Tag Archives: Christ in Me

Brought to Rest

25 Monday Mar 2024

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Hello, Readers!  Welcome to another week and another post on Renaissance Woman!

In last week’s post, I mentioned I was facing some difficulties.  Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon of my life and I didn’t know what was going to happen.  I still don’t.  There have been a few flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder but the storm has not erupted in full fury.  It could be the storm has merely been postponed or it could be it will all come to nothing.  I didn’t know what was going to happen last week and I still don’t know.

All of which has got me thinking about salvation.  “Put on the Whole Armor of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians 6.  “Take the helmet of salvation…” What do we think of when we think of salvation?  The Strong’s Concordance lists soterion (G4992) as the Greek word translated salvation in this passage which means “defender, defence, salvation.”  Soterion comes from soteria (G4991) which expands a bit on the definition: rescue, safety, deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.  The Strong’s says soteria is derived from soter (G4990) which means “a deliverer, God or Christ”.  Soter comes from sozo (G4982) which means “to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole”. 

I find all of these definitions interesting and even helpful but what truly matters is what I believe about Jesus and salvation.  Do I believe salvation is something Jesus made available to me before He went off to be with the Father in some far off heaven somewhere and now I must believe and have faith in order to receive the salvation He’s made available?  Or, is He Himself my salvation and thus salvation is my reality as His life is lived in me through and by His Spirit?  To me, these are two opposite belief systems even though they might use the same words.  The first points us to Jesus because He is away from us.  Jesus is in heaven (wherever that is) and that’s where we’ll get to go when we die.  The salvation He has bought for us is summed up in our being saved from hell.

In the second, there is no separation because He is not away from us.  He is not God with us in the way that He was God in flesh walking the shores of Galilee all those years ago but neither is He God in heaven waiting for us to die and join Him.  He is God with us inside of us through the Indwelling Holy Spirit.  Thus, His salvation is not something separate from us we have to receive through our believing and having faith.  Rather, He is our very life (see Colossians 3:4) and therefore it follows that the salvation He is is also our very life.

The scriptures make it plain (to me anyway) that Jesus Christ IS salvation: it’s not something He has and bestows on us.  One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in Isaiah and echoes both Psalm 118 and Moses’ song recorded in Exodus 15.  Psalm 118:14 says, ‘The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Isaiah 12:2 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song, He also has become my salvation.” 

There is a story related in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  So he came by the Spirit into the temple.  And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said; ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel’.” (See Luke 2:25-32).

My salvation then is a person whose very name means “Yahweh is salvation” (see meaning of Yeshua below).  This person is not separated from me.  I don’t have to go to a meeting place and get a dose of salvation to help me through the week.  Jesus Christ, who is my life, alive in me in and by His Spirit, means salvation is my state of being.  There is no situation I face where His salvation is not because He faces the situation with me.  His presence is always with me therefore His salvation is immediate.

What does that look like?  It looks like Christ in me, the hope of glory.  It looks like my being transformed into His image from glory to glory.  It looks like the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guarding my heart and mind.  It looks like all things being worked together for my good.  It looks like me living and moving and having my being in Christ Jesus.

While this is the truth of Christ in us and us in Christ, we still live in a world that abides by thought processes and ways of being that do not conform to-or even recognize-the life of Jesus Christ.  This world lies in the power of the evil one and those whose minds are still conformed to the patterns of this world will behave accordingly.  I read something in William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour which I do agree with but only partly.  Speaking on Ephesians 6:12, William Gurnall writes, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood…The Christian’s state in this life [is] set out by this word ‘wrestling.’…It is single combat.  Wrestling is not properly fighting against a multitude, but when one enemy singles out another, and enters the list with him, each exerting their whole force and strength against one another…The permanency or duration of this combat…lies in the tense we wrestle. Not, our wrestling was at first conversion, but now over, and we passed the pikes; not, we shall wrestle when sickness comes, and death comes; but our wrestling is; the enemy is ever in sight of us, yea, in fight with us.” (Gurnall, Vol 1. Pgs. 112-114).

