Tag Archives: Whole Armor of God

The Key of Life

15 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Image by PixiMe01 from Pixabay

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

Resolved to Listen

01 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Happy New Year, Readers!  Welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue looking at the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a with my focus still on the Shield of Faith.

I cannot underestimate the importance of listening.  So few of us truly listen.  Far too many of us wait for gaps in the conversations or for the one speaking to take a breath so that we may insert our words, take control of the conversation, and steer it where we would.  Far too few of us listen in order to establish deep connections through conversations and far too few of us listen to hear whether or not those connections can even be established.

Take the definition of faith: there are conversational traps easy to fall into and difficult to discern until one has already fallen into them, unless one takes the time to listen.  Two people can come together both using the word “faith” and both can mean the word two entirely different ways.  How the word is meant by the one using it is not clear without careful, intent listening. 

My New World Dictionary offers up 6 definitions for faith and I find it is the first 3 which are used the most often.  The first is “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence”.  The second is “unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets, etc.”  The third is “a religion or a system of religious beliefs (the Catholic faith)”.  It does not take a great deal of listening time to understand which definition is being used.  Sadly, I find those deep connections are difficult to form with those entrenched in these three definitions.  They have no interest in hearing how faith is a covenant word and I have found it is best to remain a listener in these situations.  If you do try and share the truth, you’ll eventually have to take a breath and you will find your opportunity is gone.

When I am in these situations, I keep two passages of scripture close to my mind and heart.  The first is 1 Peter 3:5: “be ready with an answer to everyone who asks…” the second is 2 Timothy 2:23-26: “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”  Listening is crucial in these situations and I don’t mean mere listening to what the other person is saying: I mean listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit in the midst of these situations.  If He gives the words to speak He will also create the opportunity for speaking them.  Speak the truth in love!  If He does not, stay silent!

Silence is a difficult thing for believers.  If we come away from a conversation not having “shared our faith”, we have been taught we have failed God because it is our responsibility to fill the earth with the knowledge of God and make disciples.  After all, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).  I would ask, what does it mean to “share our faith”?  Definition 4 of faith in the dictionary is “anything believed”.  I find many believers cleave to this definition and use “faith” when they really mean “knowledge”.

Knowledge is not what the Greek word pistis translated as “belief” and “faith” in our Bibles originally meant.  As I’ve said, it is a covenant word and the closest dictionary definitions to the original intent of the word are numbers 5 and 6: “complete trust, confidence, or reliance” and “allegiance to some person or thing, loyalty”.  I shared J. Preston Eby’s definition of faith and I have not come up with a better: “Faith is the mental attitude of confident response which is evoked in you by what another person reveals himself to be.”

Faith is not knowledge.  When we share our faith with another person, we are not sharing what we know about God but rather who God has revealed Himself to be.  It’s a subtle but disastrous distinction and I believe with everything I am the key to recognizing what we are sharing with another person is love.  “Knowledge puffs up” the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “but love builds up.”

The Apostle Paul begins that beautiful description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 by writing, “But earnestly desire the best gifts.  And yet I show you a more excellent way.  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

I’ve been meditating on this passage since watching one of Malcolm Smith’s webinars (linked below).  I listened to Bishop Smith read the passage in its entirety and wondered if the Apostle Paul was saying love was more important than anything, including faith.  That couldn’t be because our God is love and is also the author and finisher of our faith.  Since both are found in Him, they had to both flow and work together.  I spent some time meditating and here’s what I think Paul is saying: since faith is our confident response to who and what God has revealed Himself to be, if that response is anything less than the love of God, then the Holy Spirit still has a great deal of work to do in us.

The Amplified Bible says this clearly in 1 Corinthians 13:3: “Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to burned [or in order that I may glory] but have not love [God’s love in me], I gain nothing.”  Then comes the description of what the love of God is:

“Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.  It is not conceited-arrogant and inflated with pride, it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly.  Love [God’s love in us] does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it-pays no attention to a suffered wrong.  It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.  Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything [without weakening].  Love never fails-never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end” (Amplified, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

This is the love Jesus meant when in John 13:35, He says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This directly follows His new command in verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have love you, that you also love one another.”  When we read through these passages, how are we doing on living that sort of love?  When we “share your faith” with another person, how do we think about that person?  Do we love that person?  Do we see that person as someone so beloved by the Father that Jesus was sent?  Or, do we share our faith in an attempt to get-off-the-hook with God e.g.; “I said the words: if they don’t believe them that’s their problem: my hands are clean”?  The scripture is clear: if we have not shown that person the love of God, we are the same as a noisy gong or clanging symbol. 

