What does this bible verse mean?

Question

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God"

I've heard this many times and never gave it a second thought. What does it mean?

Answer 1

The Word Produces Faith
by Keith A. Butler, II


"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6)

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Yet we know that God's desire for us is to please Him, so God demands that we have faith. Since faith is a requirement, God made the way that everyone could have this faith.

God would be unjust to demand us to have faith without putting in our hands the means where by faith can be produced. It says in Romans 12:3 that every believer has a measure of faith.

Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word produces faith. Faith comes by the Word of God. The Word of God (which is the power of God) produces faith. That is why the Word has to come first (before faith).

Do you get it? No Word, no faith. The Word alone produces faith. The following is a good example of this concept:

A few years ago, I was ministering at the University of Michigan campus ministry. After one of the meetings, a young man, quite inquisitive, asked me a question. He said, "If faith comes by hearing, how do deaf people get faith?"

And I was thrown a little, because I'm suppose to know the answers. I said, "Well, it's the Word. Faith comes by the Word."

I went home and talked to my dad about it. He confirmed that it is the Word alone that produces faith. Do you realize that you can just read the Word and get faith? I've read about men of God who were sick, who got a hold of a scripture, meditated on it, and were healed.

Faith comes by hearing, but hearing comes by the Word. The Word produces faith.

Sometimes we get so legalistic with the Bible. We say hearing means that you must hear with your natural ears. If that's the case, why did Jesus say, "He that has ears to hear let him hear." I believe the people He was talking to had ears.

The question is, were they listening and believing the Words He was speaking? You and I both know that you can hear and yet not hear. So, it's not the hearing with the natural ears by which faith comes; it is hearing with the heart.

The Word of God produces faith in your heart. So if you have no Word, there is no faith produced.

You can see then how the Word is the power, because the Word produces the faith. And we know that we do everything by faith. We live by faith, we are saved by faith, we are healed by faith, and we are prosperous by faith.

So that means that living by faith means to live by the Word.

Scripture references: Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 1:18

Answer 2

First, God is calling to all who will hear. I will give you a link to my testimony and you can read about how I heard God. Second, Those of The Christian Faith are directed by God to Spread The Good News of Salvation Through Jesus The Christ. That is another way you can hear. Third, Hearing is not enough. You must understand. That comes from The Word of God and study of it.
It can be kind of a circle. sort of what came first the chicken or the egg. It is often not clear, espacialy with all the emmotion that is also involved in the process, Just when the Faith kicks in... But then... it can be a dramatic moment... Faith comes to each one differently... But in some way there is always the hearing of God's Word... And that only comes with surrender Thru Christ
Jesus...

Here is the link to my testimony if you would like to read of the first day of my Christian Faith.

http://pages.zdnet.com/mikevanauken/mikesinternetoutreach/id109.html

All honest seekers welcome

Answer 3

Your faith comes from hearing the Word of the Lord from the Bible. After you have faith that Jesus is the true Son of God with no questions then the Holy Spirit will guide you through the Word and reveal to you meanings of the Word which leads to a better understanding of the principles and practices of Jesus.

Answer 4

The Apostle Paul is explaining that in order to believe in Christ one must first hear the Word of God;the gospel of Christ; Who and what Christ is and what he did for all mankind. Faith (belief in Christ) will only come from that.
Paul, in the verses above the quoted verse explains the importance of believers in spreading the Gospel. The word preacher used in Romans 10:14 does not refer to a chruch pastor but rather one who proclaims. As Christians we all have the responsibility to "proclaim" the Gospel so that others may find the faith that we profess.

Answer 5

good question,

as usual in the bible, a lot of very important points are made with wordplay, stories, etc. never really to be answered in the clear but so as to spur our thinking and try to get behind the question/answer with more than just logic or sommon sense.

It means there can be no faith without the word of God and God gave us the word (bible) and the means to understand (hearing) (as in biblical times most ppl couldn't read and had to listen to other, e.g. apostles, preachers etc. to tell the word).

The word of God is God - " at the beginning was the word " - and God can be understood and felt by the word and the word gives us the means to understand what we hear/read.

It's really a very close interdependent relationship between the Word and God and our faith.

There can't be one without the other.

The fact that you ask this questions shows that God is in your heart and you want to learn, and thats exactly what God wants you to do ...
God Bless you

Answer 6

Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ

17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
"Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."[b]

How welcome the gospel ought to be to those to whom it was preached! The gospel is given, not only to be known and believed, but to be obeyed. It is not a system of notions, but a rule of practice. The beginning, progress, and strength of faith is by hearing. But it is only hearing the word, as the word of God that will strengthen faith

Answer 7

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. By studing the Bible and learning more about God and how to obtain salvation your faith is going to grow. So faith comes by hearing the word of God, and hearing ie. understanding comes from studing the word of God.

Answer 8

It doesn't mean anything. It is just another one of the meaningless, mind-numbing slogans and bon mots that Christians employ in place of actual thinking.

When you try to talk to god... that's called 'prayer'. When you think you hear god talking to you... that's called 'schizophrenia'.

You might want to take note that the so-called 'sayings' of Jesus do not appear in the gospel of Mark... they appear in Matthew and Luke, although under different circumstances. That is because the writers of Matthew and Luke, in the 2nd century, created their gospels using Mark as a template and then making up scenarios in which they could attribute various 'sayings' to Jesus. These sayings come from the 'Q-document'... a Judaized version of sayings from the Greek Cynic and Stoic philosophies. They were unaware of each other, though, so the stories do not match very well... and the Gospel of John does not match at all.

Do you get it? It is ALL a fabrication.

Answer 9

It means when you hear the word of God it increases your faith.

Answer 10

The people of antiquity understood there was a more effective connection between "faith" and "hearing" than "seeing".

To truly have faith. . .and to start the process of turning to faith. . .we need to have an open heart and quiet mind.

Focusing on hearing, rather than seeing, is how we get to our heart. . .the mind, feeling slighted, may react at first but, in time, will be quieted.