FAITH — Topical Study

A) Aim & Working Definition

Aim. Trace the nature, grounds, and effects of biblical faith across the canon—how it relates to justification, perseverance, obedience, and assurance—distinguishing senses (trust, faithfulness, “the faith” as body of truth), and resolving perceived tensions (e.g., Paul/James).

Working definition (topic-level).
Faith is the God-willed, covenantal trust and allegiance of the heart that receives God’s gracious promise and submits to His word; it rests on God’s character and saving work, and in the New Covenant centers on Jesus the Messiah, expressing itself in obedience and endurance.

B) Word-Field / Term Map (synonyms • antonyms • phrase-equivalents)

Hebrew (OT):

Verb: ’aman (Hiphil, “believe, trust, consider reliable”); bataḥ (“trust”), ḥāsāh (“take refuge”).
Nouns/Adjectives: ’ĕmûnāh (“faith/faithfulness/steadfastness”), ’emet (“truth/faithfulness”), ne’ĕmān (“faithful”).
Equivalents in LXX: pisteuō, pistis, pistos, peithō (variously).

Greek (NT):

Core family: pistis (faith/faithfulness), pisteuō (believe/trust), pistos (faithful).
Near terms: peithō (trust/be persuaded), elpis (hope), hypomonē (steadfast endurance).
Antonyms/negatives: apistia (unbelief), apistos (unbelieving/faithless), diakrinō (doubt), oligopistia (“little faith”), apeitheia (disobedience; often the practical expression of unbelief).
Phrase-equivalents: “the faith” = the apostolic message/body of Christian truth (e.g., Acts 6:7; Jude 3).

(Conner Ch. 5 emphasizes building a term map with synonyms/antonyms and conceptual equivalents before synthesis.)

1-3-5 Other-Methods-of-Research

C) Canonical Sweep (first → progressive → full mention; by covenant & genre)

Torah / Early Narrative (First Mentions):

Gen 15:6 Abram “believed” (he’ĕmîn, Hiphil of ’aman) Yahweh; it was “counted” (ḥāšab → LXX elogisthē) to him as righteousness. Faith = trusting God’s promise apart from works/merit; establishes the prototype for justification.
Ex 14:31 Israel “believed in Yahweh and in Moses His servant”—faith as covenantal reliance evidenced in obedience.

Prophets/Writings (Progress):

Isa 7:9 wordplay on ’aman: “If you do not believe (ta’aminu), you will not be established (te’āmēnū).”
Hab 2:4 “The righteous shall live by his faith(fulness) (’ĕmûnāh).” LXX carries forward to pistis in the NT; nexus for Paul’s doctrine of life by faith.
Psalms/Proverbs: bataḥ/ḥāsāh scenes of practical trust (Ps 2; 37; 46; Prov 3:5–6).

Gospels/Acts (Messiah-centered faith):

Jesus’ calls: “Repent and believe (pisteuete) the gospel” (Mk 1:15); faith heals/saves (e.g., Mk 5:34; Lk 7:50) as trust in Jesus’ person and authority, not a mere force.
Acts: “faith in His name” (Acts 3:16); “obedience of faith” pattern emerges (cf. Rom 1:5; Acts 6:7).

Pauline Letters (Doctrinal concentration):

Justification by faith apart from works of law (Rom 3–4; Gal 2–3).
Faith unites to Christ (instrumental means, not meritorious cause); produces love and obedience (Gal 5:6; Rom 1:5).
“The faith” as the apostolic message (Gal 1:23).
pistis Christou debate (objective “faith in Christ” vs subjective “faithfulness of Christ”): classic conservative reading emphasizes objective genitive (“faith in Christ”), while acknowledging Christ’s faithfulness grounds our faith (Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16).

Hebrews/Catholic Epistles (Fullness & Testing):

Heb 11:1–6 faith as assurance (hypostasis) of the hoped-for and conviction of the unseen—trusting God’s word into action.
James 2:14–26 living faith works; “justified” (dikaioō) = vindicated/shown before humans by works (conservative harmonization with Paul).
1 Peter faith refined by trials (1 Pet 1:5–9).

D) Classification (Conner’s doctrinal lenses)

Definitions & Attributes. Trusting reception of God’s promise/word; covenantal allegiance; responsive and persevering; sourced in God’s revelation; never meritorious.

Kinds/Categories.

Saving faith (instrumental means of justification).
Persevering faith (enduring unto reward).
Miracle-related faith (entrusting God for particular acts; not guaranteed outcomes).
Doctrinal “the faith” (apostolic body of truth).
Faithfulness (relational reliability; at times a valid sense of pistis/’ĕmûnāh in context).

Conditions / Means. Hearing the word (Rom 10:17); repentance and humble trust; God’s convicting initiative by the gospel; prayer; fellowship.

Results / Effects. Justification (Rom 5:1), adoption, access to grace, sanctification’s inception (Gal 3:2–3), obedience of faith, assurance, endurance.

Agents / Instruments.

Ground: God’s character and Christ’s finished work.
Instrument: human faith (response).
Giver: God gives salvation and enables faith; the charisma of “faith” (1 Cor 12:9) is not identical to saving faith.

Contrasts/Counterfeits. Mere assent without trust (Jas 2:19); temporary belief (Lk 8:13); “little faith” vs persistent trust (Mt 6; 8).

Time Relations. Inaugurated now; consummated in sight (2 Cor 5:7).

Illustrations/Types. Abraham; Habakkuk’s remnant; OT “refuge” psalms; Gospel healings; Hebrews 11 exemplars.

