Belief as Saving Faith

Yesterday, a Summit student asked me, “If Christianity is true, why do we need faith?” Mapping out the distinction between belief-that and belief-in provides a helpful way to answer this question. 

The traditional conception of belief is reflected in the Scriptures by the concept of saving faith. The New Testament uses one particular word group to express the idea of faith. In the Greek, faith is conveyed by the noun pistis and the verb pisteuo. It is important to note that the New Testament writers make no distinction between “belief” over against “faith.” Indeed, they are both articulated by the pistis word group. Furthermore, when we examine the constructional variety of this Greek term we observe that pistis is used in conjunction with several prepositions (see chart below) that give us the full expression of faith, or what we refer to as saving faith. 

Greek Usage	English Equivalent
pisteuo hoti	“believe that”
pisteuo en / pisteuo eis	“believe in” / “believe into”

First, as the chart indicates, pisteuo is constructed with the Greek word hoti to express the phrase “believe that.” Hebrews 11:6 states that “he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.” We see this construction again in Romans 10:9, when the apostle Paul instructs “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” According to these verses, one must (at the least) believe that God exists and that He raised Jesus from the dead for salvation. Additional passages throughout the New Testament (e.g. John 20:31, Acts 8:37 and 15:11, Romans 6:8, I Thessalonians 4:14) lend support to the idea that saving faith includes believing certain propositions to be true, or in other words, having certain beliefs-that. 

Biblical saving faith is more than merely belief-that, however. Even if one believed the necessary true propositions about Christ, it does not follow that this belief would be sufficient for saving faith. The relevant biblical data reveal a second feature. In John 3:16, pisteuo is paired with the preposition eis and literally means “to believe into”: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 

From these passages, as well as others (e.g. John 3:36 and 14:1, Romans 4:24 and 10:14), we discover that saving faith includes an affirming disposition toward, or trust in, the object (propositional content[1]) of one’s belief. The kind of faith that saves is marked by an attitude of trust in, or belief-in, Christ for all that salvation means. Hebrews 11:1 seems to indicate this pro-attitude associated with saving faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” 

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[1] It is important to note that one’s believing a certain set of true propositions is logically prior to one’s being disposed affirmingly toward that set of propositions. Thus, the strength of one’s beliefs-that has direct bearing on the strength of one’s correlating beliefs-in.

Comments

[dave]

Is faith a condition we must meet in order to save ourselves? Or is it a characteristic God produces in the lives of those whom he saves? We can understand "whoever believes will be saved" either way. That is; as a condition we must meet in order to save ourselves. Or a characteristic of Grace in the life of those whom God saves.

If faith is a condition we must meet in order to save ourselves, we will trust in it as what saves us. In this case "free will" becomes the idol we trust in. And we only trust in Christ in a secondary sense to honor his word and save us based on our choice to believe.

If faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, then it cannot originate in us but requires first having the Holy Spirit. It then shows in our faithful lifestyle as an effect and not the cause of salvation. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” (Galatians 5:22)

[The Chairman]

Why do Calvinist have to ruin everything? Having faith in/faith that God does the saving is not a work or an effort to save oneself. It is simply trusting God and taking him at his word. We believe in and trust that God saves, He does the work of bring that salvation to fruition. Why can't you just relax, believe and trust God for his promises made in Christ. It's not like your Calvinism will change what God does whether I believe of my own free will or God forces me to believe in order to get the glory.

[dave]

@ the Chairman;

If you believe your "free will" act moved Christ to save you, that is what you trust in. Sounds like idol worship to me...