But isn't faith belief in doctrine? No, it is not. Faith is our personal conviction concerning the Person of God, especially as His Character and purposes are revealed in the Scriptures. Faith is our grasp on God, our trust in His goodness and power, not our theological position.

God has defined faith for us in the Scriptures.

Right away we see (verse above) that faith has to do with either drawing back or else going forward in our relationship with Christ.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is God's definition of faith. Faith is revealed in the manner in which people live and think and act. The righteous live by faith. This is how they live and move and have their being.

There are many persons mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. Taken together, their manner of life constitutes the Divine definition of the righteous shall live by faith. It is interesting that God uses people from the Old Testament to teach Christians the meaning of the righteous shall live by faith.

One important aspect of living by faith is that of the quest. The righteous individual is he whose entire life on the earth is a quest, a quest for something not yet a reality on the earth. The righteous person always is a stranger and an exile in the present world.

Abraham and the other heroes of faith were righteous in God's sight because their lives were one long quest for something better, something heavenly. They were not at home here.

By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:9,10)

Abraham was wandering about in the land of promise, in his own inheritance. Yet to him it was a strange country.

Abraham did not build a great city as did other men before him, although he was very wealthy. He lived in a tent. He demonstrated by this that he considered himself to be a pilgrim, a sojourner.

Abraham was looking for a city that has foundations, a city built by the God of Heaven.

The new Jerusalem is that city and the Scripture tells of the emphasis laid on the foundations of the wall.

How did Abraham know about the new Jerusalem? God must have shown it to him.

God revealed Himself to Abraham, and afterwards Abraham spent the remainder of his life seeking God. He endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Abraham was on a quest, looking for something that cannot be found in the world. He was a visionary. He was not at home here.

So it is true of every individual who would please God by faith. He must adopt the attitude that the world is not his home. He must spend his days looking for God.

The just shall live by faith means that immediately upon being saved we are to view this present world as being foreign to us and we to it.

To be continued.