What is Faith?

On this weeks broadcast of the White Horse Inn, the hosts discuss the crucial question of "What is Faith" as they continue their series "A Time for Truth". I found this to be such a refreshing look at what a biblicial deffinition of faith truly is. You can download this show here-->( Download )

One must not imagine that the Christian faith is a bare and mere knowledge of God or an understanding of the Scripture which flutters in the brain without touching the heart, as it is usually the case with the opinion about things which are confirmed by some probable reason. But faith is a firm and solid confidence of the heart, by means of which we rest surely in the mercy of God which is promised to us through the Gospel. For thus the definition of faith must be taken from the substance of the promise. Faith rests so much on this foundation that, if the latter be taken away, faith would collapse at once, or, rather, vanish away. Hence, when the Lord presents to us his mercy through the promise of the Gospel, if we certainly and without hesitation trust him who made the promise, we are said to apprehend His Word through faith. And this definition is not different from that of the apostle (Heb. 11:1) in which he teaches that faith is the certainty of the things not apparent; for he means a sure and secure possession of the things that God promises, and an evidence of the things that are not apparent, that is to say, the life eternal. And this we conceive through confidence in the divine goodness which is offered to us through the Gospel. Now, since all the promises of God are gathered together and confirmed in Christ, and are, so to speak, kept and accomplished in Him, it appears without doubt that Christ is the perpetual object of faith. And that object, faith contemplates all the riches of the divine mercy. —John Calvin (1509-1564)

Excerpt taken from the "Instruction in Faith" (1537) by John Calvin