• Faith Means To Trust

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The Greek word which is translated “faith” in our English Bibles is "pistis." This word means “faith, trust.” Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature Translated by Arndt and Gingrich, (University of Chicago: Chicago, 1957), p. 668.

• How Our Faith In God Is To Be Manifested Changes, Depending On What God Has Said

To summarize God’s message to Noah, God told him that He would destroy all the living creatures of the land and air with a flood. To prepare for this, Noah was instructed to build an ark.

Noah had never seen a flood. So what did it mean for Noah to have faith? To have faith required Noah to trust in God by building an ark even though the idea might have seemed absurd. And because he constructed that ark, Noah became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. Hebrews 11:7

Jumping forward in history, God promised Abraham that he would have a son even though he and his wife were too old. So how did Abraham manifest his faith in God? In this context to have faith required believing God's promise. And because he believed, Abraham became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Genesis 15:6

Fast forwarding through history one finds king Jehoshaphat telling the people to have faith in God. What response was required in order for those people to demonstrate their faith in God? You can not know until you have first heard the story.

A vast army was advancing against God’s people, but God told king Jehoshaphat not to be afraid of this vast army, but to march out against them. Jehoshaphat then told the people to have faith in the LORD. 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 How was faith to be manifested in this context? What response was required in order for faith to be realized? You can not know until you have heard the story! To possess faith in God in this situation meant to not be afraid but to trust in God by marching out against the enemy. 2 Chronicles 20:20

As we move through history again, we come to king Ahaz. If Ahaz was going to have faith in God how was he supposed to respond? Until you have heard the story, you can not know! Ahaz was being tempted to rely upon foreign military strength to repel the enemy coming against him. Isaiah 7:3f. God’s instructions to Ahaz indicated that he was to stand firm in faith. Isaiah 7:9 In this context, to possess faith meant “don’t send for military help, wait on God.” Unfortunately, Ahaz chose to trust in military power. 2 Kings 16:5f.

• How Faith In God Is Manifested Is Determined By What God Has Said And Done

How trust or faith is to be manisfested in any given situation is determined by the context. For example, how does one demonstrate faith in someone who has made a promise? Faith is realized if one “just believes.” The context of a promise only requires "belief" in the promise in order for one to have faith. And so when God gave His promise to Abraham and Abraham responded in faith by believing that promise, Abraham demonstrated faith and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Paul’s use of Abraham in Romans 4 is not making the claim nor affirming by example that faith in Christ means to “just believe.” Rather, Paul is seeking to defend the principle that by trusting in God, without the works of the Law, one can be made righteous. Abraham is an example of one who was credited as being righteous based upon his trust in God as opposed to depending upon himself by what he had achieved through obedience to the Law of Moses.

Although a promise only requires one to just believe, when God issues a command, to respond with faith to that command requires more than just believing. When God commanded Abraham to leave his country and “go to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1), faith did not mean “just believe.” It meant for him to pack his bags and head down a dusty road trusting that God would in fact lead him. When God commands, to trust in God involves “believing” and “obeying.” To respond with less than what the context demanded was to fail to demonstrate faith.

Although faith always means to trust, how that trust is to be manifested changes depending upon the context. Perhaps this can be illustrated by computer language. Faith is not a “literal string” where it always demands the same response such as “just believe." Rather, faith is like a variable whose specific demands of how one is going to trust changes depending upon each context.

• To Know How To Have Faith In Jesus Requires That One First Hear The Gospel Story

How does one trust in Jesus? You can not know until you have first heard the story! There exists several theoretical possibilities for how God might require us to trust in Jesus. If God has simply made us a promise through Jesus that He will do something for us, then to respond with faith would simply mean to "just believe the promise."

If, however, God has presented us with a Lord whom we must submit to, then faith would demand that we "submit to Jesus as Lord." Or it might be that God has commanded us to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior by responding with a particular action. Then faith in Jesus would require not only believing but also obeying God's command. What it actually means to trust in Jesus will be determined by hearing the Gospel message. It does not depend upon what I think it means to have faith in God.

Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God announced through His prophet Isaiah that His Servant would suffer and take upon himself the sins of others. The story of Jesus is how God fulfilled many prophecies like this one thus providing peace and salvation toward man.

God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

When the religious leaders felt threatened by Jesus, they began to plot how to kill him. They succeeded in having him killed. But on the third day God raised him up to life and appointed Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead when God will judge the world with justice.

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe everything he had commanded them. The good news is that those who believe in Jesus receive the forgiveness of their sins.

• What Can We Learn From Paul?

To note that Paul wrote his letters to Christians and not to non-Christians may seem like a small point at first, but it influences how one interprets Paul. Paul did not write his letters to teach Christians how to trust in Jesus! Although Paul wrote a lot about faith and strongly defended the principle of trusting in Jesus, Paul knew that his readers already understood how to trust in Jesus. Paul's primary purpose for writing about the justification which comes by faith in Christ was to respond to those who claimed that obedience to the Law of Moses (works) was necessary for salvation. (Cf. Acts 15; Romans 4; Galatians 3) Paul’s purpose was to defend the principle of faith against schemes of self-dependence. Paul should not be interpreted as trying to primarily explain how one should trust in Jesus for salvation!

In fact, with the possible exception of some of the Gospels and perhaps the book of Acts, the entire New Testament was written to the community of faith, to people who had no need of being told what it meant to acknowledge Jesus by faith. This should alert us to the fact that the New Testament authors had no need to address the question we are asking. Accordingly, when the nature of faith is discussed in the New Testament, typically it either describes matters of practical living for those already within the community of faith (James 2:14-26), or it highlights one aspect of trusting in Jesus. In such cases, these verses are not seeking to teach us everything about how we are to respond in faith but rather, the author is using some aspect of faith to advance some other point.