 I read this and felt tired.  There is a modicum of truth to it.  We believers head everyday into a spiritually hostile world.  If Jesus were in some far off heaven somewhere bestowing salvation on us, it would mean we would have to conduct the warfare in our own strength to the best of our own ability with moments of refreshing from heaven.  Perhaps there would be victories but there would be the inevitable failures as well.  Since He is not: since He is in us, He is in our experiences with us.  He is our deliverance from the place we find ourselves.  He is our armor and He is the Victorious One.  I’ve already studied the word “stand” in Ephesians 6:10-18a but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that the word is a covenant word and it means “made to stand”. 

“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus tells us, “BUT! Fear not!  I have overcome the world” (exclamation marks mine).  He gives us rest, even in the midst of the battle.  He is our armor.  He is our salvation.  He is all of these things to us right this very moment because His Spirit is in us and we are thus joined to Him.  The Spirit is the One who makes everything of Christ ours in every moment of our lives.  And so, my closing message for this week is Quench not the Spirit!  Let us cast all our cares on Him!  We may have to remind ourselves we have done so but there is nothing wrong with that.  We remind ourselves as often as we need to that, in this moment, Christ is our strength, our song, our light, and our salvation until we no longer need reminding.  He is our Helmet of Salvation, transforming us through the renewing of our minds!

It is so!  Amen.  

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

References

Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) – What is the Meaning of Jesus’ Name? – Path of Obedience

Gurnall, William, The Christian in Complete Armour, Seventh Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2021

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

The River Within

05 Monday Feb 2024

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman and another post on the Shield of Faith!

I had thought last week’s post would be the last on the Shield of Faith but, as I received some feedback on last week’s post, I found one more post was necessary.

What is the Shield of Faith?  The Old Testament refers to God Himself as our shield.  Genesis 15:1 records the word of the Lord coming to Abram in a vision and saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”  Deuteronomy 33: 29 says this: “Happy are you, O Israel!  Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help…”  There are passages in various Psalms that describe God as our shield.  I want to focus on three separate passages that stood out during my study.  The first I’ve already touched on in last week’s post: Psalm 3:3 says, “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me” and the Hebrew word translated “for” could accurately be translated “around me” or “about me”. Indeed, the New American Standard has “about me” and the New International “around me”.  This Hebrew word (#1157 in the Strong’s Concordance) also carries the meaning of “within”: a thought I will return to in a moment.

The second passage is Psalm 91:4.  Some translations render this passage as “his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” while others have it as “his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”.  The Amplified covers all its bases and has this verse as “His trust and His faithfulness are a shield and buckler.”

The third passage appears in three different books of the Bible.  The first is 2 Samuel 22:31: “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”  The second appearance is Psalm 18:30: “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”  The third is Proverbs 30:5: “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.”

John 1:1 states “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  In John 14:6, Jesus describes Himself as “the way and the truth and the life.”  Holding this in mind, I return to the passages of scripture I’ve shared and wonder if they aren’t saying something far and above anything I’ve ever heard before.  Are these passages expressing separate thoughts?  The way of the Lord is perfect, His word is proven, and He is also a shield or is it saying The way of the Lord is perfect, His word is proven, and then the “He” that is a shield and buckler is the He who is the way and the word?  Is the truth and faithfulness that is a shield and rampart some attribute He bestows on us or is the shield and rampart He who is faithful and true?

I listen a great deal to Malcolm Smith and one of the points he stresses over and over is 1 John 4:8; “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  “He does not have love”, Bishop Smith says, “He is it!”  I think of this when it comes to these passages of scripture and Jesus.  Jesus does not have the word: He is it!  He does not show us the way: He is it!  He does not simply tell us the truth: He is it!  He does not have faithfulness: He is it!  He does not give us a Shield of Faith: He is it!

And, He wasn’t all of these things sometime in the past and then will be these things again sometime in the future.  He is all of these things in us now.  How is this possible if He is seated at the right hand of the Father, received by heaven until the times of the restitution of all things? (See Ephesians 1:20, Acts 3:21).  If Jesus is in some far off heaven somewhere and we are down here waiting for His second coming, how is He all of these things now?  Doesn’t the Bible say our inheritance is reserved in heaven for us? (1 Peter 1:4).

