I Believe, Help My Unbelief!

A Word From The Wor

It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus said if we have faith even the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Paul went so far as to say that faith is the means by which we receive salvation (Ephesians 2:8).

So, what exactly is faith?

At this point, most Christians would quote Hebrews 11:1: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The problem is, this is a description, not a definition of the word, “faith”. The failure to understand this has caused many to struggle with faith. It has led Christians to divide from one another. It has caused people seeking Jesus to not understand how they can grow in a relationship with Him!

So, again, what exactly is faith?

In the New Testament, the word faith is a translation of the Greek word “pistis”. But it isn’t just translated “faith”. In most English translations it is also translated “belief”, “trust” and “faithfulness”.

What we need to understand is that faith isn’t one of these things, depending on the passage and context. It is all of them, all at once.

Faith is believing truth. Jesus insisted on this basic first step—that people believe in Him—in who He is. Faith involves accepting the reality that Jesus is God incarnate, that He lived as a man without sin, died for our sins, and rose again. Many struggle with this aspect of faith, and doubt. But Jesus’ response to this doubt was to encourage the doubters to confront their doubts so they can believe. We call Thomas, one of the 12, “the doubter”. But Jesus accepted His doubt and made a special effort to give Him the opportunity to remove the doubt (John 20:27). When we doubt, we need to be willing to confront that doubt because what we believe is true!

The Disciple of Jesus knows that faith as belief is not enough. In fact, James reminds us that the demons believe (more strongly than we do—they know and have no doubt who Jesus is!). So, faith as believing truth is raising faith to Satan’s level! (James 2:19)

Faith is trust. When Jesus was encouraging his followers just prior to his arrest and execution, he confronted how they were feeling and said “You trust God, trust me also.” (John 14:1). The word the Holy Spirit used in this passage is pistis. Faith isn’t just believing something to be true. It is trusting the one about whom we believe! This is why Paul can say salvation is a gift received by pistis. It isn’t believing that Jesus is God’s son and died for us that saves us (remember, Satan believes this, but He does NOT trust Jesus!). It is trusting His forgiveness rather than our works that allows us to receive salvation.

Faith isn’t simply believing and trusting. True faith involves a change in the behavior of the one who is faithful. In fact, “faithfulness” is listed as one of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22—and, you guessed it, the word we translate as faithfulness is the same word, “pistis”. (NOTE: for those who look up the specific words, remember that word endings in Greek do not mean it is a different word, but denote the place of speech of the word.)

This is why Jesus can say, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of the Father.” (Matthew 7:21). This isn’t Jesus teaching that we earn salvation by our works—we know that isn’t true from Ephesians. Rather, it is a simple statement that those who have true faith live accordingly (if imperfectly—the word translated “does” actually means “practices”, but that is a different blog!).

Our faith is weak. Jesus not only does not expect that this faith will be perfect. He helps us with its imperfection. In one of my favorite passages, a man asks Jesus to help his son if he can. Jesus responds, “If you can”? Everything is possible for the one who has faith (believes)! The man’s honest response: “Lord, I have faith (I believe), help me in my lack of faith (unbelief)!” As with Thomas, Jesus didn’t punish this man for his imperfect faith, He honored the man’s desire for his faith to be stronger–and helped him! (Mark 9:24)

If you are struggling with your faith, remember that Biblical faith—pistis—is three dimensional. It involves believing, trusting and living faithfully to Jesus! All of these are imperfect in us. But Jesus isn’t looking for perfection. He is looking for us to grow in our faith, even when it takes His help to do it!

Know Jesus, and Be Faithful!