First

Principles
of the
Christian
Faith
Brian Knowles
 First Principles of
the Christian Faith
1
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the
elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to
perfection, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works and of faith toward
God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of
hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal
judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

Hebrews 6:1-3

Brian Knowles

Typesetting and Layout by Free-to-Share Publications (rvrahipe); © 2010

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 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part I

REPENTANCE FROM
DEAD WORKS

he original apostles of Jesus were instructed by our Lord to:

T “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20a). They were to
teach, and they were to baptize. The content of their teaching was to
include all of the things Jesus had taught them.

The apostles went out into the then known world, a world
dominated by the Romans, and did as they were told. First they
taught the basics. They preached the Gospel (Good News) – the
same message that Jesus himself had preached. They announced to
the world that God had sent a Savior, one who would deliver
mankind from itself and from the devil and all his works (I John 3:8).
They told everyone who would listen of God’s redemptive plan, and
of how they could participate in it. Then they elaborated on the
particulars. They explained that now that Jesus the Messiah
(Anointed One) had arrived, the Kingdom of God was going to
continue to expand right on up to the time when Jesus returned to
make it universal. “Kingdom of God” simply means the sovereign

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rule of God in people’s lives. It does not, as some teach, have to
involve “territory”.

Later, after the Church had been established, some began to

lose their first love. Instead of growing in Christ, they began to
atrophy spiritually speaking. They began to lose sight of the basics.
The author of the book of Hebrews (we don’t know who he or she
was) admonished the addressees of that letter by writing: “In fact,
though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again…”
(Hebrews 5:12).

Ideally, mature Christians ought to be able to teach newly

minted believers the basics of the Christian faith. Sadly, they often
do not understand those themselves; let alone know how to pass
them on to others. This series of articles will re-establish these
foundational doctrines so that new Christians can easily learn them,
and so that older believers can review and reinforce them. The list of
these “first principles” is found in Hebrews 6:1-2: “Therefore let us
leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to
death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on
of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment...”

Here we see listed six principles that are fundamental to the

teaching of Christ. Once these were established in the hearts and
minds of believers, they provided a platform for further spiritual
growth. In this series, we will discuss them one by one, in the order
in which they appear in Hebrews. We will, in the course of this
process, focus on Jesus’ own teaching, for that is what he instructed
the apostles to pass on to others. In understanding Jesus’ doctrine,
we will examine the origins of his very Jewish approach to these
teachings.

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 If we do not understand Jesus’ Jewishness, we will not fully
grasp the intent of his teaching. As R. Steven Notley wrote in his
Forward to Prof. David Flusser’s book on Jesus: “Often, we
Christians read the stories and sayings of Jesus with little knowledge
of the contemporary issues, personages and nuances of language that
provide such an important element in molding our understanding of
his life and teachings” (Jesus, by David Flusser, p. 9). In
approaching these fundamentals of the faith, we will not neglect to
consider Jesus’ Jewishness.

The Need for Repentance and Atonement

The ideas of repentance and atonement are rooted in the history of

mankind as recorded in the Bible. The story of Eden, whether you
believe it to be literally true or sacred myth, is in the Bible for a
reason: it offers an explanation for how sin entered the world. It
helps us understand why the writer of Hebrews used the term “dead
works” (KJV) or “works that lead to death.”

“Works” are what we do. In Old Testament times, how we

live or conduct ourselves was often described as the way we “walk.”
Our spiritual walk is either toward, or away from, God. When we are
operating fully within the will of God, we are said to be moving
Godward – deeper into the Light (I Thessalonians 1:8 – 9; Ephesians
5:8).

When we sin, we step away from God and we begin moving

into darkness. When we are converted, or changed, we move from
the realm of darkness into the realm of light (I Peter 2:9b). It is ha
Satan – the Adversary – who presides over the darkness of this world
(Ephesians 2:2b; Acts 26:18).

Our “works” – in other words the way we conduct ourselves

in the world – can either be life-affirming, or “dead.” Why “dead?
Dead works are sinful works, works that are done in disobedience to

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the divine will. In the Eden story, God told Adam: “And the Lord
God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the
garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-
17).

Eating of the forbidden fruit was a “work” or a behavior that

would lead to death. Of course we know that both Eve and Adam –
in that order – disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. In doing so, they
had turned their back on God’s will and walked away from it. They
had moved from light to darkness in a single act. The death they
experienced was not immediate physical death. It was the death of
the inner man. By disobeying God, they had now qualified for his
“death row” and forfeited their right to eternal life. That’s why the
apostle Paul could later use the expression “dead in your
transgressions” to describe the pre-conversion state of the Ephesian
Christians. He wrote: “As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed
the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians
2:1-2).

