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Fruit of the Spirit-Faithfulness

17 Monday May 2021

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“The fruit of the Spirit is…faithfulness” Galatians 5:22

I was certain I knew how this week’s study would go.  I know what “faithfulness” means.  Indeed, when I went to my dictionary, I anticipated no surprises. Nor did I find any, except that “faithfulness” didn’t appear in my dictionary on its own but at the end of the entry for “faithful”.  No matter.  There were no surprises in the definition of “faithful”: keeping faith, maintaining allegiance to someone or something; constant; loyal.  That is God, I said to myself, and knew what scriptures I would use to declare His faithfulness.

Well, He is faithful and faithfulness but that isn’t the word used for this particular aspect of the fruit of the Spirit in the original Greek.  The Greek word here is pistis (G4102) and it means faith.  If faithful, or even faithfulness was meant, the Greek word pistos (G4103) would have been used.  I had to double check with The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament and the fruit of the Spirit is pistis-faith.  What’s the big deal?  Am I getting nitpicky?  I don’t think so because I am aware of controversy surrounding the meaning of faith.

I looked up “faith” in two separate dictionaries and found the same definition.  The definition in The New World Dictionary of the American Language does start out with the word’s origins which include fides (Latin) meaning confidence, belief.  No controversy here.  But then, the first definition is “unquestioning belief that does not require proof”.  The World Book Dictionary puts the word origins at the end of the entry and starts with “a believing without proof”.  I have to read down to definition #5 in The New World Dictionary before I find a semblance of what is meant by “faith” in the Bible: complete trust, confidence, or reliance.  The World Book Dictionary does eventually give me “confidence, reliance” as well.  Confidence, trust, and reliance is not possible without proof. 

I am going to set pistis and its meaning aside for the moment and ask myself the question, does the Bible require me to have blind faith-faith based on no evidence whatsoever?  I cannot see that it does.  Quite the opposite.  In his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul tells them to “test all things: hold fast what is good” (1 Thes. 5:21).  In his second letter to Timothy, Paul says, “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing–rightly handling and skillfully teaching–the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15, Amplified).  I’ve already written posts on 1 John 4 but this is an excellent chapter on the necessity of testing as is Romans 12:2.  The expectation of the New Testament writers was that believers would be active in their beliefs, investigators, and would not blindly follow after anyone. 

Neither do I find an inference of blind following in the original Greek.  The definition of pistis is: persuasion, credence, conviction, assurance, belief, faith, fidelity.  I do agree a person can have all of these things without proof or evidence but the root of pistis is peitho (G3982) and contains the meaning “to assent (to evidence or authority).” No blind following is inferred here.

There are voices today who insist there is no evidence for even the existence of God and that, because that is so, my faith is not only blind I hold to it in the face of evidence proving the opposite.  That is not true.  My faith is based on evidence.  Greater minds than mine have done this work: minds like Dr. John Lennox, Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, and Dr. David Berlinski for the science-minded among you.  There are so many other men and women, brilliant minds, who believe in God and did not have to set aside their intellects to do so.  I encourage anyone and everyone to test, investigate, study, and decide for yourself.  Do not blindly follow anyone.

While I am grateful for the scientists, philosophers, and theologians I have read over the years who have shown me I am not irrational for believing in God, I have the very best proof of my faith in another source.  That is, of course, God Himself.  The word pistis is relational.  The Dictionary of New Testament Theology tells me the following about “faith”:

“The words dealt with here are basically concerned with that personal relationship with a person or thing which is established by trust and trustworthiness (including their negation).  If this relationship comes about through persuasion or conviction, the vb. peithomai is used.  The perf. tense pepoitha expresses the firm conviction and confidence that has come about.  The words of the pistis group are derived from the same verbal stem.  They denoted originally the faithful relationship of partners in an agreement and the trustworthiness of their promises.  In a broader sense, they came to denote the credibility of statements, reports, and accounts in general, both sacred and secular.  In NT Gk., they gained a special importance and specific trusting acceptance and recognition of what God has done and promised in him” (Page 588).

