The scripture assures us that God will preserve the faithful man or woman Psa. This updated article is presented courtesy of Bridges For Peace, Jerusalem. Original publication date — Jim's new commentaries on the Books of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are now available. See Commentaries and scroll down. Zechariah from chapter 8 to the end is especially significant.
It speaks about the restoration of Israel that is happening today. Most commentators have missed this completely. We are finished with our complete commentary on the New Testament. The project is very thorough and was done over a ten year period. Look under "Commentaries.
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Don't waste your life on Facebook and other social media. The Bible is the true face-book. Word of God Today. The other was the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. His angel guided Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch and released Peter from prison His Spirit sent out Barnabas and Saul on their missionary journey , guided the Council of Jerusalem f. He guided Paul on his dangerous and roundabout journey to Rome f. The verb sometimes is followed by a noun to indicate in whom people believed—the Lord ; ; , the Lord Jesus Christ ; ; cf.
The response seems to have been superficial only in the case of Simon The commitment to Christ might have as a prelude believing the Scriptures ; or believing an evangelist The initial act of faith needed to be succeeded by a constant trust in the promises of God It can be used absolutely ; ; , 27 ; or with reference to Christ explicitly ; ; ; So we see the lively exercise of faith is dependent upon an objective act of God. Faith is connected with repentance ; and has moral consequences f.
It leads to forgiveness ; , cleansing and justification It was accompanied by the gift of the Spirit f. It might be induced by a miracle ; , by the Scriptures or by the preaching of the Gospel ; It sometimes involved healing ; Its natural outcome was a common purpose with other believers ; and joy Loyalty to God and to the Christian brotherhood is implicit throughout the book and perhaps finds clearest expression in the incident involving Ananias and Sapphira The Pauline epistles.
Neither Paul the man nor his writings can possibly be understood unless we grasp the meaning of faith to him. Ever since his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus the whole of his thinking and his life were dominated by the ideas of the faithfulness of God and the need for a responsive faith in man. If there is a systematic treatment of these themes only in Romans, their living reality bursts forth spontaneously again and again in the varied pastoral situations which he deals with in all the epistles.
This is the solid foundation upon which all else in Pauline theology is built Rom God is faithful in fulfilling His promises 2 Cor He is faithful in continuing to work in and to preserve those whom He has called to Himself 1 Cor ; ; 1 Thess ; 2 Thess It is because He is faithful that there are sayings about what He has done which also are completely reliable 1 Tim ; ; ; 2 Tim ; Titus In the gospels its main uses are in the twice repeated quotation of Hosea ; Matthew ; , and its occurrence five times in the first ch.
Paul uses it as a greeting, alongside grace and peace 1 Tim ; 2 Tim and also as a benediction Gal The word of God had not failed Rom He has not rejected His people The gifts and call of God are irrevocable Another important subject illustrating the faithfulness of God is that of His promises. This is dealt with especially in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 and 4 where the story of Abraham is in mind. Faith and the Gospel. Christian faith begins as a response to the kerygma.
He expresses the main thrust of the kerygma as the Cross , 18 , 23 , The Resurrection also was something which had to be believed, for if it were not true both kerygma and faith would be futile 1 Cor The relationship of faith to the Gospel is dealt with more fully in Romans With relentless logic Paul shows that salvation depends upon calling upon God, which depends upon faith, which depends upon a preacher.
Faith is defined further as confessing with the lips that Jesus is Lord and believing in the heart that God raised Him from the dead Faith then involves an intellectual acceptance of and a moral response to the kerygma and it is the means by which salvation is experienced It is established by the power of God rather than the wisdom of men 1 Cor , but there was still a need of human preachers Rom f.
Yet underlying all the human activity involved was the conviction that faith was due to grace—that it was a gift of God Eph Faith and justification.
While Paul has a number of different figures which are used parallel to one another in order to express the new relationship with God which is entered by Christian faith, the chief figure is that of justification.
It means declaring a man to be in the right, giving him a right standing with God. In the case of sinful men that can be done only through faith in the Christ and His work of redemption. It is something achieved by the grace of God and is a gift to be received by faith Rom Faith which leads to justification is the correlative of grace.
