What is faith?

1 Corinthians 4:15 "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."

How did Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego stand when everyone else fell and worship the golden image which king Nebuchadnezzar had made?

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 1:24 "... for by faith ye stand." This is the same "faith" which Paul said in another scripture: 

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

Without faith, it is impossible to stand, and apart from faith, we cannot be saved. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego stood against the king's order to fall down and worship the golden image because they have something in them that sets them apart from the rest of the people, and that something is "faith". This is the faith that has caused them to do that which is contrary to the world, and the same faith that has "removed mountains" (1 Corinthians 13:2), so much so, that even the God of heaven came down and deliver them from the burning fiery furnace.  

Numbers 14:24 "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it." 

This is the even same as Joshua and Caleb who had "another spirit" with them that worketh in them and led them to something different from the other ten spies who said they can't go in to possess the land which God had said he would give to the children of Israel. The presence of true faith in a born again believer will always be accompanied by the Spirit of God which is with him.

1 Samuel 15:23 "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."

Though outwardly very similar, faith is not stubbornness, because stubbornness is the willful rejection of the words of the LORD, but faith is the exact opposite of it. Faith is like Job who said "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." (Job 13:15) Some time ago, I was asked to explain in simple terms what "faith" is according to the Bible. To begin, I would like to start with:

Matthew 17:20 "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Here, Jesus compares “faith” to a mustard seed. It was not just the size that he was referring to, but it was also the characteristics of a seed that Jesus ascribes to “faith”. Then we also read in:

Matthew 13:31-32 "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Faith has the characteristics of a seed: it started off little, but it has the potential to grow into something great. This goes along with:

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith started off in the life of a believer as a “seed”. Seed to a believer is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The original seed sown in the good ground of an honest and good heart will, in the process of time, manifest itself as a good tree that will bring forth good fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Faith is a fruit of the Spirit, which means that it came from a tree which in turn came from a "seed". The Bible tells us in:

Luke 8:11 "... The seed is the word of God." 

Therefore faith can be liken to a “seed” that came from the original seed, which is the word of God. An apple seed will produce an apple tree which in turn will produce more apples and more apple seeds. These are the same seeds that came from the original seed. Their genes are faithfully duplicated. It will never change, well, unless the apple seed has been genetically modified (e.g. NIV, NKJV, NASB, NLT, ESV, etc.)

1 Corinthians 4:15 "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."

What does it mean when Paul said “I have begotten you through the gospel”? Again, the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). When the word of God was sown in Paul, the word of God has begotten a new man him, and it has produced a good tree which in the process of time has brought forth good fruit, and the along with the good fruit, seeds faithfully duplicated after the original seed (Christ Jesus). These good seeds (gospel), when sown in the good grounds of an honest and good heart, then will in turn beget more and more born again believers, and so on and so forth.

Genesis 1:12 "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

Seed was made on the 3rd day of Creation. When a seed is sown in the earth, it will bring forth grass, the herb, and the tree. This verse is a picture of procreation with the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind, in a never-ending spiral of life, like unto the Fibbonacci spiral.

1 Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 

Having this understanding, I will always stay away from modern bible versions. The pure "seed" in the King James Bible is not the same as the corruptible "seed" in the NIV, NKJV, NASB, NLT, ESV, etc. Also, I will never attend a church that teach from modern bible versions. I will not even attend one that preaches from the King James Bible but does not preach against modern bible versions. 

2 Corinthians 2:17 "For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."

Paul says it here "For we are not as many". We are not to have fellowship with the "many" who corrupt the word of God, as much as there is no fellowship between darkness and light. Therefore, I would also stay away from churches that promote man-made philosophies (dispensationalism etc) which works to corrupt the word of God sown in our hearts, even though they may appear to teach from the King James Bible e.g. Ruckmannite churches.