Belief - Part 3

St. Zechariah, St. Elizabeth, and St. John. Zechariah holds a tablet saying "Jochanan is his name."
The Hebrew writing says, "Zechariah" (left); "Elisheba" (right); and "The righteous" (top).
Elisheba and Jochanan are the Hebrew forms of Elizabeth and John.
Courtesy of Djampa and Wikimedia.

Luke 1:5-20, Zechariah did not believe the angel Gabriel (11/28/22)

Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Zechariah did not believe Gabriel, and Gabriel seems to have reckoned it to him as impertinence. Zechariah clearly recognized Gabriel as an angel, and if you can't take an angel's word for something, whose word can you take? The main point for our study, however, is that believe doesn't always mean what we mean in English as have faith in (God). You have to read for context.

1 Timothy 6:11-21, Fight the good fight of faith (11/29/22)

I'm interested in two aspects of vs. 11. First, Paul contrasts what we should "flee" - which he described in vss. 1-10 - with what we should "pursue." We should always be moving away from evil and toward good. Second, one of the things Paul wants us to pursue is faith. Faith isn't an on/off switch. We grow in faith; we perfect our faith; in short, we pursue faith.

Romans 3:21-31, Even Paul says there is no difference (12/12/22)

Paul argues that because both the Jews and the Gentiles may have faith in God, both the Jews and the Gentiles may be justified before God. There is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Note from vss. 21-22a that there is also, in this context, no distinction between faith and belief except grammatically.

Acts 10:42-48, Believers receive the Holy Spirit sooner or later (12/13/22)

All of the early believers were Jews, and it never really occurred to them that their Messiah, Jesus, might have come to save Gentiles, too, let alone that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon them. When it happens right in front of their eyes, they are amazed. Peter seizes the moment and insists that even Gentiles may be baptized.

Acts 14:21-28, Paul and Barnabas confirm the faith of the disciples (12/14/22)

Paul and Barnabas encouraged the Gentiles who believed (our Greek root pist- as a verb) and urged them to continue in the faith (same root, but as a noun). They were always on the move, but wherever they established a church, they chose some upstanding people to be in charge, whom they named as elders.

Remember that when you come to people and places you can't pronounce, just say, "they passed through Peoria and came to Philadelphia. And when they had spoken the word in Pittsburgh, they went down to Atlanta." Don't let funny names stand in the way of your belief!

Acts 16:25-34, Paul and Silas lead the jailer and his family to believe (12/15/22)

If a Roman jailer allowed a prisoner to escape, the jailer himself would pay the prisoner's penalty. The jailer, assuming that some prisoner guilty of a capital offense had escaped, prepares to kill himself at once. Notice that while it is the gospel message that brings the jailer to believe, it is the example of Paul and Silas that prepares him to listen. Christmastime is too easy; let's choose a week in January and present such an example of love that a nonbeliever is prepared to listen to the Gospel message.

John 10:31-38, If you don't believe Jesus, believe the works he does (12/16/22)

The first time the old farmer saw a giraffe, he said, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it." Jesus says, "If you don't believe my words, you should at least believe my results," which they had seen.

1 Corinthians 15:12-17, Our faith rests on the resurrected Christ (12/19/22)

So what is it that we believe? I expect that at some point you (with the exception of our Jewish readers) have recited the Apostles' Creed "I believe in... the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting"; the Nicene Creed ("We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come"; or the Athanasian Creed ("At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies)." All orthodox Christians* believe in the resurrection of the dead; it is a fundamental requirement of orthodox belief.

Paul goes even further than the creeds. He says that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ himself was not raised, and if Christ was not raised, the only difference between us and a tennis club is that we are more to be pitied, because we are founded on a lie.

* And many Jews and (as near as I can tell; my ignorance is very great) all Muslims.

Micah 7:1-7, Trust no one except God (12/20/22)

Remember back at the beginning of this study I said that the same Hebrew and Greek words are translated as belie(ve) and faith-, and sometimes as trust? In his old age (vs. 1), the prophet Micah says, "Trust no one! Except God; you can trust God." The word translated trust is our old Hebrew friend AMN, reflected in the Greek Old Testament with our same Greek root pist-.

John 12:37-39a, Seeing isn't always believing (12/21/22)

Prophets had the very difficult job of telling God's truth to people who don't want to believe it and therefore won't believe it. I'm pretty sure a lot of preachers have the same problem.

Proverbs 11:13, 14:15, 25:13, Proverbs are observations about the world (12/22/22)

A stitch in time saves nine, but haste makes waste. Proverbs are observations about the world, and the world sometimes contradicts itself. Here we see three proverbs using the same Hebrew root, AMN, which comes into English as trustworthy, faithful, or believe, depending on the exact form of the word and what translation you're reading. I also saw true-hearted, who can be trusted, true, reliable, and has faith in.

