Ah, you’ve stumbled on one of my pet peeves! Buckle up—this will be a long one.

In a religious context, I DESPISE the word “believe”. It’s a complicated word with many nuances, all of which seem to be obliterated when the word is used in a religious context. Take these common examples in English.

“I believe my doctor when she tells me that this medicine will help manage my arthritis.”

“You doubt yourself, but I believe in you!”

“I believe that it’s going to rain today.”

The word “believe” has a slightly different meaning in each. In the first example, it’s used to accept a premise based on the qualifications and character of the one presenting it—I accept my doctor’s recommendation BECAUSE it is my doctor who says so, and based on that witness, I accept the premise. In the second, it’s a statement of trust in the ability of someone, a statement of their reliability in whatever is being discussed. In the third, it’s the expression of an opinion from the intellect.

And it’s the THIRD meaning that has come to dominate religious discussion. Even when the English presentation of the word doesn’t support this use, we do it anyway.

In the original question, “belief in doctrines” is mentioned. In English, when we talk about “believing in” something, as in the example I gave, we almost always mean it to express trust in, support for, relying on something or someone. But when we say “belief in doctrines”, we almost always mean “to be of the opinion that this doctrine is true”. Even when we say, “I believe in God”, we usually mean it to mean “I believe that God exists.”

We’ve taken to believe IN, and changed it to believe THAT. And I hate that we’ve done this. For example, “I believe in the boogey man” just means “I believe that the boogey man exists”. We’ve done the same thing to “faith”. In other contexts, the word is used in the same way as my second “believe” example: “I have faith in you”. It’s an expression of trust. But in a religious context, to “have faith” = “to believe” = “to believe THAT <x and y> is true”.

Our Biblical translations don’t help us much here either. It’s not that they are bad or deficient. It’s more that there’s no room in translation to accommodate the nuances of the word “belief” because of our ingrained assumption about what the word means when we come across it in the Bible.

I did some digging on the words “belief” and “faith”. Armstrong correctly identifies that the English words faith/belief in the Greek of the New Testament come from the word pistis. Pistis is a noun that can be translated “faith, belief, trust, confidence in something/someone, conviction, reliance on”. In the New Testament, it’s always used in relation to God and Christ Jesus. The verb form, pisteuow, means “to have faith in, to believe in, to trust in, to have confidence in, to rely on”.

When the word is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus used (abbreviated “LXX”), the word pistis most often translates the Hebrew word group ‘mn. It’s a word rooted in supporting, building up, being firm, being true, being secure, the way that a well-built wall is trustworthy and sure because it is well-built, solid, strong. We can put our trust it and rely on it because it is ‘mn, and that applies to people too—if we can put our trust in someone, have faith in them, rely on them, it’s because they are ‘mn. They are secure, reliable, able to support.

The VAST majority of the time when these words, pistis in Greek and ‘mn in Hebrew are used in the Bible, they are used in the same way “believe” is used in the first two examples I gave—they are used to indicate trusting or relying on what someone says, does, or is, or to indicate that the speaker has faith in someone (almost always God) and their ability. The words in Greek and Hebrew emphasize the WHY—because the person I pisteuow has given me good, solid reason to trust their words or to trust in their ability; they are ‘mn, reliable, faithful, unwavering. I don’t trust a wall until I push it to see if it falls over. I don’t trust a seat belt until I’ve checked to make sure it’s secure. They are worthy of the trust I put in them—trustworthy, faithful.

If you hadn’t noticed yet, “belief” and “faith” as translated in the Bible have at their core an implicit relationship. I can’t trust anyone or anything unless they have shown that they are worthy of their trust. The rigorous schooling, training, and oversight that medical professionals endure and operate under proves to me that I can trust them when they tell me what I need to do to be healthier (even if I don’t like it). It’s because I have a relationship with someone, even a fleeting one, that I can say whether or not I believe in them. I’ve watched them, I’ve seen them act, and I’ve made a decision based on that.

And relationships are not one-way. One of my favorite quotes from a classmate in college is, “Faith is not just my belief in God. It’s also God’s belief in me.” There’s a certain amount of trust God puts in me if we’re going to have a relationship of any kind.

There is an element of “proof”, too. Faith and belief are NOT things that take the place of evidence. I have absolutely no evidence that it will rain tomorrow (I haven’t checked the weather), and I can still say “I believe it will rain tomorrow”, but it doesn’t make one bit of difference whether it’s true or not. I can say that I “believe” anything. But believing IN something, having faith IN something, doesn’t happen unless there’s a reason.

This is why, for example, the Gospel according to John was written: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31 NRSV). The writer knows that the hearers of the gospel need reasons, need evidence, if they are going to put their trust in Christ Jesus. And so the writer draws on witnesses to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, records for their hearers stories of Jesus’s actions and teachings, and attests to their truthfulness, so that the hearers can trust Jesus and the promises he made. Without the stories and the witnesses, they’d have no reason to. WE would have no reason to.

Why do we trust in God? We trust in God because we trust the writers of the books of the Bible. We trust the authority of our teachers who interpret them with us. We trust our ancestors who have passed down the stories to us, giving them further authority. And we trust our own experiences of God’s presence and action in our lives. For all of these reasons, we are able to trust God, to have faith in the promises of Jesus Christ.

When we recite the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed in worship, we aren’t giving opinions on what we think is true. The creeds don’t begin “I believe THAT God is the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth,” but instead, “I believe IN God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” The creeds are expressions of trust and relationship, not intellectual assent to a proposition.

I will hammer this point over and over until the day I die. Our belief in Jesus Christ has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not we accept certain statements (“beliefs”) as facts. It has EVERYTHING to do with cultivating a relationship with God, relying on God, trusting that God can in fact see God’s promises come true. There are of course statements I believe are true, such as “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”, but it’s BECAUSE of my trust IN God that I can say what I believe ABOUT God. Without that relationship, I have no standing to make such claims. The claims by themselves are worthless and no more useful than me saying “I believe that it’s going to rain tomorrow” if I haven’t checked with any authorities or people I trust to be able to predict the weather.

Our relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as any and all trusting relationships do, also affect how we live. I trust our bishop, and therefore, I follow his advice in ecclesiastical matters. I trust my wife and trust in our relationship, and therefore (hopefully) act in ways to maintain that two-way trust. I trust you all to have my back when I have to make painful decisions about worship and function during this pandemic, freeing me to actually make them. So too, does our trust in God guide how we live our lives. It’s why we pray. It’s why we come so eagerly to the Eucharist. It’s why we use the Ten Commandments to guide how we interact with others in our communities. It’s why we share the concern of the prophets for the poor and the oppressed. It’s why we can’t demonize another human being created in the image of God as we are.

This has been a long, passionate rant, as I knew it would be! But I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that shifting our understanding of belief and faith AWAY from intellectual assent to a proposition and TOWARD putting ourselves in a trusting relationship with God is vital to who we are as Christians.

Tldr; Armstrong is correct in her assertion that faith and belief are not about intellectual assent, but are instead rooted in trust and relationships.

— Pastor Ken Ranos