What Is Faith?

by Steve Bastin

For some people, faith is a leap into the dark with the expectation that one will land in a ‘bed of roses” (without the thorns).  For Richard Dawkins (an atheist) he lumps his definition of faith among other religious ideas, and gives this description:  “Faith (belief without evidence) is a virtue.  The more your beliefs defy the evidence, the more virtuous you are.  Virtuoso believers who can manage to believe something really weird, unsupported and insupportable, in the teeth of evidence and reason, are especially highly rewarded.”

Wherever he found this, it was not from reading the Bible, nor from speaking with anyone who has even the slightest acquaintance with what the Bible teaches about faith.

Consider the story of Moses as found in the book of Exodus.  Moses is called by God to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites to freedom.  Among other excuses that Moses offered is this one:  “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?  For they may say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”

God then proceeds to give some signs (miracles) to Moses that will point to God as the one who has sent him.  For example, he will be able to change water to blood and turn his staff into a snake.

One may dismiss this story as a myth, but that does not change what it teaches about faith.  The Israelites are not expected to believe without evidence.  Rather, they are expected to believe because of the evidence.

One may argue that miracles are impossible.  One may argue that the story cannot be true, but the moral of the story is still the same.  Faith (for the one writing the story) is based on evidence!

Jesus’ words to Thomas after Jesus was raised from the dead are used as an argument by some that faith requires no evidence.  Here is Jesus comment:  “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Yet consider what is also included in this story.  The ten disciples (excluding Thomas) had seen Jesus on Sunday after his death.  They believed in his resurrection based on the evidence.  Jesus had stood in their midst.

Thomas came in later and doubted their testimony.  “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

A week later, Jesus stood in their midst again.  He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Notice that the faith of the first ten disciples was based on evidence.  Thomas did not believe their testimony.  Jesus appeared again to give Thomas the same evidence that he had given the others.  Thomas then became a believer based on this evidence.  Later generations are expected to believe based on the testimony of these disciples.  We are not expected to believe without evidence (testimony).

This is no different than what happens in courtrooms across America today.  A person is charged with a crime.  Witnesses are presented to the jury to give testimony.  The jury is expected to reach a verdict based on the testimony.  It is not necessary that the jury see the commission of the crime in order to have certainty.  Their faith in the testimony of others (people or physical evidence) is sufficient to decide the case.

In the same way, God arranged that there should be witnesses who would give their testimony so that we might believe.  God does not expect us to have faith apart from evidence, but rather expects us to become believers based on the evidence that is provided by others.

In another passage, John writes, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God’ and that believing you may have life in His name.”

That sounds very much as though God expects people to believe because of the evidence that He has provided.  John records such miracles of Jesus as turning water to wine, healing a man who had been lame for 38 years, feeding 5000 people with five loaves and two fish, giving sight to a man who had been blind from birth and giving life to a man who had been dead for four days.

With this background it is quite understandable that Paul would write the following:  “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  Faith is not a leap in the dark, but the result of information that has been received.  It is faith because it is not information that comes through one’s observations, but information that comes from the observations of others.  Of course the credibility of the eye witnesses is an issue to be resolved.

I am well aware that many reject the miracles in the Bible as mere fables.  That view comes from a presupposition that miracles (by definition) cannot happen.  For our purposes it is only necessary to know that the writer’s of the Bible present the miracles as evidence for faith.  They did not teach faith as belief without evidence.  They did not teach faith as more virtuous when one has no reason to believe.  They did not teach a faith that believes, in contradiction of the evidence.  The writers of the Bible taught that faith comes from the evidence.

Perhaps most conclusive of all is the death and resurrection of Jesus.  A good part of each of the four gospels is devoted to the evidence for this.  Perhaps this explains the enthusiasm of some to toss out the Bible.  No Bible, no evidence.

First, the four gospel writers carefully set forth the events that led to the death of Jesus.  From the ride on the donkey into Jerusalem through the cleansing of the temple and the parables, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John show us the rising anger of the Jewish leadership against Jesus.

Their anger was so intense that when Judas offered to betray his friend, they eagerly accepted his offer and immediately placed in his hands the thirty pieces of silver as the price for his betrayal.

The agreement of Judas to hand over his friend moved the Jewish rulers from “not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people,” to an understanding that it could be done during the Passover away from the adoring crowds who flocked to hear Jesus teach.  Judas could show them where to arrest Jesus when the crowds would not be present.

The gospel writers also want us to know that the Romans were involved in the death of Jesus.  So, they tell us how the Jewish rulers arrested, tried and condemned Jesus, but then took him to Pilate to be executed.

The Jewish rulers wanted a public execution carried out by the Romans.  (Perhaps they were thinking that they could escape the consequences for putting Jesus to death, for, after all, they did not do it!)  The followers of Jesus would surely be dispersed when their leader was dead.

Everything went according to their plan.  When Pilate wavered, they were able to orchestrate a big enough protest to make Pilate fear the wrath of the crowd.  Pilate then gave the order to his soldiers and Jesus was taken to a public place, outside the gates of the city where all those who came into the city for the Passover could see Jesus hanging on the cross.

Jesus died on Friday.  The Jewish rulers and the Romans were all convinced of his death.  Pilate gave permission for the disciples of Jesus to take the body from the cross and bury him.  The Jewish rulers set a guard at the tomb to make certain the body was not stolen.

On Sunday the tomb was found to be empty.  A story was concocted, by the Jewish rulers, to explain the absence of the body.

Jesus appeared, over a period of forty days, to more than 500 of his followers.  Many of them saw Jesus on multiple occasions.  They talked with Jesus.  They ate with him.  They walked with him.  They were the chosen witnesses.

Their testimony is in the Bible.  The resurrection of Jesus says emphatically, “There is a God.”  That is our faith.