Truth of God, it is true faith, it is spiritual faith.”
on Hebrews 11:6Particular Baptist
How Faith Has Been Taught
Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, the Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms, Watson and Wesley taught faith from the fifth century to the eighteenth.
Augustine taught that faith believes what it does not see1 paragraph
Augustine, preaching on John's Gospel, asked, "For what is faith, but believing what you see not? Faith then is to believe what you see not; truth, to see what you have believed" (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 40.9, translated by John Gibb, 1888).
Aquinas defined faith as the mind's assent to what is unseen1 paragraph
Thomas Aquinas defined faith as "a habit of the mind, whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is non-apparent". The definition stands in the Summa Theologiae, second part of the second part, question 4, article 1.
Calvin made trust in God's favor part of faith itself1 paragraph
John Calvin defined faith as "a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us", founded on God's promise in Christ and "sealed on our hearts, by the Holy Spirit". The definition stands in the Institutes, book 3, chapter 2, section 7.
The Heidelberg Catechism joined certain knowledge and hearty trust1 paragraph
The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, in its twenty-first answer, calls true faith "a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his Word". It adds that faith is "also a hearty trust which the Holy Ghost works in me by the Gospel."
The Westminster divines taught faith as receiving and resting on Christ1 paragraph
The Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 calls faith in Jesus Christ "a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation" (question 86). The Confession of the same year says, "This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong; may be often and many ways assailed and weakened, but gets the victory" (chapter 14, section 3).
Thomas Watson called faith the conquering grace1 paragraph
The Puritan Thomas Watson wrote, "Love is the crowning grace in heaven, but faith is the conquering grace upon earth". In the same chapter of A Body of Divinity he wrote that "faith is the master-wheel, it sets all the other graces running."
Wesley preached faith as a full reliance on Christ1 paragraph
John Wesley preached at St Mary's, Oxford, on 18 June 1738, three weeks after Aldersgate. In that sermon, "Salvation by Faith", he called Christian faith "a full reliance on the blood of Christ."
Where the Science Speaks
Studies find modest links between trust in God and mental health, measured for the most part as correlation.
A study of 159 patients in a psychiatric day programme found belief in God higher among those who responded to treatment (Rosmarin and others, 2013). Higher belief went with larger falls in depression and self-harm. Part of the link for depression ran through the patients' expectation that the treatment would help.
A review of 152 long-term studies found that religious faith went with a better course of depression in about half of them, with a modest effect overall (Braam and Koenig, 2019). Struggle in one's relationship with God went with more depression. Its authors call the summary exploratory, because the studies differ so widely, and most of the research measures links rather than causes.
These studies stand as later and smaller witnesses, and the ground of faith remains the word of God.
Six Studies of Faith
Each study takes one part of faith further, grouped by the texts, the stories and the words.
The texts
3 studies
- Passages and psalms · 44 verses set outThe Hall of Faith
Hebrews 11 names the men and women of the Old Testament who lived and died by faith in what God had promised.
- Passages and psalms · 25 verses set outTrust in the LORD with All Your Heart
Proverbs 3:5 to 6 asks a son to rest his whole weight on the LORD instead of on his own understanding.
- Passages and psalms · 20 verses set outLittle Faith and Great Faith
Matthew 8, 14 and 15 record Jesus' verdicts on the faith of a Roman officer, a mother from the region of Tyre and Peter.
- Passages and psalms · 44 verses set outThe Hall of Faith
The stories
2 studies
- Stories · 17 verses set outI Believe; Help My Unbelief
Mark's Gospel records a boy whom the disciples could not heal and the confession of mixed faith that his father made to Jesus.
- Stories · 6 verses set outGeorge Müller and the Orphans of Bristol
George Müller, a pastor born in Prussia, cared for the orphans of Bristol for nearly sixty-two years, until his death.
- Stories · 17 verses set outI Believe; Help My Unbelief
The words
1 study
- Symbols and words · 13 verses set outThe Words Emunah and Pistis
The Hebrew noun emunah and the Greek noun pistis head two families of words for trusting God and for being worthy of trust.
- Symbols and words · 13 verses set outThe Words Emunah and Pistis
Trust in the LORD with All Your Heart, Little Faith and Great Faith, I Believe; Help My Unbelief, George Müller and the Orphans of Bristol, The Words Emunah and Pistis
Where Readers Disagree
Each reading names its holders, the work that argues it and the objection raised against it.
