So, in your view, faith is a matter of degree or intensity — “100% belief/trust” as you said. Does the Bible define what faith is, or does it just tell us to believe 100% without explaining it?
Assurance of Salvation
- Thread starter MsMediator
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
So, in your view, faith is a matter of degree or intensity — “100% belief/trust” as you said. Does the Bible define what faith is, or does it just tell us to believe 100% without explaining it?
I've seen that you recognize believing isn’t always salvation and that pistis includes characteristics like obedience and endurance. So, do you see faith as merely 100% trust in certain facts, or is it more than that?
2 Corinthians 13 v 5 ~ Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you- unless you actually fail the test?
Obedience and endurance are the demonstrative evidence of pistis (James 2:14-24; Luke 8:15) and we can simply believe "mental assent" in certain facts about Jesus to be true, such as He exists and is the Son of God and that His death, burial and resurrection "happened" (which even the demons believe that) but if we fall short of trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4) then we fall short of receiving salvation.
You cited believing in Jesus as Messiah and Lord, but what do these titles mean — as I asked? We agree that believing is volitional; I’ll leave that aside for now, other than including it as may be appropriate if we get into defining pistis. How would you define pistis using the Bible, or how would you approach defining it?
How is it volitional? According to you, God convinced you of the Truth. You went on to say you were then
given the choice whether or not to believe, which is ridiculous on the face of it, since being convinced of
something means you already do believe. Where was your volition in this process of becoming convinced?
So, pisteuō does not mean 100% believe in certain facts, and/or does not mean 100% mental assent to those facts, but it does mean 100% trust in the same facts?
Pisteuo not only includes believing in those certain facts but also trusting in Jesus Christ to save you.
To entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ)
http://biblehub.com/greek/4100.htm
So, to recap to this point, you’re saying pisteuō is 100% believing certain facts about Jesus, or 100% trusting Him to avoid confusing mental assent with believing, and entrusting your salvation to Christ - all in one overlapping concept.
Messiah means the one who atoned for sin by the sacrifice of himself that was foreshadowed by the Mosaic ceremonial laws.
Lord means boss or God in the human dimension, whom we love and cooperate with joyfully.
I meant to indicate that I define pistis as by how it is used in Scriptures including: Acts 16:31, 2Cor. 4:5, Col. 2:6, 1Tim. 2:3-4, John 3:16,
Matt. 23:37, and Heb. 11:6.
Well if one does not believe certain essential facts about Jesus Christ (like those who have a "different" Jesus) then, one is not going to trust in Him alone for salvation. Many trust in works anyway. Now in some cases, depending on the context, pisteuo can fall short of saving belief, as in James 2:19 for example.
Thanks for the great question: "Believing His Word", Bible Answer:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 AV) We have not "seen Christ", but faith 'trusts'
Him And His Work On The Cross, and His Resurrection' anyway, eh?
+"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"
(Romans 10:9-10 AV)
+trust, faith, and belief all refer to the same thing:
"That we should be to the praise of His Glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard The Word of Truth, The Gospel
of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were Sealed with
That Holy Spirit of Promise, Which is the Earnest of our inheritance until
The Redemption of the Purchased Possession, unto the Praise of His Glory.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in The Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints" (Ephesians 1:12-15 AV)
Note: I have a brother who "will not fly in a plane" doubting of what may occur,thus, knowing intellectually in his mind of the truth { fact } that "the plane takes one
to a destination", he has doubt "in his heart" and is not 100% willing, in his heart,
to "trust his life" into the pilot's hands to go anywhere.
With Christ, There is NO 'half-hearted faith' = ALL or nothing, eh?
Hope this helps...
Be Blessed.
More on A Relationship, by faith, With God:
Grace, Peace, Mercy, And Love!
Your question strikes at one of the most profound tensions in the New Testament—how faith, works, salvation, and perseverance all relate to each other in the Christian life. Let's unpack this carefully using only the New Testament, as you requested.
Key Passages
Hebrews 6:7-8 (Warning About Fruitlessness)"For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned." (ESV)
Context: This passage is part of a strong warning (Hebrews 6:4–8) about those who have tasted the goodness of God but fall away. The metaphor compares a believer's life to soil that receives rain (God’s grace/word). If it bears fruit (good works, transformation), it is blessed. If not, it faces destruction.
Ephesians 2:8–9 (Salvation by Grace Through Faith)"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (ESV)
Context: Paul here emphasizes that salvation is a gift, not something earned by human effort. It is faith, not works, that is the instrument by which we are saved.
