What is the Biblical meaning of faith/believe/belief ?

Joh 3:16  "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."

I have used the Classic Amplified Bible version of John 3:16 to illustrate the point that it is actually easy to specifically define what it means to believe the gospel or have faith in Christ. Faith is a concept that is rich in Hebrew thought. In fact, there are several words in Hebrew that are translated faith. I will mention three. Hasah, Batah, Aman..... Hasah's meaning is to seek refuge or flee toward. Batah means settled confidence in. Aman means trust in and rely on. So it is safe to say that when one sees the word faith/believe/believes/believed in the New Testament writings one can expect that it means to trust in, rely on, flee toward, have settled confidence in, and seek refuge. As you can easily see it is much more than an intellectual assent.

So, the next time that someone quotes James 2:19 to try to scare you into doing more than just having faith, realize that James is not speaking about faith. James is simply referring to intellectual assent and knowledge. It must be that there were those even back then that thought that belief/faith meant simply to believe a fact. There is a big difference between the English definition of believe and the New Testament definition of believe. The definition of the English word believe is to accept the truthfulness of something. That is simply intellectual assent. However, John 3:16 is describing something far more than merely accepting the truthfulness. It is describing trusting in, relying on, clinging too, fleeing toward, having settled confidence in.

Here is the facts. If you are trusting in, clinging too, relying on, fleeing toward, having settled confidence in the truth of the gospel, that Jesus is one's justification, one's righteousness, one's obedience, then.... you are having New Testament faith!

It does not have to be perfect faith. It does not mean that doubt never comes into the equation. In fact, the only human that had perfect faith was Jesus of Nazareth. That is what made him an acceptable sacrifice and type for all of humanity. He alone was able to do what we are not really capable of. He was willing to die, willing to be tortured, willing to be scorned, knowing that he had settled confidence in what the Father had told him. This helps us make sense out of two separate statements in the New Testament that actually work together as one. The first one is where God the Father stated that Jesus was his Son in whom he was WELL PLEASED.... and, what the Spirit revealed to the writer of Hebrews who reported that without faith, it is impossible to please God. What pleases God? Faith! How then could God be well pleased with his Son? By his Son's faith!

This should offer comfort to those who are struggling with perfect obedience and continuing repentance to understand perfect obedience is relying on, clinging too, having settled confidence in the message of the gospel of grace and that CONTINUING REPENTANCE is continually turning the mind and attention to the gospel of grace.