What Does it Mean to Have Faith?

Acts 16:31 explains how we come to be saved, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” This seems simple enough. As with the thief on the cross, who died shortly after believing, Romans 10:9 tells us that if you “confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him out from among the dead, you will be saved.” But what if you are not like the thief on the cross? What if you don’t die the same day that you first believe? The words of Jesus can be very useful in helping us determine the answer to this question. Many times, upon healing a person, Jesus would tell them to go and sin no more. This gives us a glimpse into what is expected of us as believers, as well as what it means to believe.

If you really believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him out from among the dead, there will be changes in your life that demonstrate that (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you really believed that God created everything and has complete control over all of creation, wouldn’t you follow His advice for this life (His commandments)? Wouldn’t you do whatever it took to please Him? Wouldn’t you dedicate your life to serving Him and telling others about Him? This is what James is talking about when he says “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). The Bible tells us that even the demons believe in God – and they tremble in fear (James 2:19). Their belief in God does not save them, because they refuse to follow His laws, serve Him, and do His will.

Understandably, when we think of what it means to have faith today and what that requires, we often misunderstand what is being asked of us. We get a glimpse into this with verses like 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8, where we are told that in the end, God will take “vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.” This verse makes a comparison between those who do not know God and those who know God and do not obey the good news of His Son, in that both of those groups of people are going to feel God’s wrath in the end (Romans 2:8, Psalm 79:6, John 3:36). The single word “obey” in these verses suggests that there is a further action associated with the Good News other than just believing and continuing to live as you were. This inclusion of obedience as a part of salvation is confirmed in Hebrews 5:8-9 where we are told that even Jesus had to learn obedience while he was here in the flesh and that he became the source of salvation to all those who “obey” him.

It is evident, then, that there is an aspect of obedience that comes along with accepting our gift of salvation, and perhaps this is why we are told repeatedly to both repent and believe to gain salvation (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, Luke 24:46-47, Acts 2:38, Matthew 4:17, Acts 17:30, etc.). Our repentance, or obedience to allow the Father to work in us through His Son to remove sin from our lives, is part of the works that prove we believe.

Paul, in Hebrews 3:7-19, gives us great insight when it comes to the delicate balance between faith and works:
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit (Yahweh) says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as they did in the rebellion, as in the day of the trial in the desert, where your fathers put me to the test by trying me out, and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was disgusted with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart.” Moreover, they did not know my ways, so I swore in my wrath, “They will never enter into my rest!”(From Psalm 95:7-11). See to it, brothers and sisters, lest there will be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, so long as it is still called “today,” lest any one of you is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ if we hold our original confidence firmly to the end. As it is said, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion (From Psalm 95:7-8). For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? And with whom was he displeased 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose carcasses lay where they fell in the desert? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. 

We see here that back in Exodus, when Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and into the desert, that their sin caused them to miss out on entering God’s rest.  We also see that this was credited to them as a lack of faith (as unbelief), highlighting just how inseparable the two are. These very clear verses help us to see that if we are willfully sinning, not seeking God, not doing His will, then we do not really believe, even if we say we do. We are saved by faith, but it is as the Bible says, “But someone will say, “You have trust, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works (James 2:18).

For more information on doing God’s will, read: Are we called to do God’s will? Do Old Testament commands matter today?