You may ask "What is faith?" The Greek word "pistis" can be translated as "faith" or "belief" - it is the information that God makes known to people to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety.
God gives people His belief/faith when He tells people what they should believe (have faith in). Once God communicates His belief to us, then we are given the opportunity to have the same belief regarding that specific situation or circumstance – by believing (having faith-in, trusting) the contents of what God says, His words to us.
The Book of Hebrews has a wonderful verse to tell us how to receive God's faith, His belief.
Hebrews 11:6 (KJV):
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
This verse means that apart-from the information that God makes known to a person to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety - a person does not have the ability to be agreeable, acceptable, and gratifying to God. It is not possible to well-please God without His belief.
How does a person receive God’s belief in order to be able to well-please God?
It is necessary for the person going towards God to believe that…
· God is (He exists in living reality right now while the person is going towards Him)
…and…
· God becomes the compensation payer (gives the wage) to the people seeking Him out (in the sense of looking to God for His response).
In order for a person to obtain God’s belief regarding a specific situation or circumstance, that person must first come towards God believing (having faith, trusting) that God is and that God becomes the compensation-payer to the people seeking Him out.
Yes - God is and God does pay back to those who seek after Him for His answers.
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Maura,
ReplyDeleteThe definition or understanding of Biblical Faith is a subject which many Christians have struggled with for centuries and even today.
Please do explain more about Biblical Faith.
Is Faith simply, "That which God gives to be believed? His Word?"
For God's Word is always believable.
Just a few thoughts here ...
The noun “pistis” can be translated as “belief” or “faith” – it refer to the information that God makes known to a person or to people to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety.
ReplyDeleteGod can communicate His belief/faith regarding a situation or circumstance in various ways – some of which include:
- Via the already revealed Word of God written in the Bible
- Via the gift of holy spirit which all true Christians have received, by either making it available to the Christian as one of the spirit’s evidences (I Corinthians chapter 12) or by making it available for the Christian to take as a fruit of the spirit (Galatians chapter 5)
- Via an angel
- Via another person when God gives someone the information to speak to others – then the other person or people can hear it also
- Via hearing an audible sound of a voice speaking words, or smell, or taste, or touch, or sight
We can rely on what God tells us concerning a specific situation or circumstance. Once God communicates His belief to us, then we are given the opportunity to have the same belief regarding that specific situation or circumstance – by believing (having faith in, trusting) the contents of what God says, His words to us. We should accept His belief being true to and for ourselves. God’s belief is not dependant upon whether a person believes it or not.
The person or people receiving the belief/faith have the choice of believing it (having faith in it, trusting it) – or refusing to believe it.
Those who believe it will then have the belief/faith which God has given to them – they will have belief/faith.
But those who refuse to believe it will have unbelief (they will be unfaithful).
Belief/Faith was available during the old covenant times (Genesis – John) because God could communicate His information to people and they could then believe it and live accordingly.
The Lord Jesus Christ lived his life prior to his death believing everything that His Father, God, gave him to believe. He is the savior of mankind. He made reconciliation back to God available to mankind. Hebrews 12:2 tell us that Jesus is the author and completer (finisher) of the belief/faith – he believed all the information that God made known to him.
Since the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter 2, people everywhere can believe the belief/faith that God has given to be believed regarding His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, since his resurrection - which is:
Romans 10:9 and 10: (TBS)
.9that if-ever you may express-agreement in your mouth (regarding the) Lord Jesus Christ and you may believe in your heart that God raised him up out-from dead-people you will be saved,
.10for with (the) heart it is believed into righteousness and with (the) mouth agreement-is-expressed into salvation.
This is “the belief/faith” which makes salvation available to any man or woman or child.
After a person becomes saved, he/she may receive additional information regarding specific situations or circumstances to believe from God via various ways as indicated above.
Please also refer to my books at: http://truebiblestudy.com/Products.htm