Of course this love is impossible for us: that’s why it’s called God’s love.  We do not have it within ourselves nor can we show it to others but “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit” were the words of the Lord to Zechariah and those words are as true today as they were then.  It is possible to define faith as “being convinced by argument” and I think many Christians have attempted to do just that: convince others of the truth of Jesus through arguments. 

What about Romans 10:17 which says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”? Doesn’t that mean we should be speaking the truth at every opportunity?  I would ask; are we speaking the truth in love and by love I mean the love of God?  Are we speaking to point out transgressions rather than speaking the truth that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them”? (2 Corinthians 5:19).  Are we telling people what wretched, filthy sinners they are or are we speaking the truth that Jesus Christ has “once, at the end of the ages…appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”?   

James 1:19 says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”.  As the calendar switches to a New Year, I only have one resolution: that I would be given ears to hear.  Not just what the Father is saying but to what my fellow human beings are saying.  May I listen for that opportunity for the deep connection which is an agape connection.  May I pray this prayer for everyone who crosses my path: “Father, who so loves this person, how are you revealing that love to this person through me in this moment?”  When I receive the revelation of the love that He is, may my confident response-which is my faith-be that love.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

 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)

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

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

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

Comfort and Joy

25 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Happy Christmas, Readers! 

Monday is my usual post day and, this year, Monday happens to be Christmas Day. 

I am still in the midst of my study on Ephesians 6 verses 10 through the first part of verse 18.  This is the passage where the Apostle Paul describes the Whole Armor of God.  I have not yet moved on from the Shield of Faith and did wonder what sort of post I could create for Christmas Day that would continue to reveal the true definition of faith.

That might seem silly because of course Christmas is all about faith for Christians.  I find that “faith” in this respect is used to mean “a religion or a system of religious beliefs” which is definition 3 of “faith” in my New World Book Dictionary.  Those who use “faith” mean the set of rules and regulations set down by their denomination, the theology stamped approved by their denomination, and the fiercely held but not always audibly expressed idea that the faith of their denomination is the True Faith: all others are mistaken and have fallen short of the truth.

I suppose I ought to admit I am rather ambivalent about Christmas.  On the one hand, there is everything I have learned about Christmas traditions.  Would it shock you to learn that there is no Christmas movie (that I can bring to mind) that accurately portrays the birth of our Lord and Savior and that the Nativity Scenes where the animals gaze benevolently at the newborn Christ, the Shepherds bow down in worship, and the Three Wise Men offer their gifts, directly contradicts the Biblical story?

Only the Shepherds were there to see the Baby Jesus.  The Wise Men-and there had to be a great many more than three visitors from the East-didn’t arrive until Jesus was a child and, when they visited Him, they did so at the house where He, Mary, & Joseph were living (see Matthew Chapter 2).  There is every reason to question whether His birth occurred in December and there is also reason to question whether the place He was born ought to be translated as “stable”.  All of these things as they are celebrated during Christmas are traditions and are “faith” only in the respect that they are the traditions of a belief system accepted by a wide group of people.

All of these things I can take or leave.  If I have the opportunity to partake of these traditions, fine; if not, equally fine.  It is the people I am partaking with who are important.  I also admit there are some aspects of Christmas I thoroughly enjoy.  Some of the Christmas music is the most beautiful I’ve ever heard.  So beautiful, I don’t always save these songs for Christmas.  You can find me singing “Joy to the World” and “O Holy Night” at any time of the year.  And, accurate or not, I do like the Nativity Tableau because it is a picture of what the Hebrew words translated “remember” and “remembrance” mean.  The two words are spelled the same but are pronounced with different vowels.  Remember is zakar and it means “to mark-so as to be recognized-to remember, to mention”.  The Strong’s also defines it as “to be male” which makes this word worth a devoted study.  The word translated as “remembrance” is zeker and isn’t all that different than zakar being defined by the Strong’s as “a memento, recollection, commemoration.”  The Strong’s also includes the word “scent” and “to burn incense” in these definitions and I like the idea of all of our senses being involved in our remembering.

