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Just Have Faith

06 Monday Nov 2023

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

I am continuing my study of the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a and, this week, am moving on from the Breastplate of Righteousness to the Shield of Faith. 

The course my study is taking was not at all what I intended.  I thought I’d go through the Armor in the same order as it is written in the Letter to the Ephesians and then, as the study progressed, I thought perhaps I’d look at it in the order it would have been put on.  That is not what is happening.  No matter!  Even though no soldier would pick up a shield without first being fully clad in armor, I have found moving from the Breastplate to the Shield a logical progression.

I shared Philippians 3:8-9 in last week’s post: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”  As I studied “righteousness”, I was struck by the relationship righteousness has with faith, especially as I looked at the correlation between belief and righteousness and discovered “believe” and “faith” in the New Testament are both used to translate the same Greek word.

Before I get into the Greek, I wanted to point out something I found interesting.  When I looked up “faith” in the Strong’s concordance, I found two Old Testament references whereas there are 2 full columns of New Testament references.  Out of curiosity, I looked up “believe” and found a similar situation: 19 occurrences in the Old Testament verses an entire column of occurrences in the New.  The same is true for every conjugation of both words: there are far more New Testament references than Old Testament.  Something else fascinated me: there are two passages of scripture listed in the concordance under the word “Believers”: Acts 5:14 and 1 Timothy 4:12.  There are zero Old Testament scriptures in the list. 

Why?  Is it a result of inconsistency in the English translations or did something change?

I cannot immediately rule out the possibility of translation inconsistency.  Because I want to genuinely know and not make a stand on something that looks and sound interesting but has no foundation, I took a moment to look up the Hebrew word(s) for “believe” and “faith”.  Each occurrence I found in the Strong’s all are related to the primary root aman (H539) which means “to build up, support, foster as a nurse.”  All other words build on this concept: I find definitions of confirm, established, trusty, faithful, sure, stability, certainty, and truth as I looked up the related words. 

The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon drew my attention to two passages were aman appears as “foster-father” (Numbers 11:12, Isaiah 49:23) and two where it appears as foster-mother/ nurse (Ruth 4:15, 2 Samuel 4:4).  This, along with the fact that the Strong’s does list occurrences of the characterization “faithful” being applied to people and, since the Hebrew word translated “believe” is the same translated “faith” just as in the Greek; perhaps I read too much into there being only two New Testament occurrences of “believers”.

And yet, there is no denying believe and faith appear far many more times in the New Testament than the Old which, considering the size of the two books, is interesting.  My Bible teachers have offered an excellent visual when they are making similar points in their Sunday sermons.  Let’s give it a try.  Pick up your Bible and stick your fingers in at Matthew’s Gospel.  Take a long look at how much of the book is on one side of your fingers compared to how much on the other.  Even without taking into account the appendices and maps included at the back of our Bibles, the difference is extensive.  Therefore, a valid answer to the question “did something change” is “yes”. 

Some of you might be rolling your eyes at me because of course something changed.  Jesus was born, lived, died, rose again, and ascended to the right hand of the Father and then the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh.  This is basic Christianity 101.  I agree!  It is!  And yet, how many of us understand what this means?  We say we are New Creations in Christ but I don’t see all of us living as if anything changed.  I still see so many speaking of the necessity of our believing in order to receive what all Jesus Christ did for us and insisting we must have faith in order to please God.