Hebrews 10:32-39, Great things are accomplished by faith (11/30/22)

As we learned earlier in our study of Hebrews, this book is full of quotations from the Old Testament; unfortunately, many translations won't show this at all, and the ones that do don't always agree. The quotation in vss. 37-38 is from Isaiah and Habakkuk in the Septuagint, the Greek OT:

Isaiah 26:20, "Yet a little while," [Greek identical]

Habakkuk 2:3b-4, "the coming one will come and will not delay; if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but my righteous one shall live by faith. " [Greek identical except for order]

The Hebrew, Greek, and English all agree that the righteous shall live by faith.

Hebrews 11:1-6, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/01/22)

No study of belie(f)/faith- would be complete with reading all of Hebrews 11, "the faith chapter." The first verse is critical. Nothing in the Bible proves the existence of God; if it did, faith would be unnecessary. In my opinion, this is because God isn't into coercion, and proof would be coercive. The circumstantial evidence summarized in this chapter, however, is very great.

Hebrews 11:7-12, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/02/22)

Most of the people in the faith chapter get one verse, or sometimes two if an explanation is needed. Abraham and Sarah get twelve. They left their family, their home, and their country, not knowing where they were going with this God whom they may not even have heard of before. Talk about "stepping out in faith!"

Hebrews 11:13-19, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/05/22)

Vss. 13-16 are an aside within the description of the faith of Abraham and Sarah. People who died in faith come both before and after. I'm most interested in the idea that God might be ashamed to be called someone's God. Do I do things that make God ashamed to be associated with me? Probably. Do I see frequent headlines about Christians that make God blush? Certainly. Let's try not to be one of them.

Hebrews 11:20-27, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/06/22)

The writer of Hebrews now turns to the great patriarchs of the faith who followed Abraham and Sarah: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses and his parents.

Hebrews 11:28-34, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/07/22)

The writer spends a bit more time on the importance of faith for Moses, the escape from Egypt, and the entry into the promised land, but then he (or she) throws up his (or her) hands and says, "I don't have to tell you this. You can read it all for yourself!" When we read about Moses, Joshua, and the others, we should remember that they didn't have anything to read. They just had faith.

Reader Comment: Faith is an interesting concept, especially as applied to Moses. After all, he spoke directly with God, so, perhaps, he needed faith a little less than we do and more the ability to listen, understand and follow directions.

Response: Good point. We could all benefit from following Moses' example.

Hebrews 11:35-40, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/08/22)

So far, we've heard of everyone the writer of Hebrews has mentioned, but now he (or she) goes on to talk about some folks we're not so sure about. Even though they weren't "important" enough to be named, the world was not worthy of them. Let us not judge people according to their fame.

Hebrews 12:1-4, Great things are accomplished by faith (12/09/22)

Conversations among Jewish and Christian scholars, theologians, apostles, preachers, teachers, and laity take place across the centuries and the millennia. From Abraham to Wesley, from Paul to Pastor Randall, and even from the children of Israel to our fellow worshipers in the pew, we are surrounded by witnesses to the saving power of God through faith.

1 John 5:1-5, Believe that Jesus is the Son of God (12/23/22)

Another facet of orthodox Christian belief is that Jesus is the Son of God, as stated by all three of the ecumenical creeds. The writings of John closely connect belief or faith with love of God and one another. John thinks, probably correctly, that you can't have belief, faith, love of God, or love of one another apart from the rest.

Ephesians 2:4-10, God loves us and gives us salvation through faith (12/26/22)

Notice that for today I suggest using the Williams New Testament translation. That's because in most translations, vs. 8 has "by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God...." In English, that "this" refers most naturally back to faith, and we all assume that it is faith that's the gift of God. Whether that conclusion is correct or not, in Greek this meaning is impossible here because "faith" is feminine, and "this" is neuter. The gift of God is the entire process of salvation - mercy, love, fellowship with Christ, unmerited favor, boundless generosity - that we gain access to through faith.

Philemon 1:1-7, Belief leads us to love God and our neighbor (12/27/22)

Notice vss. 5 and 6. The love and faith we have for Jesus results in love for the saints and in sharing our faith with them, a practical example of "Love God, love your neighbor."

1 John 3:16-23, Belief leads us to love God and our neighbor (12/28/22)

John says that it doesn't matter what you say, what you do is the truth. Just as Paul did yesterday, John relates belief in Jesus directly to love for one another.

James 2:1-8, Belief leads us to love God and our neighbor (12/29/22)

So far Paul and John have directly connected faith in God and Jesus Christ with love for our neighbors. James says the same thing.

1 John 4:1-8, Belief leads us to love God and our neighbor (12/30/22)

This study has shown us that belief and faith are the same thing, from a scriptural point of view. We can believe or have faith in information, a person, or God - but sometimes information or a person may not be trustworthy. Whom then should we believe? Where should we put our faith? John tells to find the answer using the test of love, because God is love. God loves you. Love God; love your neighbor.

More of Belief
Belief - Part 1
Belief - Part 2

Opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the author, Regina Hunter, and may or may not be shared by the sponsors or the Bible-study participants. Thanks to the Holy Spirit for any useful ideas presented here, and thanks to all the readers for their support and enthusiasm. All errors are, of course, the sole responsibility of the author.

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