Jesus Christ asked a question about our time in Luke 18:8, “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” For Him to even ask, there is a good indication that faith will be scarce. It has always been scarce.
In Hebrews 10:35-38 we read that “the just shall live by faith.” The Bible is full of promises for this life and for eternal life in the kingdom of God. Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us that God created the worlds through Jesus Christ. In essence, Christ was asking, will I find people who believe this?
The evidence is in the Bible and in the physical creation around us. Will we believe it? Will we have faith?
Let us study faith: what it is, how we receive it, its benefits, and a Biblical example.
Faith is defined in the first verse of the faith chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 11: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The Greek word for faith is #4102 in Strong's Concordance. It also means persuasion, conviction of religious truth, conviction of the truthfulness of God, or reliance on God. It comes from #3982 to convince, to assent to evidence or authority, or to rely by inward certainty.
The word substance is #5287 which means a support or assurance. The word evidence is #1650 which also means proof or conviction.
This verse tells us that faith is the assurance that we will receive the things we hope for. It is the support for knowing that we will receive them. The Bible has promises for blessings in this life if we obey God. It has promises for eternal life in the kingdom of God. Faith is the assurance that we will receive those promises.
Faith is also the evidence or proof of what we cannot see or what we have not seen yet. By faith we know that God made the universe, although we cannot see God and we were not present at the creation. Faith is the evidence or proof that God exists. It is also the evidence that He will keep His promises, even though we have not seen those promises yet.
This verse does not define faith in terms of the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. If we perceived the object of our faith, we would not need faith, would we?
In Romans 4:16-21 we read about the relationship that the Old Testament patriarch Abraham had with God. Verse 21: “being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” Abraham had faith that God could keep His promises. He was assured that he would receive them. He had the evidence, which is faith.
We should consider what faith is not. Faith is not merely believing in Christ. Read John 8:31 in the King James Version: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament also reads “on him.” As you continue to read this chapter, you will see that the people were very argumentative. They believed in Christ but did not believe His message. It came to the point in verse 59 that they tried to kill Him by stoning.
In Mark 1:14-15 “…Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'” He did not say to believe in Him. (For a better understanding of the true gospel, please see our Bible study “What Is the Gospel.”)
Other beings believe in Christ, but is that enough? Demons believe in Him (James 2:19) but we would not say they have faith.
Faith is not a substitute for keeping the law of God. Read all of James 2:14-24. “Faith without works is dead.” We would not want dead faith. We want living faith. If faith without works is dead, then faith with works is living faith.
The apostle Paul is believed by some not to have kept God's law. Read what he wrote in Romans 3:28-31. Verse 31: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” This again ties faith to keeping God's law.
To understand what faith is, it helps to know how we can obtain faith. It is not something that we just work up or find within ourselves.
Read Romans 6:3-7 in the baptism chapter. We see that when we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ's death. Verses 3 and 4 show that we demonstrate our faith in His death, burial and resurrection. This much is our own faith.
There is more than our own faith. Ephesians 2:8 states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Faith is a gift of God!
Let us read another Scripture that tells us whose faith we need. Galatians 2:16 (King James Version): “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Notice that it is the faith OF Christ, not our faith IN Christ. The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament also translates it “faith of Christ.” Continue in verse 20 in the King James Version: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Again the Interlinear translates it as “of.” We are to live by Christ's faith in us, His gift to us.
When Jesus lived as a human being, He knew that He could accomplish nothing of true value on His own. Read John 5:30. We cannot do anything spiritually on our own, either. It takes God's faith in us.
How is faith produced? It is part of the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 in the King James Version reads: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” If we pray for more of God's Holy Spirit, we should receive more faith.
There is another way to receive more faith. In Romans 10:17 we find, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The word of God is the Holy Bible. We can receive more faith by studying the Bible.
We have seen that we can receive faith by prayer and Bible study.
We would all like our prayers answered. Christ taught: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24) Two blind men asked Christ to heal them. “Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith let it be to you.'” (Matthew 9:29) Faith is a condition to having our prayers answered by God.
God might not answer our prayers immediately. If He did, we would not need faith for very long. In James 1:2-4 we see, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” When our faith is tested by not receiving our desires right away, there is a good result: patience. “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” We must let God work with us to produce His perfect character in us. That is a benefit of faith.
Christ's disciples were amazed at what it would take to be able to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:23-26) “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'” It takes faith in God that He will put us in His kingdom.
We must overcome ourselves, Satan, and the world around us. The armor of God for fighting Satan the devil is listed in Ephesians 6:11-19. It includes “the shield of faith” in verse 16.
Wouldn't we all like to have love for each other all the time! We need faith in order to have true love. In Philippians 3:9 the King James Version states, “and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” So righteousness is from faith. Righteousness is defined in Psalm 119:172 as God's commandments, that is, His spiritual law. Romans 13:10 says that “love is the fulfillment of the law.” Putting these together we see that love comes from the faith of Christ.
We can read about Noah and the Flood in Genesis 6 through 8. In the faith chapter, Hebrews 11:7 we read that Noah prepared the ark by faith. He saved his life and the lives of his family, perpetuating the human race.
Most readers of the Bible have heard of Daniel in the lion's den, described in Daniel 6. They might not have noticed why he was put there. The king was tricked into signing a decree that nobody was to petition any god or man except the king for 30 days. Daniel had the faith to pray to God as he usually did, even with the window open. He was caught and put in the lion's den. God protected him and used the incident to teach the king about the true God. Besides, Daniel prospered after that. Hebrews 11:33 lists those who “through faith…stopped the mouths of lions.” That would certainly include Daniel.
With faith, God can work miracles in our lives, too. He will protect us physically and heal us. He will provide our needs, and often He will even provide our wants. More importantly, by faith He will develop His holy righteous character in us in order that we can become members of His family. Please see our Bible study entitled “Our Potential”.