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'''Faith'''<ref>1200–50; Middle English feith < Anglo-French fed, Old French feid, feit < Latin fidem, accusative of fidēs trust, akin to fīdere to trust.</ref> extends beyond belief to include confidence about something unseen, such as the achievement of [[God]]'s will. Faith goes beyond [[materialism]] to include beneficial use of the underlying unseen reality. '''''The opposite of faith is worry'''''.
The entire Chapter 11 of the [[Epistle to the Hebrews (Translated)#11:1|Epistle to the Hebrews]], possibly written by [[Jesus]], is devoted to explaining faith, which is unique to [[Christianity]].
Often faith inspires extra initiative or effort, adding confidence that it will yield the desired good result. "Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on," and Jesus cured him.<ref>Mark 2:4</ref>
==Frequency==
[[File:Belief-god.jpg|leftcenter|thumb|550px|Financial Times (FT)/Harris Poll among adults in 5 countries in 2006]]
==Expression==
A classic statement of faith in the [[Bible]] was by the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] centurion of [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%208:5-10;&version=49; Matthew 8:5-10], who expressed his confidence that [[Jesus]] could cure his beloved servant from a distance without even seeing him. [[Jesus]] repeatedly emphasized the importance and value of faith to his disciples.
Faith is expressed in [[Greek language|Greek]] using the term ''pistis'', and in [[Latin]] using the term ''fides''. Faith is mentioned in 229 verses in the [[New Testament]] ([[KJV]]), but only twice in the much larger [[Old Testament]] ([[KJV]]).<ref>http://www.crosswalk.com</ref> In attempt to convert [[Jews]] to [[Christianity]], [[Paul]] described [[Abraham]]'s willingness to sacrifice his beloved son [[Isaac]] to [[God]] as an act of faith, though the [[Old Testament]] did not describe it with that term.
Faith is strengthened by prayer ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jude%2020;&version=9; Jude 20]). For those who strengthen their faith, [[Jesus]] promised "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."<ref>John 14:12 (NIV).</ref>
Life itself may be the manifestation of God's faith. Decay and death may be the manifestation of a lack or denial of faith. According to [[Paul]], decay and death is the result of [[sin]]. [[Galatians]] 6:8; [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 5:12; [[I Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] 15:21-22.
==Biblical examples==
What Protestant Evangelicals call Faith, Catholics call the virtue of Hope (''defined as "confident expectation of good without doubting"''). The Catholic Act of Hope is a formal prayer of assurance:
:"O my God, relying on Your infinite goodness and promises, I hope (''with complete confidence'') to obtain pardon for my sins, the help of Your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen."
Catholics emphasize the teaching of [http://www.biblehub.com/commentaries/james/2-19.htm James 2:19], in which the [[Demon|devils]] have accurate faith but no hope.
==The Moral Basis of Biblical Faith==
The biblical expression of faith is belief in what God reveals to man to be ''so''. Since New Testament times, that means belief in what God reveals to ''be so '' concerning Jesus Christ. There is a steady progression through time of what God reveals and so belief also finds expression in progressive content and emphasis. What God reveals to Adam, to Noah, to Moses (and through them), to the prophets, to the Ninevites, to Simeon and Anna, Mary, to the Apostles, differ in content and in emphasis, but the culmination of the content of faith is the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What they all have in common is commitment to the true God, and willingness to correspond to His Will, even if they are uncertain of what He wills, "that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him" (Acts 17:27).
The moral basis of faith is the positive response of belief, and the obedience of one's life to the requirement implied by the revelation. That is why Adam (and his generation) was not required to believe what Noah was required to believe, why Noah was not required to believe what Abraham was required to believe, and why Abraham was not required to believe what Moses was required to believe. Moses, and his generation, was not required to believe what Isaiah was required to believe, until the time of Jesus. Nor were they each allowed to believe less than what was required of them to believe, as if they were of a previous generation and a previous revelation.