That last thought it a Biblical one.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  This passage in particular seems to back up the insistence that our faith requires some hard work and diligent seeking on our part.  And yet, there are other passages that say the opposite.  For example:

Hebrews 12:2: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” I must point out the word “our” does not appear in the Greek but was added by the translators.  The Young’s Literal Translation has this verse as: “looking to the author and perfecter of faith-Jesus…”

Also consider the Gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12.  Verse 9 says, “to another faith by the same Spirit…” 

Then there is the necessity of considering the difference between the Greek words en and tou.  En is a preposition meaning “a fixed position, in, at”.  Tou is a proper noun meaning “of this person, his”.  I consider it an absolute travesty that there are instances in my Bible where tou has been translated as “in.”  Pertaining to faith, an extremely important one is Galatians 2:20.  The King James Version renders the description of faith as, “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” whereas my New King James has it, “…the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” 

With one tiny substitution, the entire meaning changes.  Instead of living our lives by the faith OF the Son of God, we must live by faith IN the Son of God.  The responsibility to have faith becomes ours.  Any reference I hear to faith being a gift of the Spirit is only made with the caveat that the all the gifts aren’t given to everyone.  Some are given the gift of faith and others…I don’t know what hope others have.  This belief then makes our God a respecter of persons where some are mighty in faith and others are hung out to dry.  That is, unless we who are ungifted can somehow stir up enough faith to get through the days.

If this is so, what good is our Shield of Faith?  We are to take it up in order to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one but if our shields are comprised of whatever faith we’ve been able to summon up in the strength of our flesh, I don’t hold out much hope for any of us.

If however, the Shield of Faith is the faith of Jesus Christ, what a shield!  What fiery dart could possibly penetrate the shield of the Risen and Ascended One to whom ALL authority on heaven and earth has been given?  What protection is bestowed on us!  What rest and relief there is to know it was never our responsibility to have any sort of faith but that our faith is that of Jesus Christ!

I pray the Holy Spirit opens all of our eyes to this truth and that we see how this changes the meaning of Hebrews 11:6.  If you are hung up on the word “please” does it help to know the Greek word is euaresteo (G2100) and means “to gratify entirely”?  It is a word of delight not appeasement.  What joy there is in the heart of our god when we recognize we were never meant to create our own faith but to be partakers of His!  But this passage as well as 1 Corinthians 12 are ones I plan to look at in upcoming weeks.  I will stay on the subject of “faith” until my entire being is saturated with the certain knowledge that I live every day protected by the Shield of Jesus’ faith!

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah! Amen.   

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

References  

A Comprehensive Guide to Greek Pronouns (greekpod101.com)     

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

Brown, F., S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Eighteenth Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2018

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

Walker, Allen G., The New Koine Greek Textbook, Volume II/III, 2014-2018

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

The Beauty of Righteousness

30 Monday Oct 2023

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue in my study of The Whole Armor of God.

I have not come close to exhausting the subject of righteousness but I have completed enough study that I am ready to move on to another piece of the armor.  Therefore, this will be my last post on the Breastplate of Righteousness. 

As I have studied the word “righteousness” in the English and the Greek and read through various scriptures wherein righteousness appears, I am convinced righteousness is not only a word of action but one of position and state of being.  A bit of review is necessary but taking another look at definitions will show what I mean.  The first definition of righteous in the New World Dictionary is: “Acting in a just, upright manner; doing what is right; virtuous [a righteous man]”. The second and third definitions are: “Morally right; fair and just [a righteous act] 3. Morally justifiable [full of righteous anger].”

Righteousness is derived from the Middle English “rightwise” which means, “on the right side, moving clockwise, rightly (correctly or justly), rightfully, by a rightward path”.  When I looked at the word “right” on its own, I found a meaning that isn’t widely used: right means “straight, not crooked.”  The Greek word translated as “righteousness” in Paul’s description of the Breastplate is dikaiosune (G1343) and means “equity of character or act: justification, righteousness”.  Looking up “equity” in the dictionary, I find it means “fairness, impartiality, justice.” We see here both action and position. There is a set standard, a correct path, and any actions are in accord with that standard.  

