ABOUT THIS BOOK

It is not difficult to give a definition of faith, or to explain what it is. For example, Hebrews 11:1 says it is ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’. Yet this description—with others—is difficult to understand unless we trace the history and action of faith. Then the above—and other—definitions can be under­stood. Nevertheless, we can state here that faith is seeing God as He is and what He is doing, and so trusting and obeying Him. Faith is comprised of elements of knowing the true facts, seeing these as related to God, and so trusting Him. God with the facts being dynamic actually grips us, so that we then obey Him, as He is, and in accordance with these facts and acts. Yet, as we have indicated, this description will not be wholly intelligible until we have seen the history of faith.

By the history of faith we do not simply mean an account of men and acts of faith, but the history which is God and His action, especially as He has involved men of faith—His people—in those actions.