The moral basis of Faith continues on in effect, content and emphasis, since the time of the Son of God on earth. That is why the "good man" is required to believe in the Son of God preached to him, as He, the Son of God, is the source of his goodness, and the forgiver of his badness, through His sacrifice on the cross; the "bad man" required to believe in Him who bore his sin, through His sacrifice on the cross; the "gentile", wherever found, of whatever stage, required to live up to what is given him by his conscience and whatever good has come to him through his culture, and believe in the light God is actually giving him, and in the Jesus being preached to him, but not required to believe in and practice the Law of Moses; the Jew required to keep the Law given him, and then to despair at not having fulfilled it, and believe in the Son of God being revealed to him; the infant respondresponds, as infants can, and not as adolescents and adults are required, each in his own order, until the greater revelation comes, and separation from the dominance and protection of the elders; and why an embryo aborted is required to respond as only an embryo can, which God alone knows, and not be required to be at the level of response he would have been moments and days and months and years later, if he would have been let live - saved - though the embryo would never have known how - by the Cross of the sin bearing Savior, who knew him well and loved him. "to him whom much has been given, of him much will be required."
==The natural and the supernatural aspects of Faith==
Faith is a gift from God that may be viewed two ways. One is clearly an intrusion or at least and an introjection into our ordinary lives. Under this aspect, we see it as pure grace. "For by grace are you saved through faith, and this is not as a result of your deeds, It is God's gift and not something from ourselves". Our response, is from the extremity of our situation and as a clear product of something outside ourselves - the new word of God, the message concerning Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Even the ability to hear and understand is given to us from above, "Faith comes by hearing, and "hearing" itself, comes by the Word of God". And thus we call out, from the depth and from consciousness, for salvation. " Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord, will be saved/."Even if the calling is an inchoate yearning from the depth of the soul that finds no articulation, it knows not how, the Lord sees the heart of longing calling for him, and saves.<ref>Psalms 22:9-10; 58:3; 71:6; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:42, 44; Acts 17:27-28; Romans 8:26; Galatians 1:15; 2 Peter 3:9</ref>
The other aspect of Faith is not by intrusion or introjection, but by infusion and irradiation. This too is of the grace of God. Whereas the first aspect had come to us at our extremity from without, this aspect comes to us from within and around, pervading the so-called natural structures that we experience every day, that are so supportive of stability, confidence, trust and hope. Good parenting, solidity of home and provision, loving faithfulness among friends as we grow, continual exposure to the truth of the Word of God (and truth is always therapeutic), strengthens our faith, and our expectation for the continuing faithfulness and involvement of a loving and good God. Faith seems so natural, so in accord, with our experience, that we could even be surprised that it could have been otherwise. Here we experience, most often, not a crisis of faith, but the need to give ourselves more fully to Him in whom we are believing. Under this aspect, God is to be appreciated and acknowledged for being our good and heavenly Father. The Old Testament presents us with the reality of this aspect of faith. Amidst even the miraculous events as the parting of the "Red" Sea, and the many deliverances Israel experience experienced so beyond their natural ability to effect, little is said, is acknowledged consciously, of the quality of faith itself. It is air that a fish is most conscious of, not his home in the water.
==Faith: the Access to Reality==
In [[Dante]]'s [[Divine Comedy]], [[St Peter]] is most identified with faith. This is appropriate, since he was the 'rock' on which the Church was built, just as a Christian life must be rooted in faith. Peter's great faith is shown in Matthew 14:28-31, when he is briefly able to walk on water until doubt enters his mind.
Christian philosopher [[Robert Merrihew Adams]] wrote a book, ''The Virtue of Faith'', to defend the idea of faith as virtuous. Consider the case of a loved one accused of some wrongdoing, but who protests their innocence - our relationship with them creates a special ethical obligation to believe what they say, which does not apply to the protestations of innocence of strangers; at the same time, that obligation is not absolute, but can be overturned by the evidence. Adams uses this example to argue that some beliefs we are ethically obliged to hold, and argues that the existence of God could be such a belief for the believer.