I have come across many instances where study has led to a belief in God but leaves Him remote.  He’s an “intelligence”, “a mind”, but uninvolved and uninterested in His creation.  I think Andrew Murray says it best: “Nature speaks of God and His work; but of Himself, His heart, and His thoughts of love toward us sinners, nature cannot tell” (Holiest of All, Page 43).  There comes a point where evidence of the existence of God is not enough.  Without a revelation of Himself; His personhood, His intentions, and His nature, faith becomes belief without proof.  At the very least, it is not the faith that is the fruit of the Spirit.  This faith is a living, breathing, person centered in Jesus Christ. 

In Galatians 2:20, Paul says; “I have been crucified with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  There is a mistranslation in this passage and it’s “I live by faith IN the Son of God”.  The true translation is “l live by faith OF the Son of God.”  It’s a subtle difference and yet it’s all the difference in the world.  The Greek word for in, en, is not the word here.  It’s tau (G5120) and it appears twice in the sentence:  OF (tau) the Son OF (tau) God.  It means “of this person, his.” 

This faith that is the fruit of the Spirit, His Spirit, has nothing to do with us.  It’s very good to have evidence for our beliefs but we do not live this Christian life because we have built up our own faith in Jesus.  We live it through His faith, His relationship to the Father, which is also our relationship to the Father through His Spirit living in us.  The proof is in the person, in this case.

Isn’t it wonderful?  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen!

And Amen.

Unless notes otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

References:

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

The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1958

Barnhart, Clarence L., The World Book Dictionary, Volume One, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, 1970

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

Guralnik, David B., The New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Company, Cleveland • New York, 1976

Murray, Andrew, Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Whitaker House, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1996

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

Fruit of the Spirit-Peace

12 Monday Apr 2021

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is…peace” Galatians 5:22

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!  This is the beautiful greeting used by the Apostle Paul in each of his letters and it is my greeting to each of you as, this week, we take a look at the Fruit of the Spirit which is peace.

The Greek word translated “peace” in all the scriptures I’ll be discussing is eirene (G1515).  The Strong’s Concordance gives me this definition: …from a primary verb eiro (to join), peace, prosperity, one…set at one again.  How beautiful Luke 2:14 becomes: “Glory to God in the Highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  God Himself has come to bring peace on earth, to set everything at one again. So the heavenly hosts proclaimed.  Jesus Himself said something different: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)  These two scriptures appear opposed to one another.  I have heard some believers say that Jesus came to save us from the wrath of the Father but no…looking at these two scriptures it seems to me God wants peace on earth and Jesus said nope-not peace but a sword.  Do we Christians have a divided God?  Can one member of the Trinity be at odds with another? 

Such a thing is impossible in the God who has revealed Himself as One.  There are all of the scriptures where Jesus says “The Father and I are One” like John 1:1: “The Word was with God and the Word was God”. There’s that great declaration in the Old Testament: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, The Lord is One! (Deuteronomy 6:4) and Jesus Himself says, “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30). Keeping their Oneness in mind, I took a closer look at Matthew 10:34.

My NKJV says “bring peace” but the KJV has “send peace”.  I looked up the Greek word and found ballo (G906) which carries the basic meaning of to throw or cast.  Jesus did not come to cast or throw peace into the earth yet He does give it. Here I see peace is not something imposed from without but rather, something central to a group of individuals.  The disciples carried it with them when they were sent out, it was something they could bestow, and it was something they could remove (see all of Chapter 10 of Matthew, specifically verse 13).  Chapter 10 of Matthew described terrible happenings, schisms between families, great tribulation.  There’s a similar passage in Luke’s Gospel but the word there is division rather than sword.  (Luke 12:51) 

Division or sword? I did find a similarity in meaning. The word translated “division” in Luke 12:51 is diamerismos (G1267) and means “disunion (of opinion and conduct), division” while the word for “sword” in Matthew 10:34 is machaira (G3162) and means “a knife, i.e. dirk, fig. war, judicial punishment-sword”.  I find these two passages aren’t saying entirely different things though because, machaira is derived from mache (G3163) meaning “a battle, i.e. fig controversy-fighting, strive, striving” and, tracing further to the primary verb machomai (G3164); I find “to war, i.e. (fig) to quarrel, dispute:-fight, strive.” I see a picture of both peace and the sword existing side by side: as the Holy Spirit opens the eyes to the reality of life in Jesus Christ, division and separation occurs where others do not yet see.

