Continuing from where we left
off, what does it mean to believe something?
John 3:16
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
What does this verse mean when it
says “believes”?
The Greek word used in this verse
is pisteuō. The Greek thought on this word is to think to be true, to be
persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in, according to Strong’s
Concordance. This word comes from the root word Strong's G4102 – pistis, which
is translated as faith, and Pistis comes from the root word Strong's G3982 –
peithō which is translated as obey seven times. I bring this up because there
are several verses that seem to stand out when trying to understand what it
means to believe or have faith in Yeshua. Let’s start with finding a few places
where this word is translated to obey.
Romans 2:4-10
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the
goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your
hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his
deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek
for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation
and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the
Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.
Notice here YHWH will reward, or
pay each person according to their deeds. Paul takes this right out of the
prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 32:19
Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all
the ways of the sons of men: to give
every one according to his ways, and according
to the fruit of his doings.
There is further support found in
the writings of prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 18:30
Therefore I will judge you,
O house of Israel, every one according
to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent,
and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Here notice also in both Romans
as well as Ezekiel, repentance is linked with obeying the truth. Turning from
iniquity, transgression of the law, and sin will aid in avoiding our ruin on
judgment day. We have already uncovered the idea of righteousness in part one.
Galatians 3:1
O foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you that you should not
obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
What is truth?
Psalm 119:142
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth
YHWH’s Law is truth. The Galatians
have been tricked into not obeying His law. His Torah describes a returning of
His scattered people back to His law.
Daniel 8:13
As it is written in the Law of
Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer
before the Lord our God, that we might
turn from our iniquities and understand
Your truth.
The Law of God, written by Moses
describes a returning to the Law of God by His people. Daniel says this return
has not yet happened yet. His people had not turned from their sin and did not
understand His truth.
Galatians 5:6-7
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails
anything, but faith working through love.
You ran well. Who hindered you from
obeying the truth?
Paul is still asking the
Galatians who it was that persuaded them from obeying YHWH’s Law. Again we can
see Paul linking faith with obeying the truth, and we know the truth is YHWH’s
Law.
To take this idea a bit further,
and to really understand what biblical belief is, I will focus on unbelief for
a moment.
Hebrews 3:12-19
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort
one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His
voice, Do not harden your hearts as in
the rebellion.”
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we
see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Psalm 95:7-10
For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of
His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not
harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the
wilderness, When your fathers tested Me They
tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that
generation, And said, ‘It is a people
who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’
An evil heart of unbelief is a
heart that is departing from YHWH. We are told not to harden our hearts
similarly to those in the “rebellion”. Those in the rebellion were those who
Moses led out of Egypt. These people sinned, and did not obey YHWH. Not obeying
YHWH was considered unbelief.
Jude 1:5
But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the land
of Egypt, afterward destroyed those
who did not believe.
More scripture relating belief with
the following of YHWH’s Law. Surly we can conclude the idea of believing can be
at minimum linked to the keeping of the Law of God.
John 3:18-21
“He who believes in Him is not
condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. And this is
the condemnation, that the light has
come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For everyone
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who
does the truth comes to the light,
that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
So, what is the light? As you may
have noticed, I am a strong believer in allowing the Bible to define itself.
Proverbs 6:23
For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction
are the way of life
Romans 7:7
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary,
I would not have known sin except
through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had
said, “You shall not covet.”
1 John 3:4
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
The Law of God being followed
helps us to avoid sin because the law defines sin for us. Not keeping the law
is living a lawless lifestyle. The Law of God is best used as instructions of
the way of life. The Gospel is the promise of eternal life made by YHWH to the
seed of Abraham. One must be righteous to obtain this promise. To be considered
righteous, you must have faith in YHWH’s ways. Obeying His law is not what
saves, but trusting in His law is what saves. Yeshua is the living breathing
Word made flesh.
John 1:1, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Trusting and having faith in what
YHWH told His people was the right way to live their lives according to His
ways can and should be equated to Yeshua and the message He came to give. Did
not Yeshua say He came with the Father’s message?
John 12:49-50
For I have not spoken on My own
authority; but the Father who sent
Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know
that His command is everlasting life.
Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
John 10:30
I and My Father are one
YHWH told all of Israel His ways
to live correctly and have blessing both on earth and in His Kingdom. When
Yeshua came, He says He came with the message from YHWH. His message was repent
and turn back the ways of YHWH. He says we should not sin and we know sin is
transgression of God’s Law. He says we should come to His light, and we know
His light is His Torah, Law. He says we should not continue in the ways of
those who came out of Egypt, which is in unbelief. We know those people chose
to break His Law because they did not believe Him. We are to obey His truth,
and we know His truth is His Law. Everything Yeshua, Paul, and the rest of the
apostles taught can be directly linked back to obeying the Law of God. Again,
this is not to obtain salvation, but to show our faith, and to show our love
for the Father.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome.
We have just read God’s Law is
the “light”, we also just read God’s Law is the “truth” and the “way” of life.
Therefore, we can conclude the Torah, God’s Law, is the way, the truth, and the
light.
Proverbs 13:14
The law of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn
one away from the snares of death.
So, here we have God’s Law is
also a fountain of life.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.
It is obvious, Yeshua is the
living breathing Torah, which is the instructions of how to live our life,
given by YHWH, the Father.
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