Faith Meaning: Trust, Belief and Loyalty

The definition of faith, sense by sense

1. Trust or confidence. "I have faith in my team." You expect someone or something to be reliable, even before you can check.
2. Religious belief. Belief in God, gods or spiritual truths, and trust in them. "Her faith gave her strength during the illness."
3. A religion. "The Jewish faith", "interfaith dialogue", "people of all faiths".
4. Loyalty to a promise or person. "Keep faith with your supporters" means stay loyal. "Break faith" means betray.

The adjective faithful follows the last sense: a faithful friend is loyal, and a faithful copy is accurate. Closely related ideas include fidelity and conviction.

Faith meaning in the Bible

To define faith in the Bible, most Christian teachers start with trust. In Christian teaching, faith means trusting God and believing what God has revealed, especially about Jesus. The best known definition of faith in the Bible is Hebrews 11:1. In the King James Version it reads: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Modern translations put it as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The New Testament was written in Greek, and the word translated as faith is pistis, which also means trust and faithfulness. In the Hebrew Bible, the related idea emunah carries the sense of firmness and steady trustworthiness, so faith there is as much about loyal living as about inner belief.

Christian traditions differ on how faith relates to good works, sacraments and grace. Many describe faith as both a gift and a response: belief that shows itself in trust and action. The idea is linked to salvation and redemption in Christian thought.

How other traditions speak of faith

In Islam, the Arabic word iman is usually translated as faith. It includes belief in God, the angels, the revealed books, the prophets, the Day of Judgement and divine decree, and Muslim scholars link it closely with practice. In Judaism, faith is often expressed through trust in God and faithfulness to the covenant through daily life and law. Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh traditions also speak of faith as trust in the divine, in a teacher, or in a spiritual path, though the emphasis and wording differ.

In general use, faith works as a respectful umbrella word: "a school that welcomes students of every faith". For more on belief words, see religion or browse our spiritual vocabulary page.

Examples in everyday sentences

• After months of practice, the coach had real faith that we could win the final.
• He lost faith in the delivery company after three late parcels in a row.
• The new hospital chaplain visits patients of every faith.
• Moving abroad without a job lined up was a leap of faith.
• She kept the old radio out of faith that it would work again one day.

Phrases with faith

• In good faith: honestly, with real intentions. In law and business, acting in good faith means dealing honestly and fairly.
• In bad faith: dishonestly, with a hidden aim, such as making an offer you never mean to keep.
• Leap of faith: deciding to believe or act when you cannot be sure.
• Keep the faith: stay loyal or hopeful, often said as encouragement.
• Blind faith: belief without questioning, usually said critically.
• Take on faith: accept without proof. "I took his word on faith."

Faith, belief and hope

You can believe something without acting on it, but faith usually involves leaning your weight on it, much as you lean on a chair you trust to hold you.

History of the word

Faith reached English in the thirteenth century from the French of the time, feid or foi, which came from Latin fides, "trust, confidence". At first it meant loyalty to a person or a promise. The religious sense grew strong as church writings were translated from Latin. The Latin root also gives us fidelity, confide and bona fide, "in good faith".