Not that the sword mentioned by Jesus in Mathew has not been interpreted by many to mean a literal sword.  History has recorded the people of God being put to death and, indeed, many times delivered up to death by a close friend or family member.  It is happening today in parts of the world.  To the shame of what it is to be Christian, the literal sword has been wielded by Christians.  I am not talking about being part of a military or defending one’s nation but am talking about killing another in the name of God thinking it brings Him honor.  This is not the way Jesus gave to peace.  “My kingdom is not of this word.  If My kingdom were of this word, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”(John 18:36) 

This thought continues in the New Testament and is perhaps best put into words by the Apostle Paul: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4)  No, the sword, or the far more advanced weapons of this day; are not for the hands of Christians to usher in the Kingdom of God.  Neither do we declare another human as our enemy because “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Perhaps all this is easy for me to say.  I do not live in a country where I am under threat of death for speaking what I believe.  That is true.  My life is not in danger (I hope) but I have experienced divisions.  There have been separations and an end to relationships. I know the pain of separation because of my faith.  I can speak to the truth of Luke 12:51 if not to Matthew 10: 34, and I can also speak to the truth of the peace of God centered in Jesus. I am so grateful for His peace, the peace that surpasses all human understanding and trust that one day, He will put an end to all divisions.

Until that day, His peace is in us in the midst of whatever we may face.  “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) and “Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives do I give unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

His peace is also, quite literally, a fortress.  Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  The word “guard” here is phroureo (G5432) and means “to be a watcher in advance i.e. to mount guard as a sentinel (post spies at gates), to hem in, protect; –keep (with a garrison).”

What a peace is this!  It is not given by the world, it is not given to the world, and it can never be found there.  The Hastings Bible Dictionary says, “The transition from OT to NT usage (of peace) strikingly illustrates the inwardness of Christianity.”  The entry for peace also contains a quote from G.G. Findlay: “Peace on earth is to flow from the peace of Christ that rules in Christian hearts.”  The will of God is peace on earth but this peace is found only in Jesus.  It is the fruit of Christian lives because of His Spirit in us.  May the Spirit open our eyes to the reality of His peace and then may we go into our daily lives with our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  (Ephesians 6:15)

Amen.

References:

Unless notes otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

Hastings, James, Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Reprint from the edition originally published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1909, March 2001, Page 696-697

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

Oh Joyous Day!

05 Monday Apr 2021

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But the Fruit of the Spirit is…joy…Galatians 5:22

I am continuing my look at joy this week.  When I started this series, I wondered whether or not there was an intention to the ordering of the attributes comprising the Fruit of the Spirit.  As I read John 15:11, I think that answer is yes.  This verse states, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may remain full.”  Jesus said this right after speaking on the vine and the branches, abiding in Him, and keeping His commandment to love.  Looking at this verse in the context of the full passage, I see His Joy flows out of His love. 

This love is described in the passage we all know so well: “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”  (John 3:16, Amplified).  If ever there was a verse to Selah (Pause and calmly think of that!), it’s this one.  It’s quoted too quickly, passed over without pondering what is said here, and I think there is an all too quick assumption that I understand what this means.  Familiarity breeding complacency, as it were.

The One who is Agape loved us so much that He gave Himself to and for the entire world that we might not be lost.  I know the word is “perish” in almost every translation but the Greek word is the exact same word translated “lost” in the beautiful parables shared in Luke Chapter 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the son who was lost.  The word is apollumi (G622) and is also the same word used in Luke 19: 10 where Jesus says, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  I recently watched a pastor on You Tube and, while I did find his message interesting, I was a taken aback when I heard him say, “Jesus came to save you from hell.”  Well…I understand why he’s saying that but that’s not what Jesus Himself said.  He came to seek and save that which was lost.  He also said that he came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

I think the word “might” does make this passage sound uncertain.  We might have life the same as it might rain.  The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament gives this passage as: “I came that life they may have and abundantly may have.”  It’s a bit awkward, I know.  The Modern Young’s Literal Translation has it better: “I came that they may have life and may have [it] abundantly.”  Using “may have” to translate the Greek does make sense (echo G2192) as it means to hold as a possession or the ability to hold.  The New World Dictionary does say “might” and “may” can be used interchangeably but, while “might” is used to express a shade of doubt or smaller degree of possibility; the first definition of “may” is to be physically capable of doing, ability or power.  I see the meaning of the Greek repeated here and find a whole other pathway of study opening before me!  For the sake of this post, I don’t find any uncertainty in John 10:10 nor do I find any indication this life is reserved for a future time.

