What does the Church talk about when it talks about faith? What is faith in the language of the Church, and what reality does the Church point to with that word? Who does the Church call a believer, or who is a believer according to the Church’s testimony?
In the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:1) we read: Faith (πίστις) is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (see Subline translation). The assurance of things hoped for is achieving a goal, obtaining what was sought or desired, experiencing firsthand what one believes in; the conviction of things not seen is about things unseen, unknown, then seen and experienced, known firsthand! Thus, faith is knowing; to believe in something (someone) is to know what (or whom) you believe in! Knowing (see detail above) is an act during which the knower and that which is known become one (inseparably and indivisibly). But if we take this definition of the word faith (Heb. 11:1), given by the author of the so-called Epistle to the Hebrews (by the way, this work is not an epistle, not to the Hebrews, and not a creation of the apostle Paul, formerly Saul – V.A.) and everywhere this word (faith, πίστις) appears in the New Testament texts, and read it in this meaning (i.e., knowing), then we encounter many contradictions (i.e., in this context (see examples below) the word cannot have (indicate) the meaning of knowing (Heb.11:1))!? Why does this happen? We’ll try to understand why, as it’s very important for us who learn to communicate directly (from mouth to mouth) with the author of the word or through an intermediary (book, audio, video recording, etc.).
The New Testament texts were written in Koine Greek, in which one word, πίστις (pistis), was used to denote two realities: faith (knowing) and trust (what precedes experience, knowing, the pre-experiential state). Therefore, what the word “pistis” indicates, whether about faith or trust, can only be understood from the context. Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic, in which these two concepts (trust and faith) were denoted by different words (though sharing a root): “faith” – “emuna” (אמונה), “trust” – “emun” (אמון); there is also the word bitahon (בטחון) – to instill security, to trust completely. The apostles (evangelists) and the first communities-parishes they founded, translating the Lord’s words spoken in Aramaic into Koine Greek, translated these two different words (trust (emun) and faith (emuna)) with one word “pistis” (due to the linguistic poverty of Koine, compared to Aramaic, they were forced to use one word to indicate two different realities!?). Just as from the hypothetical Greek original, words are translated into Ukrainian: Αγάπη (agape – supernatural, spiritual love, or “unnatural”: in the sense of love for enemies, those who kill, maim “your” nature; to give one’s life for one’s enemies), Φιλία (philia – friendly love), Στοργή (storge – maternal love), Έρως (eros – desire to embrace a loved one; sexual, erotic love…) – with one word “love”! Thus, the word love acquires various shades (or meanings) only in a specific context, when we understand what is being talked about (which kind of love: spiritual, maternal, friendly, erotic, etc.). (That’s why you always need to ask your interlocutor: what do they mean by using a certain word, what meaning do they put into it! And when reading a book or listening to an audio recording – when you can’t directly ask the author, or those who have direct experience (knowing) of the reality discussed in the author’s words – how very careful, unbiased you need to be in your conclusions!). Those who heard the preaching of the Gospel (or to whom the Gospel textual icons or epistle-letters were addressed), knew exactly what was meant in a specific context (whether the word pistis means faith-knowing or trust). But for people of the 21st century, for example, Ukrainians, where faith and trust are two different concepts, translating the word “pistis” as “faith” is incorrect, erroneous, because it misleads uninformed, independent readers of the Scriptures (they start calling themselves believers (knowers), when they are actually, at best, trusting, still on the path to knowing; but the Scripture says, – says the irresponsible reader, – and does not understand that it’s about trust, not faith!?). Let’s not judge the translators of the Scriptures; it’s a very hard labor, so let’s be thankful for their sincere efforts! But this does not mean that we should not point out mistakes and correct them! Therefore, those who will translate the Scriptures in the future, in subsequent translations should take into account this fact we are talking about, or everywhere write a cautionary comment. Of course, the easiest thing is to make a calque – i.e., in every place where the word “pistis” appears, translate it as “faith” with one word and not bother!? But how much harm such irresponsibility brings – we have already seen (above) and will demonstrate further below.
