The Definition of Faith

Everyone has a measure of faith. Now, their faith may not be in God, but they do have faith in something. They might have faith in themselves, which will be disappointing. Or maybe they have faith in a political system, which will be even more disappointing.

What, then, is faith, and how does it work?

Hebrews 11:1 gives us an excellent definition of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJV). Faith isn’t just believing something; it’s acting on what you believe in.

You can give mere intellectual assent to something and say, “I believe this is true.” Yet the Bible says, “Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19 NKJV).

Real faith in God is belief plus action. Faith does things. If you have real faith, you will do something with it. Hebrews 11 talks about what various people did with their faith. For example, Abel offered a sacrifice, Noah prepared an ark, and Abraham obeyed.

Faith with no works is a faith that doesn’t work.

Everything in our lives revolves around faith. We are saved by faith. Ephesians 2 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (verses 8–9 NKJV).

Not only are we saved by faith, but we live by faith and not by feelings. The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 NKJV). If we build our Christian lives on our emotions, then we’ll be riding a roller coaster, if you will, because sometimes we’re up emotionally and sometimes we’re down.

Faith, on the other hand, is steady, because we believe the Word of God regardless of our emotions. And there is no safer place to put our faith than in God.