Summary
What Is Not a Part of Faith
Popular culture often paints faith as believing when common sense tells you not to—a leap into the irrational where one checks the intellect at the door and embraces the absurd. Scripture paints a very different picture. Biblical faith is not silly, and it is not blind. It has shape, structure, and content, and understanding what faith is also requires being clear about what faith is not.
The Bible describes faith as having three elements, often summarized as knowledge, assent, and trust. The first, knowledge, is addressed in Romans 10:14-15: "How are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?" Faith requires content. We cannot believe what we do not know, which is why the feet of those who carry the gospel are called beautiful. Yet knowledge alone is not faith. A person can quote chapter and verse, articulate doctrine precisely, and still not believe.
The second element is assent—agreement that what one has heard is true. 1 Corinthians 2:14 reminds us that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and assent is itself a work of the Spirit. But assent alone is still not faith. James 2:19 drives this home: "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" The demons have knowledge of God's existence and oneness, and they assent to it. They are not, however, people of faith.
The third and decisive element is trust. The royal official in John 4:46-53 shows what trust looks like: Jesus says, "Go; your son will live," and the man believes the word and starts on his way. A familiar illustration helps: a tightrope walker can convince a crowd he is able to push a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls. They have knowledge of his skill and assent that he can do it. But faith is climbing into the wheelbarrow. Trust is personal—rooted not merely in facts but in the person of Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He has done.
So what is not a part of faith? Works. Imagine three men in a minefield. One who simply walks has hope but no knowledge—that is foolishness. Two more receive directions from someone in a helicopter who knows the safe path; they have knowledge and assent. When they learn who the guide is and why he can be trusted, and then step out following his word, that is faith. The walking is the expression of faith, not faith itself. As What Is Not a Part of Faith — Romans 10:14-15 makes clear, this distinction is essential to the gospel: we are saved by grace through faith alone, not by our own doing but as the gift of God Ephesians 2:8-9.
Yet faith is never alone. Where there is real faith, works will follow. James says that faith without works is dead—not because works are part of faith, but because living faith always expresses itself in action. Luther rightly called faith "an active and busy thing." Knowledge, assent, and trust are themselves gifts, given by the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. And because faith and its fruit are entirely God's gift, all the glory belongs to Him alone.
Video citations
- "What Is Not a Part of Faith" Romans 10:14-15 — Would you open your Bible, please, with me this morning to the 10th chapter of the Book of Roman. The miracle on 34th Street. It's a classic movie, isn't it? And within that movie, there are a…