Faith's Origins and Signs
Posted: Thursday, September 17, 2009
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
I am on a journey to discover the origins of the word "faith." Online, its use is attributed to the 13 th century. Yet "faith," as in "believing God," is used in the first book of the Law, Genesis, translated from Hebrew. "Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3). Later, in what is called "the hall of faith" in the New Testament, Abraham is at the beginning of people of faith named there (see Hebrews 11).
What led me on this exploration of words was a little book about Celtic wisdom by Cindy Thomson. A friend of our family recently gave a copy to all of us to share. The lines and chapters give multiple gifts of faith in prose and poetry. The color photographs inspire the idea of a tour ticket as soon as possible.
The subject of Celtic wisdom must include mention of the man known as Saint Patrick of Ireland. He was an Englishman taken to Ireland by force from the English seacoast. The abductions of Patrick and many others along the coastlines included women washing clothes in the sea. Those captured were taken to Ireland to work as slaves. Patrick was made a shepherd, lonely work in a land not home.
Patrick's seven years in servitude added up to years of developing faith for him. By the time he returned home, led by a dream of a ship over 200 miles away, he had continual prayer communion with God. Back with family in England, another dream of Irish people calling him to return led him to leave the refreshing comforts of home again. Obedience to what he took as a call of God through the dreams, he returned to the land of earlier miseries and planted more of God's word in eager hearts there.
Faith is marked by obedience and does not operate without it. It was by obedience that the Lord of earth and heaven went to the Cross. "Not my will, but Thine, be done," Jesus prayed. Faith was present in Patrick's obedience to the Lord, whom he had come to know in that lonely place.
It was the fourth century when the events of St. Patrick's life happened. In those days Protestant and Catholic labels did not exist. In that time the faith seemed closer to heavenly faith, being one faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through to Jesus Christ, at His appearing.
Today, people of other religions speak of "my faith," meaning a religion. Jesus spoke of "faith," "your faith," and "the faithful" in the personal sense. He also spoke about quantities of faith as in "little faith." The rest of the New Testament of the Bible continues along those lines.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, many weeks after His resurrection, the disciples told a lame man to stand in the name of Jesus. When the man stood, healed, the disciples gave credit to the man's faith in the name of Jesus. Through Jesus Christ comes the faith that saves the soul for eternal life.
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see ( Acts 3:16-NIV version of the Bible).
Resource: Need to find a verse of Scripture or a passage? Try Biblegateway.com/.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Beautiful - great word study (Word?) eye opening and to the point. And then there is the object of our faith - Jesus - we can't go wrong, can we? Marijo
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