Tag Archives: Works

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

Jesus is Coming-Look Busy!

09 Monday Oct 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Image by Brian Merrill from Pixabay

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

This week, I am going to share something private with all of you: I enjoyed the movie “Waterworld.”  I used to own a copy of it on DVD.  I have seen it more than once.  If you have not had the opportunity to enjoy this cinematic masterpiece (it’s not at all), allow me a moment to describe the plot and why it’s relevant to this continuation of my study on righteousness: specifically righteous deeds or works as described in scripture.

“Waterworld” is placed in the future where the polar icecaps have completely melted and the world is covered in water.  Remaining humanity lives in floating cities but there is a rumor that Dry Land still exists.  There is a fabled map supposed to reveal Dry Land’s location.  There is (of course) a villain who wishes to possess Dry Land for himself and is thus searching for said map.  He acquires it but cannot read it and here is why this movie is relevant to this week’s post:  the villain has to pacify his people who know he has acquired the map.  He cannot possibly tell them he can’t read it so the villain (brilliantly played by the late Dennis Hopper) gives this rousing speech and shows his people he does indeed have the map.  The people are whipped to such a frenzy they begin rowing their floating home to…where?

One of the villain’s lieutenants asks him that exact question and the villain answers he doesn’t have a clue.  Then he says something I’ve been thinking on for weeks now.  “But don’t worry”, he says, “they’ll row for a month before they figure out I’m faking it.”  Such is the state of many a Christian life.  It is rare that I hear anyone in Christian leadership saying the whole reason for the Incarnation was restoration to a vital relationship with the Father.  I never hear leaders declaring the Christ life is being formed within you by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit and that it is an established truth that the life we now live we live by the faith of Jesus Christ.  Instead, what I hear is; say the Sinner’s Prayer, believe in Jesus, pray every day, read your bible every day, don’t forget to tithe, and you’ll get to go to heaven when you die.  If you don’t, especially if you don’t believe in the correct authentic Jesus, then a fiery hell, or eternal death, or eternal torture is your fate-depending on which theological branch you are perching on. 

The “heaven” you must die to achieve is actually rather vague.  You will be where Jesus is and there are many mansions and…we don’t really know what heaven is like.  Hell is much more fleshed out as a concept even though the various denominations don’t agree on this either.  Suffice to say it’s a bad place and you do NOT want to go there.  The various denominations don’t agree on how to avoid going to Hell but they do all seem to agree that your best bet is to make sure you’ve declared your belief in Jesus and then stay busy.  Make sure all of your works are something you are doing FOR and TO Jesus and do as many of them as you can because without faith it is impossible to please God and faith without works is dead (Hebrews 11:6, James 2:26).

This is the answer for the problems of your day to day life as well.  Read your Bible, pray, and stay busy being a good Christian and all of the problems of your day to day life should sort themselves out.  If they do not, it might be because you doubted when you prayed which makes you double minded and such a person cannot expect to receive anything from God. And, maybe you prayed a prayer of faith but didn’t energize your faith with enough works so your prayer never really got off the ground.  But then, even if you are the busiest Christian ever to have walked the earth with the longest resume of good works, there is no real guarantee you have safe passage to heaven because Jesus is going to come back, look at your works, see they weren’t done properly, and then He will utter words that bring despair: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” 

Perhaps the hope is we will all be so busy working for Jesus, we won’t realize we are not being offered life.

I find it a tragic irony that the book of James, especially chapters one and two, are used to back up the “good news” I’ve just described.  However, this lifestyle is so opposite to the one described by Paul in his Epistles that it is taught that James and Paul contradict each other. In the course of my studies, I have found no such contradiction.

When James is speaking of not doubting and not being double minded,  I have seen a practical application of what Paul is saying when he says to let the same mind that was in Christ Jesus be in us and that we do indeed have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5, 1 Corinthians 2:16).  I have also read James 1:1-8 with Paul’s words “to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6) in mind.  I have always thought James’ warning not to doubt was a plea to believe what he wrote in verse 5: that we can ask wisdom of God and trust that He we will receive it because He is a God who gives liberally and without reproach.  This passage is not a hammer being dropped on the poor believer who prays in genuine faith but, when time stretches on without seeing the prayer answered and a bit of doubt creeps in, that’s it!  You’ve doubted now, proving you are still unstable and now God cannot answer your prayer.  You have been tested and found wanting.

