Faith has Jesus as its object and is active in a life of following Him.
What is faith? Is it knowing all the right things about God? James says no. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-- and shudder! (Jas. 2:19)” Faith is much more than pure intellectual assent to a group of beliefs. Is it blindly following whatever we are told with no questions? No. Faith must have substance, a foundation upon which to build. So what is faith then? Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is an assurance, a conviction that knows who God is, what God has done, what God means for us and our lives, and then live according to that conviction. The chapter that follows these great words give example after example of people from the Old Testament who show us in the flesh what faith looked like. Abraham’s faith led him to leave home and follow God to a distant land. Moses’ faith led him to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt. The Judges and David and the prophets were led to live and walk in faith. In the same way, we are called to follow God in faith. Jesus paints an incredible picture of that life of faith using the metaphor of a vine and branch. In faith, we receive all that we need for life from Jesus and all that we do comes from Him. For apart from Him we can do nothing.