Defining Faith and Related Terms

In this essay, I want to lay out the terms I use when discussing the subject of “faith.” I don’t use specialized or unique definitions; rather, I try to use these words the way they’re normally used in everyday life. I try to avoid theological jargon and unique definitions.

Here’s the first definition of “faith” returned by Google (or whatever source they’re relying on for this function these days).

Complete trust or confidence in someone or something

Google definition

That’s simple and straightforward enough for our use.

The Bible gives us a definition of faith that goes well with Google’s.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Notice this is a twofold definition with each part reinforcing the other: it’s assurance and conviction. Faith is sure. Elsewhere in the Bible, and in multiple places, faith is contrasted with doubt – further reinforcing the idea of assurance and conviction.

Thus the secular (Google) definition and spiritual (Bible) definition are not very different from each other. The basic ideas go together: confidence, assurance, conviction.

As for the word “belief,” we should regard it as just another word for “faith.” There is a biblical reason for doing so. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word for the English noun “faith” can also be translated into the English noun “belief.” Therefore, the two words – faith and belief – may look different in English, but there is only one Greek word behind them.

Other synonyms for “faith” (“belief”) include:

  • trust (which showed up in the Google definition)
  • acceptance
  • reliance
  • leaning upon
  • depending on

Beyond synonyms, there are other important words related to faith. Note, for example, the word “hope.” It is related to faith, but it is not a synonym. If there’s a ranking of three things then the three things cannot be the same even though they bear some relation to each other.

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

You can see the connection between faith and hope in Hebrews 11:1 above. Go back and take a look. Both faith and hope have to do with unseen things, but faith means there’s an assurance (conviction) that accompanies the hope.

Up to this point, I’ve been focusing on the noun form: faith (belief). The concept of faith is, of course, also expressed as a verb – primarily, “believe.” It’s also expressed as an adjective – “believing.” And a person who believes is a “believer” – another noun.

Summing up, words like faith, belief, and trust should speak to us of assurance, conviction, and confidence. And their use is not restricted to God; they apply to human beings as well. That is, a wife can have faith in her husband as well as have as faith in God. A wife who believes in her husband trusts in the things he tells her, just as when she believes in God she is trusting in the things God says. There’s no conflict for the wife in having faith in both…unless she gets the two mixed up. We should not trust a human to do or be what only God can do or be; similarly, we should not trust God to do or be what only a human being can do or be.

The Bible’s conception of faith matches this dual use. That is, it often speaks of faith as something we can place in people as well as God – though it also makes clear that there’s a right and wrong way to do this. That is, again, we should trust people for human things and God for divine things. Understood in this sense, we can say that all men have faith, but what distinguishes a man is where he places his faith. Some men trust themselves when they should be trusting God, or they trust another man or other men when they should be trusting God. A man ought to have faith in God to do the things that only God can or should do.

It’s true that the word “faith” used by itself can often imply “faith in God.” Examples of this are, “He is a man of faith” and “They are a faith-based organization.” This is where people can get the idea that only religious people exercise faith, but that’s just not the case. That is why I’m taking the time to stress this point.

Let me flesh this out a bit more. The faith that we place in people can be as a result of agreements we have made with them. That’s certainly the case with the wife I mentioned above, because a woman should not marry a man she does not trust, and she should not trust an unmarried man who is unwilling to marry her to fulfill a husband’s responsibilities. This is a case of trust based on agreement. In other cases, we place trust in people in selected spheres of activity. For example, we trust doctors in health matters, lawyers in legal matters, grocery store managers in grocery matters, so on. That is, there are subject matter experts with domain expertise we lack…and we trust those experts. Of course, we have to be selective with our trust; just because a person claims superior knowledge on a given subject doesn’t mean they actually have it. In an increasing technological and complex world, our ability to discern worthy recipients of our faith is increasingly important. And increasingly difficult.

It’s not just in profound matters that we have to trust people; even mundane matters require us to rely on others. For example, every time I drive my car I am trusting all oncoming drivers to stay in their lane and not veer over into mine. Sure, it’s in their self-interest to stay on their side of the line, but I’m trusting them nonetheless because I have no control over what they do. And the faster the speeds, the greater my trust in them has to be. Faith has to do with what we cannot control. And in this world, there’s a lot that’s not in our control. In fact, it’s practically all we can do to maintain self-control.

I am stressing the frequency and regularity with which we trust people because many people think they are far from faith and God when the reality is that they are closer than they think. More precisely, they’re very close to faith because they’ve been practicing it all their lives but they’re far from God because they have been practicing faith in everyone but Him.

Summing up, faith is not a foreign or arcane concept to any of us. It’s a faculty we all have and we all exercise; it’s just a matter of where we place it, how we distribute it among the various issues and possibilities that we face in life. Let us grow in our trust of God regarding things He has said He will handle. If anyone is worthy of trust, it is Jesus.

Related essays:

11/07/25

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