Remembrance in the Biblical sense of the word is not an intellectual exercise.  The meaning can be seen in these Christmas celebrations: acting it out as if Jesus was being born this very night, celebrating the Word made flesh, recognizing our likeness in His face, and reveling in the indescribable love of God.

Unto us a Child is born.  Unto us a Son is given.

But, this remembrance is not our faith.  We are not acting out a mere belief system.  We are celebrating-or ought to be celebrating-the revelation of God Himself in Jesus Christ.  This revelation of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, the humility in the heart of God in that God became one of us-limited in every way as we are, tempted in every way as we are-is the catalyst for a response in us and that response is the definition of faith.

I read J. Preston Eby’s teachings and only recently discovered he’d written a short series on faith.  I am currently on page 3 of the first study but have read enough that there is plenty to ponder.  Mr. Eby opens his study series with this definition of faith: “Faith is the mental attitude of confident response which is evoked in you by what another person reveals himself to be.”

Mr. Eby goes on to write, “The very first thing that you will surely observe about this definition is that it declares that your faith is not something that you decided to exercise.  Rather it is a response produced in you by someone other than yourself!  True faith never accrues to the praise of the one who possesses it, but rather, to the glory of the one who evokes it!  Then, in the second place, the “mental attitude of confident response” known as faith is totally dependent upon revelation, that is, the uncovering or unveiling of another person’s inner being in such a way that he may be seen as he really is.”

Does Jesus have December or a September or an April or some other birth month?  Was He born in a stable or some other type of room?  I do enjoy reading what others have to say on these subjects.  I don’t have time for arguing about it because, whatever the facts may be, the truth is we have an unpredictable God who, maker and ruler of all things, did not choose to be born in a way that fitted His station.  He was born to poor peasant parents, had a manger for His bed, and while angels filled the skies with song, only shepherds were there to mark His birth.

Tomorrow will be December 26th.  Perhaps many of you will begin taking down decorations and packing them away until next year.  Perhaps many of you will find tomorrow to be a bit of a letdown.  Perhaps you sought the Magic of Christmas and needed Santa and Elves and Flying Reindeer in order to find it.  But then, you probably stopped believing in all of that years ago.  You try to create magic for your children but deep inside you know magic is nothing more than illusion and sleight of hand.

None of your days have to be a letdown.  We don’t have to try and stir up some sort of holiday spirit and try to keep it going into the cares and trials of our daily lives.  Jesus is not just the reason for the season, He is the reason for everything that exists: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:15-17).

I follow the blog Hebrew Word Lessons and a recent post addressed Christmas.  The point was made about the unlikelihood of Jesus having a December birth but also pointed out the beauty of celebrating His arrival with lights during the darkest time of the year.  The author also writes, “This Messiah (Anointed One), who would come as a child, would be an awe-inspiring, mighty, eternal, peace-bringer.  And He would be a counsellor…an intimate advisor for every human heart.”  John 14:16 refers to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and the Amplified expands that word with “Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby”. (See also John 14:26-28).  

Today is the day chosen to be the commemoration of God’s coming to earth through His being born a human being.  However you choose to mark today, if you do so choose to mark today, I hope it is a day full of the comfort and joy that belongs to each one of us.  Because that baby is no longer a baby.  He is the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father, with all authority in heaven and on earth His, ever living to make intercession for us, dwelling in us in and by His Spirit. 

When we experience the vitality of us in Christ and He in us, all substitutions pale in comparison. Our reality is we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us.  Emmanuel, God with Us, has become God in Us.  Our very bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit not just today but every day.  He is our Comfortor and His fruit is joy.  The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, will open our eyes to the magnitude of what it means to live in union with Christ in us: we only have to ask.  And then, having opened our eyes, this same Spirit will strengthen us to live our lives in response to all we have seen: a life of faith.

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)

Revisiting COUNSELLOR ‹ Hebrew Word Lessons ‹ Reader — WordPress.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

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

The Faith of the Son of God

11 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

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