Page 49 - Biblical Counseling I Textbook

do not have faith in him.

Most people believe it is important to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly; however, most people do not
personally eat healthy food and exercise regularly. They believe that a certain set of facts is true, but they have
not committed themselves to the implications of the facts. They have belief but not faith, in the modern sense.

Likewise, many people today believe a certain set of facts about God, and in some cases their facts may be
completely orthodox. However, if they have never committed themselves to God, if they have not trusted Him,
then they do not have faith or biblical belief in Him. Biblical faith (biblical belief) is never simply giving assent to
a certain set of facts. Biblical faith is trust and commitment that result in a change of behavior. James 2:19 puts
it this way: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” The
demons believe that God exists, and they may even know more about God than people do, but they do not have
faith in Him. Unfortunately, many people have the same kind of belief that the demons have, but that it is not
sufficient for their salvation.

This concept can be illustrated another way: three people board a commercial airliner to travel to a distant city.
The first is an engineer who designs and builds airplanes. He is also a pilot. He knows how everything works.
Furthermore, he is a personal friend of the pilot who will be flying that afternoon, and he knows him to be very
competent. He boards the plane with full confidence. The second person is just the average business traveler.
He knows a little bit about airplanes but just doesn’t think about it too much. He takes his seat and starts
reading a magazine. The third is deathly afraid of flying. He breaks out in a cold sweat. It takes all he can do not
to turn and flee down the gangway. With much fear and trembling, he gets on the plane, sits down, and hopes
he can fall asleep and not wake up until they land. So, the question is, “who has more faith in the plane?” The
answer is that they all have the same amount of faith. All of them have boarded the plane and committed their
safety to the plane and the crew. They will only arrive at their destination if the plane arrives. If the plane goes
down, they will go down, too. All the people who got on the plane were committing themselves to the plane—
they believed (or had faith) in the plane. Those who stayed at the airport, even if they had complete confidence
that the plane would arrive as scheduled, did not exercise faith in the plane. They did not commit themselves to
it.

In summary, faith and belief are used interchangeably. However, the New Testament does recognize that people
can have false faith or incomplete belief, which is inadequate. The difference is not between the two words but
between the concepts of mental agreement and wholehearted commitment. In modern usage, belief often
refers to mental agreement, and faith refers to wholehearted commitment. As long as that distinction is
maintained, it doesn’t matter which words are used. However, we need to be careful not to import the modern
usage back into specific New Testament passages. (https://www.gotquestions.org/faith-vs-belief.html)

In summary:
• Faith is genuine trust or dependence upon God, taking Him at His word and believing what He has said.
• Faith is the substance of our hope in the promises of God that are yet future (Heb. 11:1, cf. v 39).
• Faith deals in things that are not seen (Heb. 11:1, cf. 2 Cor. 4:18; Col. 3:1-2).
• Biblical faith consists of three key aspects:
o Knowledge
There must be content to faith. One cannot believe in something they do not know. Consider Paul’s
statement in Romans 10:14, “How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” There are
essential truths of the gospel that must be known if one is to have a saving faith.

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