Understanding the Role of Satan

Satan is a spirit, and he is at work among those who chose to live in

disobedience to God. It is sometimes said that the Adversary fulfills
three roles in the world: 1). He seduces or tempts mankind to sin; 2).
He then accuses the sinner before God; and, finally; 3). He destroys
those who fail to repent. We can certainly see his role as tempter in
the story of Eden. We can view his role as accuser in the Book of
Job; and Jesus himself called Satan a “murderer from the beginning”
(John 8:44).

Satan preys on our weaknesses, our desires, our hopes,

wishes and dreams. According to the Apostle Peter, Satan prowls the

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earth “like a roaring lion” looking for prey (I Peter 5:8). In nature,
lions prey on weakness: sick animals, the young, the old, animals
trapped in water holes, mud or brambles. Satan too looks for
weakness. In Judas Iscariot, he found it in the man’s desire for
money. Following the Lord’s last supper with his disciples, including
Judas, we read: “And supper being ended, the devil having now put
into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him” (John
13:2). All it took was thirty pieces of silver to put Judas over the
edge.

In Genesis 4, we find the story of the murder of Abel,

Adam’s son, by his brother Cain. In the original account, we read
nothing of the role of Satan. Yet, many centuries later, the apostle
John made it clear that Satan had been involved when he wrote: “In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that
loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of
that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him?
Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous” (I
John 3:10-12).

Murder is a devilish act. It is the devil who seduces men into

committing it. Satan first lied, then he murdered. Cain, the first
offspring of the first man, committed the first human murder. As
Jesus said, Satan is the father of murderers (John 8:44). Hatred of
mankind, or any particular class of mankind, is not of God, it is of
the devil. John also wrote: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
him” (I John 3:15). If one murders another, one forfeits his own right
to life (Genesis 9:6).

All of us, in one way or another, have been children of

darkness. We have all, wittingly or unwittingly, followed the way of

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the devil. As a result, we have incurred God’s wrath, represented by
the death penalty.

Paul made it clear that what we earn by sinning is the death

penalty (Romans 6:23).

Understanding Sin

The English word “sin” is perhaps an unfortunate “catchall” word to

use to translate the Hebrew and Greek words used in Scripture. It
doesn’t really convey the meaning of the original. In Biblical
Hebrew, more than thirty different words are translated “sin” in our
English versions. The three most common words are het’, pasha’,
and avon. These words mean essentially the same thing, though they
are not exact parallelisms. The word het’ comes from the root ht,
which occurs in the Bible 459 times. The original meaning of the
verb hata is “to miss” something, or “to fail.” (Cf. Genesis 31:39;
Leviticus 5:15-16; Numbers 14:40 and other passages.) A “sin” can
be a failure in relations, or failure to reach a standard, hit a target or
reach an ideal goal. For further detail, look up the word “sin” in the
Encyclopedia Judaica, from which the above comments were
derived.

As scholars Quell, Bertram, Sahlin and Grundmann suggest:

“…the Old Testament offers no neat doctrine of sin; qualifications
are always necessary, and all sorts of subsidiary questions are
involved in the general problem of sin…our word ‘sin’, represents
four different Hebrew roots, each with its own nuance, which it is
difficult for us to reproduce.”

The same authors later write: “There are a few places in the
Old Testament where the word literally means missing the mark, and
this must be the clue to its religious, legal and ethical significance”
(Sin, by Gottfried Quell, Georg Betram, Gustav Stahlin & Walter
Grundman, pp. 5 & 7).

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 In the New Testament, a Greek word commonly translated
sin is ‘amartia. It means “every departure from the way of
righteousness, both human and divine” (A Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament by Bauer, Arndt & Gingrich, p. 43). Strong’s
Concordance, which is not authoritative for establishing word
meanings, defines ‘amartia as “missing the mark.” This isn’t far off
the Old Testament meaning of “sin.”

The discussion of the nuances of the many words translated

“sin” in our versions could become encyclopedic. Our purpose here
is to establish a basic working definition of “sin” as we understand it
in English, and go from there. To sin is to fail to live up to the divine
standard; to miss the target of ideal behavior as defined by God; to
transgress God’s Torah (Instruction). John defines sin very simply
when he writes: “Sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4b).

