There is a lot of talk about faith these days, both inside and outside the church. We speak of, “having faith,” “having enough faith,” “faith-based [instruction, care, etc.],” and others. It seems that much of the general population believes that faith is an okay word to talk about. It also seems that working definition of faith would including having faith in faith.

As believers, we are called to live in the truth. That certainly includes a right understanding of faith. What exactly is faith? Is it some mystical force? Is it something we can measure? What can it do in our lives? In this post, we’ll begin to look at some of the answers to these questions.

Defining Our Terms

I’m always a proponent of defining terms, so that everyone knows what I am talking about. The same is true when discussing an idea such as faith. The dictionary defines faith as: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Synonyms of faith thus include trust, belief, confidence, conviction, credence, reliance, dependence; optimism, hopefulness, hope, expectation. Do any of those words sound familiar? They should. Many of them are found in the Bible when speaking of faith.

Let’s look at this definition a little closer. Faith means that we have trust in someone or something. Faith always has an object. We place our faith in someone or something. Those who say, “You just have to have faith,” without identifying the object are not teaching true faith. They are trying have faith in faith itself, and to quote a series of popular commercials a few years back, “That’s not how this works!”

The other part of the definition says complete trust in someone or something. Ideally faith is perfect, without doubt. In our world, however, that is rarely the case. Such is the nature of a fallen world. But, incomplete (or “weak”) faith is still faith.

Faith is Real

From this definition, we can conclude that faith is not some mystical, impersonal force that’s just “out there.” Faith is real and objective. In fact, faith can be measured. How do we know that we (or someone else) has faith? Let’s look at a couple examples, first an everyday example, and second an example from the Bible.

Example 1: My chair

This is an often overused, but just as much overlooked and dismissed, example of faith.  When I go to sit in my chair, I have faith that the chair will support me without breaking. I have some evidence that it will (past experience, maybe the weight limit of the chair shown on a label or in the instruction sheet, etc.). But in truth, that’s not 100% proof that the chair will hold me. It’s a very reasonable basis on which to believe the chair will hold me, however. How am I to know for certain that it will? I must sit in the chair.

Now, I have two choices. I can choose to sit in the chair, or not sit. If I choose to not sit in the chair, then I don’t trust the evidence (and thus, at the very least my faith is not strong enough). On the other hand, If I believe the evidence, I will have faith, and thus I will sit in the chair. Now, if I choose to sit in the chair, two outcomes are possible: the chair either will or will not support me. Is it possible that the chair fails to support me even though I have evidence to believe it will support me? While it’s unlikely to happen, it’s entirely possible. Faith is not, as we have said, 100% proof, but a reasonable basis for my belief (we’ll come back to the implications of this in a bit).

Example 2: Peter and the lake

Our second example comes from the life of Peter, the well-known time when he walked on the water (at least for a short period). This is often held up to people as an example of a lack of faith on Peter’s part. However, it’s in fact a perfect example to use in understanding faith.

To refresh our memory of the story, we are told that after feeding 5,000 men (plus women and children), Jesus had the disciples get into a boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, while He dismissed the people and went to pray by Himself. While the disciples were rowing the boat to the other side, night fell, and along with it came a storm. Suddenly, the disciples spotted something on the surface of the water. They thought at first it was a spirit, but Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, it is I.” (Matt. 14:22-27). Matthew picks up the rest of the story:

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (vv. 28-33).

Let’s break this down a little bit. Peter decides to test the “It is I” statement of Jesus. If it’s Jesus, Peter must have thought, then He can call to me and I can in faith walk on the water to Him. Imagine such a thought! He had seen the evidence of Jesus feeding the 5,000 earlier—and the other things that Jesus had done previously. He had a reasonable basis to believe that Jesus could grant His request (I’d say more than reasonable, actually). I daresay few others would have tried such a thing, even in light of the evidence (and as we know, Peter was the only one to attempt it).

Peter exercises His faith when the Lord called out, “Come.” He begins to walk on the water toward Jesus. I often wonder what that must have felt like for Peter. After a bit, though, Peter looks around and sees all the wind and the waves. He begins to sink! Of course, we know that he cried out to Jesus and Jesus grabbed him up and brought him to the boat, with just a question: O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

So, what happened to Peter there? Did his faith fail him? Not at all. His faith was strong in the beginning, as we see. How do we know he had faith? Because he acted. He put out a test: If it’s Jesus, then He will call to me and I will walk on the water to meet Him. Jesus did in fact call to him, and thus Peter had a choice: Get out of the boat or stay. We know he had faith because he got out of the boat! What happened to his faith? Was it misplaced? His faith was not misplaced. He simply began to believe the other evidence—the evidence of the wind and the waves that said, “You can’t do this! You’ll drown!” Like in the first example, if I didn’t believe the evidence that the chair would hold me, I wouldn’t sit. In Peter’s case, he believed at first, but then he doubted.

Lessons of Faith

What do we learn about faith from these examples? Our faith can be weak or strong. As we exercise our faith and it is confirmed, our faith grows. (That is to say, the more I sit in the chair and the more it supports me, my faith in the chair’s ability to hold me grows.) Peter had faith because of the evidence he saw. Yet, his faith wasn’t quite strong enough to counter the other evidence.

But….but…. he got out of the boat! He exercised his faith. Even though he doubted and began to sink, keep this in mind. In order to sink, he first had to get to the water. And his faith DID grow, based on that and other evidence, culminating in the resurrection. His faith grew so much that he walked up to a lame man in the temple and said, “What I have I give you. In the Name of Jesus, rise up and walk,” and the man jumped up and started walking! And…and…. His faith grew even more. We are told that as Peter walked around, people “even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them” (Acts 5:15). That’s faith!

Do we have misplaced faith? When we place faith in anything or anyone but God and His Word, our faith can be shaken. People and things of this world will let us down. The chair breaks, the friend hurts us. God, however, will never reject us. His Word is a solid foundation on which to place our faith.

Next week, we’ll continue talking about faith, as we examine what biblical faith is and how it works. (On Faith Part 2)