Faith or Faithfulness, Part 2

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.

Are You Saved by Faith or Faithfulness?

I thought we would have a little more fun with words today. This one is foundational to our very existence as followers of God. The Greek word is  πίστις pronounced pistis. . Biblical scholars such as Strong, Mounce, and Wuest, to name a few, understand the word to mean: faith, assurance, believe, belief, trust, faithful, fidelity or faithfulness. It is most often translated with the English word "faith". The question for today is, "Why?" out of at least eight options that could all be accurate why is the word "faith" the most common choice? Is it because of the context of the text or the culture of the translator?

  

Webster defines faith with these possibilities.1,fidelity, allegiance to duty or a person. 2 : belief and trust in and loyalty to God or belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion 3: firm belief in something for which there is no proof. One of Strong's definitions includes, "reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, believing in such profession". Got questions.org, an evangelical Christian web site gives this addition, "Simply put, the biblical definition of faith is “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.” One also described faith as a nebulous trust based on a belief that something is true. The truth is, that for many of us, faith is a personal thing that is pretty hard to explain. Perhaps the reason is that we are of a western culture that flows from Greek thought. For the Greeks Life is founded in what you think. Thus faith is a sort of thing we think about and come to a cognitive rationale for what we believe and trust in. That being the case, our little word, pistis, and its derivatives are most frequently translated, "faith". A sort vague trust in the unknowable. Belief in something that is really just beyond our understanding. We may sense His presence and learn about Him but God is still a bit out of our total understanding. So we must have faith.

Even though there is an element of truth here, there is a more satisfying answer if we place things in a more Hebraic context. In Hebrew life is more about what you do rather than what you think. God has revealed Himself in His Word and given instruction and direction as to how best to live. Those who accept this, who believe, respond to the revelation God has given. It becomes less about "faith" and more about "faithfulness", which is one of the acceptable ways to translate pistis. What impact does this have? Let us consider a few passages to see what I mean. 

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?" This translation asks the question will the Son of Man find those who believe, have made a mental decision that what was told them is true. Will there be any who believe, who think this way when the Lord return. Now the other translation of pistis. "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faithfulness or faithful ones on the earth?" The noun pistis is now a person instead of a thing. It is personal and we are required to behave in a way that is in obedience to the Lord. It is no longer a concern about what we think but what we do that matters.

Hebrews 11:1 has long been the evangelicals go to verse to define faith, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The substance of faith is a hope we have and faith is also evidence of something unseen. It makes this thing called faith pretty intangible and entirely personal. Faith is what I want it to be and what I think it should be. However, if piatis is translated faithfulness, now what I do is the substance of what I hope for, and what I do is the evidence of the unseen that I hold to be true. Those around me know what I believe and why I have this hope based on what I do, not just what I tell them I think is true. The writer of Hebrews then gives examples of faithfulness. Noah showed what he believed as he faithfully built the ark. Abraham put his believe on display by leaving his home, Sarah believed God, the Faithful One, and was given strength to deliver the promised child. Abraham gives evidence of His belief as he faithfully takes Isaac to the mount. Moses's parents believed, the evidence is how they faithfully hid Moses.

We know that Messiah, Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).  That being true perhaps the writer to the Hebrews is saying, "But without faithfulness it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him," Hebrews 11:6 (emphasis mine).  A diligent seeker is doing something, not just thinking something. The Lord is a rewarder of those who walk in obedience. The other examples in Hebrews 11 are great examples of those who were faithful. We know they believed and trusted God by what they did, not just by what they thought. The substance of what they hoped for and the evidence that they believed is clear by their faithfulness to the one who called them.

There are other thing to consider, but we will save those for next week. Today's question is, "How about you and me?" Does the faithfulness of our lives give evidence of what we say we believe? If not, does what we say we think about God and His promises really matter?

   



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