Yes, it does.  However, the Bible also says we are established in Christ, sealed, and given the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (or earnest, or downpayment-2 Corinthians 1:21-22).  This Spirit is the Spirit described by Jesus in Chapters 14-17 of John’s gospel.  There is another promise in John 14:23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”  “We love,” John says in his first letter, “because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).  I can’t help but to quote 1 Corinthians 6:19 again: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 

In John 14: 18-20 Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”  The rest of the New Testament tell us of all that is ours because we are In Christ and Christ is in us.  Now.  This moment.  He is in us and we are in Him! The Father and Son have made Their abode in us!  How?  Because we are joined to the Lord and are of one spirit with Him!  (Back to 1 Corinthians 6).

Our Shield of Faith is Jesus Christ and we know this is the truth because the Spirit bears witness in our hearts it is so which brings me back to my thought at the beginning of this post.  The Hebrew word in Psalm 3:3 translated as “for”-thou art a shield for me-also carrying the meaning “within”.  In Christ we live and move and have our being.  If we believe that, it is not too difficult to picture Him as a shield surrounding us.  We are hidden in Him and His life quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one.  But there is another picture I admit I am just coming to see and understand and that is that Jesus Christ is a shield within us.  Jesus says, “’He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’ But this He spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive;  for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:38-39). 

The river is a symbol I find throughout the Old and New Testaments.  One of my favorite passages is Psalm 46:4: “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God”.  I find this same river in Revelation 22:1; “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”  The River also appears in Ezekiel 47 where the prophet is first brought in up to his ankles, and then his knees, and then his waist, and then he must finally swim in it. 

There are passages of scripture where both the word and the Spirit are likened to water (See Isaiah 44:3, John 4:14, 1 Corinthians 12:13, John 15:3, Ephesians 5:25-27).  Faith is our response to who God has revealed Himself in Jesus.  The scriptures are of immense value in that revelation but, the Word is alive in us now.  We live in union with Him via His Spirit in us who speaks what He hears.  That word is energizing vitality.  It is living water within us, water that fill us to overflowing and flows out to the world around us.  I cannot say it too many times: our Shield of Faith-that Shield that is Christ Jesus Himself-does surround us on every side but it is also a river of life within us.

When the fiery darts of the wicked one come seeking to shake our faith and to convince us our God is something different than the One revealed in Jesus Christ, the river of living water that wells up from within us and flows out from us not only quenches them but I daresay sweeps them away. 

There is so much more to be said on faith and the word and I anticipate unearthing even more treasures as I move on to study the rest of the Whole Armor of God.  Until next week, I close with Paul’s prayer in his letter to the Ephesians: “Therefore, I ask…the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith: that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Hallelujah!  It is so! 

Amen.

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

References     

The Comparative Study Bible, Zondervan Bible Publishers, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1990

The Key of Life

15 Monday Jan 2024

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Hello Readers and welcome back to Renaissance Woman!

I missed posting last week due to an aggravation of my shoulder injury.  I’ve been taking it easy, sitting in my chair, reading some books, and thinking about faith.  And now, back to it!

The Apostle Paul describes faith as a shield in Ephesians 6:16 and as a breastplate in 1 Thessalonians 5:8.  Faith then is pictured as something that protects but, in order to understand how faith is protective, it’s important to understand what faith is.

I’ve been looking at the various definitions of faith.  A word is defined by its usage but that doesn’t necessarily mean that definition will bear any resemblance to the original meaning of the word.  Such is true with faith where I find it defined as an unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence and as a religion or system of religious beliefs whereas the original meaning of the word was that of confidence, trust, be convinced or persuaded, a compact.  I’ve shared J. Preston Eby’s definition of faith: “Faith is the mental attitude of confident response which is evoked in you by what another person reveals himself to be.”  I find this definition is the closest to what I have discovered both “faith” and the New Testament Greek pistis originally meant.  Pistis is related to peitho which carries the idea of being convinced or persuaded and I think it’s important to keep both meanings in mind when attempting to define “faith”.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The Young’s Literal Translation has this verse as, “so then the faith [is] by a report, and the report through a saying of God”.  I’ve been thinking about this verse a great deal over the last week as I have meditated on the meaning of faith and this verse has helped to answer a question that surfaced in my mind at the beginning of the study.  That question is this: does the Bible describe different kinds of faith namely, our faith verses God’s faith?  If I’d had to give an answer at the beginning of this study, I would not have answered with an unequivocal “yes”; but I would have had to admit the Bible does appear to do so.

