Is there a Difference Between Faith and Belief?

Faith and belief

I've heard the question before, "I believe, but I don't have faith." It's also been reversed, "I have faith, but I don't really believe." Of course we can have our own definition for words; but in matters of Christianity let's focus on the Biblical usages of the nouns, faith and belief, or the verbs, have faith and believe.

A key problem that occurs when reading and understanding the Bible is the change that occurs in the meaning of words. What a word meant at one time can gradually change by usage into a different meaning. Another problem that occurs is that the same word in a foreign language can be interpreted into a second language by two or three different words.

The koine Greek

To some degree in English we think of "belief" as different from "faith." Many will think of one of the words as more important than the other, or one is a religious word and the other is not. Though that may be true with English, it is not quite the same with the Greek. (The New Testament was originally written in koine Greek.)

In the Greek the same word is used for belief and faith. Yes, the context can alter the meaning of the one Greek word to give us the nuances that we have in our English usage of belief and faith; yet, it is one word. The root meaning is maintained throughout.

Consider a well-know passage, James 2:19--"You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!" A common reaction is "Okay, the demons believe, but they don't have faith." Actually the verse can just as easily be translated, "You have faith there is one God. You do well. Even the demons have faith--and tremble!" No violence is being done to the meaning.

For some Christians, this will rock them. "What! the demons have faith!" Yes, the same (in fact, the one and only) Greek word is used for both English words.

The preposition "in" changes everything

There are two issues at play here: believe and trust, which are also at play in the English words belief and faith. It is possible to believe something and have no trust; however, it is NOT possible to trust and not believe. For instance, I watch a demo of a kevlar vest stopping a .357 Magnum being fired at it. I go online and read about it. The vest has been tested and tested. I believe the vest will stop the bullet. I have faith the vest will stop the bullet. There is no difference in either sentence. Now, the company offers to give me a vest if I will wear it in a demo. If I actually put the vest on and let a live round of a .357 be fired at me, now I believe in the vest and I have faith in the vest. If I believe the video but refuse to wear the vest, then I believe but do not trust. If I wear the vest, then I have to believe the video as well as believe in the vest. So again, I can believe without trusting, but I cannot trust without believing.

Let's take a Bible verse that is very well known and is often seen at ballgames: "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." There is something slightly different here. Did you notice the little word "in"? Both English and Greek, by using the word "in," create a totally different meaning. We intuitively recognize that to believe something about someone and to believe IN someone are not the same.

With the English version of the Bible I used I found 47 instances of "believes in ... believes on ... believe in ... believe on." This distinction of believing something about Jesus is far different than believing in Jesus. The former is belief, and the latter is trust. Remember the vest. Watching the video and believing it will stop a bullet only takes the mind; wearing the vest and letting someone shoot at me takes the whole person.

Conclusion

Whether a person is religious or not, we can believe all kinds of things. But when you think on it, there are far fewer things you believe in, that you trust, that you commit yourself to. That little word "in" changes everything.

Yes, the demons believe God exists, and they tremble because they do not believe in Him for anything. (There is the possibility that a fallen angel cannot believe in the Lord. The reason for such a statement is that angels are spirits and not material like we are. They comprehend God directly without the hindrances that the flesh gives us. In a figurative sense, the angels had spiritual eyes to see God as He truly is and had no excuse for rebelling. Our physical eyes cannot see the spiritual world, and we can be easily misled.)

So, can I believe without having faith? Sure, it depends on how you use the words. I don't need the Greek for the dramatic change that "in" brings about. We use it the same way in English. If you believe, then you also have faith. But our walk with Jesus isn't because we simply believe this or that about Him. It is because we COMMIT ourselves to Him, we TRUST Him, ... we BELIEVE IN Him ... we HAVE FAITH IN Him.