What faith is
Read the study of the Words Emunah and Pistis 8 sections, 13 verses set out
| Reading | Held by | Work | Objection |
|---|---|---|---|
| First the intellect's assent to what God has revealed, made living by charity | Thomas Aquinas; the Council of Trent (Roman Catholic) | Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II question 2, article 1, and question 4, article 1 (1920 translation); the Council of Trent, Sixth Session (1547), chapter VIII and canon XII | James 2:19 says that even the demons believe that God is one, so assent without trust is not the faith that saves. |
| Knowledge joined to a heartfelt trust, and the trust belongs to faith itself | John Calvin; the Heidelberg Catechism; C. H. Spurgeon (Reformed; Baptist) | Calvin, Institutes 3.2.7 (1845 translation); the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), question 21; Spurgeon, All of Grace (1886), "What Is Faith?" | Hebrews 11:6 asks a person to believe that God exists and that He rewards, which is assent to truth, and Trent cites that verse for faith as the root of justification. |
The gift of Ephesians 2:8
Read the page on Saved by Grace Through Faith 11 sections, 12 verses set out
| Reading | Held by | Work | Objection |
|---|---|---|---|
| The whole of salvation by grace through faith | John Calvin (Reformed) | Calvin, Commentaries on Galatians and Ephesians, on Ephesians 2:8 to 9 (1854 translation) | A neuter pronoun can sum up a whole clause that includes faith, and Philippians 1:29 says it has been granted to believers to believe in Christ. |
| Faith itself, as part of the whole | John Chrysostom (Greek fathers) | Chrysostom, Homily 4 on Ephesians (1889 translation) | The pronoun "this" is neuter in Greek, while both "faith" and "grace" are feminine nouns. |
The substance of Hebrews 11:1
Read the study of the Hall of Faith 8 sections, 44 verses set out
| Reading | Held by | Work | Objection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hypostasis as substance, the reality of the things hoped for | John Chrysostom; the Latin Vulgate and the King James Version (Greek patristic exposition; the Latin and English Bible tradition) | John Chrysostom, Homily 21 on Hebrews, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 14 | Hebrews 3:14 uses the same word of an assurance believers must hold firmly to the end, a human firmness that can be lost. |
| Hypostasis as assurance, the ground under the believer's feet | John Calvin; Joseph Henry Thayer (Reformed commentary; nineteenth-century lexicography) | John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (1549), translated by John Owen (1853), on Hebrews 11:1; Joseph Henry Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon (1889), entry 5287 | The verse calls faith the hypostasis of the things hoped for, which ties the word to what faith grasps more than to the believer's confidence. |
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Hebrew and for Greek (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, with the Greek brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922)
- F. Brown, S. R. Driver and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1906), entries 539 and 530.
- J. H. Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (New York, 1889), entries 4102 and 5287.
- John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746 to 1748), on Mark 9:23.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on Matthew 21:21.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Mark 9:23 to 24 and Luke 17:5.
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832 to 1869), on Luke 17:5 and Proverbs 3:5.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), on Matthew 21:21 to 22, Luke 18:8 and Hebrews 11:1.
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on Luke 18:8 and Hebrews 11:1.
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 4, translated in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1 (1885)
- Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, book 2, chapter 2, translated by William Wilson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 2 (1885)
- C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, sermon 2513, "How to Please God" (published 1897)
- The Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 9, translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1 (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885)
- The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, chapters 1 and 2, translated by R. E. Wallis, Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 3 (1885)
- George Müller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller, Written by Himself, First Part, ninth edition (London: J. Nisbet, 1865), located by its dated entries.
- Arthur T. Pierson, George Müller of Bristol and His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God (New York: Baker and Taylor, 1899), pages 18, 126, 196, 205, 209, 211, 212, 243, 246, 257, 285, 293, 301, 409 to 410.
- Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, tractate 40, section 9, translated by John Gibb, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 7 (1888)
- Martin Luther, An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans (1522), translated by Robert E. Smith from the Erlangen edition, volume 63 (1854), pages 124 to 125.
- Howard Taylor and Geraldine Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Work of God (London: China Inland Mission, 1918), chapter 12, pages 173 to 176.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II question 2, article 1, and question 4, article 1, English Dominican translation, second edition (1920)
- The Council of Trent, Sixth Session (13 January 1547), Decree on Justification, chapter VIII and canon XII, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, volume 2 (1877)
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 3, chapter 2, section 7, translated by Henry Beveridge (1845)
- The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), question 21, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, volume 3 (1877)
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), chapter 14, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), question 86, as Philip Schaff printed them in 1877.
- Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (first printed 1692), "Faith".
- John Wesley, Sermon 1, "Salvation by Faith", preached at St Mary's, Oxford, 18 June 1738.
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, on Ephesians 2:8 to 9, translated by William Pringle (1854)
- John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on Ephesians, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 13 (1889)
- John Chrysostom, Homily 21 on Hebrews, section 4, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 14 (1889)
- John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, on Hebrews 11:1, translated by John Owen (1853)
- J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914 to 1929), General Introduction.
- D. H. Rosmarin and others, A test of faith in God and treatment: the relationship of belief in God to psychiatric treatment outcomes, Journal of Affective Disorders 146(3): 441 to 446 (2013)
- A. W. Braam and H. G. Koenig, Religion, spirituality and depression in prospective studies: a systematic review, Journal of Affective Disorders 257: 428 to 438 (2019)
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