WHAT IS FAITH

February 27, 2022

Some years ago, in Sunday School class the teacher looked at me and said, “Cornell, what is faith.” Seconds passed, meanwhile I pondered for some reflective answer, but Mr. Spence moved on. I knew, what I’d heard since my youth, a biblical answer could be Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.” But this answer seemed inadequate for explaining faith by my thoughts, considering other references in the bible, where ‘simple-faith’ alone doesn’t hold up to God’s expectations, such as in the book of James and many of the Red-Letter Words, Jesus’ commands.

 

We identify our church attendance with a ‘particular faith’ – by which we attend different traditions, such as Methodist, Presbyterian, Friends, or Catholic faith, etc. In this context the use of ‘faith’ may identify different theologies or orthodoxy, but orthodoxy is not faith. If you check dictionaries, you may find ten or more definitions for ‘faith’, one of them, as relates to theology, being “Christianity trust in God and his actions and promises.”

Faith in the context of our relationship to God – the requirement for a person of ‘faith in Christ’ to reap good for humanity and for us individually, including salvation – is the question we want to answer. However, Catholicism had already settled this question, essentially at the founding of Christianity, when Emperor Theodosius – circa 400 A.D. – made Christianity the official religion of Rome. For Catholics, faith, salvation, church decrees – the whole bailiwick – is baked in orthodoxy, their Catholic canon; further interpretation of the Bible is closed to an individual’s misinterpretation. 

Fast forward 1,100 years to Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517 A.D. – Protestantism would spread its many variegated wings over the earth, opening the door to thousands of denominations, sects, free for different interpretations: indeed, different people of the same denomination persist searching for the meaning of certain words and scriptures. 

So “What is faith?” in the perspective set forth above: the requirement for a person of ‘faith in Christ’ to reap good for humanity and for us individually, including personal salvation? 

 

As I began writing this short abstract, I read a faith-parallel-opinion written by Pastor Kate Murphy: Remembering the doctor who changed the way I think about Jesus: “It’s interesting to me how many Christians believe that following Jesus has nothing to do with our actions, only our words. So many of us believe that grace means what we do is of no interest to God, only what we believe in our hearts and say with our lips.” For this pastor, the doctor’s witness challenged her to follow Jesus ‘more faithfully.’ (Could all of us be more faithful Christians?)

 

Perhaps, to define ‘faith’ – in the context of ‘following Jesus’ – we go to the book of James and some of the Red-Letter Words of Jesus found in the Gospels. 

 

James, whether the brother of Jesus or not, clearly, without equivocation, makes clear ‘Faith without works is dead.’ James (asv) 2: 17 “… faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.” James’ writing extensively speaks to ‘one without action and work ­– to back up the word – faith fails.’  

 

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives the ultimate appeal to be a ‘faithful Christian’: Mat 5: 14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works [emphasis added] and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” 

 

In the Jesus’ parable teaching, separating the goats (on left hand) from the sheep (on right hand): ‘goats’ that did not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in the stranger, cloth the naked, visit the sick, and did not visit the prisoned, were domed to eternal punishment; the ‘sheep’ – those who fulfilled all these things – the righteous, into eternal life. Summarily, Jesus was saying, ‘If you do not do these things, you do not have ‘faith’; ‘you have no faith in Me, Jesus Christ.’ If you do these things, you have a deep faith; your faith is reinforced by your action.

 

Tony Campolo, in his book Red Letter Christians, said “Mahatma Gandhi’s claim that everybody in the world knows what Jesus taught – except for Christians!” Gandhi was expressing what so many Christians really already know, but, perhap conveniently prefer to overlook, putting emphasis on scriptures that may seem least burdensome. 

 

I believe to have faith, the faith of James, faith of Jesus, faith in Christ, based on scripture, requires action and work: It is for a person’s ‘faith in Christ’, to work the best we can, for the good of humanity and for our own good, including personal salvation. That’s faith, the faith that Jesus would have us pursue; the faith that we must strive for if we want to be a ‘genuine Christian.’ I know this faith is not always easy – but it is simple. I will be the first one to say, “in major part I have failed.” But our growth in faithfulness has unlimited opportunity for all who seek to be diligent in work for humanity. 

 

Albert Nolan, in his book, Jesus before Christianity, in reference to Jesus wrote: “He himself did not regard the truth as something we simply ‘uphold’ and ‘maintain’, but something we choose to live and experience. So that our search, like his search, is primarily a search for orthopraxis (true practice) rather than orthodoxy (true doctrine). Only a true practice can verify what we believe.” Orthopraxis will lead us to the true essence of Jesus. Only by orthopraxis – that is ‘we doing the work for Jesus’ – can Jesus’s ‘grace’ and ‘justice’ permeate God’s infinite love, mercy, and goodwill to humankind – to become ‘the salvation for this world.’ This is the noblest cause for loving God, loving our neighbor, and for our ‘eternal life’, irrespective of what one believes about personal salvation. “What we believe in our hearts and say with our lips” is not faith, until action brings it to fruition. So let us begin now, or renew, our claim to a ‘working-faith.’

 

By Cornell Cox

In honor of Gary Ridout: 

A Faithful Disciple, who – more than anyone I have personally ever known – has a working-faith.