When it comes to the scriptures there are a few words that seem to have interchangeable meanings. Take the words belief and faith, for example. Many people will say that they are the same thing and even certain dictionaries describe them as being very similar if not the same. But are they really?
This is one of the biggest contradictions found in the Bible as well as one of the most controversial. There are verses that say we are saved by our belief through the grace of Christ and then there are others that say we are saved by our works. Yet, Jesus Christ and his apostles taught all throughout their ministries that we must be doers of the word and not hearers only—that we will be rewarded according to our works, that we will have to account for every idle word that leaves our mouth, and that we will reap according to what we have sown and must work out our own salvation. But yet, we are also told that if we believe in him we will have eternal life. There’s a big contradiction here, and that’s what sent up the red flag for me. Something just didn’t seem right.
How can Christ say one thing in one place and say something totally the opposite in another? Is there something here that we’re just not seeing— something hidden between the lines or beyond the words on the page? Could it be possible that God’s meaning of belief and faith are different than how we perceive them to be? After all, His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).
What exactly are we saved from, and how does the atonement tie everything together? This is where the traditional doctrines of Christianity and the doctrines taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints seem to clash, but yet, they can both be backed up by scriptures from the Bible. So where exactly are the missing pieces of the puzzle? Well, most of them can be found in the Bible if you know where to look. The key is to keep our mind open to possibilities and not just dwell on the words that we physically see on the page.
Many Christians view belief and faith as being synonymous with one another, just different words that mean the same thing. Others say we are saved by our belief, or by our faith or trust in Jesus Christ alone and that is all we need to do to obtain our eternal salvation. Our works don’t matter. Latter-Day Saints, on the other hand, teach that belief is the first principle of the gospel and is the basic foundation upon which everything else is built. It’s only the first step of a process we go through—the first rung of the ladder, the milk before the meat. The LDS Church also teaches that along with belief, our works play an essential part in our eternal life and salvation.
Defining Belief and Faith
Belief is something that anyone can have and doesn’t require any sort of physical effort. It’s pretty much the same as a thought or an opinion, and anyone, even the devils themselves have the ability to believe as mentioned in James 2:19. Does this mean that the devils are saved? No, of course not. But yet, they do have eternal life in a sense. How can this be? Well, they have an eternal life of damnation. So if being saved means having eternal life, there must be something else missing here as well.
Although there are places in the Bible where faith seems to be used synonymously with belief, there is something else that is not mentioned in these particular verses, but is implied. If one believes in Jesus Christ then it’s expected that they will follow him and do his works—to keep and obey the laws and commandments that he has given to us even though it’s not specifically mentioned in these verses. The fact that doing the works is not mentioned but is implied instead is why many Christians believe that we don’t need to do the works at all.
This difference between the meaning of belief and faith is explained in great detail in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Faith is not just a belief, but it is a substance, something visible or tangible in the end. It is the evidence of something (belief, which is not seen), the evidence or proof that supports one’s belief. In other words, when we back up our belief with works, it produces an evidence or proof of our belief.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
True faith then, is the result of works—the physical substance or evidence that occurs when we take action to back up our beliefs. Remember when Indiana Jones was going after the Holy Grail and had to pass three tests to get to it? In one of those tests he had to take a “leap of faith” by stepping out over a deep canyon, trusting that there was an invisible bridge there that would prevent him from falling to his death. He couldn’t see the bridge, but he had to believe that it was there. His belief, however, wasn’t enough. He had to trust that belief and take action—he had to physically do the work of stepping out onto a place that looked like he would fall to his death. Only then did the result of his faith (belief + works or action) was manifested.
There are many examples of faith in Hebrews, Chapter 11 … how people not only believed but along with their belief, there was some kind of work or physical action involved. It was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice to God than his brother Cain. Why? Abel obeyed and prepared his sacrifice exactly as it was required by God, while Cain made his sacrifice not according to God’s requirements, but rather, in the manner in which he wanted to prepare it. He did it his own way. We could compare this to how we worship God—do we do as He says or do we pick and choose what we want to do, worship Him in our own way? The question should merit some deep thought.
It was by faith that Noah was MOVED to prepare the ark. In other words, he didn’t just believe God when He said He was going to send a flood and told Noah that he needed to build an ark, but Noah OBEYED and actually went out and physically built the ark according to God’s exact specifications. Abraham didn’t just believe that God actually spoke to him and told him to offer his son as a sacrifice, but he OBEYED and followed through by physically binding his son and was ready to slay him. Even when Jesus realized that someone had touched him and drew from his healing powers, the woman who did so, not only believed (she could have done that from anywhere) but she physically went and sought out the Savior, and reached out and touched his garment as he passed—physical evidence of her belief.
Sometimes the Lord will test us even to the extent of our reaching the very end of our rope before He stretches out His hand to stop us from danger or to reward us for our faith. He tests us like this so that we can PROVE to Him that like Abraham and Noah, we are willing to obey Him in ALL things, not some, but all. I later learned that we don’t usually have to go that far in order to find truth or answers. The answer is so simple that we often overlook it.
If you read through this chapter, you will see that in every instance, faith is tied to obedience as well as to some sort of physical action. Faith is more than just merely believing—it is backing up our belief with works in order to PROVE our faith, trust, and loyalty to God. In every example mentioned, you can see a specific pattern of Belief + Works or Action = Faith. Belief is the motivating factor that should move us to action, and only truly becomes faith after we have done so.
Belief is unseen. Faith is the evidence, the substance of belief, the proof or result that is seen by God and by others. This is why faith without works is dead because it is incomplete … faith without works is just belief, and even the devils can do that. Belief is only part of the equation and we can’t obtain the total, or fullness of blessings, without the missing addend. Belief doesn’t become faith until it’s been tested and it’s the end result that becomes the evidence or proof of our belief. It’s that end result that is the product of true faith.
We will find as we search the scriptures, that those who believed in Jesus Christ and accepted him as the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Only Begotten Son of God … not only believed in him, but those who believed went up another step and were baptized into his church. By doing so, they made a covenant with God that they would always remember Him and would keep and obey His laws and commandments. After they were baptized they received the gift of the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of God) by the laying on of hands of those who held the keys of authority for performing this ordinance. The gift of the Holy Ghost was God’s covenant with them in return—that they may always have His Spirit to be with them to guide, teach, direct, and comfort them, just to name a few of the duties of the Holy Ghost. By completing these first few steps, they had entered into a new covenant with the Lord to not only believe in his words but to follow his teachings and to keep and obey the commandments of God. In return, He would always be there to guide and direct them in righteousness through the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
The Ladder Of Faith
As you can see, little by little, the members of Christ’s church climbed up the ladder of faith one rung at a time. As they received the required ordinances of God, they continued to live in righteousness by doing the works that were taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles—by following in their footsteps and following their examples. They lived as Christ taught and were led and guided by the promptings of the Spirit which they had received, and as long as they heeded these promptings they were led in righteousness according to God’s righteousness.
To be continued in Part 2 … coming soon.