FAITH=BELIEF=FAITH=BELIEF
And without faith it is impossible to please him,for
whoever would draw near to God must believe
that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him
[Hebrews 11;6]
There are two imperatives in in Hebrews 11:6. "it is impossible" is one of them; "must" is the other. Both are associated with pleasing, or drawing near to, God. Two different words are used to satisfy these imperatives: faith, and belief. If you want to please God, you must have faith, must believe - but what is the difference? IS there a difference?
This is one of those passages in which one word in the original is translated by two different ones in our text (Romans 1:17 is another, with "righteousness" and "just").
When a writer says that something is so important that it is impossible to get along without it; and then uses a different word to say the same thing, the implication is that the two words have the same meaning. It would be awkward to say it this way, but the force would be the same if they were switched, "without belief it is impossible...must have faith that he exists".
So "faith" and "Belief", are interchangeable; they translate the same word
(Pat Farish Pleasant Run Church of Christ)
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