John 3:16 is quoted like eternal life is reserved for the future.  If we’ve made the right decision, believed the right thing, we won’t perish, i.e. go to hell after we die.  That’s not what the scripture is saying.  Jesus called us “lost”.  Now.  He came to seek and save that which was lost and he came that we would have abundant life.  Now.  Jesus does not leave us in ignorance of what this life is and, again, I don’t see that it’s something I have to die and go to heaven to attain.  “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Another passage reserved for the future is, “…I go to prepare a place or you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  In every church I’ve been in, I’ve heard that interpreted to mean this is something that won’t happen until Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom.  I recently heard Malcolm Smith teach on this passage.  Mr. Smith said there is nothing in the conversation Jesus had with His disciples, a conversation spanning chapters 13-17 of John’s gospel, which indicates Jesus meant something that was to take place in the far out future.  After speaking these words, Jesus was betrayed, tried, crucified, buried, rose again, ascended to the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit.  He thus finished the work God the Father sent Him to do, and through His Spirit, brings us into union with Himself.  The place is prepared for us now.  I had not ever heard this scripture interpreted this way.  It arrested me and I had to meditate on it for quite some time.  

I agree with Mr. Smith’s interpretation.  I do not remember if Mr. Smith quoted this scripture but, if this passage is something that does not take place until the end of the age, how is Ephesians 2:4-7 possible?  That passage states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  I cannot get around the now-ness of all of these verses.  I was dead in my trespasses, lost.  He came and sought me.  I have been made alive in Christ Jesus, now.  I sit with Him in heavenly places, now. 

Because I no longer believe this passage is referring to something that happens after we die or when Jesus returns, does this mean I don’t believe in Jesus returning?  No.  I believe there is still coming the times of restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).  Jesus refers to Himself as the one “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  (Revelation 1: 8)  The point of this post is to stress the importance of knowing the Jesus who is NOW!  The Christian world has just finished commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Yesterday (Sunday) came the declaration, “Christ is risen!” and the answer, “He is risen indeed.”  Yes, He is.  In His own words, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.” (Revelation 1:18)

I honor He who was.  I anticipate He who is to come.  My joy is in He who is alive and alive in me now.  He inhabits every moment of my life.  May we all see it!  I pray the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to behold it.

Alleluia!  Amen.

Unless notes otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

Reference Materials Used:

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Company, 1976

Marshall, Reverend Alfred., D. Litt., The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1958

Strong, James, LLD., 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, Indiana, 2005

Fruit of the Spirit-Joy

29 Monday Mar 2021

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“But the Fruit of the Spirit is…joy” Galatians 5:22

This week, I am looking at Joy.  It has been an interesting week.  It has not been the headlines in my country alone that have been full of violence, hate, anger, and despair.  No, the violence that has and is taking place in my own country is taking place around the world.  In the midst of all that is going on, how can I talk about Joy?  Is it cruel to even mention Joy as a Fruit of the Spirit when there is so much suffering?  I must talk about Joy because it is part of our inheritance in Jesus Christ and is not affected by the evils of this world.  It would be cruel of me if I presented Joy in the Spirit as something we believers could have if we were just better Christians and if I suggested that, since we suffer, we must be failing God in some way.  That is not true.  That is not in the scripture.  That is not what I find in the heart of the God who loves me.  Our Joy is His Joy and it is the gift freely given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

There is a fallacy regarding the Christian life and I don’t have to look very far to see it perpetuated.  This fallacy is that somehow, we who are partakers of this New Covenant Life in Jesus Christ, have the best of everything, are never touched by sorrow or disease, and lack nothing.  If we do not have the best, experience loss or sickness, and have any sort of need, we have failed in some way to lay hold of our inheritance.  I do not find a scriptural basis for this without doing some serious carving up of the New Testament.  In order to believe this, I have to hold very tightly to a few select scriptures and utterly ignore everything else.  When I look at scripture as a whole, I find the opposite is true.  Jesus Himself tells me, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  The truth of this is carried into the Acts of the Apostles where the souls of the disciples are strengthened by the words, “We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.”  (Acts 14:22)

The word translated “tribulation” is the Greek word thlipsis (G2347) and has the definition of pressure, affliction, anguish, burden, persecution, tribulation, trouble.  Thlipsis comes from thlibo (G2346) which means to crowd, afflict, narrow, throng.  Here I see a picture of being surrounded by so many problems and difficulties, and sufferings, there isn’t room to move or even breathe.  I have a story that might help give you a picture of this, if you’ll bear with me.