Incidentally, the King James Version doesn’t have the word “doubt” in this passage at all.  The English word chosen to translate the Greek here is “waver” and I prefer it to “doubt” in every respect.  I have always thought James was in complete agreement with Paul and his admonition to be not one who wavereth could be put in other words: be not carnal but spiritual minded!

I also find it tragic that Chapter Two of James’ Epistle is said to contradict Paul.  Rather, I have always found it contradicted the idea of the necessity of a busy Christian life and was perfectly in line with Paul’s theology.  As I began to research this idea of contradiction, I looked through the commentaries on my shelf and found none upholding contradiction.  For example, the Abingdon Commentary says, “the theology of James is not as fully developed as that of Paul but there is no real contradiction between them” (page 936). Ellicott’s Commentary on verses 14-26 says, “Many have seen James and Paul at variance here; but the truth is that they regarded the same object with a different motive, and aimed at a dissimilar result-just as in medicine, opposite treatments are required by various sicknesses and in the several stages of disease” (Page 1152).

I agree.  Rather than see a contradiction, I have seen James to be perfectly in line with Paul.  I have read James and seen that he was speaking against a faith of mere assent: “you believe God is one?  So do the demons believe, and tremble!” (Ja. 2:19).  He was not proposing doing works according to the Mosaic Law.  James points out how transgressing one part of the law meant we were guilty of the whole (10) and he mentions the “law of liberty” in verse 12.  This is perfectly in line with Paul’s law of the spirit of life which has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).  I have read James’ Epistle thinking he meant the works that we Christians do we do because the faith and life of Christ are in us, the same way the spirit (or breath) is in the body.

This post is becoming rather long so this is a subject I plan to return to next week.  I will close with two thoughts.  “Without Me, you can do nothing,” Jesus says in John’s Gospel.  “I am the Alpha and Omega”, He says in John’s Revelation.  In his commentary on Revelation 1:8, Francois du Toit writes, “The union of Alpha and Omega in Greek makes the verb αω, I breathe” (The Mirror, Page 495). 

This is beautiful and it brings me to peace and rest.  Jesus is our life, our very breath.  Apart from Him, we can do nothing.  What then?  Is this a free pass to laziness?  Of course not.  But, instead of doing works TO prove we believe in and love Jesus, our works flow OUT OF His life in us.  Waiting on God, doing only what we see The Father doing, saying only the words He has given us to say, is very difficult.  One reason is because God is unpredictable and not knowing HOW He is going to bring about His will in a situation can be difficult.  We see what we think is the best solution and refusing to act to ensure our desired solution is open warfare with our flesh.  Another reason waiting is so difficult is there is a vast list of dos and don’ts in the Bible and so, as long as we align our works with God’s law, our works ought to be acceptable.  The law never made anyone righteous (See Romans 3:20).  Our works must align with His life.  We must be sensitive to the moving of His Spirit.  Anything else is fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

May this be our prayer in the upcoming week: that our ears are opened to hear the Voice of our Shepherd, that our eyes are opened to see what the Father is doing, and may we be strengthened to BE STILL until we are certain we are moving in the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

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

References

The New Testament in Four Versions, Christianity Today, Inc. Washington, D.C., 1965

Du Toit, Francois, Mirror Study Bible: The Romance of the Ages, Eighth Edition, Mirror Word Publishing, 2012, 2018

Eiselen, Frederick Carl, Edwin Lewis, and David G. Downey, The Abingdon Bible Commentary, The Abingdon Press, Inc., Nashville•New York, 1929

Ellicott, Charles John, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary In One Volume, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971

Nothing But Work Work Work!

02 Monday Oct 2023

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Image by su mx from Pixabay

Hello Readers!  Welcome to a new week and a new post on Renaissance Woman!

In last week’s post, I started looking at the Breastplate of Righteousness.  That post contained a series of scriptures one of which was John 6:29: “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’.”