Reconciling the Two1. Salvation Is by Faith Alone, But True Faith Is Never Alone
This is a central idea in Paul, James, and Jesus:
- Ephesians 2:10, right after v.8–9:
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
➤ Faith saves, but good works are the result, not the cause, of salvation. - James 2:17:
"Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
➤ A faith that doesn’t produce fruit is not true, living faith. - John 15:2 (Jesus):
"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away..."
➤ Union with Christ must bear fruit, or it is cut off.
2. Warnings Are Real, Not Hypothetical
Hebrews is especially known for its strong warnings to Christians:
- Don’t fall away (Heb. 3:12)
- Don’t neglect salvation (Heb. 2:3)
- Pursue holiness (Heb. 12:14)
- Hold fast your confidence to the end (Heb. 3:14)
These warnings aren’t just hypothetical—they’re meant to motivate perseverance, not imply salvation by works. But they do imply that a person can appear to believe, yet not endure to the end and thus be rejected (e.g., parable of the sower—Luke 8:13–14).
3. God Keeps Us Through Faith That Endures and Works
The New Testament teaches both assurance and responsibility:
- Assurance: God preserves His people (John 10:28, Romans 8:30).
- Responsibility: We must persevere in faith and good works (Phil 2:12–13, Col. 1:23, 2 Peter 1:10).
So, works don’t cause salvation, but they are evidence of it. A person truly regenerated by the Spirit will produce fruit—not perfectly, but truly and increasingly.
Conclusion (Synthesis)- We are legally justified (declared righteous) by grace through faith alone (Eph. 2:8).
- But the faith that justifies is a living faith that inevitably bears fruit (Gal. 5:22–23, James 2:26).
- If a professing believer does not bear fruit or abandons the faith, the New Testament issues strong warnings: such a person may face judgment (Heb. 6:8, Matt. 7:21–23).
- Therefore, the call of the New Testament is to trust Christ, but also to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12)—not as a contradiction, but as the natural outworking of God’s grace in us (Phil. 2:13).
In this latest response, you focus on ‘100% trusting in Jesus for salvation’ and drop ‘entrusting.’ Are these the same, or is there a distinction between trusting Christ and actively entrusting yourself to Him? Please clarify once you have defined what you mean by pisteuō and/or pistis.
You explained Lord as ‘boss or God in the human dimension,’ which helps with kurios, but you didn’t define Messiah. How would you define the title Christ/Messiah in the biblical context, and how does it relate to the NT understanding of Jesus?
Also, do you see those verses defining pistis in the NT?
I don't see these two groups you talk about. A "fear" of going to hell is not from God but the enemy. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind. Salvation some saved and taught yet fall back to not understanding .. this is what we call milk. Should be on meat of Gods word.
"For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food."
Pffft sorry but "fear/fearful" is one of things we should know by now what it means. " sober, reverent awareness of God's holiness and the seriousness of discipleship, not a fear of being condemned. ": We have no fear of Him at all. If and He does at times show His power where you can not move you are on your face.. hard to put into words .. there is no fear.. not fear of Him lol zapping us out of existent. Take "If God did not spare His angels that sinned " this is not directed to believers but false teachers and such. But Him our Father showing us He is the only true GOD.. your not scared but you do not want to even blink. Just wow reverent..
Anyway who is right? So much more to this. You unknownly lump so many into just two groups. There have been times in my 50+ years walk with Him I have done of these. Carefree so to speak saved woohoo not caring ... He some how some way shows up and shows how He is.. sorry Father. Then lies from the enemy about salvation.... all this milk.
I see trust and entrust as similar. Trust means having complete confidence in Jesus Christ’s ability to save you. To entrust yourself to Christ is to renounce the idea of self-reliance and includes entrusting of one's spiritual well-being to Christ.
Pistis is the Greek noun for "faith" or "trust," while pisteuō is the Greek verb for "to believe" or "to have faith". They are different parts of speech, but come from the same root and represent the same idea of trust and reliance upon Christ for salvation.
Thanks for your response. You’ve emphasized 100% belief or trust in certain facts about Jesus, but I don’t see a clear definition of pistis in your answer. For example, in Heb 11:1, I see a profound description of how faith functions in relation to Christ, but not a lexical definition of what pistis actually is. Are you saying that faith is simply a matter of quantity, or do you see a definition in the Bible that tells us what pistis actually is?
Sorry, precious friend, I will unable to help with foreign words as I am a simpleton, and
mostly go with God's Precious Word of Truth To me, in "my own language", according to
these Bible studyRules! But, I do know there is this about [ small? ] "quantity":
"And The Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto
this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the
sea; and it should obey you." (Luke 17:6 AV)
Be Blessed!