Proverbs 3:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

We have been talking about the aspects of faith and how there are many. Here is one in which trust has two aspects. One is faith in God and the other is in trusting ourselves. While it does say not to lean on our understanding, it references the heart first. We who are in Christ have the indwelling Holy Spirit that uses faith to enact God’s will. We made that point yesterday.

Hidden within those biblical definitions of faith was the word fail. Failure is associated with unfaithfulness not faithfulness. We will in the flesh fail and in doing so gain valuable experience about when our choices are inspired by faith from God through the Holy Spirit or self-will. We must know the difference and failure on our part leads us to recognize the difference between heart choices and mental decisions.

As we gain experience by our failures we will gain trust in our ability to hear God, believe God and obey God. Every step of faith is initiated by God. It is a trial and error method that God suffers us to learn to trust Him and ourselves. Those are two aspects of trust yet one faith.

Let us now apply that understanding to these verses about faith.

Romans 1:17 English Standard Version (ESV) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We are not righteous, He is and because He abides in us, His righteousness is illustrated by faith.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. (Source dictionary.com)

What is the etymology of the word faith?

Faith (n.)

Mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai “faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness,” from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi “faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge” (11c.), from Latin fides “trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief,” from root of fidere “to trust,” from PIE root *bheidh “to trust, confide, persuade.” For sense evolution, see belief. Accommodated to other English abstract nouns in -th (truth, ealth, etc.).  (Source etymonline.com)

The issue of faith goes much further back considering that its English translation was not used until the 13^th century. What was the original language word, its true etymology? It is only used twice in the Old Testament and its root word is âman, aw-man’; a primitive root; (to go to the right hand) properly, to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain;:—hence, assurance, believe, bring up, establish, fail, be faithful (of long continuance, steadfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the right. (Source BLB.org Strong’s)

Comparing the English etymology with the Hebrew we discover that the English word fails to contain the most important aspect of faith, the right hand of God the Father. The right hand is associated with power, to enact will. Since we saw yesterday that faith is a gift from God then it is surely given with the purpose of enacting God’s will.

Considering both uses we must understand that the faith God gives us is used in various ways and is not limited to simply belief. That is only one aspect of faith. Not all these uses of faith are simply understood. Bring up and nursing might be associated with our growth in Christ. To foster as a parent might speak to our adoption but we rarely connect adoption with faith, but there it is in the âman definition.