God defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 " Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)
In order to understand what faith is we will have to look closely at Hebrews 11:1.
Definitions:
Ἔστιν δὲ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. [1]
1. πιστις: (G 4102) pístis; gen. písteōs, fem. noun from peíthō (G 3982), to win over, persuade. Faith. Subjectively meaning firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness (though rare). Objectively meaning that which is believed, doctrine, the received articles of faith.[2]
2. ὑπόστασις: (G 5287) hupóstasis; gen. hupostáseōs, fem. noun from huphístēmi (n.f.), to place or set under. In general, that which underlies the apparent, hence, reality, essence, substance; that which is the basis of something, hence, assurance guarantee, confidence (with the obj. sense).[3]
3. ἐλπιζομένων: (G 1679) elpízō; from elpís (G 1680), hope. To hope, expect with desire.[4]
4. ἐλεγχος: (G 1650) élegchos; gen. elégchou, masc. noun from elégchō (G1651), to convict. Conviction. Metonymically, meaning certain persuasion[5]
I found this written in the Baker Encyclopedia Christian Apologetics:
People rightly refuse to believe without evidence. Since God created humans as rational beings, he expects them to live rationally, to look before they leap. This does not mean there is no room for faith. But God wants us to take a step of faith in the light of evidence, rather than to leap in the dark.
Evidence of truth should precede faith. No rational person steps in an elevator without some reason to believe it will hold him up. No reasonable person gets on an airplane that is missing part of one wing and smells of smoke in the cabin. People deal in two dimensions of belief: belief that and belief in. Belief that gives the evidence and rational basis for confidence needed to establish belief in. Once belief that is established, one can place faith in it. Thus, the rational person wants evidence that God exists before he places his faith in God. Rational unbelievers want evidence that Jesus is the Son of God before they place their trust in him.[6]
Allow me to illustrate. I may believe that a chair will support me if I sit in it. That belief does me no good until I marry that belief with trust and actually set in the chair. My faith (belief plus trust) that the chair will hold me up does not add to the chairs ability to hold me up but my trust in the chairs ability to hold me up demonstrated by my setting in it allows me to reap the benefit that the chair offers.
Faith that something is so does not make it so; it is only the expression of one’s belief that it is so. Let me explain. When I was growing up I knew someone that had a sister who loves to pick and eat wild mushrooms. She knew all kinds of facts about mushrooms, their types, when to pick them, how to cook them and so forth. One day she ate what she “knew” was a good mushroom, there was no doubt in her mind that it was an edible mushroom, and she nearly died, because it was not a mushroom. Her sincere belief nearly killed her. The point is that believing a lie does not make it so. It is the object of one’s faith that has merit, or lacks merit. Another way to illustrate this can be stated thusly. There is a chair and you wish to set down. You may gather facts about chairs and their construction, you may question an expert on chairs until you know as much as he does and you may come to the belief that the chair will hold you up, but until you set down all of your chair knowledge does you no good. Once you set down all of the knowledge that you have on chairs does not add one bit to the chairs ability to hold you, but had you not believed that the chair would hold you up and then sat down you would not have benefited from the chair. Just as true, though is that had you not believed that the chair would hold you up you would not have sat down. Also true is that just because you believed that the chair would hold you up until you actually sat down in it that faith did nothing for you.
Now let us apply this to Christianity. In order to believe in Christ one needs evidence about his claims, for different people different amounts of evidence are needed. But no matter how much evidence is provided at some point that person uses faith to provide the evidence that cannot be seen. In court this is called “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Another way of saying this is “based upon the evidence that I have seen I can believe that which I have not seen”.
The converse of this must now be considered. There are people who no matter how much evidence they are given choose not to believe. These are the people who move into the realm of “beyond an unreasonable doubt”. Not much can be done for these people except pray.
So far our consideration of faith has focused upon the aspect that relates to initial salvation, but what about after one is “saved”. What roll does faith play after one becomes a Christian?
"This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3)
As we grow as Christians our faith grows and we learn to stop trying to “do it” on our own and let God work through us. After salvation faith is what allows us to choose to obey God’s commands for living even if we do not fully understand those commands. The rest of Hebrews 11 deals with “living” faith not “saving” faith.
[1]Aland, B., Aland, K., Black, M., Martini, C. M., Metzger, B. M., & Wikgren, A. (1993, c1979). The Greek New Testament (4th ed.) (579). Federal Republic of Germany: United Bible Societies.
[2] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[3] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[4] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[5] The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament.
[6]Geisler, N. L. (1999). Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics. Baker reference library (38). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
