Faith… is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, one can define faith as confidence or trust in a particular system of religious belief. Religious people often think of faith as confidence based on a perceived degree of warrant, while others who are more skeptical of religion tend to think of faith as simply belief without evidence.
– Wikipedia
Yes. To all of this. Wikipedia’s summary of faith is the most accurate description I’ve ever heard of any term, particularly a term with varying views. It denotes what faith is while connoting the depth of contrasting viewpoints.
I further appreciate the “often” and “tend” language of the last sentence because I’ve met many people who thought opposite what their role would indicate. I have met religious folk who are hostile to the notion of supporting their beliefs with evidence. I have also met those without faith who pointed out a great deal of evidence in its favor, one even crying out in frustration, upset at lacking the faith even though it it all “makes sense.”
Faith is Necessary for Salvation
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
– Jesus in Mark 16:16
So… that’s pretty straightforward. It gets a little complicated later, but the assertion alone seems plain as day. This assertion is echoed in John as well as the epistles.
Faith is a Gift from God
Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him.
– Catechism of the Catholic Church
This entire segment of the Catechism is interesting to read, but this is the specific part relevant to this subtopic. I highly recommend perusing it further. It references a few Bible verses; below is the most apropos.
Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
– Jesus in Matthew 16:17
Jesus asked who the apostles thought He was. Peter responded, saying Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God – the One the Jewish people had been waiting for as a fulfillment of the covenant made centuries past. God made a promise, and Peter’s response to the inquiry was that God was making good on His promise. Peter showed that he trusted God at His word by believing that Jesus is Who He says He is.
This was the faith of Peter. Jesus points out that it’s not Peter himself who figured it out; rather, God did. God pointed out the reality to Peter, granting Peter faith. God gave Peter the faith to trust in His promises, including the fulfillment of the covenant in Jesus.
The Circular Debate on Faith as a Gift from God
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.
– Ephesians 2:8
This verse has generated contentious debate about whether faith is a gift from God or whether the “it” instead refers to grace or salvation. Both faith and grace make great candidates as the “it” as the antecedent basis was set in the previous half-sentence; salvation also makes for a great candidate because it’s the topic of the letter. As such, “it” may refer to any of the three: faith, grace, or salvation.
As my brother would say, “I’mma simple potatah fahmah from Maine; I like simple.” Feel free to delve into the depths of theology, but for the time being, I’ll pass. Why?
It’s a moot point. Here’s why:
Final destination: salvation (with God).
These are the the venue options suggested by various interpretations of the passage. Regardless of the path taken, the start point is the same and the end point is the same. The order and clumping-or-not of stuff in the middle is just gravy.
(And yes, that is Baked Alaska.)
“Gift + Necessity:” Why This Debate Matters
It’s pretty clear that, one way or another, to be saved (or simply to not be condemned) requires faith. Faith is a gift from God that we may join Him at the end of our Earthly lives. God loves all of His children and wants all of us to be saved and join Him in heaven. However, some are given the gift of faith and others are not. Why?
I can’t fully answer that, but I do have an analogy. Faith is beyond belief; it requires works. Not for God, mind you, but for us: if we don’t put works into our faith, it will grow stale and die out.
Think of it like tending a literal fire. We have to prepare the wood fuel and add to it as the fire depletes it, eventually needing to go out and either purchase or cut down timber to feed the fire. We pile up the timber and the kindling – our works – but we still just have a pile of flammable stuff. At some point, prepared or not, God comes along with a flint and gives us a spark.
Excellent! Awesome, right? But there’s a “catch” of needing to continue to feed the fire. One spark is all it takes, but we need to nurture the spark into a full blaze and continue to feed it once it is burning. If we fail to feed the fire, it will slowly peter out as it depletes the wood.
Our faith is the same way. Maybe God struck the flint and the target person decided to stamp out the flicker of light; maybe they let it catch, but then severed it from the pile of fuel; maybe the pile was intentionally not built. Regardless, God gave us the spark we needed to get started, but it’s up to us to keep the fire burning.
Summary
Faith is trust in something or someone. It’s not (generally) blind, instead wisely depending on various data to determine whether something is true. The more we build up a knowledge of the whys, the sturdier our foundations of faith will be.
It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
– Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl
What do you think about faith? How do you exercise your faith, whether it’s in God, loved ones, society, or anything else you place trust in?
Further Reading
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a couple of great sections on faith, specifically in the Profession of Faith (in which the importance of faith is delineated) and Life in Christ (in which the virtues are explained) sub(^2)sections.
More on the debate about whether or not faith is a gift: - Bibliotheca Sacra offers an intriguing article which makes some great points but also stumbles on some critical ones; I enjoyed the insight but ultimately disagree with the conclusion. (First, because it’s both and the way the question is asked prevents that answer. Second, because everything is ultimately a gift from God. #TrumpCard.)
- Apologetics Press offers a similar dissection of the topic but with the addition of a key word which makes the argument more cogent: “Faith is not a direct gift from God.”