Contrary to Adams' view is that favored by many atheists, classically expressed by William Kingdon Clifford, in his 1877 essay ''The Ethics of Belief'', which states "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." However, while Clifford can point to individual cases where believing things without evidence is unethical, those cases fail to demonstrate that his principle is true in every case, and he ignores valid cases such as those which Adams cites which lead to the opposite conclusion.
Christianity is unique among religions in that its followers are defined by faith rather than by adherence to a prescribed code. St Paul makes this distinction clear in Galatians 3:24-25:
{{cquote|The law was a kind of tutor in charge of us until Christ should come, when we should be justified through faith; and now that faith has come, the tutor's charge is at an end.}}
That is to say, whereas [[Judaism]] required (and still requires) its followers to obey the law, Christianity begins with faith, faith in Jesus risen from the dead, and any moral or ethical decisions must follow from that. In this regard, Islam has much more in common with Judaism than it does with Christianity: the word 'Islam' itself means 'submission to God'.
==Other Definitions and Religions==
Alternatively, faith often refers to a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof" or evidence.
These differ from Christian faith in the revealed truth that comes only from God through Jesus Christ by the [[Holy Spirit]], Who in the Scriptures has testified reliably to what He has physically and spiritually actually done and said and entrusted to his eyewitnesses and ambassadors, and passed on to faithful men who were and are able to teach others also from the first century of the Christian Era ([[BCE and CE|CE]]) to this day (2 Corinthians 5:20; John 14:25; 2 Peter 1:16; 2 Timothy 2:2).
In the [[Koran]], the concept of submission to [[Allah]] is mentioned 11 times, while the concept of faith in Allah is mentioned only once.
Etymologically, the word 'faith' is closely linked to the concept of "fidelity," which emphasizes commitment to something or someone, specifically [[Christ]]. Thus, faith is often understood to mean 'loyalty' to a particular view of [[divinity]]. Yet, faith can also be envisioned more broadly as a trust in [[providence]], as it entails an active role for the believer himself for advancing good.
The literary critic Harold Bloom distinguishes Christianity from the other two dominant monotheistic religions in his book ''Agon '' by contrasting them with [[Gnosticism]]: :"Gnosticism polemically is decidedly not a faith, whether in the Christian sense, ''pistis'', a believing that something was, is, and will be so; or in the Hebraic sense, ''emunah'', a trusting in the Covenant. If religion is a binding, then Gnosticism is an unbinding, but not for the sake of things or persons merely as they are. Gnostic freedom is a freedom for knowledge, knowledge of what in the self, not in the psyche or soul, is Godlike, and knowledge of God beyond the cosmos. But also it is a freedom to be known, to be known by God, by what is alien to everything created, by what is alien to and beyond the stars and the cosmic system and our earth." Faith is emphasized in Christianity but is unrecognized by the worldview of [[philosophical skepticism]].
"Gnosticism polemically is decidedly not a faith, whether in the Christian sense, pisits, a believing that something was, is, == Faith and will be so; or in the Hebraic sense, emunah, a trusting in the Covenant. If religion is a binding, then Gnosticism is an unbinding, but not for the sake of things or persons merely as they are. Gnostic freedom is a freedom for knowledge, knowledge of what in the self, not in the psyche or soul, is Godlike, and knowledge of God beyond the cosmos. But also it is a freedom to be known, to be known by God, by what is alien to everything created, by what is alien to and beyond the stars and the cosmic system and our earth."reason ==
Faith is emphasized in Christianity but is unrecognized by the worldview of See: [[Philosophical Skepticism|philosophical skepticismFaith and reason]].
== See also ==
*[[Resources on becoming a Christian]]
*[[Salvation]]
*[[Infant baptism]]
*[[Essay: Water baptism cannot save, the Church cannot save, Born again by faith alone]]
*[[Atheism]]
*[[Witnessing]]