The Bible talks about faith in God, and it also talks about trust in Him. Are the two words found in the same sentence in the Bible? Conceivably, in the New Testament whichever word is used may depend on the people that Jesus’ disciples were speaking to. The pagans may have been implored to have faith in God, since they lacked any such faith beforehand. On the other hand, the disciples hoped that the Hebrews would trust that Jesus was appointed by God as “the heir of all things” as told in Hebrews 1:2, and many of them did. In that sense, maybe, the Bible tells some of us to have faith in God, and it gives the rest of us a reason for putting our trust in Him.
What is faith, and what is trust? The Oxford Dictionary defines faith as a “Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof”, and it defines trust as a “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” Regarding the latter, a firm belief is presumed to be based on something that is empirical and pragmatic, so it is based on an earthly pursuit. On the matter of faith, it is based on something lacking in immediate empirical evidence. For example, we know from the Bible that God did many wondrous things, but nobody’s actually seen Him do such things since. Most things we see around us can be explained away. To actually have faith in Him is to have a commitment to Him despite the fact that we’ve never actually directly seen Him or heard from Him.
We trust that the Bible, which was written thousands of years ago, still applies today, imploring us to have faith in the existence of God. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s interesting that faith is defined in Hebrews instead of one of the other books, say, of Romans, since the Hebrews already had faith in God’s existence. And we must presume that the translations of the Bible that exist for us are the best translations possible, given the revisions that have taken place over the centuries.
Faith can be seen to have a higher calling than trust, since it is directed on high, to someone we have not seen or heard and in our present state would be unlikely to see or hear Him. Faith is associated with godly spiritualness, and trust is justified by what has actually been laid before us. In that regard, if a translation of the bible is ever called into question, one must look at Proverbs 3:5 which says to TRUST in the Lord with all your heart. Perhaps a better translation would be to HAVE FAITH in God with all your heart, since it’s nearly impossible to put our trust in something in which we have neither the empirical evidence at hand to do so, nor can we, in our present state, ever have direct physical access to God.
Similarly, Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Should it read, ‘Blessed is the man who HAS FAITH in the Lord’? Is there a translation issue here?
What is faith, and what is trust? The Oxford Dictionary defines faith as a “Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof”, and it defines trust as a “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.” Regarding the latter, a firm belief is presumed to be based on something that is empirical and pragmatic, so it is based on an earthly pursuit. On the matter of faith, it is based on something lacking in immediate empirical evidence. For example, we know from the Bible that God did many wondrous things, but nobody’s actually seen Him do such things since. Most things we see around us can be explained away. To actually have faith in Him is to have a commitment to Him despite the fact that we’ve never actually directly seen Him or heard from Him.
We trust that the Bible, which was written thousands of years ago, still applies today, imploring us to have faith in the existence of God. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s interesting that faith is defined in Hebrews instead of one of the other books, say, of Romans, since the Hebrews already had faith in God’s existence. And we must presume that the translations of the Bible that exist for us are the best translations possible, given the revisions that have taken place over the centuries.
Faith can be seen to have a higher calling than trust, since it is directed on high, to someone we have not seen or heard and in our present state would be unlikely to see or hear Him. Faith is associated with godly spiritualness, and trust is justified by what has actually been laid before us. In that regard, if a translation of the bible is ever called into question, one must look at Proverbs 3:5 which says to TRUST in the Lord with all your heart. Perhaps a better translation would be to HAVE FAITH in God with all your heart, since it’s nearly impossible to put our trust in something in which we have neither the empirical evidence at hand to do so, nor can we, in our present state, ever have direct physical access to God.
Similarly, Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Should it read, ‘Blessed is the man who HAS FAITH in the Lord’? Is there a translation issue here?