I have also found that, within the meaning of righteousness, there is contained the idea that our acts are determined to be righteous by Another.  The fourth definition in the dictionary defines righteous as “[Slang] good, excellent, satisfying, pleasant, authentic, etc.: a generalized term of approval”.  However, if we stop here, we are left with a serious question: who or what have we allowed to determine the standard?  I have spoken to some people who tell me they decide that standard for themselves.  They have their own moral code to which they adhere.  Others I’ve spoken with take solace in the certainty their actions are righteous because they correspond to the standard set by a set of particular religious or cultural tenets.  Still others are certain their actions are righteous because they adhere to the Law of God whether the Law ministered by Moses and preserved for us in the Old Testament or a new Law of believing in Jesus and proving it by actions.

Those of us who know we are in Christ and He is in us do not adhere to any of these standards.  Our standard is Jesus Christ Himself.  Now, this is not a standard we have no hope of ever adhering to imposed on us by a God who knew we were incapable of doing so.  Our lives are not lived with the sick certainty that we must ever fall short of God’s perfect standard because Jesus was sinless and we are not.  No!  Our certainty is 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

In last week’s post, I mentioned Jonathan Mitchell using rightwise instead of righteousness in his New Testament.  I like the definitions of rightwise he includes.  Mr. Mitchell renders Ephesians 6:14 as, “and then, entering within (putting on; clothing yourself with) the breastplate armor (cuirass; corselet) of fair and equitable dealing of the eschatological deliverance (or: which is the rightwised relationships of the Way pointed out; the Righteousness; the Justice; also = covenant inclusion and participation)”.  Rightwise is also found in Mr. Mitchells’ rendering of James 2.  Verse 21 says, “made fair and equitable; put in right relationship; rightwised; made a just one; also: = placed in covenant” and  verse 24 says, “from time to time being placed in right relationship with the Way pointed out; progressively made fair and equitable; normally justified; = put in covenant”.

I have also been looking at Genesis 15:6.  The Hebrew word translated as “righteousness” in this passage is tsedaqah (H6666) and is comprised of the Hebrew letters Tzadi (צ), Dalet (ד), Qoph (ק), and Hey (ה).  Robert M. Haralick gives the following meanings to the Hebrew letters:

Tzadi = Righteousness and Humility,

Dalet = Physicality

Qoph = Growth and Holiness

Hey = Power of Being

I see all three components to the definition of righteousness here.  There is position, there is action, and there is being.  There is also a complete picture of who we are in Christ.  Our position is in Him, there is the action of His life being formed in us and our being conformed to His image, and there is our current state of being-as new creations in Christ-being manifested in us and through our actions.

Righteousness is our state of being.  And, it is not in any way a self-righteousness but is the very life of Christ made our very lives by the work inwrought by His Spirit dwelling in us.  Philippians 3:8-9 says, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

Our righteousness is His righteousness and it is our breastplate.  The breastplate protected the vital organs with the most crucial organ being the heart.  In Hebrew, heart is lebab (H3824) from the root leb (H3820) spelled Lamed (ל) Bet (ב).  Returning to Mr. Haralick’s book, the Lamed means “Learning, Teaching, Purpose,” and the Bet means “Container.”

Speaking not of the muscle that pumps our blood but of the HEART which sums up who we are, our hearts are the center of our being just as the Holy of Holies was in the center of the temple.  We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and was given to us by God (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  From the center of our being, He teaches and guides and instructs us and also convinces us of the reality that we are filled with the fullness of God.

We are the dwelling place of God.  I don’t want to make a rule out of it but we can look at our hearts as being the Holy of Holies where we commune with God.  Such a sacred place is worthy of vigilant guarding and protection and it is protected by the Breastplate of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah!  Amen.

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

References  

Rightwise Definition & Meaning | YourDictionary

Holy of Holies | Temple Mount, Ark of Covenant, Tabernacle | Britannica

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

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995

Mitchell, Jonathan Paul, MA, The New Testament, 2019 Edition, Harper Brown Publishing, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, Page 479, 568

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

Help My Unbelief

16 Monday Oct 2023

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

You might be thinking the photo at the top of this post looks a bit sad.  Perhaps it does.  The tiny sprouts are the result of a project I was certain had failed but it had not!  I shouted for joy when I saw them.  There was an internet tip which said to lay tomato slices filled with seeds on the top of potting soil and then cover the whole lot with plastic, creating a terrarium.  I did so and then watched as nothing happened except the tomato slices molded, shriveled, and dried into rings.  I finally approached the pot with trowel in hand, intending to scrape the tomatoes and a good layer of dirt into my compost bin.  When I looked under the plastic, there were sprouts!  The project had not failed after all.  Despite how things looked, the process was working and some of those seeds had sprouted.

