What Is Faith?

Faith, like love, is both simple and complex. Therefore, it can be difficult to explain or easily misunderstood. The irony of the Faith Movement is that the faith it stresses is not biblical faith. What is faith? In essence, faith is simply trust. We all know what trust is: a boy with his father, a patient with his/her physician, a friend with a friend, etc. Thus, we may define faith as a loving self-commitment towards and trust in God, leading to personal surrender to Him in all affairs of life and appropriate conduct inspired by this surrender.

In the New Testament the most characteristic construction of the verb pisteuein (faith) denotes "an absolute transference of trust from ourselves to another, a complete self-surrender to God."

Despite what the Faith teachers claim, however, power does not reside in faith; it resides in God who sovereignly blesses a believer's faith according to His purposes (Psalm 62:11): "Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth ..." (Psalm 135:6) "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3).

This is the basic problem with the Faith Movement -- not that its adherents lack faith, but that their faith is often misplaced or inaccurately applied. For example, they may stress "having faith in their faith" more than trusting in God. As Charles Spurgeon stated in All of Grace, "faith is not blind -- it begins with knowledge; it is not speculative -- it believes facts of which it is certain are true -- it is not unpractical or romantic -- faith trusts wholly and stakes its very destiny on the truth of revelation."

But obviously, one cannot trust in God if one does not know Him. Just as obviously, one cannot trust what God says if one has wrongly interpreted the Bible. In order to know God and trust Him wholly, one must have accurate knowledge of who He is and what He has said.

In essence, to trust God is to trust God in all situations; it is not to attempt to manipulate God to fulfil our own will in life or escape from life's difficulties. In fact, problems and setbacks are an inevitable result of true faith. In a sinful, unbelieving world it could hardly be any other way. This is why the Bible promises godly Christians that persecution and all sorts of difficulties will be their lot in life (e.g., 2 Timothy 3:12).

The apostle Peter tells us that "suffer grief in all kinds of trials." But He also encourages us with a specific reason these trials have come: "These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold...-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7, NIV). Further, the Bible teaches, "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God..." (Jeremiah 42:6). "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9). Thus, in all circumstances we are to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is faith.

(from The Facts on the Faith Movement by John Ankerberg & John Weldon)