The faith recorded in the gospels, the faith that so astonished and pleased Jesus, could not have been the “faith of the Son of God” the Apostle Paul mentions in Galatians 2:20.  Jesus had not yet been crucified, risen from the dead, and ascended to the right had of The Father nor had the Holy Spirit been poured out.  So, the faith that caused people to come to Jesus was a faith inspired by the signs and wonders He performed and the word about Him that spread throughout the land but could not possibly have been His faith.

My study of “faith” meant I read the entry in the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.  There, I found; “The accounts of Jesus’ teaching contain several sayings which appear to go beyond the specific situation in which they occur (Mk. 9:23, 11:22 ff.; Lk. 17; 5,; Matt. 17:20).  The distinctive feature of these sayings about faith consists in the fact that they present the believer with unlimited possibilities, and that Jesus expressly summons his disciples to this boundless faith…There was a special kind of faith in God or Jesus-faith.  The antithesis between small and great (Lk. 17:6; Matt. 17:20) presents a contrast between the human attitude and the greatness of the promise.  What takes place in man is small compared with the greatness that comes from God.  However, Jesus spoke of a boundless faith as if of something new.  He did not build on something that was already there, but upon something new (Page 600).”

In his study series on Faith, J. Preston Eby references the Story of the Fig Tree related in Mark 11: 12-25.  Mark 11:22 (referenced in the above quote) is where Jesus is recorded as saying “have faith in God”.  Mr. Eby points out this is a mistranslation of the Greek and it ought to be rendered as “have the faith of God”.  I had never heard this before so, of course, I had to check. I have two Interlinear Greek New Testaments and each one renders this passage the same: ΄Έχετε πίοτιν Θεοΰ (Echete pistin theou). This is literally “Possess Faith God”.  There is no en in this passage but I cannot say that rendering it as “Have faith in God” is incorrect.  The King James, Amplified, New American Standard, and New International all have “Have faith in God”.  Young’s Literal Translation as “Have faith of God” and the rendering on Bible Hub has “from God”.  Whether the translations ought to have “in” or “of” or “from” is not an argument I have any interest in getting involved in.  I do find there is enough to question whether “in God” is the most accurate translation and, were I to stop here, I would have to say, “yes: the Bible is describing different kinds of faith”.

However, Mr. Eby brings up this passage and the translation thereof in these paragraphs:

“We have already stated that faith is produced by someone beyond oneself, therefore we need to have no hesitation whatever in saying that faith in God is not something that you and I just “decide” to have.  It is our Lord, Himself, who must produce faith in the apprehended ones.  It is not something that originates with us as a result of our decision or determination to “have faith” in God.  GOD is the source and originator of our faith!  The unfailing testimony of scripture is that all faith originates in God and is imparted to men by God.  There is no such thing as “our” faith apart from “God’s” faith.  Our faith is simply the faith that God has given us-the faith that HE has evoked in us by the revelation of Himself unto us.

               Thus we read in Mark 11:21-22: “And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto Him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”  That is how it reads in the King James Bible but that is not how the Greek text reads.  The Greek text says, “And Jesus said to them, Have the faith of God”-that is, the faith that originates in God and comes from God.  This is in beautiful harmony with what Paul says in Galatians 2:20: “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD who loved me, and gave Himself on my behalf.”  Can we not see by these significant words that we do not live in the spirit by virtue of our faith IN the Son of God, but by the faith OF the Son of God IN US.  We live by HIS FAITH that has been evoked in us!  It should not be difficult for any enlightened mind to comprehend that when Paul adds concerning the Son of God this precious expression, “…who love me, and gave Himself on my behalf,” he speaks of the transcendent fact that Jesus gave Himself, poured out Himself, shedding forth out of Himself all that He is and all that He has that we may be recipients of His fullness.  Oh, yes, He poured it out for us – sharing His wonderful life, victory, power, faith, nature, love, wisdom, and righteousness with us!  Oh, the wonder of it!” (The Law of Faith, Part 1).

I do not disagree with what Mr. Eby has said. And yet…I agree we cannot have a confident response to God unless God Himself reveals Himself to us.  I wholeheartedly agree He is both the source and originator of our faith.  And yet, the response is still mine.  In this sense, it is my faith because I am responding to the revelation I have received.