There are many lessons I think can be drawn from this especially in regards to my current study.  Then again, some of you might be wondering what tomato sprouts could possibly have to do with the Breastplate of Righteousness.  When I saw those slender green sprouts long after I had given up hope of their growth, I couldn’t help but to see them as another confirmation that what I’ve been seeing in my current study is the truth.  I’ve been looking at Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” which is quoted in James 2:23.  I’ve also been looking at John 6:29 where Jesus says, “This is the word of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” and at Revelation 19:8 where we find this description of the wife of the Lamb: “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

I don’t think I deviate from accepted doctrine when I say the Christian life can be summed up in these four passages of scripture if we also take into account all of James 2.  Belief equates to righteousness and we do the work of God by believing/having faith in Jesus.  We prove our belief/faith is real by performing good works and then one day our works will transform into a fine linen garment.  But what if our belief is backwards?  What if Jesus was saying God does the work of belief in Him who He sent?  What if every part of our Christian life, especially the good works that have been prepared for us to do, are intended to flow out of the life of Christ within us, made our reality by the Indwelling Holy Spirit, and not a lifestyle of exhaustion and spiritual burnout?

If Jesus was saying belief in Him is a work God performs, it makes clear a passage of scripture I have never understood.

The passage is found in Mark 9.  There is a great multitude around the disciples and the scribes are there also, disputing with the disciples.  As Jesus approaches he asks the scribes what they are discussing with His disciples.  It is one of the crowd who answers that he has brought his son to Jesus.  The son has a mute spirit who, from childhood, not only seized the boy, threw him to the ground, and caused him to foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth; but had tried to destroy him by throwing the boy into the fire and into water.  The disciples could not cast the spirit out and the man hoped Jesus could do something.  Jesus answers, “If you can believe all things are possible to him who believes”.  The man answers, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Verses 14-24).

I have quoted from the New King James Version but Jesus’ reply is related a bit differently in other versions.  For example, the Berean Standard Bible casts a different light on this passage.  The man says, “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  Jesus’ reply is, “If You can?” echoed Jesus.  “All things are possible to him who believes!”  Then the man cries, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”  The Amplified is similar in its wording: “Jesus said to him ‘[you say to Me,] “If You can?” All things are possible for the one who believes and trusts [in Me]!’  While the NKJV does translate the Greek here as “If you can believe…” there is a note included which states “NU-Text reads, ‘If You can! All things…” so there is good reason to accept Jesus is repeating the man’s words, not stating that all things are possible if you can believe.

Let’s look at “belief”:

The Greek word translated as “belief” in this passage is pisteuo (G4100) which is the verb form of pistis, the word translated as “faith” in Galatians 2:20 and James 2.  Pisteuo is also the word appearing in John 6:9 and John 16:5-10: “But now I go to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?  But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow had filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.  Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (KJV).

Pisteuo means “persuade, be persuaded” and the full definition of the word mentions two different types of persuading: “4100 pisteuo (from 4102 pistis, “faith” derived from 3982 peitho, “persuade, be persuaded”) believe (affirm, have confidence); used of persuading oneself (=human believing) and with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (=faith-believing).  Only the context indicates whether 4100/pisteuo (believe) is self-serving (without sacred meaning), or the believing that leads to/proceeds from god’s inbirthing of faith”.

