One thing that is important to note is that the purpose of this series is
not to provide or defend evidence for the truthfulness of Christianity. If you
are interested in such evidence, I have written an entire series on evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and have plans for future writings on other lines of
evidence and reasoning. Instead, this is an internal critique of how the Bible
defines faith. Authors such as Peter Boghossian claim that when Christians
speak of having "faith" in God, they really mean "things they
pretend to know." Yet, regardless of one's own beliefs, it seems vitally
important to look at how the Christian worldview defines faith. Does the Bible
give the impression that faith is something that should be accepted blindly without
any evidence? To keep things manageable, in this post we are only going to be
looking at how the Old Testament speaks of faith.
First, let's examine how
the term is used in the Old Testament. The number of times that the word
"faith" appears depends on the translation. For example, in the
English Standard Version, which is on the word-for-word side of the translation
scale, a variety of different Hebrew words are translated as "faith"
for a total of twenty-seven appearances. In over half of the usages, faith is used
in the context of showing or failing to show devotion to God or another person.
An example occurs when the rest of the tribes of Israel mistakenly thought that
the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh erected an altar of rebellion against the Lord.
Thus says the whole
congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed
against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by
building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord? (Joshua
22:16)
The next most common
context is for faith to be used synomonously with trust or confidence. After
being led out of slavery in Egypt and witnessing numerous signs and wonders,
the Israelites did not trust that God would lead them to victory in the promised
land, but instead "they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his
promise." (Psalm 106:24). Far from being belief with no evidence, the
Israelites are condemned for not having faith despite all the evidence they had
seen of God's power and might in rescuing them out of Egypt (read Psalm
106:1-23).
Possibly the most famous
"faith" verse from the Old Testament is Habakkuk 2:4, which says,
"the righteous will live by his faith." In context, the righteous man
is contrasted with the man whose "soul is puffed up; it is not upright within
him." The contrast doesn't speak to the reasons for the righteous man's
faith, but instead how his faith in God impacts the way in which he
lives.
Finally, a few other
verses speak of acting in "good faith" or with truth and integrity
(See Judges 9:15 - 19).
Beyond studying
individual word usages, there are larger themes that emerge in the Old
Testament that fly completely against the claim that faith is belief without
evidence. First, one purpose of prophecy was to provide evidence that the LORD
had spoken to Israel. God doesn't instruct the Israelites to blindly trust
anyone who claims to be a prophet, but instead tells them to look for evidence
of fulfilled prophecy to determine whether they speak for the LORD or not.
And if you say in your
heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet
speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true,
that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.
You need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)
Later, God declares to
Israel that he has predicted future events through the prophets to provide
evidence that he, and not their man-made idols, had brought these things to
pass.
The former things
I declared of old;
they
went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then
suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
Because I know
that you are obstinate,
and
your neck is an iron sinew
and
your forehead brass,
I declared them to
you from of old,
before
they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should
say, "My idol did them,
my
carved image and my metal image commanded them." (Isaiah 48:3-5)
Second, the Israelites
were taught to remember the things God had done in the past and to pass them on
to future generations so that they would also trust in him. Most people know
that God parted the Red Sea as the Israelites fled from the Egyptians, but a
second water crossing occurred with God stopped the Jordan River so that the
Israelites could enter the promised land. As this miracle occurred, Joshua gave
the following instructions:
“Go over before the ark
of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a
stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What
do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before
the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of
the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of
Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:5-7)
Previously, Moses had
taught the people, "Remember today that your children were not the ones
who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his
mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did
in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole
country...But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has
done." (Deuteronomy 11:2-3,7). To prevent future generations from
forgetting these acts, the Israelites were to "teach them to your
children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deuteronomy 11:19). In the
oral culture of the time, God's people were to trust him in the future based on
what He had already done in the past. This idea is further demonstrated in the
Psalms. Both Psalm 78 and Psalm 105 give detailed accounts of how God has
protected and provided for his chosen people.
Finally, God provides evidence to prove that He is the only true God. When
Moses is called to lead the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he wonders how he
will convince them that the LORD sent him. God provides Moses with two signs -
his staff turns into a serpent when he throws it to the ground and his hand
changes from leprous to fully healed when he slips it in his cloak. However,
God provides a further proof if the Israelites still will not listen: "If
they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall
take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that
you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” (Exodus 4:9). After
living among false idols for over four centuries, God is going to provide
undisputable evidence to his people that he alone is worthy of praise.
When God later afflicts
Egypt with the plague of the frogs, Moses agrees to pray that they will return
to the Nile. When Pharaoh requests that this occur the next day, Moses
responds, "Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one
like the Lord our God." (Exodus 8:10).
Centuries later, the
LORD once again proves that He is the only true God in the showdown between
Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I suggest reading all of 1
Kings 18 for context, but here is a brief summary. These were dark days in the
northern kingdom of Israel and most of the people had forsaken the LORD to
worship Baal. Elijah, the prophet of the LORD, challenges hundreds of false
prophets to a test to see who is the true God. Each side builds an altar and
calls for their God to ignite their sacrifice. Elijah ups the ante
and even douses his sacrifice with water three times. The prophets of Baal call frantically
to their God and even mutilate their own bodies, but nothing happens. Yet, when
it was Elijah's turn to call to the LORD, this is what happened:
Elijah the prophet came
near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this
day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have
done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this
people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their
hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering
and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in
the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said,
“The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:36-39).
Whether we look at specific usages of the word "faith" or at broad principles that are woven throughout scripture, the conclusion is very clear. The Old Testament clearly teaches that faith is trust or devotion to the LORD and does not call for blind faith in absence of evidence, but instead encourages confident trust based on the evidence of what God had already done to show his mighty power to the nation of Israel. In the next post in this series, we'll examine whether a similar picture of faith carries over into the New Testament.
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