Behind the Greek word nomos, usually translated “law” is the

Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “direction.”
Torah, in turn, is derived from the Hebrew verb yara, meaning to
“cast” or “throw.” If, for instance, you asked a person for directions:
“Tell me, which way is it to Jerusalem?” and a person responded by
pointing northward, “It’s that way,” he has given the other person
“directions” or “instruction” (Torah). To cast one’s hand in a
direction is yara. To throw a spear or shoot an arrow at a target is
yara. God has given his Torah -- that is his instructions or directions
-- to mankind from the beginning. When God told Adam not to eat of
the forbidden fruit, that was God’s Torah – His instruction. When
Adam disobeyed, his missed the mark, he failed; he sinned. Torah is
the noun form of yara. We have the written Torah and the Jewish
people have oral Torah (Mishnah & Talmud). To walk, or live,
within the boundaries of God’s Torah is to live in the light, to walk
in righteousness, to be in “The Way,” to move Godward. To step
outside of that light is to move away from God, into darkness, into
sin and into the realm of the Adversary. From the time of Adam to
the present, every human being except Christ himself has sinned

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(Genesis 6:11-13; Jeremiah 17:5-9; Job 4:17-21; Romans 7:14-25).
The writers of both Testaments recognized this painful reality: “God
looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there
were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them
is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that
doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:2-3).

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
(Romans 3:23).

“If we say that have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the

truth is not in us…If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a
liar, and the word is not in us” (I John 1:8,10).

Sin is universal. The realm of sin is “the world” (kosmos) –

the system over which ha Satan presides. As John also wrote: “He
that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8). What are the
“works of the devil”? In context, sin and its deleterious effects. We
are either children of God, or we are children of the devil. If we do
the works of the devil, we are his children. The work of the devil in
the world necessitated the coming of the Messiah, God’s Anointed
One. Jesus is the centerpiece of God’s redemptive plan. One of his
very first acts following his baptism was to defeat and disqualify
Satan as the ruler of this spiritually darkened world (Matthew 4:1-
11).

The Human Condition

The Gospel is good news in the face of all the bad news about human
nature, the human condition, man’s inhumanity to man, and Satan’s
role in the world. The present state of mankind is the result of
concrete cause & effect factors, most of which have to do with some
form of sin. Jesus Christ is The Answer to all of the world’s ills. He

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is God’s designated Savior or Deliverer. To him has been given by
the Father “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).
He has the power to forgive sin, and the power to judge those who
refuse to repent of it when invited to do so.

Jesus came to deliver the world of sickness, demonization,

and the effects of sin. Immediately after his triumph over the devil,
Jesus got to work. “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing
every disease and sickness among the people. News about him
spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill
with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, and demon-
possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed
them” (Matthew 4:23-24).

This was God’s work through Jesus his Anointed One. The
first, most basic, and most oft-repeated part of Jesus’ message was,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). Prior
to his death and resurrection, Jesus sent his own talmidim (disciples)
out on a trial run. They operated under his authority. A key
component in their Gospel is revealed in the statement: “They went
out and preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12).

One of the Hebrew words for “repentance” is teshuva. It

means “turning around.” It is from the root shuwb, meaning “turn.”
The prophet Ezekiel used it when he conveyed God’s message to the
elders of Israel: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn
from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!”
(Ezekiel 14:6). In adopting idolatry, they had turned away from the
Lord and stepped into the darkness. By repenting, they would turn
from idolatry, renounce it, and turn back to the Lord in humble
obedience to his Torah. This is repentance.

Another excellent passage in Ezekiel that makes clear the

meaning of repentance is found in Ezekiel 18:30-32: “Therefore, O

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house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways,
declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your
offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of the all
the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new
spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in
the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”

Paul wrote the Romans: “For the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
6:23).

Jesus’ whole purpose was to rescue us from the penalty of

our sins, and to give us life. He said, “…I have come that they may
have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b).

In Jesus’ day, as in our own, most people had unwittingly

chosen for themselves the way that leads to death – the way of sin.
Perhaps this is why Jesus taught: “Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Sin is the natural result of Satan “touching” us. He is a

corrupting influence in the world, as he was in Eden. In fact, the
word “serpent” (Genesis 3:1) is nachash. It can mean “poisoner” or
“corrupter.” Satan was the first to suggest that human appetite should
be a guide to human conduct (Genesis 3:5, 6, 22). One of the
Adversary’s roles in the scheme of things is to set up choices for us
so that we can exercise our free will. Of course he tilts us toward the
down side of things – to the way that leads to death. In the end,
however, the choice is always ours, not his.