The word “unbelief” in the passage from Mark is apistia and I find this definition: “570; form of 4103 pistos “faithful” properly, without (divine) persuasion”.  I think the context of this passage supports a conclusion that both definitions of persuasion are meant.  The man was convinced that, if anything could be done for his son, Jesus was the one who could do it.  “If you can…”  He needed something more than he could find in himself to come into a place of rest and trust that not only could Jesus, but that Jesus would.

What about John 6:29?  What definition does the context support?  The entire chapter is full of signs and wonders only God could do.  Jesus feeds a great multitude with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish and then walks on the water.  When the people follow Jesus to the other side of the sea, He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”  The people ask Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Then comes Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:1-40).

If we continue on in Chapter 6, Jesus appears to be stressing his point: Moses did not give the bread of heaven, it is the Father who gives the true bread, Jesus Himself is the true bread, etc.  I find the context to be clear that the definition of pisteuo intended is that of divine persuasion: “This is the work of God, to persuade you…”

This brings me such joy and peace when it comes to sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others.  There have been many who have asked me questions about Jesus and then have rejected outright what I have said.  The few who do not reject it outright don’t appear to make any sort of response.  What do I expect when I answer a question?  There is another passage in Mark that perfectly describes my expectations and brings me back to the picture of the surprise tomato sprouts.  It’s found in Chapter 4 verses 26-29: And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

My work is not to try and get more faith or try really hard to believe in Jesus.  I can read and study and listen to various Bible Teachers to persuade myself about Jesus but learning about Jesus is the best I will get.  It takes the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of the Living God, dwelling and working inside of me to reveal to me the nature of God.  I can only know Jesus and know the Father through the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”  The disciples were to wait for the Holy Spirit for, without Him, they would have poured out their lives to no avail.

The Holy Spirit makes our Christian life.  He brings us into union with the risen and ascended Jesus Christ without whom we can do nothing.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and it is His working in us which enables us to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks the reason for our hope (See 1 Peter 3:15-16).  When we speak as the Spirit gives us utterance, we can trust that the words we speak are a seed planted in the heart-ground of those around us.  No matter how impossible it looks, the Spirit will nurture and water that seed until it sprouts and grows though we know not how.

It is truly the work of God that we all believe in Him whom He has sent!

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

References

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/james/2.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/galatians/2.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/john/16.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/mark/9.htm

https://biblehub.com/greek/4100.htm

https://biblehub.com/greek/570.htm

More Than Able

14 Monday Aug 2023

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Image by Adrian Campfield from Pixabay

Hello and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue my study of Ephesians 6: 10-18a: the passage where the Apostle Paul describes the Whole Armor of God.

As part of my study, I have been reading William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour.  This is quite a tome and I haven’t made as much progress as I would like.  The book is already bristling with flags and full of underlined passages.  One passage I both underlined and flagged is: “God does not parcel himself out by retail, but gives his saints leave to challenge whatever a God hath, as theirs; and let him, whoever he is, sit in God’s throne and take away his crown, that can fasten any untruth on the Holy One; as his name is, so is his nature, a God keeping covenant for ever.  The promises stand as the mountains about Jerusalem, never to be removed; the weak as well as the strong Christian is within this line of communication.  Were saints to fight it out in open field by the strength of their own grace, then the strong were more likely to stand and the weak to fall in battle; but both castled in the covenant, are alike safe” (Gurnall, Page 30).

This passage has stayed with me.  So much of what I hear other Believers say is opposite to what I hear the Holy Spirit saying.  Believers are so busy with conducting spiritual warfare or ushering in the kingdom and those with greater abilities are heralded as being great in the kingdom.  Those who don’t have the same resources or abilities are not declared less in the kingdom but are described as a different part of His Body with a different function.  Equally important, just different: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’…” (1 Corinthians 12:15-26).  The message I hear-and it may not be what anyone intends to convey-is to know your place.  Be content with whatever that place is and, if you are not content, you can hold onto the promise that the first shall be last and the last first when Jesus comes back and it’s time to hand out rewards.  What sort of help that is to you now, in your day to day life in a world that is truly filled with tribulation, only you can really say.  It’s no good to me.  I see the truth of what William Gurnall wrote 400 years ago: were we to take to the field in our own strength, there are those who are far more likely to stand in battle than others.  Abilities and opportunities have not been spread evenly between individuals.

