As American believers, living in an American culture, we seldom really take into account that the world where the Scriptures were written was much different than ours. There are key cultural realities that reflect either a Greek/Western world view or that of an Hebraic world view. A Biblical world view must take this into account or we may get a bit of a distorted understanding of what God has revealed to us. It does not necessarily mean that we will arrive at a point of view that violates the general message of God's Word. However, when it comes to specific verses we may cling to, we may have missed the intent or at least narrowed our application so we hold an understanding that misses the whole picture.
In the last two articles, posted on 08/07/2017 and 08/13/2017, we considered what appeared to be God's use of evil in the lives of His followers and a question of faith and faithfulness as we walk with this God. Our world view will determined how we view these issues and how we respond to the Scriptures the LORD has graciously given us.
The first revolves around our perception of what is good. In our western view, good is what is beneficial to me and and makes my life easier. Evil is detrimental, in some way, to my existence. The Greek emphasis on the individual and how we perceive morality limits us to how good and evil are understood. God has authority over all His creation. All of His creation will ultimately conform to His will, resulting in His glory. He has the authority to direct the affairs of mankind (See Proverbs 21:1), He also has authority over the spirits, both good and evil (See Job). What God determines to do is good, for it accomplishes His will for His glory. It is His prerogative to do what He does to accomplish that objective. He is not required to consult with us to determine how we feel about His methodology. He is good, all the time, whether our sense of right and wrong or good and evil agrees or not.
In considering faith, there are three key differences in Western/American thought and Hebraic thought, which impact our understanding of faith. First, Western thought is about what we think while Hebraic thought is about what we do. Second, Western thought focuses on the individual while Hebraic thought focuses on the community. And third, Western thought is compartmentalized while Hebraic thought is integrated. When considering faith, we come to understand what we think the word means based more on our cultural mindset than on the text of Scripture.
We have seen the difference between thinking and doing in Luke 18:8, “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" Our Western/Greek thought focused what people would think and thus believe when the Lord returns. Will anyone think that He is Messiah and believe the truth about Him when Jesus returns. From an Hebraic point of view this is inadequate. The real question for the Jews listening to Jesus is, will there be any faithfulness, anyone acting faithfully, when Messiah returns. The faithfulness of Israel was a question the Jews of that time would clearly understand. The prophets had accused them of spiritual infidelity often and chastened them for their lack of faithfulness. Would there be any faithful to the Lord when He comes is a question they understood all too well. Some of their heroes are recorded for us in Hebrews chapter 11 These accounts show what faith in action looks like. These were people who were faithful in what the Lord called them to do.
The second aspect of culture can be found in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." There are a couple of things we need to observe. First, this is written to a community of believers. There is application to the individual but it is written to the group. Second, these are those who love God. That being so they would be keeping Christ's commandments (John 14:15). These are faithful people who appear to be having their faith or faithfulness tested. We live in a culture that is individualistic. Thus, this verse is obviously about me and a promise for me. All things work together for me if I love God. However, God works in and through communities and His emphasis is often on others not just you and me. The testing of Job's faithfulness was not just for Job. It included Satan, Job's wife, Eliphas, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu as well. Peter's imprisonment brought the believers together to pray for boldness so that the community would remain faithful in spite of persecution. They do not seem to be praying for Peter's release as they had no expectation that would occur. What if your struggles have nothing to do with you but are a means to touch someone else's life for good? Your cancer brings a wayward child to God, your accident gets another driver into rehab, your loss bring the opportunity to be someone else's comfort (See 2 Corinthians 1). God's purpose for testing your faithfulness may be to bring about good in the life of another. Maybe it just isn't about you but about the good that God can bring about in the life of someone you hardly know or perhaps a complete stranger.
Our third consideration is found in James 2. James' real concern here is for the twelve tribes scattered abroad, the Jews scattered among the Gentiles. The dominant thought in Greek is to compartmentalize life. We do the same, saying things like, "I have many hats to wear". The parent hat, the spouse hat, the employee hat, the little league coach hat. Life neatly compartmentalized. I was at a men's conference once where we were told to keep work separate from our family life, to never bring work home with you. What happens at work, stays at work. How wonderfully compartmentalized. But what a missed opportunity to have our families pray together for situations at work. Do we really want to set the example to our children that what happens at school stays at school? James has a better idea. It is called integration. "But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18). For James, faith and works were not opposites or in conflict. They were to be integrated into life. Faith was not faith without faithful service. Belief was only valid if actions reflected words. Otherwise, faith is simply a dead idea of something believed. Faith without faithful actions would not exist in the mind of a Jew. Is that also true for you and me?
Our American/Western culture may keep us from seeing the true faith God has called us to. Faith is to have faithfulness integrated into our lives. Faith, or faithfulness, is something that has a focus beyond ourselves and what we think we need. Faith that is more about what I do than how I think. It is who I am, a faithful one. A child of God faithfully living out an Hebraic faith, grounded in the teaching of Yahweh and His Son, the Jewish Messiah.
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