Faith and Belief

The Bible declares that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). The modern mind tends to equate “belief” with “faith” as an intellectual concept. Often individuals may struggle with faith as a result of a poor outlook in a situation, or from lack of information. “Believing” in something, however, may be easy to accomplish simply because it requires no expenditure of effort to do so. We tend to intellectualize “belief systems” and so it is easy to adopt them.

Words that are derived from the Hebrew word aman and are translated into English in the Old Testament include expressions that are somewhat confusing in light of the modern understanding of that word “believe.” We view belief as an expression that describes a choice to accept, in one’s mind, the validity of a promised circumstance. This is completely incorrect, in the Biblical sense.

The word “believe” is an abstract word, which is not a function of the five senses. It comes from the Greco-Roman societies of our recent past. All Hebrew concepts are derived from concrete concepts that are a result of an action or perception from the five senses. Aman is a parent root verb that means to support and is also translated in various places in the O.T. as assurance, faithful, sure, established, trust, verified, steadfast, continuance, surely, stand fast, among other words of similar connotation. These words do not seem to be based on an action of the intellect alone as some may see it today, but imply transforming the actions of a person.

And bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified (aman) and ye shall not die. And they did so. Genesis 42:20

My mercy will I keep for him forevermore and my covenant shall stand fast (aman) for him. Psa. 89:28

The pictographic root for aman is a picture of water or other liquid such as blood, and a picture of a seed representing continuance. Combined these mean "blood continues” or “strength through the blood”.

And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place (aman); and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. Isaiah 22:23

The word nail in this passage is translated from a Hebrew word for tent peg and means abstractly, faith. A tent peg supports the tent even in a strong wind when it is planted in hard ground. In this way, Abraham supported God:

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed (aman) in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

While this appears at first to agree with a modern concept of believe, it is apparent that believe has a different meaning in the context of the different applications of the word aman.
If we examine this promise of Abraham repeated to Isaac, Abraham’s son, we see what is implied by the word believe:

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed(shama) my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Gen 26:4, 5.

This word, shama, is a child root of the word aman and is used as a synonym. It literally means to hearken and it is used in this passage to indicate that Abraham heard and responded to God’s voice. It means to pay heed and react or respond to what is heard. In this sense, the word believe is a synonym to the word obey or hearken. This is a literal synonym, as is shown in another passage which relates them via the classical Hebrew literary method of repeated statements with synonyms for emphasis (called parallelism):

And Moses answered and said, But, behold,
they will not believe (aman) me, nor hearken
(shama) unto my voice: for they will say, The
LORD hath not appeared unto thee. Exo. 4:1

It is obvious that what Isaac was told defines Abraham’s belief. Abraham hearkened unto the LORD and obeyed his voice and kept his statutes. Believe is a verb that implies an action rather than a mental impression that “God is real”. The Hebrew mind uses the word believe to imply a lifestyle of actions that suggest that a person travels a path given by that which is believed in and supports the perspective of that which is believed in by thought and deed. The words “believe in God” mean to support God’s plan by your actions. The Word “amen” is actually the English form of the Hebrew word aman. In the future when you say “amen” to something, you are agreeing with the statement not just with your intellect but with your lifestyle.

Faith
Since belief comes from faith, the passage in Isaiah that describes the tent peg as a nail provides the definition for faith: To be fixed in purpose in the actions of one’s life as a nail driven in the hard ground. emunah: to be set firmly in place; also to pass strength to the next generation. This is why Paul writes the Christian church in Rome from a reference in Habakkuk 2:4:

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written. The just shall live by faith. Romans 1:7

The Hebrew concept of faith is to be a strong fixed support:

But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took
a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady (emunah) until the going down of the sun.

So Paul writes to the Corinthian Church a statement that exemplifies believing through faith:

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. I Cor 16:13
And also to the Christians of the church in Thessalonica:

But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. II Thes. 2:13-15

Clearly, a member of the kingdom of God is to live a life of purpose that supports the kingdom of God. It is not about a mental acceptance of the truth at all but a focused and determined life filled with the actions of one who will typify the life of Christ and spread His message to any who will listen. Those who live for God will be observed by others as “believers in God” because of their words, actions and decisions in life that support God.