I have been thinking about the Parable of the Talents more and more over the course of this study.  The Parable appears in the Gospel of Matthew with a similar Parable in the Gospel of Luke.  In Matthew’s telling, the Master gives one of his servants five talents, another two, and another one, each according to his own ability.  Luke’s telling is a bit different: the Master calls ten servants and each one gets 10 minas though, when the Master returns, only three servants report to him.  There is no mention of ability in Luke’s version though it’s similar to Matthew’s in that one servant saw far more of a return on his investment than the other two so perhaps ability is inferred.  I have always heard these Parables taught in terms of ability: some of us are ten talent people, others are five, and some of us are single talent people.  I will say the Parables are also always taught that the ten talent people are not better than the five or one talent people: the only one admonished in the Parables is the servant who did nothing at all with the talent.  Still, I always sat in the pew certain I was a one talent person rather than a ten talent person.  Not only that, I was possessed with a deep fear that not even God thought I was enough.

This fear only rooted itself deeper as I was forced to come to terms with the effects of my car accident and also forced to admit the truth: my abilities were not remotely equal to those of other people.  There is a saying, “Everyone has the same 24 hours per day” which is supposed to be motivational but isn’t to a person struggling with physical limitations and the effects of a TBI.  These Parables deserve dedicated studies of their own.  For the sake of staying focused on my current study, I will only say I have had to rethink these Parables as my attention has been drawn to passages I don’t remember seeing before, no matter how many times I read through the Bible.  These passages speak of being filled with the fullness of God, being made complete in Jesus Christ, lacking nothing.  I will quote only one as it’s from the same Epistle as my study passage:

“…I bow my knees to 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” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

It is that last bit “filled with all the fullness of God” that has been ringing in my ears for months now and is the phrase I thought of when I read William Gurnall’s words.  “God does not parcel himself out” and “both castled in the covenant, are alike safe”.  I’ve been writing about covenant verses contract in my last few posts.  A contract is an if/then document whereas a in a covenant, both parties give themselves to each other.  Nothing is held back.  If one party needs food, protection, defense, whatever; the other party commits to provide it up to his very life and vice versa.   In this New Covenant that is now ours, of which Jesus Christ is the mediator, by the very meaning of “covenant”, our God has given Himself to us.  And, He has not given a little bit of Himself to this person and a little bit more to that person and then a whole lot to that person over there because, wow, look at how able they are!  No!  As Peter said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). 

If this is true, and it has to be because it is written in black and white in the pages of the Bible, what about the Parable of the Talents?  Malcolm Smith has a teaching on The Parable of the Talents and he pointed out how the goods belonging to the Master and delivered to the servants could be seen as a metaphor for the Master giving the servants his life.  Looking at the Parables in those terms, I wondered about the line “according to his own ability”.  If the Master is Jesus, the goods are His life, and He is One who shows no partiality, why does it look like-in Matthew’s version at least-He does indeed show partiality?  Each servant is considered to have a different level of ability and is therefore given a different amount of the Master’s goods.  I discovered something interesting when I looked up the Greek word translated “ability”.

There are three occurrences of “ability” in the Strong’s Concordance and each one translates a different Greek word.  The Greek in Acts 11:29 is euporeo (G2141) and means “to be good for passing through, to have pecuniary means.”  The Greek in 1 Peter 4:11 is ischus and means “forcefulness, might, power, strength”.  The Greek in the Parable as related in Matthew 24:15 is dunamis (G1411) and the Strong’s defines it as “force, specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself)-ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y deed), (worker of) miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful), work.”  Dunamis is most often translated as “power”, for example; it is the word used in the Lord’s Prayer, “…thine is the Kingdom and the power”, and is also the word used in Luke 9:1 when Jesus sent out His disciples: He gave them “power (dunamis) and authority”. 

