How do you know your faith is true?

[joshrp]

Hi,

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious? Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one. How can one be sure that they believe in the first place? How does one even know what faith itself is? It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

 

[WesleyF]

Hi,
What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious?

Hmmm, not sure. I sure know what scripture says about faith being DEAD though. It’s in James 2:17-26

Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one.

Define “false” faith.

How can one be sure that they believe in the first place?

Don’t you know whether you believe or not?

How does one even know what faith itself is?

Can’t explain it better than this rockstar Catholic priest -

youtube.com/watch?v=m_4PSgFjtvI

It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

Faith is not something that you either have or do not have. Faith is something that you have in a certain measure. Some people have more faith, some people have less. Think of tightrope walking. With some practice, I might just be able to do it with the rope about 1 meter above the ground; but I don’t have enough faith in my own abilities to do it 20 meters above the ground, much less crossing over the Niagara walking on the rope.

 

[bmullins]

I think part of your question might be answered by a statement that helped me a while back. The difference between faith and belief. Faith is God’s gift to you(Ephesians 2:8) belief is our Gift to God. Many of your questions are more about how do I know if I truly believe? Well that’s a personal question that only you can answer. You can though, pray for more faith. God can give you the faith you need to believe.

For instance: We believe that Jesus is the Christ. We believe that he died for our sins. That is a belief. We have chosen in our mind that we believe that to be true.

Faith is how we live according to that. Our outward life should reflect that belief. God has given us the proper faith through the Church. So we live our life in a sacramental way. We live our life showing others that we believe, through our faith. Faith is so much more than that simplistic definition, but it’s the best I have with my knowledge.

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious?

Based on the above we know that our faith is true when it is based on scripture and the tradition of the Apostles (New Testament.) If it’s not based on scripture and Apostolic Tradition, then either Scripture is wrong… or the persons faith is wrong.

Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one.

As above, if the Sacred Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition indicate that man cannot be saved by faith alone, then any faith that says they can be is necessarily the false one.

Scripture tells us specifically “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24)

How can one be sure that they believe in the first place?

Ask your mind, ask your heart, ask your spirit. Only you and God know what you believe. Either you do or don’t. If you find you don’t believe find out why. Look and see what it is you don’t believe, and why it is you don’t believe, then compare it to the Word of God. Usually if I think I don’t believe something (especially things to do with the church) it’s not something I don’t believe, I just didn’t understand.

Originally Posted by joshrp
How does one even know what faith itself is?

Can’t explain it better than this rockstar Catholic priest -

youtube.com/watch?v=m_4PSgFjtvI

 

[CMatt25]

Don’t you know whether you believe or not?

“Believe” being the keyword or component of faith. In the strictest sense of the words “faith” and “know”, we don’t truly know. That’s why it’s called faith. I know Catholics for instance like to say they know. But first they have to place faith in God, in the NT story of Christ, in Catholic interpretation of events and history, place faith in the ECFs, and so forth. That’s a lot of necessary faith steps to be taken before reaching the point of “knowing”.

 

[InDefense]

Hi,

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious? Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one. How can one be sure that they believe in the first place? How does one even know what faith itself is? It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

Firstly, I never bought the errant concept that salvation can be obtained by faith alone.

Secondly, I have proof that I am in the faith, because when I received the Holy Spirit, I spoke in tongues. In other words, there was a distinct day and time in which I received the Holy Spirit. I went through confirmation, but did not receive the Holy Spirit at that moment. Many have doubts about whether they are in the faith, because they claim or are told that they have received the Holy Spirit, but have never had the accompanying sign of speaking in tongues, and consequently, have never received the Holy Spirit ! Therefore, it does not surprise me that they have doubts. Consequently, it is difficult for me to fall away, because I have real evidence !! Also, in my previous church, every single person who had received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues and every single assembly was the same !!! It’s not just a gift for some and not for others, it happens to everyone when they receive the Holy Spirit !!

 

[Bartolome_Casas]

Meditate on this verse from the Bible, really meditate on it:

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, New American Bible)

See what it says? Faith itself is the evidence.

