Faith
| Category | Doctrine |
|---|---|
| Depth | Major |
| Article type | local Catholic reference article |
Definition
Faith is the theological virtue by which a person, moved by God's grace, freely assents to what God reveals because God is truthful. It involves the intellect and the will. It is more than a hopeful feeling, but it is not the same kind of knowledge as directly seeing an object or demonstrating a mathematical conclusion.
Catholic usage
Trust in testimony is familiar: we learn much through people whose knowledge we have reason to trust. Divine faith differs because its ultimate ground is God's truthfulness, not merely human reliability. This immediately raises a reasonable question for a seeker: what grounds are there for recognising a particular claim as God's revelation?
The Christian answer includes investigation of revelation's credibility, especially the person of Christ and the testimony concerning him. Those reasons do not force belief mechanically or replace grace. They do mean that an invitation to faith is not an instruction to treat every religious claim as equally trustworthy.
Doctrinal context
Aquinas distinguishes the truth believed from the reason for assent. A person may agree with a Christian proposition for a philosophical reason; the act of divine faith assents on the authority of God revealing. This difference explains why apologetic evidence and faith can cooperate without becoming identical.
Faith also differs from understanding every aspect of its object. A believer can assent to a mystery while continuing to ask what its terms mean and how objections should be answered. Lack of exhaustive comprehension does not imply assent to a contradiction. Reason can clarify, distinguish and expose false interpretations.
The will's role does not make truth a personal invention. We cannot make a false proposition true by wanting it. Rather, a free personal assent concerns how we respond to the truth presented and to the divine help offered. Aquinas also distinguishes faith living through charity from faith deprived of charity: correct belief alone is not the fullness of Christian life.
Distinctions and safeguards
Faith is not gullibility, an emotional high or proof that all uncertainty has disappeared from a person's experience. Questions and involuntary difficulties should be distinguished from a deliberate rejection of what one recognises as revealed. A person's spiritual condition cannot be read directly from the intensity of a feeling.
Is it circular to believe the Church because the Church says it is right?
That would not be an adequate explanation to a seeker. The discussion must distinguish the Church's claim from the reasons for recognising Christ's revelation and the Church's relation to it. Historical testimony, the content of the claim and arguments about divine authority each need examination. The eventual assent of faith rests on God, but the inquiry into credibility cannot simply assume every conclusion it is asked to justify.