 The fact that the word for “ability” in the Parable of the Talents is dunamis absolutely blew my mind.  As I said, this is something worthy of devotion but I hope you can see, as I saw, that the “ability” of the servants was not something inherent in themselves.  Both the goods and the ability came from the Master. 

I wonder if this Parable isn’t pointing out something I’ve come to suspect; that each one of us Believers has the same “ability” in that each one of us possesses the fullness of God in Christ Jesus.  In that respect, we are equal.  We are not equal in the level to which we have come to know this to be true, appropriate it for ourselves, and see it expressed in our lives.  This is, I believe, a matter of choice.  Many of my fellow believers, too many, are content with being saved and knowing about God.  He has given Himself to us in covenant.  How much of Him do you desire?

What does this have to do with the Whole Armor of God? You may well ask.  This post is what I have received, so far, in my asking this question: if we are made to stand in the power of the Lord and His might, if the Whole Armor of God is describing the way we live in this New Covenant, and thus the Whole Armor of God is an expression of the Life of Christ in us and through us, why does Paul say to “put on” and “take up” the Armor?  I wondered if there wasn’t a conflict here.  I am beginning to see there is no conflict and I hope to continue to share that in the upcoming weeks.

Until then, I leave you with a bit more from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  May the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, open the eyes of our understanding that we might know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (that’s us!), and what is the exceeding greatness of His dunamis toward us who believe.  May we each one know what it means to be filled with the all the fullness of God and may we give the glory to the One who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the dunamis that works in us.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

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

References

Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25:14-30, Similar Parable found in Luke 19:12-27

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 Way He Has Made

07 Monday Aug 2023

Posted by in Studies, Walking in the Way, Whole Armor of God

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

This week’s post is a continuation of my study on Ephesians 6:10-18a; the passage which contains the Apostle Paul’s description of the Whole Armor of God.  I have not yet delved into the pieces of armor as there has been so much to learn from the word “stand” as it appears in this passage.  The Greek word translated “stand” is histemi.  “Stand” is a perfectly good translation for histemi but it doesn’t fully express the intent of the word.  Histemi means “to stand, abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set up, staunch, stand”.  It is not standing in the sense of perseverance or holding fast but rather carries the idea of being made to stand.  I have been thinking of verse 10 of my study passage in terms of defining histemi: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might”.  We do not stand in our own strength or merit but are made to stand in the power of His might.  The other word that has grabbed hold of my attention is “covenant”.  I have not ever thought of the whole armor of God in terms of covenant before and doing so now makes me feel as though I am approaching this passage for the first time.

Ever since I looked up the meaning of histemi, I have been thinking about covenants.  It never ceases to fascinate me how, when my attention is focused on something, I begin to see that same thing everywhere.  In last week’s post I quoted from an article published in an issue of Biblical Archeology Review.  I’ve had this issue for months but I just happen to open it and read on article on covenants in the ancient world at the exact time I have begun to meditate on covenants.  During this Sunday’s sermon, the Teacher just happened to mention the phrase “blood is thicker than water” is a shortened version of “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”.  There is no getting away from covenants.

And, what is a covenant?  It is not what I hear it defined as from a great number of believers.  They define covenant in terms of if Person A does this then Person B will do that which is not a covenant but a contract. Of course, I cannot blame my fellow believers for thinking in these terms because THE COVENANT in the minds of believers is the Mosaic Covenant i.e. The Law given at Mount Sinai.  Before Moses and Israelites ever get to Mount Sinai, there is this word from the Lord: “…If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and will do what is right in His sight, and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statues, I will put none of the diseases up you which I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord Who Heals You” (Exodus 15:26, AMP).  Reading on through the giving of the law and the description of the results of failing to keep it, I understand why the language of if/then has been drug into this Day.

