What is “Faith”?

Assurance in God: Understanding what faith / pistis is.
Heb. 11:6 Without Faith it is impossible to

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Biblically, faith is trust, confidence in, or assurance. However, the biblical definition of faith differs from its modern definition. Before we look at the difference, let’s look at why we say biblical faith is trust, confidence in, or assurance.

The New Testament was written in Greek, not English, and the Greek noun “pistis” is translated “faith” in many translations of the Bible. For example:

“…If ye have faith (pistis) as a grain of mustard seed…”
“…Have faith (pistis) in God.” (Mark 11:22-KJV)
“(For we walk by faith (pistis), not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7-KJV)
That pistis means trust, confidence in, or assurance, can be checked in any good Greek lexicon (“lexicon” is a word scholars use for “dictionary.”). For example, Friberg’s Analytical Greek Lexicon has “confidence, faith, trust, reliance on.” Vine’s lexicon says, “firm persuasion,” and Bullinger’s lexicon says the same thing. Thayer’s lexicon says, “conviction of the truth of anything.”

When the people of the first century got the letters of Paul, for example, they did not say, “What is pistis?”, as if Paul had invented a new word. Pistis was in common use in the Greek language, and had been for centuries. It is in the writings of the Greeks, including Aristotle, Plato, Herodotus, etc. The first definition of pistis in the Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon, sold in college bookstores to students of ancient Greek, is “trust in others.” That is why we say pistis means “trust.”

When the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin, fides was the natural choice as a translation of pistis, because fides means “trust, confidence, reliance, belief.” The Bible was then read in Latin for hundreds of years. As the English language developed, our English word “faith” came from the Latin word fides. There should be nothing mysterious about pistis, fides, or faith. We know what trust is. Merriam-Webster defines it as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.”

If both pistis and fides mean “trust,” how did “faith” come to be defined in our culture as “firm belief in something for which there is no proof” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition)? To understand this, we must remember that a dictionary definition is only a record of how people are currently using the word in their speech and writing. This is why dictionary definitions change as time passes.

What happened to change the definition of faith from “trust” to “firm belief in something for which there is no proof” was: (1) people started to use “faith” as “belief in something for which there is no proof,” (2) that usage was put in the dictionary as a definition of faith, (3) people who did not know what faith was looked it up in the dictionary, saw that definition, and used it that way. This process continued over time until now almost everyone thinks “faith” is “belief in something for which there is no proof.” In fact, that definition of faith was used in the popular television medical series, “House,” in April 2006.

Sadly, it is now safe to say that most people do not know that the biblical definition of faith is “trust,” and furthermore that they do not have the knowledge or the tools to research that for themselves. Serious consequences come from believing that the Bible asks us to believe things even though there is no proof for them. Believers become confused about faith, not knowing what it is or how to get it and grow in it. Unbelievers, thinking the Bible asks people to believe things without proof, say it is an unreasonable and illogical book, and reject it—to their own doom.

How did the idea that faith is “belief in something for which there is no proof” enter into the Christian culture in the first place? The actual historical process is long and tedious, but the concept is simple. The Church asked people to trust doctrines that were neither logical nor clearly backed up by Scripture. For example, the doctrine that the “host” (bread) and wine that are used in Roman Catholic Mass become the body and blood of Christ is not logical (for example, it still looks and tastes like bread and wine, not meat and blood), and it is not backed by solid Scriptural exegesis. Priests know this, and so they ask people to “take it by faith.”

Please understand, there is nothing wrong with “take it by faith (trust)” if there is actually something (such as a promise) to trust. When Jesus told the blind man that if he washed in the Pool of Siloam he would be healed, the blind man had faith in, trusted, Jesus and his promise, washed, and given sight by a miracle. However, if there is nothing to trust in and nothing “trustworthy” to believe, then to ask people to “take it by faith” is wrong, and contributes to the misunderstanding of God and the Bible.

No one can force trust. It develops over time. We all know this every time we have a new repairman come to our house to fix something, or have to take our car to a new mechanic. We desperately want to trust the person to be competent and honest, but that comes only in time. If he says, “Trust me,” that often only makes things worse. If, on the other hand, he does the work when he says he will, does a good job, charges what he said he would, and seems to be honest and fair, our faith (trust) in him grows. Biblical faith is the same. It is neither magic, unreasonable, nor illogical, “it is simply trust.”

International Credit Card Trafficker Sentenced to 88 Months in Prison
Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, aka “BadB,” was sentenced today to serve 88 months in prison for trafficking in millions of stolen credit and debit cards and for his role in the theft of more than $9 million dollars from an Atlanta-based credit card processor.

The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates, U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director for Investigations David J. O’Connor and Special Agent in Charge Mark F. Giuliano of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.

Horohorin, 30, a citizen of Russia, Israel and Ukraine, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in the District of Columbia. In addition to his prison term, Horohorin was ordered to pay $125,739 in restitution and sentenced to two years of supervised release.

Horohorin was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in November 2009 on charges of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned a superseding indictment against Horohorin in August 2010, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and access device fraud. In August 2010, French law enforcement authorities, working with the U.S. Secret Service, identified Horohorin in Nice, France, and arrested him as he was attempting to board a flight to return to Moscow. Horohorin was extradited to the United States on June 6, 2012. After Horohorin’s arrival in the United States, the two cases pending against him were consolidated in Washington, D.C.

On Oct. 25, 2012, Horohorin pleaded guilty to two counts of access device fraud as well as conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to Horohorin’s plea agreement, he used online criminal forums to sell stolen credit and debit card information, known as “dumps,” to online purchasers around the world. Horohorin, using the online name “BadB,” advertised the availability of stolen credit and debit card information through these online forums and directed purchasers to create accounts at “dumps.name,” a fully-automated dumps vending website operated by Horohorin and hosted outside the United States. At the time of his arrest, Horohorin possessed more than 2.5 million stolen credit and debit card numbers.

Horohorin admitted that he was one of the lead cashers in an elaborate scheme in which counterfeit payroll debit cards were used to withdraw more than $9 million from ATMs around the world. Hackers broke into the computers of a credit card processor located in the Atlanta area, stole debit card account numbers and raised the balances and withdrawal limits on those accounts while distributing the account numbers and PIN codes to cashers, like Horohorin. Horohorin, and those he recruited, used one of the stolen account numbers to withdraw more than $125,000 from ATMs in and around Moscow.

The District of Columbia case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Ethan Arenson, Carol Sipperly and Corbin Weiss of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). Weiss also serves as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service. Key assistance was provided by the French Police Nationale Aux Frontiers and the Netherlands Police Agency National Crime Squad High Tech Crime Unit. The FBI Atlanta field office provided information helpful to the investigation.

The Northern District of Georgia case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick Oldham and Lawrence R. Sommerfeld of the Northern District of Georgia, and Trial Attorney Sipperly of CCIPS. The Atlanta case was investigated by the FBI. Assistance was provided by numerous law enforcement partners. The U.S. Secret Service provided information helpful to the investigation.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs handled Horohorin’s extradition from France.

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