In my previous post The Future is Now!, I related how I had looked at “faith” as it appears in Hebrews 11:1 and how I’d read through the various commentaries on this passage.  Both the Pulpit Commentary and Vincent’s Word Studies speak of faith outside of a religious sense.  The Pulpit Commentary states, “Even in ordinary affairs of life, and in science too, men act, and must act, to a great extent on faith; it is essential for success, and certainly for all great achievements-faith in the testimony and authority of others whom we can trust, faith in views and principles not yet verified by our own experience, faith in the expected outcome of right proceeding, faith with respect to a thousand things which we take on trust, and so make ventures, on the ground, not of positive proof, but of more or less assured conviction.”  Vincent’s Word Studies says (of pistis) “Without the article, indicating it is treated in its abstract conception, and not merely as Christian faith.” (See Bible Hub link below).

This I can agree with: that faith is a universal experience to all humankind and it is only taking into consideration what has served as the source or originator that the type of faith is defined.  For example, suppose a friend comes to me having seen a movie and persuades me to go with her to see it for myself.  I am persuaded by her argument (peitho) and I go with her because I know her as a friend and trust or have faith (pistis) she knows me well enough that this movie will be something I enjoy.  Now, that trust may be misplaced but that is not relevant to the point I am making. “Faith comes by hearing” Paul says in Romans 10:17 and there are a myriad of voices speaking to us attempting to persuade us to their way of thinking.  Our confident response of faith depends on whether we have been convinced and trust the one doing the convincing.  When it comes to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, made real to us by the Holy Spirit, God is One speaking, revealing Himself, and convincing.  I am still left with the fact that I am the one convinced and my response of faith is still just that: mine.

I am convinced the Whole Armor of God is Jesus Christ Himself.  Thus, the Shield of Faith is His faith, not mine.  Therefore, what does it mean to live by the faith OF the Son of God?  Galatians 2:20 in its entirety says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.  And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (KJV).  Malcolm Smith speaks of Jesus Christ in us as our very source and being of life and yet not displacing us.  I live and yet it is Christ living in me.  I have faith because Jesus has revealed Himself to me but I live by His faith.

I wonder if this my faith verses His cannot be resolved with another illustration.  I follow the Physics + Astronomy Facebook page.  There was a video posted not too long ago where a tuning fork was fixed to a table.  Another tuning fork, larger than the one on the table, was tapped on a surface so that it began to hum with its tone.  It was brought close to the fixed tuning fork but, since they were not keyed to the same tone, the fixed fork remained silent.  Then, a second tuning fork was tapped on a surface and it began to hum.  This time, when it was brought close to the fixed fork, that fork began to resonate with the same tone because both forks were tuned the same.  As they both sang together, it was impossible to distinguish how much sound was coming from one fork as opposed to the other: there was only the sounding of a single tone.

Now, this illustration does begin to break down because it is Christ in us, rather than next to us, but it is still an illustration that has stuck with me.  Many voices seek to attract my attention and persuade me the words they are speaking are the truth.  Their truth does not resonate with me because there is only one Truth and the words He speaks are spirit and life.  My faith has come, not only by the hearing of His words, but by His giving Himself to me.  He has come, resonating in the key of life, and His life is the key to which I, as I am conformed to His image, am tuned.  In reality then, there isn’t my faith and His faith because I cannot tell where mine ends and His begins.  I in Him and He in me: we are no longer two but One and I cannot tell us apart.

Hallelujah! It is so!

Amen.

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

References

THE LAW OF FAITH Part 1 by J. Preston Eby (godfire.net)

Mark 11 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)

Hebrews 11:1 Commentaries: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (biblehub.com)

The Comparative Study Bible, Zondervan Bible Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Brown, Colin, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volume 1, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1967, 1986

Green, Jay Pl. The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew Greek English, Volume 4, Authors For Christ, Inc. Lafayette, IN, 1985

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

Marshall, Alfred, The NIV Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grad Rapids, MI, 1976

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

Young, Robert, Modern Young’s Literal Translation: New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs, Greater Truth Publishers, Lafayette, IN, 2005

The Faith of the Son of God

11 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and another post in my current study series on the Whole Armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10-18a.  I am focusing on the Shield of Faith for the time being and, in an attempt to understand what faith is, have been seeking an accurate definition.