But how can faith be evidence? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse. Don’t you need evidence first, then faith can be justified on the basis of the evidence? Well, no, that’s not how faith in Christianity works. Your faith itself is the evidence.

All this is exactly what is worth pondering and studying and reflecting on, I believe.

Why do that? Because there is no scientific proof regarding your faith or my faith, and I don’t think there ever will be. Philosophy does provide proofs regarding God, but they don’t convince very many people.

So, that leaves one’s faith itself as the evidence.

Recall how Jesus told “Doubting Thomas” that it was more blessed to believe than to know.

Of course, “Fideism” has been disapproved by the Catholic Church. So you don’t want to go that far.
plato.stanford.edu/entries/fideism/
newadvent.org/cathen/06068b.htm

But, still, there is Hebrews 11:1 saying that “faith is…the evidence.”

 

[bmullins]

Firstly, I never bought the errant concept that salvation can be obtained by faith alone.

Secondly, I have proof that I am in the faith, because when I received the Holy Spirit, I spoke in tongues. In other words, there was a distinct day and time in which I received the Holy Spirit. I went through confirmation, but did not receive the Holy Spirit at that moment. Many have doubts about whether they are in the faith, because they claim or are told that they have received the Holy Spirit, but have never had the accompanying sign of speaking in tongues, and consequently, have never received the Holy Spirit ! Therefore, it does not surprise me that they have doubts. Consequently, it is difficult for me to fall away, because I have real evidence !!

1 Cor. 12:7-11, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

1 Cor. 12:29-30, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?”

Speaking in tongues is not required to receive the Holy Spirit, and it’s quite debatable if what you are calling speaking in tongues is even the proper type it speaks of in scripture.

Now if you want to know signs that you have received the Holy Spirit, the bible is clear on that.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law.

Notice it doesn’t say ‘fruits’ it say fruit. These are the signs you should find in your life upon receiving the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues (the biblical type) is indeed a sign of the Holy Spirit, but it’s not THE sign. It’s not required.

 

[Khalid]

First through logical (philosophical) deductive analysis, and historical research and inductive analysis, and then through theological research, and then religious experience. If it’s blind faith, it’s as bad as atheism. Faith must be reasoned to be solid, and it must have objective bases in reality, a workable metaphysical framework, etc.

I don’t think most people ever make it to the fourth rank, which the Byzantines call theoria, or “true theology”.

I’ve used the metaphore before, “Proper faith is that, a man having an infection, his doctor prescribes him an antibiotic. He is not a biologist or chemist, but he takes the antibiotic based on what he knows of it, and on the authority of doctors [the analogy be the Bible and Magisterium] and pharmacists, the authority and training of the doctor to diagnose, and what he learned on WebMD, certain the antibiotic will cure him.”

“Blind faith, which is the same as blind atheism or an “existentialist Christianity” where, no matter the evidence, “it’s all about faith”, is equivalent to a man having an infection, so he begins to jump up and down - based on an internal feeling or “burning in the bosom” - on one leg until he reaches a window, breaks through it, and falls five storeys to the ground, certain that the jumping, the window-breaking, and the fall will cure him.”

The metaphor has more to do with the (fauly) appeal to authority and how it is legitimate in some circumstances (i.e. God is perfect, the Bible is the Word of God, etc.) and I’ve yet to figure out how to work the historical/theological/philosophical investigations in there, but I believe with just a little imagination you can see them even in the metaphor’s current form.

 

[bogeydogg]

Hi,

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious? Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one. How can one be sure that they believe in the first place? How does one even know what faith itself is? It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

Who said, “Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone.”?

Is Sola Fide a person or a denomination or a book or something else?

