Faith

The Bible speaks of faith through trust in the LORD, God’s own faithfulness, faithful conduct, and the contrasting language of unfaithfulness. The word or idea recurs in at least 414 verses across 49 books and 275 episodes; the collected passages use related language in more than one sense.

In Genesis 15:6, a person is described as faithful in the LORD, and this is reckoned to him as righteousness. Other passages use faithfulness for reliability or loyal dealing between people: a servant asks whether others will deal kindly and faithfully with his master (Genesis 24:49), and men promise to deal kindly and faithfully with Rahab (Joshua 2:14). A description of David likewise calls him faithful among the king’s servants (1 Samuel 22:14).

The passages also speak directly of the LORD as faithful. Deuteronomy 7:9 calls the LORD God, “the faithful God,” who keeps covenant and kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 32:4 calls him faithful and without injustice. In 2 Samuel 22:26, the text says that with the faithful, God shows himself faithful.

Faithfulness is also named as a manner of serving the LORD. Joshua tells Israel to fear the LORD and serve him with integrity and faithfulness, putting away other gods (Joshua 24:14). Caleb’s inheritance is connected in the text with having followed fully after the LORD (Joshua 14:14). By contrast, several passages call actions against the LORD unfaithfulness: Israel acts unfaithfully concerning the devoted thing (Joshua 7:1), and Moses and Aaron are told that they did not believe in the LORD to consecrate him before Israel (Numbers 20:12).

Thus, the gathered language does not use “faith” only for one formula. It includes trust in the LORD, descriptions of God’s faithfulness, conduct marked by faithfulness, and accusations of breaking faith or acting unfaithfully.