Grace means divine action from sheer undeserved love, and faith therefore is humble and thankful acceptance of something unearned. Because man prefers to earn things in order to have something to pride himself upon, Paul is insistent that the principle of faith understood thus is utterly opposed to the principle of works—of earning salvation by good deeds.
This was a particular temptation for Jews who kept the law of Moses and had higher moral standards than their contemporaries ; ; ; Gal ; ; Eph.
In order to show the importance of faith even in the OT, he goes back behind Moses to Abraham. This was before circumcision was instituted Rom and even over four centuries before the law was given Gal God made promises to him which he believed himself, and through him they were made to his descendants. Those descendants need now to be redefined in terms of those who share the faith of Abraham Rom f. Gal The emphasis of the prophet may well have been more on the continuing relationship of faithfulness than on the initial saving act of faith.
The principle is the same—faith is the only way to receive righteousness and life. Faith and relationship. Justification by faith means not only accepting a doctrine but also commitment to a person. It is trusting him who justifies the ungodly Rom The Holy Spirit also is received through faith Eph ; Gal , The Life of faith. Baptism is the sign of beginning the new life of faith Col f. Gal f. But faith needs to grow 2 Cor There may be deficiencies in it which need to be made up 1 Thess and the aim should be fullness of faith Rom ; 1 Thess , which will however always fall short of sight 2 Cor Having faith will lead to action 1 Thess The faith of a community may become something which is widely known Rom ; Eph ; Col ; 1 Thess ; Philem 5.
Faith will bring confidence about death 1 Thess and may be associated with hope 1 Cor There are some members of the Church who may have special gifts of faith , but a loveless faith of this kind is useless Faith also is involved in the question of religious scruples, which Paul deals with in Romans 14 and 15 , where weak faith signifies over-scrupulousness.
It is similar to the idea of conscience 1 Cor ; It has the specific meaning of trustworthy when referring to stewards of the Gospel 1 Cor f. He urges Timothy to find trustworthy people to teach others 2 Tim Faithfulness needs also to be shown to others, as it is part of the fruit of the Spirit Gal Faith in Christ is linked with love Eph ; ; ; 1 Thess ; ; 2 Thess The faith.
It may be referred to as something to obey Rom It is possible that the objective sense is intended in 2 Corinthians and Colossians ; , though in all these cases, it may refer to the subjective exercise of faith. It is most common in the Pastoral Epistles, though there again it is not always clear which usage is involved. There are a number of other possible references 1 Tim , 19 ; ; ; 2 Tim ; ; Titus , 13 ; ; The Epistle to the Hebrews.
This theme is first introduced when the writer shows that God can be relied upon to punish sin under the New Covenant even more than under the Old Heb He would not overlook their work and love in dealing with the readers Emphasis is laid upon His swearing an oath when making the promise to Abraham. The certainty of judgment for willful sin is balanced by the promises and rewards of God for the faithful The promises were to be received not by men of the Old Covenant but by those of the New f.
Even the suffering which they had to endure was evidence of the faithfulness of God The kingdom which He offered was unshakable It was the God of peace who had saved them through the death and Resurrection of Christ, who would equip them to do His will f. If Moses was faithful as a servant, Jesus was as a son He was therefore the surety of a better covenant He was the pioneer and perfecter of our faith In response to Him men were to hold fast their confidence and pride in their hope Men could draw near with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help When upbraiding them for their immaturity, the writer regards repentance from dead works and faith toward God as elementary Christian teaching But we must also say here that it is impossible for us to separate faith with unfaithfulness.
Because faith comes as a result of being faithful to God. Faith is a supernatural gift reserved for the faithful. Note here that it is not faithfulness but faith.
Although we cannot fully separate faith from faithfulness we can at least bring out the clear difference between faith and faithfulness. Hence, you should eliminate the negative feeling of being neglected by God despite your faithfulness to Him and start speaking life into every challenging situation that you are facing through the power that Jesus Christ has given us and in accordance to His Word.
We must note here that challenges are not there to kill us but to fortify us to better appreciate the blessings of God when they come our way.
I was on online parallel bible and saw word "faithful" when other translations said faith or believe, and knew that was not the correct meaning, so found your article very refreshing! Another thought came --that faithful maybe could be defined as "full of faith". That's what God "the trinity" is desiring from us above all else. Thanks much for your writing!
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