According to the teachings of the Bible about God, faith can be defined as trust in Him or a Christian walk with God. To have faith in God takes both intellectual assent and a transformational commitment to the truths that God reveals.

The belief in God can take on many forms. First, having faith that He does exist. The mere existence of God is insufficient. According to James 2:19, demonic beings have a belief in God.

Belief in God is a prerequisite for commitment. There is no such thing as faith apart from deeds (James 2:26).

Even faith in God that motivates one to act is not sufficient on its own. In order for faith to be genuine, acceptance of God as described in the Bible is required. The attributes of God are not up for grabs. If we refuse to acknowledge God for who and what He is, then we are worshiping a god of our own making. This is practiced by a great number of “religions,” yet every “religion” that is not based on the Bible has a creator god. True faith in God demands acknowledging who God actually is. For instance, since the God of the Bible is a triune god, genuine trust in God requires acknowledging not just the deity of the Father, but also the personhood of the Son and the Holy Spirit in addition to the Father.

Faith is murky in today’s world. A young boy in Sunday school once offered this definition of religion: “Believing what you know to be untrue.” Many members of the so-called “new atheist” movement set religion against scientific inquiry and historical evidence. They contend that Christians believe in God on the basis of faith, whereas atheists believe in God on the basis of factual evidence for science. While Christians believe, scientists have knowledge. This comparison leads to a misunderstanding of faith in God.

The facts does not need to be disregarded for one to have faith in God. To trust is to have faith. Christians put their faith in God. Atheists who trust science are known as scientific. Atheists who use science to locate and treat medical conditions are engaging in religious practice. He is confident that both his data and the medication will treat him rather than poison him. Some people use the substance without giving any thought to where it came from or how it was manufactured. Others may utilize the medicine after carefully examining the research that has been done on it. One person might approach it with full assurance while another might approach it with some trepidation. Everyone who uses the medicine is putting their faith in it. It is the efficiency of the medicine that determines its success, not faith. A person cannot be cured by having a strong belief in a medication that is not effective. The difference lies not in the strength of one’s faith but in the things that one chooses to believe in. Even in the face of unpredictability, a good medicine will be effective if it is taken in the prescribed manner. It’s possible for doubt to exist within faith (see Mark 9:24). Even though they have their reservations, people can nevertheless put their faith in something and commit to it. Someone once coined the phrase “faith seeking understanding” to describe doubt.

Some people put their faith in God because they feel it is the only rational choice. They might have been brought up in a Christian household and instructed to read the Bible from a young age. They have faith in God because they have seen Him at work in the lives of other people. Others may have believed in God after considering the evidence for his existence. Trust in the God of the Bible is essential to genuine faith, and this trust might come about either instinctually or deliberatively.

One can either arrive at atheism consciously or by accident. Because he places more stock in his intuition and experience than in rational inquiry, he is of the opinion that God does not exist. The new atheists have it wrong; most people have some kind of religious or spiritual faith. Even if we just trust our five senses, survival requires us to do so. The object of faith is important.