I have always been a lousy athlete especially when it came to team sports.  Basketball in particular was my nemesis.  I can’t count how many times I would be practicing dribbling the ball, the ball would hit the top of my foot, and go shooting off like an arrow.  I spent most of my time chasing the ball and hurting myself than I ever did actually playing basketball.  However, the town I lived in was small and everyone had to have a chance to play.  Now, there was another girl who was a fabulous athlete.  No matter what sport-team or otherwise-she took part in, she excelled.  I am simplifying a bit but the odds of my scoring any points, no matter how often I “kept my eye on the ball” and “followed through” were astronomical.  And so, my one job, if I could manage it, was to get the ball to this girl.  There came a time during a game when I’d managed to retrieve the ball on the rebound.  I couldn’t do much with it and the other team was coming for me.  I found myself on my knees, curled around the ball, staring at the feet of the members of the other team while they all surrounded me.  I was completely hedged in.  There was nothing I could do.  I couldn’t get up.  I called this girl’s name and, all of the sudden, saw a pair of hands I recognized.  I got the ball to her and every member of that team lost interest in me.

I do not mean to trivialize the horrors that beset us in this life.  I tell this story because this is what I picture when life does this to me.  There are times when I am on my knees, curled around myself to protect myself, so beset by tribulations I can’t see anything else.  But I am of good cheer because there is a name I can call on and He is always there.  He lifts me in His hands and I can trust Him to work all things together for good because I love Him and I know I am called according to His purpose.  (Romans 8: 28, paraphrased) When I deliberately picture myself in His hands, when I focus all my attention on Him, my sorrow is swallowed up in Joy.

How can I say this?  Life is not a basketball game.  There is terrible suffering and there is death.  How can I say death is good?  I do not.  Death is an enemy.  I do not know how God is going to take all the horrible things humans have done to each other since Cain slew Abel, all the sicknesses and diseases we have suffered, and work them for good.  I do not have a satisfactory answer on why God continues to allow such sufferings other than the one I find where, while speaking of humankind, the Writer of the Hebrews says, “For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him, But now we do not yet see all things put under him.  But we see Jesus…” (Hebrews 2: 8-9)

I see Jesus.  I see the One despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, the One who bore my griefs, carried my sorrows, was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities, the One by whose stripes I am healed. (Isaiah 53: 3-5, paraphrased).  I count myself among the blessed mourners, blessed not because I mourn but because I am comforted.  My comfort comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, the Comforter Himself.  I am not ashamed because I do not always feel joy.  My heart breaks, I grieve, I get tired of living a life in pain: all of this is real and I feel it.  But, I look through all of that to Jesus in whom I live, and move, and have my being.  My life is hid in His.  I am aware of Him always with me, undergirding me, infusing His strength in me.  It is His Joy that is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10) and my feelings eventually align with this truth.  It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me and I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.  (1 Peter 1:8)

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation,
I hear the sweet, tho’ far-off hymn
That hails a new creation;
Thro’ all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?

What tho’ my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth;
What tho’ the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?

I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it,
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing;
All things are mine since I am his—
How can I keep from singing?

-Robert Wadsworth Lowry, 1868

All scriptures quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982

The Letter of the Word

18 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by in Hebrew Words, Studies

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As I have progressed in my relationship with Jesus, I have found my study habits changing.  I suppose such a thing ought to be obvious but I noticed the change and have wondered at it.  For example, I no longer do those “Read the Bible in a Year” plans.  I do not say there is anything wrong with them.  I have enjoyed making my way through different plans-sometimes historical, sometimes chronological, and seeing different patterns emerge.  And yet, there were times when I would read a particular scripture and it would spark something in me.  I would think about taking time to study it but I could not as I had my plan to adhere to.  I would promise myself to come back to it but another year meant another plan and I didn’t have a great deal of time to devote to one scripture.

