Faith As A Fruit

Faith is a huge topic in the Bible, one that whole books have been written about (I reviewed one of those books just last year). Today, I want to look at faith specifically from the perspective of the fruit of the spirit passage in Galatians. In other words, we’re examining faith as something that’s produced in your life when God’s spirit is inside of you.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23, NET

Last week, I mentioned that I realized I’d never finished my 30-Day Scripture Writing series on the fruit of the spirit. The last two remaining topics are “faith” and “gentleness,” so today we’re focusing on faith. I spent this past week reading through the many Bible verses mentioning faith as well as belief (since they’re such closely related words) and looking into the Greek and Hebrew words behind the English translations. My initial “short list” as I started narrowing down which scriptures to include was 78 passages, which gives you an idea just how many verses on faith there are in the Bible. I did eventually get it down to 30 (you’ll find a link to the finished scripture-writing plan at the end of this post).

Faith and Truth

In the Old Testament, you’ll find the word “faithfulness” more often than “faith.” Usually, it’s talking about God’s faithfulness (Deut. 7:9; Ps. 33:4; 89:1; Is. 25:1; Lam 3:23) or humanity’s faithfulness or unfaithfulness to Him (2 Chr. 29:6; 31:20; Hos. 4:12). In these scriptures, “faith” as a concept takes a backseat to the idea of living a faithful life. It’s clear that faith involves action; a change in your entire way of life because of being in a covenant relationship with God.

You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham, found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him … for you are righteous.

Nehemiah 9:7-8 , WEB

In Hebrew, the word “faith” is typically translated from the root word aman (H539) or one of several other words in this word family (e.g. amen, emuna, emet) (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament [TWOT], entry 116). Interestingly, this is the same group of words for “truth.” At it’s most fundamental, the “root idea is firmness or certainty” and it “shows that biblical faith is an assurance, a certainty, in contrast with modern concepts of faith as something possible, hopefully true, but not certain” (TWOT 116). It’s something that’s absolutely dependable; something that gives you stability.

Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations

Deuteronomy 7:9, WEB

We can rely on our faithful God. This fact is emphasized over and over in scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament. But God also wants to be able to rely on us to act faithfully. It’s a commitment that is supposed to go both ways, as it did with Abraham, David, and Hezekiah (Neh. 9:7-8; 1 Kings 3:6; 2 Chr. 31:20).

A Thing and an Action

Faith in the New Testament also involves action and devotion, but it’s a little harder for us to see that in our modern translations. In Greek, “faith” is translated from the noun pistis (G4102), which implies active loyalty and trust. The verb form pisteuo (G4100) is often translated “believe.” Now, that makes things a bit confusing because in English faith and belief aren’t quite the same. The top definition for “faith” provided by Google and Oxford Languages is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” For “believe,” the top definition is “accept (something) as true; feel sure of the truth of” and it’s also become synonymous with “think” or “suppose.” So there are overlaps in the definitions, but they don’t have the same connotations.

As I talked about in my newsletter earlier this week, there isn’t a verb (action) form of “faith” in English–it’s always a noun (person, place, or thing)–so translators had to use a different word to translate the action-form of “faith.” We need to keep that in mind when we’re reading the New Testament. When we read “believe” it’s not just an intellectual agreement or an emotional feeling that something is true; it is faith in action. Even when Bible writers use the noun form, they still describe faith as something that you’re supposed to do, not just have.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. 

Matthew 23:23, WEB

We can’t leave faith “undone.” It’s an active thing. When we read that Jesus came preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News” (Mark 1:15, WEB), “believe” is a command to engage in the activity of faith.

 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

John 14:11-12, WEB

We often think of faith as separated from works in modern Christianity, thinking of verses like Paul saying Abraham was justified by faith rather than his works (Rom. 3:27-4:21) while ignoring James using the exact same example to show that faith without works is dead (Jam. 2:14-26). Faith is absolutely connected to works–a faithful life naturally produces certain fruit. (Paul’s point is that salvation is not dependent on works, but on the faithfulness of Jesus and our active belief in Him.)

Cultivating Active Faith

So what does faith do? In other words, if you have faith, what does it look like to turn that into action? For one thing, it leads to growth as a Christian.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.  I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19, NET

Remember, we’re talking about “faith” in the context of the fruit of the spirit. Here in Ephesians, Paul prayed for those in the church that they would be “strengthened with power through His spirit” so “that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith.” God’s spirit inside us enables Christ to dwell in us through faith, and then that leads to major spiritual growth. One result of this growth is that faith shifts our mindset about things.

Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.”

Mark 11:22-24 , WEB

This verse isn’t just about literally picking up mountains (though it certainly isn’t the only verse about faith/believing having tangible effects in the world [Mark 16:15-18; John 14:11-12]). It’s also about actually trusting that God responds when you talk with Him (John 16:24-27). To put it in Old Testament terms, faith on your part means actually trusting that God is faithful to His part of the covenant relationship.

But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.  …

Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 10:38-11:1, 11:6, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Hab 2:4).

We can’t function as Christians without faith. And we need to make a conscious effort to cultivate that faith in our lives. We need to hold onto faith (1 Tim. 1:18-19), pursue it (1 Tim. 6:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:22), fight for the faith (Jude 1:3; 2 Tim. 4:7-8), and build up our faith (Jude 1:20; Col. 2:6-7). Like the other character traits and inner attitudes described as “fruit of the spirit,” faith isn’t just something we have passively but something we actively cultivate as God works in and with us.

Acting On Faith

Many people today think that faith in God means simply believing that He exists. But in biblical terms, that head knowledge only turns into faith when we act on it. If it’s just an intellectual acknowledgement of God’s existence and power, then it’s not any more “faith” than the sort of belief in God that demons have.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear.

James 2:14-19, NET

We need to be cautious about counterfeit versions of faith or things that tempt us to fall away from the faith. About 2,000 years ago, Paul warned Timothy, “Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Tim. 4:1-2, NET). That’s no less true today than it was then. Somewhat ironically, navigating a world where people desert the faith and try to lure God’s people away from living faithful lives is one of the trials that can strengthen our faith (James 1:2-3).

… you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials. Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:6-9, NET

Here, Peter reminds us that the end goal of faith is salvation. It’s not a one-time thing where we have a moment of faith, say we love Jesus, and then salvation happens right there. It’s a life-long process. When we enter a relationship with God, we’re making a covenant with Him that includes an agreement to be faithful to Him for the rest of our lives and on into eternal life (Acts 2:38; Rom. 10:10; Phil. 3:8-15) (and, on His part, He agrees to faithfully grant us forgiveness and salvation, share His spirit with us, and enable us to become like Him).

With God’s spirit inside us, faith reshapes our lives. It becomes a central aspect of us and something that we actively do as well as believe. Living in faith involves what we think, the way we conceptualize the world, how we respond to other people, the choices we make every day, and all of our actions. If you’d like to spend more time on this topic, follow this link to download any of my free 30-day scripture writing plans or click here to download the “faith” PDF directly:

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