‘Emunah,’ or ‘faith as translated in English, is not the same as the concept of faith we understand today. Biblical faith is more of an action than merely knowing.
Emunah or Biblical Faith
We have discussed in a previous article about ’emet’ or the Hebrew Word for faithfulness. ‘Emunah’ is the root word of ’emet,’ and it comes from ‘aman,’ or widely used as Amen today. By which, Aman means securely trusting and agreeing.
So, when we say Emunah, Martin Luther King perfectly explained it as taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Biblical faith pertains to the action of experiencing the promise and not just knowing the promise.
Just like Abraham. Emunah first appeared in Genesis 15:6. “Abram believed (Emunah) the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Abraham’s faith so moved God that He reckoned it as righteous. It was a kind of faith that did not merely accept God’s promises as true, but Abraham’s belief was an act of righteousness because he demonstrated his trust in God. It is believing in God, trusting and relying upon Him, and all of which calls for a consistent behavior stance of trust and reliance.
Dave Adamson, a pastor at North Point Ministries in Atlanta, helped describe ’emunah’ in his simple illustration. He shared that when he started learning guitar, he studied a lot of musical theories. But, if he would not put that knowledge into practice by picking the instrument, he would never have become a guitarist. “It was one thing to accumulate knowledge about music, but it is another thing to act out the knowledge by putting it into practice,” he said.
Therefore, it is safe to say that the most faithful people are not the ones with the most theological degrees. But, the faithful ones are those believing God’s Word and living it out.