--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Faith, however, is not intellectual…" description: "\"“Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png" --- # Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith… ![“Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.” quote by Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png) > ““Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.”” [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Faith is a committed relationship with Jesus, beyond intellectual assent, especially in uncertainty. **In simple terms:** Faith is commitment, not just belief. Key Takeaway Commit to trust despite uncertainty. Themes faith commitment uncertainty spirituality Mood hopeful reverent Type spiritual inspirational When to use this quote - prayer - counseling - life crises - decision making Key Concepts theology psychology of belief Questions to Reflect On - How do you sustain commitment when you cannot see the path? - What role does community play in faith? A Different Perspective Faith without evidence can be challenged by doubt. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Deliberate Commitment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deliberate-commitment-3144958/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Faith Deliberate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith-deliberate-2513458/) [Faith Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith-intellectual-2220016/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Person Jesus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-jesus-436565/) [Understanding Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding-faith-1305365/) ## Related quotes > [Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-is-not-intelligent-understanding-faith-is-deliberate-commitment/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you cannot understand at the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-is-deliberate-confidence-in-the-character-of-god-whose-ways-you-2/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-is-deliberate-confidence-in-the-character-of-god-whose-ways-you/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“Although we cannot command it, we choose joy, making a deliberate commitment to happiness (essentially another word for peace).”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-beckett/although-we-cannot-command-it-we-choose-joy-making-a-deliberate/) [Wendy Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-beckett/) > [If you try to give people knowledge, and you haven't trained them in character, based on faith, they will become intellectual reprobates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doug-phillips/if-you-try-to-give-people-knowledge-and-you-haven-t-trained-them-in/) [Doug Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doug-phillips/) > [Faith is intellectual laziness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/faith-is-intellectual-laziness/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [...for Paul faith is always faith in a person. Faith is not the intellectual acceptance of a body of doctrine; faith is faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barclay/for-paul-faith-is-always-faith-in-a-person-faith-is-not-the/) [William Barclay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barclay/) > [ “\[Faith\] was something other than an intellectual exercise. There were no words, no lofty concepts, that could take away the pain. Faith was living… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-coel/faith-was-something-other-than-an-intellectual-exercise-there-were-no/) [Margaret Coel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-coel/) > [A man must not only have faith but intellectual faith too. To make a man take up everything and believe it, would be to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/a-man-must-not-only-have-faith-but-intellectual-faith-too-to-make-a/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Faith is indeed intellectual; it involves an apprehension of certain things as facts; and vain is the modern effort to divorce faith from knowledge.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/faith-is-indeed-intellectual-it-involves-an-apprehension-of-certain/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My understanding of my faith is that - through a Christian framework - part of what we are called to do is to lay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-buttigieg/my-understanding-of-my-faith-is-that-through-a-christian-framework/) [Pete Buttigieg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-buttigieg/) > [“I don't understand how can people hold faith and reasoning in the same head. To my understanding, faith, like love, is blind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tarif-naaz/i-don-t-understand-how-can-people-hold-faith-and-reasoning-in-the/) [Tarif Naaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tarif-naaz/) > [In this nonfundamentalist understanding of faith, practice is more important than theory, love more important than law, and mystery is seen as an insight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sullivan/in-this-nonfundamentalist-understanding-of-faith-practice-is-more/) [Andrew Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sullivan/) > [I had a very marginal understanding of what faith in God was growing up because, although I went to a Catholic school, without having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-mauceri/i-had-a-very-marginal-understanding-of-what-faith-in-god-was-growing/) [Patricia Mauceri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-mauceri/) > [Between understanding and faith immediate connections must subsist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/between-understanding-and-faith-immediate-connections-must-subsist/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) ## More by Oswald Chambers > [“If we deliberately choose to obey God, then He will tax the remotest star and the last grain of sand to assist us