My Webster’s New World Dictionary does begin its definition of faith with the word origins and their meanings.  These are the Middle English feith, the Old French feid and fei, the French foi, the Latin fides meaning confidence, belief, the Late Latin fidere meaning to trust, the Indo-European bheid meaning to urge, be convinced, the Greek peithein meaning to persuade, and the Latin foedus meaning a compact & to bide.  The dictionary ought to have stopped here for this is an accurate representation of what the word has historically meant.  But, it does not.  The dictionary then goes on to define faith as “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence”.  It is not until I read down to the 5th entry that I see a return to the historical meaning. 

In the Greek, faith was originally a word of covenant and, I know I am harping on a point, but I cannot imagine anyone entering into a covenant without confidence and trust.  I also cannot see this would be a confidence and trust without proof or evidence, especially considering the seriousness with which parties entered into covenant.  Breaking a covenant more often than not meant forfeiture of one’s very life: not a compact to be lightly entered into.

A dictionary must address how a word is used by the majority of the population and there is no denying the word “faith” is one that is used in a derogative manner.  I hear it mostly among those in the scientific community who say “that belongs to the realm of faith, not science”.  However, faith is something possessed by all people and does not always pertain to a religious belief.  Faith simply means confidence, belief, and trust and, without it, there would be no relationships of any kind.  I had made this point in an earlier post and, while reading through the Commentaries on Hebrews 11:6, I found this in the Pulpit Commentary: “Even in ordinary affairs of life, and in science too, men act, and must act, to a great extent on faith; it is essential for success, and certainly for all great achievements-faith in the testimony and authority of others whom we can trust, faith in views and principles not yet verified by our own experience, faith in the expected outcome of right proceeding, faith with respect to a thousand things which we take on trust, and so make ventures, on the ground, not of positive proof, but of more or less assured conviction.” 

The point I am striving to make is, “faith” is not a dirty word.  Even those who would use it to mock others also operate in faith.  I do not think it is possible to have a faithless human existence which is a point I think the quote from the Pulpit Commentary makes clear.  The question I am asking this week-regarding faith-is, what does the faith of the son of god mean?  That phrase is found in Galatians 2:20 and the original language does say “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith OF the Son of God” not “IN the Son of God”.  Every person subscribing to a religion has faith in that those persons have been persuaded their way of believing is the correct way.  We who are believers in Jesus have faith that He is God who became a man, lived and died as a man, rose from death and ascended to the right hand of The Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us.  It is possible to have an intellectual belief these things are true: there are some fairly potent arguments that have served to convince others of the truth of the tenants of Christianity.  True Christianity is not intellectual though: our faith in Jesus is alive because the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to see Him who was dead but Behold! is alive forevermore.  Our faith is covenantal because He is not only alive but is alive in us.  This is our faith.  What is Jesus’ faith?

Do we think of Jesus as having faith?  Did He have to trust not only the people around Him but did He also have to trust His Father?  The scriptures do not reveal to us a doubting Jesus but we do see a Jesus who did not know the end from the beginning, who had to be alone with His Father in order to hear and receive His words, who had confidence in, believed, and trusted His Father, and we see a Jesus who had that faith tested.

The Bible is relatively silent on Jesus’ early years.  There are a few stories told here and there but, for the most part, Jesus as a child, a teenager, and young man are summed up for us as “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).  I wonder though…

…one of my favorite movies is The Nativity Story starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, and Ciaran Hinds.  This movie had one of the best reactions to Mary’s pregnancy I’ve ever seen.  Do you ever put yourself into the mind of a villager during that time?  Joseph wasn’t preparing for the marriage in a vacuum: the entire village-and perhaps surrounding villages as well-had to be aware of his betrothal to Mary.  The entire village had to be aware of her pregnancy as well.  Would I-would you-as a villager believe she was pregnant with the Son of God?  If I am honest, I wouldn’t be entirely convinced.  I would wonder if the poor girl wasn’t at worst lying and at best suffering under some mental confusion.

