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Alma&rsquo;s definition of faith as &ldquo;hope for things which are not seen, which are true&rdquo; (Alma 32:21) serves as a pattern for the juxtaposition of faith and truth throughout the scriptures. Faith in the atoning power of Jesus is the truth that will save us.

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	<h1 style="text-align: center;">Notes and Communications:&nbsp;Faith and Truth</h1>
	<h2 style="text-align: center;">John A. Tvedtnes</h2>
	One of the clearest and most precise definitions of faith is the one given in the Book of Mormon by Alma: &ldquo;If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true&rdquo; (Alma 32:21). Faith and truth are often listed together in the scriptures (e.g. Mosiah 27:14; Helaman 15:7). The Book of Mormon even has the term&nbsp;true faith&nbsp;(Enos 1:14, 20; Alma 44:4; 3 Nephi 6:14).
	To gain a full appreciation of this definition, we must understand that the Hebrew words for&nbsp;faith&nbsp;and&nbsp;truth&nbsp;are related, both coming from the root *MN. Hebrew&nbsp;emunah&nbsp;means &ldquo;belief&rdquo; or &ldquo;faith,&rdquo; while&nbsp;emet&nbsp;means &ldquo;truth.&rdquo; Both are related to&nbsp;yamin, &ldquo;right hand,&rdquo; and to&nbsp;amen, &ldquo;established,&rdquo; the word with which prayers are ended. In Egyptian (which is distantly related to Hebrew) we have&nbsp;imn, &ldquo;enduring, faithful,&rdquo; also &ldquo;right hand,&rdquo; as the name of the chief God. In this connection, it is interesting that Jesus is called the &ldquo;Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God&rdquo; (Revelation 3:14; cf. 9:11; 22:6) and also &ldquo;he that is true&rdquo; (Revelation 3:7; 1 John 5:20).
	Joseph Smith is said to have indicated that the name&nbsp;Ahman&nbsp;was a title of God the Father, while Jesus is called &ldquo;Son Ahman.&rdquo; Old Testament prayers end simply with the word&nbsp;Amen&nbsp;(=confirmed, true), and hence in the name (title) of Jesus Christ.
	Alma spoke of faith in the &ldquo;true God&rdquo; (Alma 5:12&ndash;13; cf. John 17:3). True faith is hence a belief in God and Jesus, who are true. We are to worship God &ldquo;in spirit and in truth&rdquo; (John 4:23&ndash;24; Alma 43:10). The Lord is also called the &ldquo;God of truth&rdquo; (Isaiah 65:16, where the Hebrew reads&nbsp;elohe amen; Ether 3:12 [referring to Jesus]).
	Nephi wrote, &ldquo;I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus&rdquo; (2 Nephi 33:6). This is an authentic parallelism (such as is found in typical biblical poetry), wherein the word &ldquo;truth&rdquo; parallels the name &ldquo;Jesus,&rdquo; making them synonymous. In support of the idea that &ldquo;truth&rdquo; is one of the titles of Jesus, we note that he is called &ldquo;the way, the truth and the life&rdquo; (John 14:6). In Mosiah 27:36, the knowledge of the truth is equated with the knowledge of Christ. A similar idea is found in Helaman 15:13: &ldquo;they shall again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd&rdquo; (cf. D&amp;C 39:1; Nephi 10:14; 2 Nephi 1:10; 10:2; Mosiah 4:12; Alma 18:34).
	The scriptures also speak of the truth which is in Christ (1 Nephi 13:24&ndash;25; 14:26; Enos 1:26; 1 Timothy 2:4, JST) and of the truth of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:10). He is said to be &ldquo;full of grace and truth&rdquo; (John 1:14; Moses 1:32; 5:7; 6:52; 7:11; D&amp;C 84:102; 93:11; 2 Nephi 2:6; Alma 5:48; 9:26; 13:9). In Helaman 15:7, a knowledge of the truth is equated with faith on the Lord, while to reject truth is, according to Helaman 8:25, to rebel against God.
	In D&amp;C 93:24, we have a definition of truth: &ldquo;And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come&rdquo; (cf. Jacob 4:13). In the Bible, Jesus is called he &ldquo;which is, and which was, and which is to come&rdquo; (Revelation 1:4, 8; 4:8; cf. John 1:1; 1 John 2:13&ndash;14, 24), thus defining him in the same manner as truth. Indeed, the title rendered in English as Jehovah means &ldquo;he exists&rdquo; and is the third person equivalent of the &ldquo;I am&rdquo; of Exodus 3:14 (cf. 39:1).
