Pronunciation: FAYTH
Simple meaning
Faith means trust, confidence, belief, or reliance.
Today, people may hear faith and think only of religion, church, doctrine, or belief without evidence. In Big Book study, the word can include belief, but it is also closely connected with trust, reliance, action, and willingness.
Faith is not always loud or certain. Sometimes it begins very small.
Older meaning
Older dictionary definitions often describe faith as belief, trust, confidence, loyalty, or reliance.
That older meaning matters because faith is not only an idea in the mind. It can also mean trusting enough to act.
A person may not feel completely certain, but they may still begin to rely on help beyond themselves.
Why this word matters
In Big Book reading, “faith” matters because recovery asks more than self-knowledge.
A person may know they have a problem, remember painful consequences, and sincerely intend to stop, yet still need help beyond their own unaided willpower.
Faith can begin when a person becomes willing to trust something outside the old pattern of self-reliance.
That may include trusting God, the recovery process, honest inventory, prayer, fellowship, sponsorship, amends, or the experience of others who have recovered.
Faith does not have to mean pretending. It does not require denying doubt. It may begin with a simple willingness to try the next right action.
Common misunderstanding
A common misunderstanding is to think faith means having no doubts.
In Big Book study, faith may grow while doubts are still present. A person may begin with resistance, fear, uncertainty, or even anger. The important movement may be from closed-mindedness toward willingness.
Another misunderstanding is to think faith is only a private feeling. Faith often becomes visible in action.
A useful question is:
What am I willing to trust enough to act on today?
Helpful meeting handle
A common recovery phrase is “act as if.”
That phrase can be a useful handle when a person does not yet feel much faith. It can mean taking an honest action before the feeling arrives.
But “act as if” does not mean being fake. It means becoming willing to practice trust, honesty, prayer, service, or surrender even when certainty is not complete.
Study note
This website works best with a copy of the Big Book in your hand. Look for the word “faith” and related ideas in the first 164 pages and nearby discussion. Notice whether the surrounding passage is talking about belief, trust, God, willingness, action, surrender, or reliance.
Related words
God
willingness
reliance
surrender
spiritual