God Bless

 

[Nimzovik]

Have an experience with the numinous. You will cling to it forever (rather it will cling to you.) Despite subsequently being assailed by evil repeatedly and experiencing anguish of devastating despair. Ultimately you will prevail. Although mind you - you can loose if not abandoning yourself and forgetting what you think you know. Let us not forget the old saying … "How is it that thou hast sinned brother, (perhaps to ultimate despair of the same nature of Judas in this case) knowning full well, that thou canst call upon the armies of heaven to assist you in your hour of need? " We must always remember this help. However -we will all go through a day like St. Dismas had methinks. If not now then perhaps in purgatory. So if you are losing your ( lost ?) your faith due to much anguish, Be of good cheer. There is a remedy for the evil one. So. Cry Havoc and let slip the Angels upon the enemy instead of immersing ourselves in self indulgence.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

While reason can bring us part of the way there (or at least it could once its own value was confirmed) and can further enhance our understanding once we do believe, and while religious experience can provide motives for faith and again can enhance our faith lives once we have faith, neither can actually provide divine faith itself, which can come only from God though a divine intervention into the working of our intellects.

Thus there are really two errors which must be avoided regarding this subject: an extreme Christian fideism that refuses reason its natural place in religion, and an extreme Christian rationalism that reduces faith to the acceptance of what can be known from reason (in which case it is no longer faith).

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Who said, “Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone.”?

Is Sola Fide a person or a denomination or a book or something else?

God Bless

Sola Fide, by its very name, says that a person is saved by faith alone. Please, don’t play word games. What exactly do you want to say about Sola Fide?

 

[WesleyF]

“Believe” being the keyword or component of faith. In the strictest sense of the words “faith” and “know”, we don’t truly know. That’s why it’s called faith. I know Catholics for instance like to say they know. But first they have to place faith in God, in the NT story of Christ, in Catholic interpretation of events and history, place faith in the ECFs, and so forth. That’s a lot of necessary faith steps to be taken before reaching the point of “knowing”.

I am not sure how this comment addresses my point. My point is that one can know whether one has faith or not. I don’t have faith that I have faith in God. I just know that I have faith in God. That’s knowledge about my own self which I have.

 

[Lisa44]

I think part of your question might be answered by a statement that helped me a while back. The difference between faith and belief. Faith is God’s gift to you(Ephesians 2:8) belief is our Gift to God. Many of your questions are more about how do I know if I truly believe? Well that’s a personal question that only you can answer. You can though, pray for more faith. God can give you the faith you need to believe.

For instance: We believe that Jesus is the Christ. We believe that he died for our sins. That is a belief. We have chosen in our mind that we believe that to be true.

Faith is how we live according to that. Our outward life should reflect that belief. God has given us the proper faith through the Church. So we live our life in a sacramental way. We live our life showing others that we believe, through our faith. Faith is so much more than that simplistic definition, but it’s the best I have with my knowledge.

Based on the above we know that our faith is true when it is based on scripture and the tradition of the Apostles (New Testament.) If it’s not based on scripture and Apostolic Tradition, then either Scripture is wrong… or the persons faith is wrong.

As above, if the Sacred Scriptures and Apostolic Tradition indicate that man cannot be saved by faith alone, then any faith that says they can be is necessarily the false one.

Scripture tells us specifically “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24)

Ask your mind, ask your heart, ask your spirit. Only you and God know what you believe. Either you do or don’t. If you find you don’t believe find out why. Look and see what it is you don’t believe, and why it is you don’t believe, then compare it to the Word of God. Usually if I think I don’t believe something (especially things to do with the church) it’s not something I don’t believe, I just didn’t understand.

I might disagree with your interpretation of Eph 2:8 “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.”
(you can go to bible.cc and see the translations next to each other, some use “faith” and some use “believe”.)

But what I would say is the faith/belief is not from God, the GRACE is from God to be SAVED, through faith.
In other words, first a person hears, then they believe, THEN, by GRACE they are saved, not through their own works.

The second underlined statement you made needs to be supported by scripture. Faith comes from hearing the gospel and believing. So if by church you mean gospel then ok. But we don’t gain belief in Jesus from believing on the “church” but by believing in the gospel message.

And it seems like you are suggesting that scripture and tradition are different things. If so you must demonstrate how they are different and how scripture is not enough, but there is something lacking in scripture: tradition.

