By Perhaps the most familiar religious term to all professing Christians is the word “faith”. Can you give a short explanation of what it means?
Faith is “belief in”. It needs to be differentiated from mere “belief”, for in our times “faith” has become a commodity—the more you have of it, the more spiritual you are perceived to be. However, true faith is “belief in“, not just “belief”. Faith in itself is not necessarily true spirituality, but faith in God is of crucial importance.
We have “faith in God”. We believe, not just to believe, but to believe the truth. Faith is the assurance in our hearts that what we believe is indeed the truth even if we have never seen it (Hebrews 11:1, 3).
In the Old Testament the concept of faith is most accurately described by the term “the fear of the LORD”. Again, it is not only fear, but fear of the LORD. Faith is the firm conviction in our hearts that God is, and that He is fearfully holy and good.
When we claim to have faith, it is not a claim of spirituality, but a claim of knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom God had sent. We believe that Jesus lived, then died for our sins, and was raised again and is currently seated at the Father’s right hand interceding for us (Rom 8:34).
Our faith is in the true God, a real Jesus, who really died for our very real sins, and will give us a very real eternal life in a real Heaven.
Faith is the assurance in our hearts that what we believe about God is indeed actual reality. Our faith is not blind, but the ability to know what is otherwise unknowable.