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A principle of action, not a feeling of certainty

Faith

Scripture defines faith carefully and then describes it working. Alma's experiment is the most methodical account anywhere, and Ether 12:6 states the order most people get backwards: the trial comes before the witness.

22 min2 sections

1

The definitions

Alma 32:21, 27bofm

21And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

27But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

Alma adds a clause the Greek only implies: 'which are true.' Faith is not confidence in general; it is trust aimed at something that actually is. And the entry requirement in verse 27 is as low as it could be made: no more than a desire to believe.

2

The order

Ether 12:6bofm

6And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

The trial is not a test of a witness already held; it is the condition of receiving one. That order is the one most often reversed in practice, and reversing it makes faith impossible — because a person waiting for certainty before acting is waiting for the thing that only comes after acting.

Principle

Faith is a principle of action and power, exercised before certainty and confirmed after it.

Alma 32:27 · Ether 12:6 · James 2:17–18 · Hebrews 11:1

What this topic holds

  1. Faith is hope in things not seen which are true — the truth clause is not optional.

    Alma 32:21 · Hebrews 11:1

  2. The witness comes after the trial, not before it.

    Ether 12:6 · John 7:17

Check your reading

3 questions

  1. 01What does Alma add to the definition of faith that Hebrews 11 leaves implicit?

  2. 02What is the entry requirement in Alma 32:27?

  3. 03What order does Ether 12:6 insist on?

Where to go next

Chains

Lessons

Topics

Sources

  1. Bible Dictionary, "Faith"
  2. Alma 32; Ether 12; Hebrews 11 — The primary texts.