	In the Bible, Jesus is also called the &ldquo;Alpha and Omega, the first and the last&rdquo; (Revelation 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13; cf. also Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12, and see D&amp;C 19:1; 35:1; 38:1; 45:7; 54:1; 61:1; 63:60; 68:35; 75:1; 81:7; 84:120; 95:17; 112:34; 132:66; 110:4). He is &ldquo;the beginning&rdquo; (Colossians 1:18) and is &ldquo;the Word&rdquo; which was &ldquo;in the beginning with God&rdquo; (John 1:1&ndash;2). The title&nbsp;the Word&nbsp;is also an important one (John 1:1; 1 John 1:1). Jesus, speaking to the Father, said, &ldquo;Thy word is truth&rdquo; (John 17:17; cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13). The same expression is used in the Hebrew text of several biblical passages, where we read that the word is &ldquo;verified&rdquo; or &ldquo;confirmed&rdquo; (Hebrew&nbsp;amen, for example, 1 Kings 8:26; 2 Chronicles 1:9; 6:17; Psalms 19:8; 89:29; 111:7). Jesus is also called the &ldquo;word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18; Alma 38:9).
	The word is truth and is also light, these being titles of Jesus (D&amp;C 84:45). Christ is called the &ldquo;light of truth&rdquo; (D&amp;C 88:6; cf. verse 7) and the &ldquo;true light&rdquo; (1 John 2:8; John 1:9). He is also the &ldquo;Spirit of truth&rdquo; (D&amp;C 93:9, 26; John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6; 5:6; D&amp;C 50:14, 17, 19, 21, where he is also called the Word), and Spirit and truth are likewise equated in 1 John 5:6.
	It is through truth that we are sanctified according to John 17:17, 19 (see also verse 3), allowing Paul to write of the &ldquo;sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth&rdquo; (2 Thessalonians 2:13). In his prayers offered in the presence of the Nephites, Christ used the word&nbsp;believe&nbsp;five times and added that it was through faith that one could be &ldquo;purified&rdquo; (3 Nephi 19:20&ndash;23, 28&ndash;29). When Jesus said &ldquo;Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free&rdquo; (John 8:32), he was evidently referring to himself and to the atonement which he alone brought.
	Returning to Alma&rsquo;s definition of faith as a hope in that which is true, we can perhaps better understand why the first principle of the Gospel is &ldquo;faith in the Lord Jesus Christ&rdquo; (Article of Faith 4). It is faith in the atoning power of Jesus which starts us on our pathway to salvation. Faith in anything less than this truth&mdash;Jesus Christ&mdash;has no power to save.
	When, therefore, we read that Jesus is the &ldquo;Amen, the faithful and true witness,&rdquo; the &ldquo;Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end&rdquo; (Revelation 3:14; 21:5&ndash;6), we must understand these titles in light of Alma&rsquo;s definition of faith, which has primary reference to faith in Christ.
	<h2 style="text-align: justify;">Notes</h2>
	<ol>
		<li style="text-align: justify;">The converse is found in Alma 30:15.</li>
		<li style="text-align: justify;">The expression is found in Jeremiah 42:5, while in Proverbs 14:25 we read of the &ldquo;true witness.&rdquo; In D&amp;C 1:37, we read that the revelations given to Joseph Smith are &ldquo;true and faithful,&rdquo; indicating their divine source.</li>
		<li style="text-align: justify;">Orson Pratt in&nbsp;JD&nbsp;2:342; cf. D&amp;C 78:20; 95:17, and see &ldquo;Adam-ondi-Ahman&rdquo; in D&amp;C 78:15; 107:53; 116:1; 117:8, 11.</li>
		<li style="text-align: justify;">While some of the references from John 14 can be applied to the Holy Ghost, they are said in D&amp;C 93:9, 11, 26, to refer to Jesus. Joseph Smith similarly indicated that John 14:16&ndash;18, 21, 23, refer to Jesus (HC&nbsp;3:380&ndash;81). Both Jesus and the Holy Ghost operate by means of the &ldquo;light of Christ,&rdquo; and in at least one passage the Holy Ghost speaks for Jesus in first person (Moses 5:9).</li>
	</ol>
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Notes and Communications: Faith and Truth

Title

Notes and Communications: Faith and Truth

Publication Type

Journal Collection

Year of Publication

1994

Authors

Tvedtnes, John A. (Primary)

Pagination

114-117

Volume

3

Issue

2

URL

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol3/iss2/7

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