Faith Defined and Illustrated

Stott puts  H.L. Mencken in his place : )


It comes therefore as a shock that these two spheres of human uncertainty (the future and the unseen) are precisely those in which faith specializes and even flourishes! It is the function of faith to apprehend both the unseen present and the unrealized future. Put simply, faith is the assurance that the future we anticipate will take place and that the present we cannot see is nevertheless real.

Of course, unbelievers scoff at Christian faith. According to H.L. Mencken, the so-called sage of Baltimore, "Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable." It is witty but inaccurate. Faith is not a synonym for credulity or superstition.  It is neither irrational nor illogical. No, faith and reason are never placed in antithesis to one another in Scripture. Faith and sight are contrasted, but not faith and reason. On the contrary, "Those who know your name put their trust in you" (Ps. 9:10 NRSV). They trust because they know. The reasonableness of trust arises from the trustworthiness of its object, and nobody is more trustworthy than God.

Through the Bible: Through the Year; p. 391