with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/if-we-deliberately-choose-to-obey-god-then-he-will-tax-the-remotest/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/realize-that-the-lord-is-here-now-and-the-freedom-you-receive-is/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/you-will-never-cease-to-be-the-most-amazed-person-on-earth-at-what/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/when-jesus-christ-shed-his-blood-on-the-cross-it-was-not-the-blood-of/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/sorrow-burns-up-a-great-amount-of-shallowness/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/let-circumstances-take-you-where-they-will-but-keep-drawing-on-the/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-goal-of-faithfulness-is-not-that-we-will-do-work-for-god-but-that/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/we-are-in-danger-of-forgetting-that-we-cannot-do-what-god-does-and/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children starving while actually seated at the Father's table.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/it-is-a-solemn-thing-and-no-small-scandal-in-the-kingdom-to-see-god-s/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/if-my-holiness-is-not-drawing-towards-him-it-is-not-holiness-of-the/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [“My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/my-spiritual-history-must-have-as-its-underlying-foundation-a/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/we-always-have-visions-before-a-thing-is-made-real-when-we-realize/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-lasting-value-of-our-public-service-for-god-is-measured-by-the/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [The thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-thing-that-awakens-the-deepest-fountain-of-gratitude-in-a-human/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [The secret of the missionary is...I am His, and He is carrying out His work through me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/the-secret-of-the-missionary-is-i-am-his-and-he-is-carrying-out-his/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) [Explore all 922 Oswald Chambers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) ## More Faith quotes > [“What I have a problem with is not so much religion or god, but faith. When you say you believe something in your heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/what-i-have-a-problem-with-is-not-so-much-religion-or-god-but-faith/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > [Eternal Trinity... mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/eternal-trinity-mystery-deep-as-the-sea-you-could-give-me-no-greater/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [Keep the faith, and keep going strong!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doreen-virtue/keep-the-faith-and-keep-going-strong/) [Doreen Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doreen-virtue/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [Faith gives you a certain structure and meaning to your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riffat-hassan/faith-gives-you-a-certain-structure-and-meaning-to-your-life/) [Riffat Hassan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riffat-hassan/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-s-truman/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [“No man is prejudiced in favour of a thing, knowing it to be wrong. He is attached to it on the belief of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/no-man-is-prejudiced-in-favour-of-a-thing-knowing-it-to-be-wrong-he/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Holiness sincerity, and faith.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/holiness-sincerity-and-faith/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [“The only limitations for your life are the limiting beliefs in your mind. —Matt Morris”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-morris-1/the-only-limitations-for-your-life-are-the-limiting-beliefs-in-your/) [Matt Morris (1](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-morris-1/) > [“Just because your faith is shaken doesn’t mean the faith is shaken. The eternal truths of the Kingdom aren’t altered or affected by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-arthur/just-because-your-faith-is-shaken-doesn-t-mean-the-faith-is-shaken/) [Sarah Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-arthur/) > [Grit, determination, the right amount of crazy, self belief - everything it takes to be a champion. I have that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dustin-poirier/grit-determination-the-right-amount-of-crazy-self-belief-everything/) [Dustin Poirier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dustin-poirier/) > [We only enter into the full life if our faith gives thanks. Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [Once you pull the trigger, you've got to throw balls aggressively and with conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-smith/once-you-pull-the-trigger-you-ve-got-to-throw-balls-aggressively-and/) [Alex Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-smith/) [Browse all 37,796 Faith quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Oswald Chambers" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-however-is-not-intellectual-understanding-faith-is-a-deliberate/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Faith" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-however-is-not-intellectual-understanding-faith-is-a-deliberate/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b0/oswald-chambers-205_faith_faith-however-is-not-intellectual-unders_1136096.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus…” — Oswald Chambers", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Oswald Chambers", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding;...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-however-is-not-intellectual-understanding-faith-is-a-deliberate/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/faith-however-is-not-intellectual-understanding-faith-is-a-deliberate/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```