FAITH

Faith is the willingness to trust and obey God without ever having seen him.

It is not a gullible "leap in the dark," as existential "faith" postulates. Instead, it rests on evidence that allows us to maintain a prima facie (self-evident) case for belief.

Faith involves believing the truth, not myth. Faith is grounded in testimony -- the abstract testimony of creation (Psa. 19:1; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:1ff) and the concrete testimony of Scripture (Rom. 10:17).

The term "faith" may be used subjectively (i.e., referring to one's personal faith; cf. Rom. 1:8). It may also be employed objectively, meaning the body of truth, the gospel, revealed to man through inspired spokesmen (Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 5:8; Jude 3).

Faith that does not express itself in obedience to God is, in fact, no faith at all (Gal. 5:6; Jas. 2:14ff). Note how the expression "by faith" is demonstrated in action in Hebrews 11. See also BELIEF.