E) Priority Loci — Mini-Exegesis Packets

Genesis 15:6
Key terms. he’ĕmîn (Hiphil of ’aman = “consider true/reliable; trust”), ḥāšab (“reckon/credit”). LXX: episteusen… elogisthē.
Sense. Abram entrusts himself to Yahweh’s promise (offspring), and God counts that faith as righteousness—prototype of justification by faith (cf. Rom 4).
Habakkuk 2:4
Term. ’ĕmûnāh = faith/faithfulness (covenant reliability).
Sense. In contrast to the proud, the righteous lives by steadfast trust/loyalty to God’s word. NT uses (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38) highlight life by faith under pressure.
Romans 3:21–26
Focus. God’s righteousness manifested in Christ; justification by faith apart from works of law; redemption/propitiation in Christ Jesus.
pistis Christou. Conservative reading: primarily faith in Christ (objective gen.), with Christ’s faithfulness supplying the saving ground.
Theological upshot. Faith = instrument, not merit; God remains just and justifier of the one who has faith.
Romans 4 (esp. 4:3, 4:18–22)
Link. Paul reads Gen 15:6 as paradigmatic: faith trusts God who raises the dead and calls into being things that are not.
Outcome. Righteousness “credited” to the one who believes; circumcision/works cannot ground justification.
Galatians 2:16; 3:2–14
Contrast. “Works of law” vs hearing with faith; the blessing of Abraham to Gentiles by faith; the law cannot justify or impart life.
Spirit. Reception of the Spirit by hearing with faith (3:2).
Ephesians 2:8–9
Grace-through-faith. Salvation is by grace through faith; “not of works.” Faith functions as the receiving means; salvation (the whole package) is God’s gift.
Hebrews 11:1–6
Definition-by-function. Faith is the assurance (hypostasis)/conviction (elegchos) that issues in obedience.
Theology. Without faith it is impossible to please God; faith believes He is and He rewards those who seek Him.
James 2:14–26
Harmonization (conservative). Paul speaks of justification’s basis (God credits righteousness by faith apart from works). James speaks of vindication/validation—the kind of faith that saves is living/working, shown by works (cf. Abraham’s offering of Isaac).

F) Synthesis (Biblical → Systematic; Free-Will/Dispensational; Reformed contrast)

Nature. Faith is trusting reliance on God’s self-revelation; in the New Covenant it centers on Christ’s person/work. It includes knowledge (notitia), assent (assensus), and trust (fiducia); genuine faith yields obedience (Rom 1:5; Gal 5:6).
Instrument of Justification. Faith is the instrument, never the meritorious ground (Rom 3:24–26). The ground is Christ alone; faith receives Him.
Continuity across Dispensations. Salvation has always been by grace through faith; the content of faith is progressively clarified (from promise/typology → Messiah’s person/work). Israel and the Church remain distinct institutions; the basis of salvation is the same.
Human Responsibility & Divine Initiative. God initiates via word and Spirit; humans are truly responsible to respond in faith. Against determinism, faith is not coerced; grace is resistible (Acts 7:51).
Reformed contrast (brief). Classic Calvinism emphasizes unconditional election and effectual calling rendering faith certain; our stance stresses God’s genuine offer and human response, with numerous exhortations to continue in the faith (Col 1:23).
Perseverance. Saving faith endures (Heb 3:14; 10:39); apostolic warnings function as real means to keep believers in the way (not mere hypotheticals).

G) Objections & Difficulties (answers in brief)

Paul vs James. Different questions: How is a sinner justified before God? (Paul: by faith apart from works) vs What kind of “faith” is real? (James: the faith that saves is shown by works). “Justified” in James = vindicated (cf. Matt 11:19).
“Faith of Christ” (pistis Christou). Objective genitive (“faith in Christ”) is the ordinary syntax in salvation contexts; nevertheless, Christ’s faithfulness is the ground and pattern for believers.
Is faith a “work”? No—faith is receiving, the antithesis of works-merit (Rom 4:4–5).
Demons “believe” (Jas 2:19). Mere assent ≠ saving faith; saving faith trusts and obeys.
“Gift of faith” vs saving faith. The charisma (1 Cor 12:9) is a Spirit-given capacity for particular ministries/moments; saving faith is the ordinary human response enabled by the gospel.

H) Applications (text-driven, brief)

Receive and rest on Christ alone; reject both legalism and antinomian “faithless assent.”
Persevere through trials; faith obeys and endures (Heb 10–12).
Grow faith by the word (Rom 10:17), prayer (Mk 9:24), and fellowship (Heb 10:24–25).
Minister in love (Gal 5:6): faith works through love, not through self-exaltation.

Select Conservative Resources (SBL style; no direct quotations below)

Lexica & Grammars

Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. (BDAG)
Koehler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann J. Stamm. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. 5 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000. (HALOT)
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1906. (BDB)
Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Commentaries & Theology

Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982 (rev. 1992).
Witherington, Ben III. Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
Morris, Leon. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.
Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.
Picirilli, Robert E. Grace, Faith, Free Will. Nashville: Randall House, 2002.
Cottrell, Jack. The Faith Once for All: Bible Doctrine for Today. Joplin, MO: College Press, 2002.
Marshall, I. Howard. Kept by the Power of God. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1969.
Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology. Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 1993.

Optional Data Outputs (on request)

TSV index of faith references by corpus/genre/covenant with labels (definition/kind/condition/result/contrast), following your rule: count consecutive verse runs as one instance; list new ranges only when the doctrine reappears in a distinct location within the chapter.

Notes on Method Integration

This dossier follows Conner’s Topical Study (Ch. 5) by: (1) defining aim; (2) mapping the word-field (synonyms/antonyms/phrases); (3) sweeping the canon with first/progressive/full mention; (4) classifying data (definitions, kinds, conditions/results, contrasts); (5) building mini-exegesis dossiers on key loci; and (6) forming a synthesis with objections and applications.