While conducting the study and writing last week’s post, I had also started reading Frances Ridley Havergal’s Kept For The Master’s Use.  I had no sooner scheduled last week’s post then I read, “What a long time it takes us to come down to the conviction, and still more to the realization of the fact that without Him we can do nothing, but that He must work all our works in us!  This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He has sent.  And no less must it be the work of God that we go on believing, and that we go on trusting.  Then, dear friends, who are longing to trust Him with unbroken and unwavering trust, cease the effort and drop the burden, and now entrust your trust to Him!”

I wondered if I shouldn’t add this quote to last week’s post but, since I do try to keep these posts from growing too long, I decided to wait until this week.  As so, I am still looking at the Breastplate of Righteousness but am asking this week, just what do we think the Bible is saying when it speaks of ‘works’?  Reading John 6:29 it does appear that Jesus is saying our doing the work of God means believing.  I also quoted Genesis 15:6 last week which says, “And he (Abram) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness”.  This scripture also appears to be saying Abram (or Abraham as he was named by God) did something-He believed-and it was his believing that was accounted unto Him as righteousness.

There are passages in Revelation that stress the importance of our committing righteous acts.  Revelation 19:8 says, “And to her (the wife of the Lamb) is was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 20:12 says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”  James 2:26 does appear to be the final word on the necessity of Christians performing works for it says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Strong words!

But then, there are other passages of scripture that seem to be saying something contradictory.  There’s Romans 3:21-28: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Where is boasting then?  It is excluded.  By what law?  Of works?  No, but by the law of faith.  Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).  The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has this to say about works: “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Heb. 4:10).

To work or not to work, which is it?  Perhaps it’s the type of works.  Galatians 2:16 says, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”  Here, as in the passage I quoted from Romans, it is works (or deeds) of the law that are the problem.  We Christians don’t do works of the law: our works are keeping His commandments to prove we love Jesus, have faith in Him, and believe He is the son of God.

But then I run into another problem: is belief enough?  Going back to James’ letter: in the midst of his passage on faith and works, I find; “You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the demons believe-and tremble!” So even our belief in God isn’t enough.  We have to believe in Jesus and prove we believe in Him by doing works.  That this is what is believed by a great number of Christians was brought home to me as I was listening to a Christian radio station and a well-known believer said it didn’t matter how long the lifespan; what mattered is what we did for Jesus during that lifespan.  Is this the truth?  Is that what matters?  Is it the sheer number of our works that equate to righteousness?  Is it the type of our works that equate to righteousness?

I would say none of the above.  I would say it is the source of our works that reveal the righteousness of Christ in us.  Are we working to prove the life of Christ resides in us or do our works flow out of His life within us?  As I return to John 6:29, I find a little Greek word that is often overlooked.  That word is tou and it means “of this person: his”.  It is the word chosen to relate Jesus’ words to us: “…this is the work of God”.  How do we read this?  Are we reading it as we are the ones doing God’s work or should it be read as His work as in “this is the work God does”?

I believe the latter.  I believe it because of scriptures like Hebrews 4:10.  I believe it because, when I continue on from Ephesians 2 verse 9, I read; “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (verse 10).  I believe it because we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  Every work then flows out of His life and, like our Forerunner, we do only what we see the Father doing.  The righteous acts with which we are clothed are only righteous if they flow out if His life and are energized by His Spirit.  Anything else is the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

This is too massive a subject to be covered in one or two posts so I plan to pick this up next week.  Until then, I leave you with another quote from Kept For The Master’s Use: “If we look at any Old Testament text about consecration, we shall see that the marginal reading of the word is ‘fill the hand’ (e.g. Ex. xxviii 41; 1 Chron. xxix 5).  Now, if our hands are full of ‘other things’ they cannot be filled with ‘the things that are Jesus Christ’s’. There must emptying before there can be any true filling.  So if we are sorrowfully seeing that our hands have not been kept for Jesus, let us humbly begin at the beginning, and ask Him to empty them thoroughly, that He may fill them completely.”

To which I say “Amen!”

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

References

Green, Jay P. Sr., The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew Greek English, Volume 4, Authors For Christ, Inc., Lafayette, IN, 1976, 1985

Havergal, Frances Ridley, Kept For The Master’s Use, Scriptura Press, New York, New York, 2015

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