Do We Really Know What is Faith?

Faith?  What exactly does the scriptures mean when faith is mentioned?  The Hebrew word for faith is “emunah”.  I always look at the Word of God from the perspective of the ones who penned it under the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).   They were given a unique culture and mindset established Elohim (God).  I think we can all learn much by studying the Hebraic perspective.

The following are excerpts on faith as defined by the Hebrew word “emunah.”   Please read and consider.

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The Hebrew root aman means firm, something that is supported or secure. This word is used in Isaiah 22:23 for a nail that is fastened to a “secure” place. Derived from this root is the word emun meaning a craftsman. A craftsman is one who is firm and secure in his talent. Also derived from aman is the word emunah meaning firmness, something or someone that is firm in their actions. When the Hebrew word emunah is translated as faith misconceptions of its meaning occur. Faith is usually perceived as a knowing while the Hebrew emunah is a firm action. To have faith in God is not knowing that God exists or knowing that he will act, rather it is that the one with emunah will act with firmness toward God’s will. -Jeff Benner http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_faith.html –

Emunah conveys both affirmation and deep-seated conviction – “amen” – as well as unshakeable loyalty, trust and reliancehttp://www.torahweb.org/torah/2008/parsha/rros_lechlecha.html-

...root meaning of emunah is trust and reliance, not intellectual acquiescence in the truth of certain propositions -http://www.myjewishlearning.com/beliefs/Theology/Thinkers_and_Thought/Doctrine_and_Dogma/Biblical_Faith.shtml

Emunah, however, is an innate conviction, a perception of truth that transcends, rather than evades, reason. -http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1398519/jewish/Emunah.htm

Emunah is more like faithfulness than a static state of mind (i.e., the Greek concept of ascertaining truth). It is more “belief in” than “belief that.”

The ideal Greek mind was caught up in the pursuit of a state of “epistemological bliss” or nirvana-like experience of the divine. Epistemological certainty was the goal (even those Greeks of the skeptical schools defined themselves in relation to this goal).  The contemplation of the eidos (Forms or Ideas), archetypal patterns of all reality, was the good life. Pistis (the Greek word for belief) was merely a means to episteme (knowledge) and represented a lower-level of consciousness.  “Faith” was the shadowy realm of the cave, the domain of opinion. Education and rationality were the way out the darkness and into the light…

The intellectuals of our day are inheritors (and epigones) of this earlier classical Greek mindset.  Read entire article here– http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Emunah/emunah.html

 

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