The Covenants of the Old Testament is a subject worthy of a devoted study.  For the sake of staying on the track of my current study, I point out the Mosaic Covenant is not the only covenant of the Old Testament nor is it the most important.  There is a fascinating passage in Galatians which speaks of a covenant made before and one which takes precedence over the covenant of Moses: “…just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.  Brethren, I speak in the manner of men; Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.  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,” who is Christ.  And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.  For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise” (Galatians 3:6-18).

This passage is referring to the covenant described in Genesis 15: 9-21.  The animals are brought and split in half but Abraham (though he is still Abram at this time) falls into a deep sleep.  God speaks to Abraham but it is a smoking oven and burning torch which pass through the carcasses and blood of the animals.  Abraham certainly took part in the preparation of the animals and he drove vultures away from the carcasses but, when the sun comes down, Abraham falls into a deep sleep.  He is a spectator rather than a participant.  I wholeheartedly agree this is a covenant God makes with Abraham but the keeping of it didn’t depend on Abraham in any way as he did not pass through the pieces himself but slept and saw as if in a dream or vision the smoking oven and burning torch pass through the pieces.

I think of this covenant when I think of the New Covenant which we all live under.  It is not a covenant of keeping laws and rules, or moderating behaviors so God will be pleased with us and bless us.  Like that covenant made while Abraham slept, this New Covenant was not made with our participation.  Like that covenant described in the Galatians passage, this New Covenant is not one of law but one of promise.  Hebrews 12: 18-24 says: “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who hear it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow”. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said,”I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

“In Christ” is such a small phrase.  It’s only two words but they refer to a life and an inheritance that surpasses anything we’ve been taught to expect.  In the crucifixion of Jesus we see “God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).  Human hands participated in the making of the New Covenant by preparing the sacrifice but, again, humans could only watch as the New Covenant was established.  But now, we are In Christ!  Every promise of God is “yes” in Christ Jesus.  We are raised from death to life in Christ Jesus and we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  His life in us is the life of the New Covenant.  Life, not keeping rules and laws.

How does this pertain to the Whole Armor of God?  I see so many believers engaging in “spiritual warfare” by attempting to animate the Mosaic Covenant with the keeping of rules and laws and adhering to standards of behavior.  I rarely if ever hear fellow believers exulting in passages like the ones I’ve shared from Galatians and Hebrews or Paul’s beautiful description of Christ’s fulfilling the law as related in Romans 8. 

I came across an interesting entry in my New Koine Greek Textbook Series Supplements.  In the collection of George Ricker Berry’s Synonyms under “Covenant”, I found: “Asynthetos, occurring only in Romans 1:31, is “covenant-breaker”, one who interrupts a state of peace and brings on war by disregarding an agreement by which peace is maintained.  Aspondos is “implacable”, one who refuses to agree to any terms of suggestions of peace.  It implies a state of war, and a refusal of covenant or even of armistice to end it permanently or temporarily”.

This struck me because God has, by His own desire, established a New Covenant in Christ Jesus.  It is one where He chose not to impute our trespasses against us.  It is one where Jesus put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and one where He has destroyed the devil who had the power of death.  He has come that we would have life and that abundantly!  Now, this New Covenant cannot be broken because it does not depend on us.  However, calling anything but the life and inheritance that is now ours in Jesus Christ “good news” is a refusal to partake of the covenant.  It is a rejection of the peace that is ours in Christ Jesus.  The result is a warfare that is carnal rather than spiritual because it is warfare that seeks to gain a victory over a perceived enemy when the reality is, in Christ Jesus, the victory is already won.

We put on the Whole Armor of God and our feet are shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace.  I look forward to gaining understanding of just what this means. 

To be continued…

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

References

 4 quotes that you have been terribly misquoting. | by Josiah Ross | Student Voices (mystudentvoices.com)

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

Walker, G. Allen, New Koine Greek Textbook Series Supplements, 2014-2018, Page 64