I wonder whether Jesus had to deal with snide remarks about Himself and His human parents after He and Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth from Egypt.  I wonder because of His temptation in the wilderness after His baptism.  His baptism is described in Luke’s Gospel and it is here we read of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove and the voice from Heaven says to Him, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”  Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, is then led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  The devil’s first recorded words to Jesus here are “If You are the Son of God…”

Knowing the wiles of the devil as I do, I imagine these words were carefully chosen because there was a potential button to press here.  If you are the Son of God…what if all those asides and smirks and careful references to your parentage are really true…what if the voice you heard wasn’t really God…what if you’ve imagined all of this and are, after all, just a man…the temptation to doubt everything He knew about Himself had to be strong but Jesus did not give in.  He had faith in His Father and countered with “it is written…!”

I don’t think this wilderness experience was the only test of Jesus’ faith either.  Hebrews 12:1&2 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I think about the “because of the joy that was set before Him,” and I also think of a passage in Galatians: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.  He does not say, “and to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).  I also think of Philippians 2:7 in the Revised Standard Version: “but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” 

There is the argument among Christians as to how much Jesus-fully God and fully man-knew about Himself and how when and where He knew it.  The passage in Luke 2:52 does say “He grew…” and I wonder if our being changed into His image “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18) isn’t similar to how Jesus grew: one word at a time coming to Him from the Father, one promise at a time, one situation at a time where He had to trust His Father until the day when we see Jesus in the upper room, “knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God” (John 13:3).

Who is this Jesus in whom we have our faith?  He is the Son who learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  He is the One who sympathizes with all of our weaknesses because He has been tempted in all points like as we are and yet was without sin.  He is the One who made a living way for us through His own flesh enabling us to draw near with true hearts in full assurance of faith.  Our faith is not a fleshly faith.  It is not one of intellect or good arguments or a vague and formless hope of one day by and by nor blind unquestioning obedience.  Our faith is the faith of the Son of God tested and proven in the crucible of His human existence. 

Because we are His, everything of His is ours.  What a wonder to be able to say, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and this life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.  What an indescribable love is Christ’s love for us.  It truly does surpass knowledge.

Hallelujah! Amen.

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

References  

Hebrews 11:1 Commentaries: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (biblehub.com) 

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

The Future is Now!

04 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Hello Readers and welcome to a new post on Renaissance Woman!

I want to open with a quote from Andrew Murray’s The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer: “…’As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Romans 1:6 KJV).  It is the Risen One who says to us, ‘Get up!…and walk.’ He gives us the power of the resurrection life.  It is a walk in Christ: ‘As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him’ (Colossians 2:6 NKJV).  It is a walk like Christ: ‘He who says he abides in Him ought to walk just as He walked’ 1 John 2:6 NKJV).  It is a walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit: ‘Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh…walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:1 NKJV).  It is a walk worthy of God and well pleasing to Him: ‘That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work’ (Colossians 1:10 KJV).  It is a walk in love: ‘Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us’ (Ephesians 5:2 KJV).  It is a walk of faith, its power coming from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: ‘We walk by faith not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV).

How many believers regard such a walk as an impossible goal?  So impossible that they do not feel it a sin to walk otherwise.  Therefore, they do not truly desire this walk in newness of life.  They have become so accustomed to the life of fruitlessness that the life and walk in God’s strength has little attraction.  There is no expectation of attaining it.” (Murray, 80-81).

This struck me: especially the part about Christians thinking the Christian life so impossible there is no real expectation of attaining it.  I think I honed in on that portion because it is impossible for me to be seeking an accurate definition of faith without looking at Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  I have never performed a thorough study on this passage and so, curious what those who had done such study had to say, I looked at various commentaries.  I was amazed at how many spoke of those things hoped for as being things belonging to the future.  These commentaries had very little expectation of an immediate experience of “things”.  No, they were of God and therefore eternal and waited for us in heaven.

There were a few who suggested it was faith that made these future things “as though they were already present” (quoting Meyers NT Commentary).  The Expositor’s Greek Testament (quoting Dr. Hatch) says, “Faith is the ground of things hoped for, i.e. trust in God, or the conviction that God is good and that He will perform His promises, is the ground for confident hope that the things hoped for will come to pass…So trust in God furnishes to the mind which has it a clear proof that things to which God has testified exist, though they are not visible to the senses.” The Expositor’s then goes on to say, “The words thus become a definition of what faith does, not of what it is.  Substantially the words mean that faith gives to things future, which as yet are only hoped for, all the reality of actual present existence; and irresistibly convinces us of the reality of things unseen and brings us into their presence.”