• Romans 9:30-10:21

One example where Paul while making another point partially described what it means to trust in Jesus is found in Romans 10. In explaining the obstacle that had prevented Israel from receiving the righteousness which comes by faith (Romans 9:30-10:21), Paul used Deuteronomy 30:11-14 to teach that the righteousness which comes by faith requires “the message” (Jesus) to become a belief in one’s heart and a confession of one’s lips.

The function of this passage is to show from scripture why Israel had failed to arrive at faith. Israel had not internalized the message of Jesus. Israel had refused to believe in their hearts on Jesus nor were they willing to confess him with their lips. But since salvation is open to all who will call upon the Lord, that is, to all who will depend upon Jesus for salvation (cf. Acts 2:21; 22:16), even an Israelite would be saved if he would respond to the message of Christ with his heart and his lips. Paul’s purpose here in talking about faith is not to define for his reader everything about faith, rather he identified that barrier which had prevented Israel from being justified by faith.

In spite of Paul’s purpose for writing, we can discover from this text something about what is required to have faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus includes the willingness to confess Jesus as Lord and to believe on him in one’s heart.

• Galatians 3:26-27

Another text in which Paul partially described how God wants one to trust in Jesus is Galatians 3:26-27. In the original language this text comprises one sentence which reads: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Paul defined that faith which causes one to become a child of God as involving baptism, specifically a baptism into Christ that results in one being clothed with Christ.

In spite of Paul’s purpose for writing Galatians which appears to be a response to those who would bind the Mosaical Law upon Christians, we can discover something about what Paul understood constituted responding to Christ by faith and thus being sons of God. To become a child of God by trusting in Jesus necessitated that one be baptized into Christ.

Paul’s writings reflect an understanding of faith and works that did not create a dichotomy between belief and actions. For Paul, "faith verses works" was the dichotomy between trusting in Jesus verses self-reliance such as could come by observing the Law. Unfortunately today, many people mistakenly assume that the contrast between “faith and works” involves “belief verses action.” To assume that faith equals “believe” and works equals “action” is unbiblical. Both faith and works can include actions. Both are based upon beliefs, albeit not the same beliefs.

Paul understood faith to be trusting in God and in Jesus. To trust in Jesus involves “the obedience of faith.” In Romans 1:5 Paul stated that his missionary goal was to bring “all the Gentiles to the obedience of faith.” Similarly, at the end of this same great letter which champions faith in Jesus, Paul wrote that the preaching of Jesus Christ leads to the obedience of faith. Romans 16:25-26

• Does Luke Agree With Paul?

Just as Paul’s purpose was not to teach all of the details about conversion nor how to become a Christian, so also Luke did not write Acts to teach us how to respond to the Gospel message. But Acts does historically record how people did respond to the preaching of the Gospel. When people heard the story about Jesus' death and resurrection, many did respond with faith. For example, in Acts 4:4 one reads, "But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand." Similarly when the message of Jesus was proclaimed at Antioch, "a great number became believers and turned to the Lord." Acts 11:21 Likewise when some Jewish priests heard the Gospel, they became "obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7

In Acts 8:12 Luke describes the response of faith in greater detail when he wrote, “But when they believed Philip while he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized.” Acts 8:35-36 agrees, “Then Philip ... proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” What Luke portrays in this text is that when Philip simply presented the message about Jesus, that Gospel message evoked the faith question, “Why can’t I be baptized?”

Does this mean that there are/ can be different responses to the Gospel message? No. Sometimes Luke used “believe” or “obedient to the faith” in a very general way to mean “they were converted.” Such phrases serve the same function and communicate the same message as Acts 14:21 which states, "They preached the good news in that city, and made many disciples..." In these verses, no details are given about HOW one entrusted his life to Jesus. At other times Luke provides details about how one's faith in Jesus was manifested as a result of hearing the Gospel message.

When people heard the preaching of the good news about Jesus, how did they trust in Jesus? Those that believe the message requested baptism. Although it was simply the Gospel which was being preached, that story of Jesus obviously included the message about how to respond to Jesus in faith which explains why the Eunuch requested baptism. In Acts, the salvation which is associated with the forgiveness of sins required baptism. Acts 2:38; 22:16

Doesn’t Acts 10:43 also teach that the forgiveness of sins would come to those who just “believe” in Jesus. First of all, the text never says "just believe." Second, it is obvious that Peter's message to Cornelius comprised the necessity of the general call to trust in Jesus because the text goes on to show that his whole family was baptized. Paul and Luke both agree that the biblical response of faith to the Gospel message involves a baptism into Christ.

The New Testament writers understood faith in Jesus to be trusting in Jesus as our sacrifice, a response that involves not only believing that Jesus was raised from the dead but also a willingness to confess him as Lord and to cast one’s hope upon Christ as one is buried in baptism. Faith in Christ is to depend on Christ and His blood. Romans 3:25; 5:9 In Hebrews 10:19-22, the Hebrew author revealed that he believed it was because of Jesus' blood that he would be purified and thus could enter into God's holy presence. What is significant for our discussion is that he tied together the contacting of Christ's blood with the physical act of having one's body washed with pure water.

Barry Newton, Copyright © 1998 Revised 2000

Part two of this study is entitled: Biblical Faith (Part 2): Why Baptism is Necessary For Faith in Jesus. "Sez Who?"

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Obedience and Justification by Faith. Forcing Square Pegs Through Rounds Holes?

Children of God by Faith

Baptism in the New Testament

Twister - What Do You Have Faith In?

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