Also, please demonstrate how man is not saved by “faith” alone.

James 2:24 does not prove that man is not saved by faith alone. It proves that works accompany faith, but not that there is such a thing as faith without works. That is why he says “show me your faith without works…” (v18).

 

[hazcompat]

The Holy Spirit.

peace

 

[fhansen]

Hi,

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious? Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one. How can one be sure that they believe in the first place? How does one even know what faith itself is? It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

We know it by the fruits it produces in us and through us, our actions speak louder than words. We know it when we find ourselves enabled to do things we never thought we could or would do. We know it even more profoundly if God decides to reveal Himself more directly to us in some manner, which He can and has done at times. We know it after looking back over years and seeing the consistent pattern of growth in knowledge and love of Him despite periods of dryness or sometimes having to be dragged along.

 

[Lisa44]

The Holy Spirit.

peace

Would you care to elaborate?

 

[bogeydogg]

Sola Fide, by its very name, says that a person is saved by faith alone. Please, don’t play word games. What exactly do you want to say about Sola Fide?

The OP said Sola fide made a claim as if SF were personally something which I found interesting so I asked because I wanted to know if they believe the teaching was from one person/denomination/etc.

Then they said what SF specifically claims concerns *assurance *of salvation and the doctrine teaches no such thing.

In fact Luther taught that faith results in life of penitence. And that the Christian Faith is received by the regeneration, washing and forgiveness of Baptism, by believing in the promises Christ gave to the Church and by receiving forgiveness of sin and the Table in Church so that we may go forth into the world. The end result of this being that we then have receive salvation from the hand of God.

But assurance is found in the Church. It is the objective reality that what Christ has done is sure and has nothing whatever to do with SF or how I feel about SF.

No it is true that most, probably close to all, Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist and even most Presbyterian and even Lutheran people will tell you what I have just described is crass salvation by works, but that is the doctrine Luther taught.

All SF means is that Salvation is given to the faithful by Christ through His Church and not by the decree of the Pope. But this was a reaction of Luther at that time, and frankly I think had Luther followed on Calvin and Zwingli instead of preceding them the Lutheran Church positionally would be much more like the Eastern Church than thought of as schismatic because I can tell you from experience we are certainly not welcome at the protestant table either.

Remember Luther called Zwingli and his doctrine of doctrine of predestination a fatalist and said his teaching that the Eucharist was symbolic was heresy.

God Bless

 

[Pitcharan]

Hi,

What does Scripture say about how you know whether your faith is true and not spurious? Sola fide claims that one can be assured of salvation through faith alone. But how does one know that one has a true faith and not a false one. How can one be sure that they believe in the first place? How does one even know what faith itself is? It seems a lot of people assume they know what they believe in and that they actually believe it in truth, when so many people claim to be saved, and then some tragedy occurs and they fall away from the faith. They were certain they had the faith before and others thought they did as well, but then they come back with the claim that they didn’t really have faith in the first place. So how do you know what faith is, how do you know what you believe, and how do you know you truly believe what you say you believe, if you can fall away from what you consistently claimed to believe in before?

Joshua

“It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me”. (John 6:45).

 

[CMatt25]

I am not sure how this comment addresses my point. My point is that one can know whether one has faith or not. I don’t have faith that I have faith in God. I just know that I have faith in God. That’s knowledge about my own self which I have.

You asked, “Don’t you know whether you believe or not?”

Correct. You know whether or not you believe in God. Or whether or not you believe in the Catholic faith for instance, in the Church’s interpretation of history and so forth. But to a non believer or to a believer of another faith, that’s not proof your faith beliefs are true. Nor mine or anyone else’s for that matter. Our beliefs may be true for us and some might believe they know the truth. But faith as another poster said can not be scientifically proven. That was my only point. Faith and believing is not synonymous with truly knowing with 100% certainty. Otherwise it wouldn’t be called faith. I hope that helps how I meant to address your point. God bless you on your faith journey and His peace always.