Well, okay, but I find I am not satisfied.  If we are to stand firm in this present evil day, having put on the Whole Armor of God and taken up the Shield of Faith, defining that faith as giving to yet future things the reality of actual present existence is a definition I find lacking.  Something with-if I may use the same word as the writer to the Hebrews-substance in order to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

I found my first real glimmer of substance in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: “The object of faith from the dawn of man’s life had been Christ, who, even at the Fall, had been foretold as ‘the seed of the woman who should break the serpent’s head.’ The difference between the Two Covenants was that in the New He was fully set forth as the effulgence of the Father’s glory, whereas in the Old He had been but dimly indicated by shadows and symbols.”  This was one of the few commentaries that suggested Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that the things hoped for were tangible in Him rather than things reserved for some later time.

Now, there is a passage found in 1 Peter 1:3-4 which says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”  “Reserved” does sound as if our inheritance is a future one but the Greek word translated “reserved” here is tereo (G5083) and means “a watch, to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.”  This does deserve further study but I cannot see that the definition of the word warrants the pushing off of all “things” to either a future date or as something reserved for us which we cannot experience until we get to heaven.

There is the passage in Ephesians 1:13-14 which says, “In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

I am not saying I utterly disagree with the commentaries: this passage in Ephesians speaks of a time of redemption and Acts 3:21 speaks of a time of restoration of all things.  There’s this passage in Romans as well: “For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope: because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  Not only that, be we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…” (Romans 8:18-26a NKJV).

I wonder if a lack of both seeing and understanding the work of the Spirit isn’t the explanation for the lack of expectation described by Andrew Murray and still so prevalent among Christians today.  Not one commentary mentioned the Holy Spirit.  There are denominations who declare there is no longer any work of the Spirit: He ceased activity with the death of the last apostle and now we have the Bible to help us get into heaven.  And, going to heaven after death appears to be the pinnacle of expectation among far too many Christians.  They have no expectation of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, there is no understanding of having the fullness of God in us through Jesus Christ, and there is no understanding of our inheritance in Jesus Christ.  All of this due to an unfamiliarity with the Holy Spirit for it is He who takes what belongs to Jesus Christ and declares it to us. 

The Old Testament did point to a coming Day but, for us, that Day has already come.  We don’t have to have to trust that God will keep His promises because all of His promises are YES! in Jesus Christ to the glory of God through us (2 Corinthians 1:20).  Without the Holy Spirit teaching and interpreting for us, we can’t begin to understand the New Testament for it speaks of a covenant ratified by the blood of Jesus but made reality in us by Spirit and ministered to, in, and through us by Spirit.  If you do not know the Holy Spirit is poured out in YOUR flesh, then you are missing the inheritance that is yours in Jesus Christ sealed in you by the Holy Spirit and experienced by you in the Holy Spirit.  Is there more to come?  Absolutely! But, do not have what is yours in Jesus Christ stolen from you by denominations who teach there is no longer a working of the Holy Spirit or teach you that you must come to God through their leader.  The Spirit is for you.  There is an inheritance each one of us can experience right now of which the Spirit is the down payment-or firstfruits-but what a firstfruits!  The full harvest was not of a different type than the firstfruits neither was the firstfruits a belief there would be more to come.  The firstfruits were the promise there was a coming bounty but they were full, mature fruit able to be feasted upon and enjoyed.  Do not let the fact that there is more to come keep you from enjoying the firstfruits now.

The Christian life is so much more than going to heaven when you die.  It is life now.  Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3) and we don’t have to wait until we die in order to experience it (1 John 5:13).  The Holy Spirit is lavished upon us and enables us to know our God now right from where He dwells in the secret place of our hearts.  Since He is the guarantee of our inheritance, I do not think I stretch Hebrews 11:1 too far when I say He is our faith.  He brings all that Jesus gained for us into our present reality while at the same time showing us the glorious future of all creation set free from bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

References

Hebrews 11:1 Commentaries: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (biblehub.com)

Murray, Andrew, The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer, Bethany House Publishers, Bloomington, Minnesota, 1981, 2003

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