What is Faith? by Nyron Madina The Elijah Messenger Introduction
Faith in the First Witness a. The use of the word Deut. 32:20; Hab. 2:4. b. The Hebrew word "EMUNAH" Firmness, foundation, fidelity, steady) C. Shockingly translated Truth: Deut. 32:4; Ps. 96:13; Isa. 59:4; Jer. 5:1,3; Jer. 7:28; Jer. 9:3; Ps. 119:30. d. Righteousness is equated with faithfulness in Isa. 11:5. e. The word translated "believe": "Amen"(to be firm, endure, be faithful, trust). Gen. 15:6; Ps. 119:66; Isa. 53:1; Isa. 7:9. f. The word or wisdom is firmness, steady: Ps. 119:89; Pr. 8:12,14,22-25. g. Conclusion: Faith is firmness, and only the Truth is like this, believing is a verbal form of it but implies trust or confidence. So Faith is NOT believing, but because it is the Faith (emunah) we must trust (Amen), our trust or believing is associated with the Faith (or firmness) because this trust itself is our firmness. Faith in the Second Witness a. Paul's plain, unambiguous definition of Faith: Heb. 1:1. b. Substance: Hupostasis: title deed. See Wuest's Word Studies Vol. 2 p. 193. (Another use in Heb.3:14). c. Evidence: Elegehos: Proof. See Wuest pg. 193. d. Examples of how Heb. 11:1 is explained in the same chapter. Heb. 11:3,7,13,17-19,27. e. Other proofs of how Faith is used: 1 Tim. 4:6; Rom. 10:6-8; Rom. 3:3 (Synonyms in Rom. 3 "oracles of God" Vs.2, "faith of God" Vs.3, "thy sayings" Vs.4, "truth of God" Vs.7) Prov. 22:20,21. f. Conclusion: All these show that Faith cannot be believing, it is the "revealed Truths of God". 4. Exposition of the "... things not seen..." Heb. 11:1 a. God shows hidden things not seen: Isa. 48:6. b. Paul shows that "speaking forth the words of truth" reveals hidden things: Acts 26:25,26. c. Paul shows that our Faith which is a revelation of the hidden things (mystery) is the revelation of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:5-10. d. Moses as quoted by Paul shows that the words of truth or Faith is the revelation of things not seen (Deut. 30:10-14; Rom. 10:5-10). e. Conclusion: So Faith as the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1) is the revealed Truths of God, or words of Faith. 5. Pistis (Faith) in Heb. 11:1 and other places in the Second Witness a. Pistis is a NOUN translated Faith in the second witness. b. Believe is a verb (active word) and is translated from the Greek word "Pisteuo". C. Pistis as used in various texts, being a noun and sometimes prefixed with the definite article "the" shows that it could never be "believe" or "trust" both verbs. Examples. Lk. 18:8,42; Acts. 14:22; Acts. 15:9; Rom. 1:8,17; Rom. 5:1; Rom. 10:17; Rev. 13:10; Rev. 14:12; (Acts. 17:31 wrongly translated assurance, should be Faith). Gal. 1:23 Rom. 4:5,9,11,13,16,19,20; Plil. 1:27. d . Pisteuo, a verb is translated "believe". This believing (accepting as truth) is in the sense as Trust (firmness of mental disposition), not as that of Satan (Jam. 2:19). Textual example: Rom.4:5; Matt.21:22,32; Jn. 2:22; Acts. 4:32; Acts. 9:42; Acts. 18:8; Jn. 1:12 . e. Conclusion the words of Faith and believing are truly related, but this is because the Greeks saw Pisteuo as trusting which is akin to believing, and which is holding the Faith (revealed Truths) in the mind. Protestant scholars, many of them, err in calling Faith Trust, making it human when, Paul makes it of God. (See Rom. 3:3,22; Gal. 2:16,20; Gal. 3:22; Phil. 3:9; Jam. 2:1; Rev. 14:12). 6. Some, scholars would yet admit that Faith is "the revealed truths of God" Here are some examples: a. "Faith is a deep insight, sure and divine knowledge.... Faith may also mean the 'content' of faith, the matter which is believed, as in the phrases, 'the good news of the faith ' (Gal. 1:23) and one Lord, one faith" Eph. 4:5. This was a common meaning for 'the Faith' in later church history, this was the fides quae creditur, "the Faith which is believed in', i.e. the Christian Faith, expressed in creeds, in decrees of Councils, the teaching of doctors and saints, and revealed in the Bible.... we have gone even further and seen that it signified a corporate body of doctrine, as the Christian vocabulary developed..." Nigel Turner, Christian Words, pp. 157, 158. b. The Faith. Paul can call the message itself pistis. As such, pistis is a principle, e. g. in contrast to law (Rom. 3:31; cf. 3:27: the law of faith). Along these lines pistis is Christianity either as being a Christian or as the Christian message or teaching (cf. Gal.6:10; 1:23). Acts. 6:7 and Eph. 4:5 offer similar uses and cf. I Tim. 3:9; 4:1,6. Orthodox doctrine is pistis in, Jude 3,20 and II Pet. 1:1. The phrases in 1 Tim. 1:2,4; 2:7; Tit. 1:1,4; 3:5 are to the same effect." Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 854. c. "There is another set of passages where Paul uses "faith" almost as synonymous with "Christianity". Here again he is following in the steps of the primitive community, which had begun to speak of the new religion simply as the "faith". James Stewart, A man in Christ, p. 181. d. "These were always unpropitious periods in the Christian church, when Christian histories of dogmatics and theology separated gnosis (knowledge) and pistis (faith). Pistis rightly understood is gnosis; rightly understood the act of faith is also an act of knowledge. Faith means knowledge .... Faith is knowledge; it is related to Cod's Logos, and is therefore a thoroughly logical matter. Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, pp. 23,25. 7. The use of the noun "Faith" in verbal expression to show that Faith as revealed truths is included, is the cause of the akin-ness of the Greek words for believing, trust etc. with its name sake Faith "pistis". Rom. 4:20; Heb. 11:6; Matt. 6:30. |