What is faith? If you ask a Christian, they are likely to paraphrase Paul by saying that faith is things hoped for and not seen. But that isn’t a definition; it’s an example.
Some consider faith to be evidence-free belief. They use the word when people ask them why they believe what they do, saying something like, “Well, sometimes we just have to take things on faith.” Yet Peter, who surely knew the gospel of Jesus Christ at least as well as they do, said:
...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15)
Peter was not implying that our “answer” ought to be no better than “I don’t know.”
Faith is not a substitute for evidence; it is a process that always generates it.
Some think of faith as internal evidence for a belief. If this is the case, what could Paul have meant when he said that faith comes by hearing a preacher (see Romans 10:14, 17)? How can someone share evidence that only exists internally? And why, then, did Jesus (not to mention his disciples) go through the trouble of doing so many outward miracles, when it cost them their lives to do so?
Some think of faith as meaning “a belief.” One can believe anything they want, but one cannot have faith in anything they want. One can’t wish their way into heaven. If they could, the Bible would be much shorter than it is.
Is it wise to proceed in life without a firm understanding of what faith is, how to get it, and how to exercise it?
Faith lies at the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said that it is through faith that we are saved (see Ephesians 2:8), through faith that we endure severe persecutions and trials (see Hebrews 11:35-37), receive God’s approval (see Hebrews 11:2, 39), work miracles (see Hebrews 11:33-34), and that “without faith it is impossible to please him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Can someone be a true Christian if they can’t even define what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ? Can you say you have faith if you can’t even define what it is? Can you claim to live according to faith if you can’t explain what it means to do so?
How can a word that is used as such a central anchor to the gospel of Jesus Christ (about 400 times in the New Testament, depending on the translation) be so ambiguous to so many who claim to be Christians?
Claiming to be a Christian without knowing what faith means and how it is practiced seems as absurd as claiming to be a carpenter without knowing what a hammer is or how it is used.