Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Joseph F. Merrill (1898-1952) on the Definition of "Faith"

Joseph F. Merrill (1898-1952) was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1931 until his death. In a radio address he gave (September 9, 1945) he offered the following definition of “faith”:

 

FAITH DEFINED

 

Now according to reliable human testimony one of the conditions for discovering God is to have faith, defined by the Apostle Paul, (Heb. 11:1) as follows: “Now faith means we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do see.” (Moffit’s Translation.) So according to scriptures and personal testimonies the predominating sense in which the term faith is generally trust in religious literature is that of full confidence and trust in the being, purposes, and words of God. Such trust, if it is implicit, is said to remove doubt concerning things accomplished or promised by God, even though such things be not apparent to the ordinary senses in mortality. Human experience teaches that such a feeling of trust exists in different persons in varying degrees, from weak to strong.

 

Belief, faith, and knowledge, in careless language used more or less synonymously, are of course really different. Belief may consist in merely intellectual assent, while faith implies such confidence and conviction as will impel to action. In a sense, belief is passive—a mental agreement or acceptance only; faith, in the sense we are using it, is active and positive. Faith in God comprises belief in him, combined with trust. One cannot have faith without belief; however he may believe and still lack faith. Faith is vivified, vitalized, living belief. To have faith is to fulfil one condition usually necessary in finding out God, so Mormonism teaches . . . we are not left to rely wholly on belief—not even faith—for knowledge can be obtained. We have tried to point out, as you know, that it is as reasonable to believe marvelous things in the realm of religion—in things spiritual—as it is to believe in at least some teachings found in the realm of physical science, for true Christianity does not ask for the acceptance of anything more mysterious or unanswerable or unexplainable than does science. (Joseph F. Merrill, The Truth-Seeker and Mormonism: A Series of Radio Addresses [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1946], 94-95)