What Is Faith?
In the Bible, faith goes beyond accepting information as true; it describes trust placed in a person: relying on God's word and living in dependence on him. The letter to the Hebrews defines faith as 'assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen' and lists the witnesses of the Old Testament — Noah, Abraham, Moses and others — as examples of this trust. In the Gospels Jesus praises the faith he finds in people and says in many healing accounts, 'your faith has saved you'. In Paul's letters faith is the way grace is received: a person is set right before God not by achievement but through faith in Christ. The letter of James stresses the other side of the coin: faith without action is dead; real trust shows itself in life. Faith, according to Scripture, is not acquired once and finished but is an ongoing posture that begins with hearing, matures through testing and works through love.