Welcome Everyone to a new week and a new post on Renaissance Woman!

I am still in the midst of my study on The Whole Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18a) and am looking specifically at the Shield of Faith. 

What is faith?  I have to admit I was astonished at the definition for faith found in the New World Dictionary.  The entry for faith begins with “confidence, belief, to trust, to urge, be convinced, to persuade, a compact” but then comes #1: “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence”.  This is followed up by #2: “unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets, etc.”

Far be it from me to disagree with the example of scholarship that is a dictionary, but I do.  These two entries are not at all what is meant by the Biblical description of faith.  Consider first the relating of the Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman coming to Jesus as related in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30.

Jesus and His disciples have gone to the region of Tyre and Sidon and here they are approached by a woman who cries out to Jesus asking Him to heal her daughter who is severely demon possessed.  Jesus does not answer her but does say to His disciples “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of Israel.”  When the woman continues to cry out for His help, He does say to her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”  The woman answers Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”  Matthew records Jesus’ reply as “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire.”

Let us next consider the story of the Centurion also related in Matthew’s gospel as well as in Luke.  Jesus enters Capernaum and a centurion comes to Him asking Him to heal his servant who was sick and near death.  Jesus answers, “I will come and heal him.”  The centurion says, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.  But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me.  And I say to this one ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”  Jesus marvels and says, “Assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (See Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10).  

Matthew 9:20-22 and Mark 5:25-34 also records the story of the woman with the flow of blood for twelve years.  She manages to get close to Jesus and touches the hem of His garment because she believed that, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” Jesus says to her; “your faith has made you well.”

The Greek word used in each of these passages is pistis (G4102).  The Strong’s defines pistis as “persuasion, i.e. credence; conviction (of religious truth or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher) especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; constancy in such profession, by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself-assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.”  Pistis is related to peitho (G382) which is a primary root meaning “to convince-by argument true or false, to pacify or conciliate, to assent (to evidence or authority)…” 

As I read through the entry for “faith” in the Dictionary of New Testament Theology, I found no basis for the dictionary definition.  The very word “persuasion” infers the one being persuaded is at the very least indifferent to the persuader’s argument and, at the most, hostile to it.  I cannot imagine there would not be questions asked before persuading and convincing would take place.

Pistis is a covenant word.  The word group (pistis, pisteuo, pistos, pistoo) originally denoted conduct that honored an agreement or bond (Brown, 594).  While there are certain parts of the world where the seriousness of entering into an agreement or bond is understood, it is less so here in the Western World.  Here, we think nothing of breaking bonds if it suits us to do so whereas breaking a bond-especially a covenant bond-used to mean death.  I cannot imagine two parties entering into such a bond without having strong evidence both parties were trustworthy and reliable. 

I don’t see that any of these Gospel accounts can be considered unquestioning or without evidence.  Word of Jesus’ works had spread through the region so there were plenty of accounts to convince these three of His willingness to heal.  The evidence that He was not only willing but able was walking about on two legs.  What astounds me is the fact that two out of three of these stories involve non-Jews.  The fact that a Canaanite (Luke says Greek or Syrophoenician) and a Roman approached Jesus described a level of persuasion and convincing I don’t have words for.

Perhaps the Canaanite woman was not quite despised by the Jews.  Gentiles had their own court in the temple so they could worship the True God but they were not allowed to worship with God’s Chosen People.  She was more acceptable than a Roman.  The oppressor.  An enemy of God Himself.  And these are two people whose faith is recorded in the Gospels.  Again, I can see nothing in these accounts to suggest these two made an unquestioning or evidence-less decision to act against culture, nationality, and extreme prejudice and ask Jesus for help.

The Bible does not require unquestioning trust or belief in the face of a lack of evidence.  1 Peter 3:15 tells us to expect questions: “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…”  The passage in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians so resonates with me I have it as the tagline for this blog: “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

As I dig further down into the dictionary definition of faith, I find entries I can agree with: “5. complete trust, confidence, or reliance, 6. allegiance to some person or thing, loyalty”.  My faith is not at all unquestioning.  If you’ve been reading my blog for some time, you know how true that is.  Our God answers me.  Sometimes it takes time to get an answer to the exact question I asked but years of walking with Him has proved that He couldn’t answer the question at the time I asked it.  There were other answers to related questions needed before I could even understand His answer to what I asked.  He’s never not answered me.

Our God is relationship.  He is the Covenant God and does not require us to give our lives to Him in unquestioning loyalty. (Not even the Mosaic Covenant had such a requirement: see Exodus 24:3).  Cults demand unquestioning loyalty.  The Word of our God was made flesh in Jesus.  Those of us living now who have never seen Jesus in His flesh are not in a worse off position than the people of that day.  We have something far better.  We have the Spirit of the Living God living in us convincing, persuading, comforting, teaching, and answering. 

Of course, I can’t convince you.  I can only promise you Our God is safe to question but you will have to discover that for yourself.  Do it!  Ask Him a question.  Any question.  See how He answers you.  Test His answer.  The Bible is an excellent litmus test for trusting the answers received are indeed from God.  No answer will contradict His revelation of Himself.  It will contradict the interpretation of Him you’ve received so be prepared to spend some time with Him.  He loves you.  He gave Himself for you.  You can trust Him.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References  

Court of the Gentiles – Bible History (bible-history.com)

Brown, Colin, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volume I, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967, 1986

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1953, 1976

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990