I don’t do that anymore.  Now, if I see something I sink down into that passage until the Holy Spirit directs my attention to another.  This happened during my study of John 3:5.  I wrote in a previous post how scripture references and commentaries in my different Bible translations and study materials drew my attention to Ezekiel 36: 25-27.  I commenced a word study on those verses and such vistas opened it was difficult not to travel down some of these new paths and to stay focused on what I was attempting to learn about John 3:5.  While I do not think I am finished with John 3:5 either, I’m ready to take a look at some of these trails I’ve never been down and see what I find.

I was curious about the Hebrew word used for “give” as in “I will give you a new heart”.  The word translated “put” in some of my translations (like the NKJV) as in “I will put a new spirit within you” is the same Hebrew word translated “give” only a few words before.  I wondered if it might not contain the idea of birthing but it does not.  The word is nathan: number 5414 in my copy of The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.  There is a rather long entry for nathan and it’s worth reading through.  In sum, translating nathan as “give” is an accurate translation. 

Now, I find my Strong’s an invaluable resource but there are times merely looking up the Greek and Hebrew and getting a definition is a bit of a let down.  I have other dictionaries and commentaries which can be helpful and I have a Hebrew lexicon coded with Strong’s numbers and arranged so the word and its root are listed together along with every scripture the word is found.  Reading the word in other passages and seeing how it’s used is helpful but I can’t help wondering whether that is all I can learn.

Fortunately, I have a book called The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters by Robert M. Haralick and I have Google.  With these two resources, I am introduced to a world where the Hebrew letters themselves have forms and final forms and meanings that help to show me who God is.

Take nathan: it is written nun, tav, and nun in its final form.  Before I make it passed the Table of Contents in Mr. Haralick’s book, I see that Nun means Emergence and Tav means True Law.  I find that fascinating.  Ezekiel 36:27 says “I will put (nathan) my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”  In looking at the first two letters of nathan I see God at work.  Emergence = He puts or gives and True Law = we walk in his statutes, keep His judgments, and do them.  It’s with a sense of excitement and anticipation that I read the entries for these letters.

Mr. Haralick begins his entry for nun by stating “The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is nun spelled nun-vav-nun.” (I’ve used English spelling-Mr. Haralick uses the Hebrew letters)  He goes on to say that in Aramaic, the word nun means fish while in Hebrew the word is the root to sprout, spread, propagate, or shine.  I am not unfamiliar with the word nun as I’ve read many times “Joshua, the son of Nun” and Mr. Haralick goes on to say, “Every instance of the word nun (spelled nun-vav-nun) in the Pentateuch is in the phrase “son of Nun”.  He includes the scripture references in his footnotes but reviews Deuteronomy 31:23, 1:38, and 34:9 concluding, “That which is in emergence does not immediately accomplish what is to be accomplished for what is to be accomplished takes place later in time.  It is the son of Nun, Joshua, the offspring of Nun, who goes into the land and causes us to inherit it.  The father, Nun, emergence, does not go into the Promised Land.  Therefore, when we are engaging in emergence we are charged to be strong and of good courage for it will take time for our emergence to produce something seeable.  And in emerging, we shall be full of the spirit of wisdom.”  

There are pages more information on nun, its cognates, how its meaning affects other words it is part of, and what its numerical value means.  I also found an online resource (lightedway.org) which has a study on nun so, once again, I find looking into the meaning of anything, even a letter, is no small undertaking.

For now though, I have to pause and reflect on the bit I’ve shared.  I see a picture of Jesus in Mr. Haralick’s words.  Our inheritance, our Promised Land if you will, is in Him.  He is the one that brings us to the Father and restores the relationship.  He is Yeshua, He who saves; the one who brings us into the Holy of Holies through Himself.  He is the one who puts in His life in us yet we do not immediately experience His fullness but rather, are transformed into His image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).  We can be strong and of good courage because we know that He who began a good work in us will complete it in the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).

To Him be the glory unto the Age of the Ages.  Amen.

I drew my last paragraph from the following scriptures:  Hebrews 10:20, Colossians 1:27, John 14:6, Ephesians 1:11-17, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:19, and James 1:17

Quotes taken from:

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc. Northvale, New Jersey, 1995, pages 207-208