Through the grace of God we have been promised the incredible possibility of a real, live relationship with the divine. Our appropriate response to this relationship is one of faith. This week's texts help us to acknowledge that our faith is a response which is utterly dependent upon God's faithfulness for its birth and growth.

The word "faith" is one of the most widely used words in the NT. It is found in the First Testament through the verbal root aman, or as we would translate the word, "Amen." This word "faith" or "amen" originally expressed for the Hebrew people the idea of carrying, bearing, or supporting, such as a doorpost bearing pillars (2 Kings 18:16). Yahweh is called the "God of Amen." God is the solid base, the rock, the support, the "Amen," upon which life must be raised. When the Hebrews talked about faith, they talked about "solidity," about a basic bedrock upon which to build life. The Bible says we are to live by faith. We read this in Romans, we read this in Habbakuk, we read this in Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews, and John's Gospel.

A biblical definition of the word "faith" must be dynamic, that is, it is more accurate to think of faith as an active term ("being faithful") than in a passive tense ("having faith")- more a distinct way of acting than a thing or state of mind. Faith is more than knowing that God is something; it is knowing that God does something. That is why there is no real contradiction between faith and works, between Paul and James, between Luther and Aquinas.

The true miracle of faith is faith. The true miracle is the miracle of faith. Victory for Joshua took place not when the walls of Jerichocame tumbling down. The real victory occurred when Joshua believed, as incredible as it seemed, that God would do something great that day. The moment Joshua took that first step around Jericho, and blew that first horn, the battle had already been won. The rest was commentary. The victory for David was not when he slew the giant Goliath. The real victory for David was the miracle of faith. The moment David took that first step down into that valley, and expressed his faith in God's promise with his feet, the victory was won. The rest was commentary. The miracle of Peter's walking on water was not how far he got without sinking. The real miracle occurred when Peter lifted his leg over the side of the boat and stepped out into the deep unknown. That step was the miracle of faith. The rest was commentary.

Faith is not trusting God to get something or do something. Faith is trusting God when there is nothing left to get or do. A verse in John reads: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." Faith is the victory. When will the church come over to the victory side? For those who have faith, the battle is already over, the victory won. All that remains is commentary on what has already taken place. Victory is believing God enough to step out in faith.

How do we recognize whether we are displaying faith or merely maintaining a hopeful belief? Martin Copenhauer spends a whole chapter in his book making the crucial distinction between faith and belief (see his Living Faith While Holding Doubts (New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1988), 33549. Belief, he says, is an act of the intellect. Faith, on the other hand, is an experience of the whole person. "We may believe that God has 'the whole world in his hands,' but faith is the act of trust by which we put ourselves into God's hands" (36). Copenhauer cleverly uses the James 2:19-20 text that drips with satire to show how belief can be passive, but faith is always active: "You believe that God is one; you do well (emphasis added). Even the demons believe - and shudder." Copenhauer continues: "We can sit back and believe, but we cannot sit back and have faith ... If faith is to be properly understood, it must be understood as a verb. Faith is something we do. Indeed, if language would allow, we would say something like this: 'I faith sometimes. I wish I could faith more often. In fact, I'm working toward faithing in God in all that I do.' That may be grammatically painful, but it is theologically correct" (48).

The author of Hebrews spends an entire chapter citing examples and trying to concretely demonstrate what he means by this "assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1ff.). Like God's love, however, the litany of what is faithfulness remains inexhaustible. A few examples remind us that:

1. Faith is a gift - Our faithfulness is a gift by the grace of God. As Martin Luther re-discovered to his great relief, justification is through faith but is always mediated by grace.

2. Faith is salvific - Acts 10:43 and John 1:12 both specifically link the forgiveness of sins with faith in Jesus Christ.

3. Faith is obedience - Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another; John's epistle reminds us to obey all God's commandments so that our faith will have the power to witness to the world.

4. Faith is trust and trusteeship in God's power. The disciples fail in their first attempts to drive out demons because they lack trust in the power of faith and thus cannot be trustees of God's power.

5. Faith is healing - Both the woman with the hemorrhage and the blind Bartimaeus are miraculously healed through the power of their faith alone.

6. Faith is inclusive - The book of Acts demonstrates how faith makes possible God's adoption of all as God's "chosen" people.