Now, with what we have said in mind, let’s read anew, to not be unsubstantiated, several passages from the New Testament Scriptures. That is, the word “pistis” (which in many modern translations is translated as “faith”) will be translated depending on the context either as faith or trust, and we will see that then the passages of the Scripture become understandable, everything falls into place. Therefore, faith is knowing what we believe in, experiencing firsthand the object (subject) of faith; trust is what precedes faith, leading to knowing, i.e., the pre-experiential state, the movement from rational knowledge about something (someone) to knowing what the word (information) points to, which I trust, follow, checking whether it really is as I heard (understood); fidelity is what follows after the experience, knowing; it is the state of ontological (in all being) memory of what was experienced, which I no longer know (because the process of knowing has ended) and the corresponding life (existential) position determined by this experience and memory about it. Thus, trust is what precedes experience, knowing; faith is the experience, knowing itself; fidelity is what follows after the experience, knowing. For a better understanding of what we are talking about, let’s provide an example (analogy). Imagine a person who was born and lives in a dark basement and has never seen the sun. The basement was illuminated by a very weak light from an electric bulb. One day, a herald of the sun came to this basement dweller and began to tell that there is another light, warmth, that is, began to herald about the sun. The basement dweller said that he had never seen such (light) and experienced (warmth), therefore the sun does not exist. But the missionary began to provide objective arguments that the sun exists, even showed how his faith (knowing) in the sun, how the rays and warmth caused his skin to tan… He told many wonderful things about the sun and about the benefits from it, and about the pleasure, joy, light, warmth… Eventually, the missionary convinced this unbelieving man and he wanted to see (believe in) the sun, to experience its warmth, light himself. The missionary told the proclaimed what to do to see the sun, described the route from the basement to the street, indicated the main landmarks-signs that he would encounter along the way (from the basement to the place where the sunlight falls) and which he needed to follow. The entire period from listening to the preaching until seeing (knowing) the sun – is the realm of trust. Trust involves someone (or something), whom (or which) we trust, and verification, whether it is really as they tell me (or indicate: road sign, writing on a package, etc.). When this basement person, trusting (not blindly, but reasonably, judiciously!) the missionary, checked whether it really is as he says, and convinced herself through her own experience, i.e., saw the sun, then she became a believer. The cave person now becomes a believer (because she is in the state of knowing the sun, its energies). When the sun hides (whether behind clouds or night falls), then the knowing of the sun ceases, and the period of fidelity (or infidelity) to what was experienced begins, memory, which is defining for my attitude to reality, to life. The cave person now knows from her own experience that the sun exists and what it is like, and although she does not see it now, knows that it is worth fighting through the whole night (against the cold, darkness, dangers of the night), to survive and experience the sun again… Or another similar analogy of faith, trust, fidelity – the period of staying during the day (from sunrise to sunset), from dark night to sunrise and from sunset to dark night. Trust begins in the middle of the dark night of disbelief, unknowing and lasts until sunrise. The process of verification – is the movement from night to morning. The more I verify, trusting, the more my trust grows, until it grows into faith – the experience-knowing. The closer to morning (to dawn and sunrise), the more it begins to dawn. The sun is not yet visible in the sky, but the light is already increasing – this is all the process of the state (becoming) of trust, which grows into faith-knowing! Day – is faith – staying in the sunshine (experientially living the sun in its energies of warmth and light). Evening and night – the sun has set, but there is still light and also warmth (though the direct rays of the sun no longer fall on you) – the realm of fidelity (when I no longer see the sun directly, do not know it, but having experienced, knowing it, I am convinced that it exists). This fidelity reaches extreme cases (when the night is very dark, when no stars are visible in the sky, everything is shrouded in darkness) to complete dimness, to extreme tension. And so cyclically days change nights, nights days – this is the transition from faith to faith: trust, faith, fidelity, faith, fidelity… or: trust, faith, fidelity, trust (fidelity to what was experienced, and trust (as self-surrender) to what is revealed), faith, fidelity… and so on until trust, faith, fidelity merge into a single state – Love, that is, we enter the never-ending day (or more precisely, we enter the never-ending day, because it has already been two thousand years, or even more precisely – since the creation of the world), the eighth day, where the sun never sets!