An Overview of Faith in the Bible and Christian History

1
An Overview of Faith in the Bible and Christian
History
2
Old Testament

• Hebrew aman to be firm, solid, true
• Greek pisteuein to accept something
• as true, but implying a personal
• relationship, acceptance of the
• person who tells you something
• example Israelites had faith in Moses
• because of their experience of
• trusting him

3

• In the OT the foundation for faith is God-
• seen as the one who created all and the one
  who is depended on for survival

4

• OT faith is expressed through trust and obedience
  (very active, not just belief)
• OT faith is directly related to the Covenant
• with YahwehWe are your People,
• You are our God.

5
New Testament Gospels

• Jesus demanded faith and praised it when he
  witnessed it Your faith has saved you
• Faith is directed to God, then to Jesusthe
  acceptance of Jesus to be who he claims to be
• After Jesus resurrection, the shift is clearly
  to faith in Jesus (and Jesus is seen as being one
  with God)

6
New Testament Act of the Apostles

• Faith is the acceptance of the message of the
  Apostles Believers join the community of
  Christians
• Acceptance of Jesus as Lord is expressed
  through repentance and Baptism
• It is belief in Gods word, as personified in
  Christ, so faith necessarily involves a personal
  relationship with Christ

7
Pauls Epistles

• If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if
  you believe in your heart that God raised him
  from the dead, then you will be saved. Romans
  109

8
Faith in History

• St. Justin The believer is one who assents to
  certain truths
• St. Augustine We do not work to get faith. It
  is a free gift from God we can accept or reject.
• St. Thomas Aquinas Faith is essentially an act
  of the intellect, but not only of the intellect

9
Theology

• Theology is faith seeking understanding
• Faith is handed on through theology
• Theology is faith expressed in words, art, music,
  dance, architecture, etc.
• Not all theology is good theologywe can
  incorrectly translate our experience of knowledge
  of God
• When theology does not come from faith, it is
  really a philosophy of religion

10
Conclusion

• Faith in Jesus is not an assent to doctrine but a
  living relationship with Jesus that affects all
  other relationships we have and ties us to a
  community which worships and has moral norms.
• Perhaps we later Christian communities arent as
  unique as the biblical Christian communities
  because many of us have replaced an experience of
  the risen Jesus with an experience of doctrine.