On Authentic Faith

 

What is Faith?  Typically,  one will say their faith is in what they believe.  An intellectual acknowledgement of a creed, a theology, or a "heart-felt" (more often emotional) conviction that Christ is a historical and supernatural reality.  

When Jesus entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you have faith that I can do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”  (Matthew 9:28).

What kind of faith did the Blind Men confess?  They believed in Jesus' ability to heal him.  

 

Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you.”  (Matthew 9:28).

So they were healed to the degree that they believed, to the strength of their faith.  Do you remember the man with a daughter possessed by unclean spirits?  He understood the value of ultimate faith.

 Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”     (Mark 9:23-25)

Jesus emphasizes the notion of the quality of one's faith relative to the power of that faith:

Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.  (Matthew 21:21)

 Belief and knowledge is a product of the dianoia (rational aspect) of the soul.  What about noetic Faith?  St Paul tells us through his letter to be Hebrew Church:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.  (Hebrews 11:1-3)

“Faith is about understanding things that aren’t clear. It brings unseen things into the same level of certainty as things we can see. So, it’s impossible to doubt what we can see, and similarly, faith can’t exist unless we’re more certain about invisible things than we are about the most visible ones. Even though the things we hope for might seem unreal, faith makes them real. In fact, faith doesn’t just make them real, it is their reality. For example, the Resurrection hasn’t happened yet, and it doesn’t exist in a physical sense, but hope makes it real in our soul. This is what ‘the substance of things’ means.” says St John Chrysostom (Homily 21 on Hebrews).

We were created as relational beings.  We are nothing without being in-communion with others as ourselves in-Christ.   As we face God, as we encounter God through His energies., as we are united to God through His Church and Her Awesome and Life-giving Mysteries we are given such faith that strengthens our unswerving conviction that all the promises of Christ will in fact come no matter when in time it will come to pass. 

This Noetic Faith is strong enough to move mountains!

--fr sym'on