The Two Impulses

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In Judaism, the religion of Jesus and the apostles, it was taught that
man is torn between two impulses – the yetzer hara, and the yetzer
ha tob. The former is “a force which drives to wickedness and as an
endowment of man which proves a formidable obstacle in the way to
a righteous life.” The latter is the impulse to do good. As Abraham
Cohen writes, “The belief that in every human being there are two
urges – one to evil and the other to goodness – figures prominently
in Rabbinic ethics” (Everyman’s Talmud, both quotes above from
page 88).

All it takes is a single act of sin – as in the case of Adam and

Eve – to qualify for the death penalty. Yet most of us don’t sin most
of the time. Some of us live a reasonably clean life spiritually
speaking, and others of us are utterly subverted to evil. Cohen
explains: “The character of a person is determined by which of the
two impulses is dominant within him. ‘The good impulse controls
the righteous; as it is said, “My heart is wounded within me” (Ps.
Cix.22). The evil impulse controls the wicked; as it is said,
“Transgression speaketh to the wicked, in the midst of the heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes’ (ibid. xxxvi.I). Both impulses
control average people’ (Ber.61b)” (ibid. p. 88).

To summarize, no one is perfect. Every one of us has sinned

in some way, at some time. We have all followed the pattern of our
father, Adam. But not everyone serves evil as a way of life. The
world has seen many unquestionably evil people: Adolph Hitler,
Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Usama Bin Ladin,
Richard Ramirez, to name a few. These men served evil as a way of
life. To them, human life had no value. They could take the life of a
human being as easily as they could take that of a fly. They were
without conscience. They had no fear of the God who commands:
“You shall not commit premeditated murder” (Exodus 20:13). They
were, or are, controlled by the evil impulse, and that in turn is
associated with Satan. It seems that each generation of mankind
finds itself fighting an evil that arises from the sick mind of some

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tyrant, religious fanatic, or homicidal maniac. In the last century, it
was Nazism, Fascism, and Communism. In this century, it is Islamic
terrorism. Should that be defeated, newer versions of communism
are again asserting themselves. Evil is forever waiting in the wings.

On the other hand, most people are not utterly evil. Some are
basically good people. Their behavior is either morally neutral, or
constructive and helpful to mankind. They leave the world a little
better than they found it. While they are here, they are blessing to all
with whom they come in contact. Yet, they are not perfect. They are
sinners in need of redemption.

Most people are a mixture of good and evil. The average

person does some good and some evil. We all have skeletons in our
closets of which we are ashamed and embarrassed. Devout
Christians and Jews repent of these sinful acts. They cease
committing them, renounce them, and return to God in deep
humility. Where possible, they make restitution.

The Process of Conversion

The word “conversion” simply means “change.” The NIV translates

Acts 3:19 as follows: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your
sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for
you – even Jesus.” Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, put it in a very
Jewish way when he said, “Repent and turn…” As we learned
earlier, when we perform teshuva, we do an about face and turn back
to God. The KJV renders “turn” as “be converted.”

This is what our Lord called upon all of us to do: repent and
change. When we “repent of dead works,” we simply stop doing
them. We halt in our tracks, turn around, and start marching
Godward. We move deeper into his will instead of farther from it.
Paul explained that through conversion we experience a spiritual

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renewal at the level of the inner man: “Therefore, I urge you,
brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of
worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2a).

Conversion involves a transformation of the whole person.

We cease performing “dead works” and begin to produce the “fruit
of the Spirit.” Another name for these dead works is “works of the
flesh.” Paul lists a representative number of such works in Galatians
5:19-21: “The acts of the sinful nature [Greek: sarkos = “flesh”] are
obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, those who live like this will not inherit the
kingdom of God.”

This list is by no means comprehensive, but it is

representative of the kind of things for which we are called to
repentance.

Once we have renounced such dead works, we then begin to

produce the fruit of the indwelling Spirit of God: “…the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self control” (Galatians 5:22).

Paul then summarizes the nature of the transformation that

occurs at conversion: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the sinful nature [flesh] with its passions and desires. Since
we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians
5:24-25).

An Ongoing Struggle

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Most of us do not successfully crucify the dark deeds of the flesh in
one fell swoop. Throughout our Christian walk we continue to
struggle against the evil impulse within. Sometimes we win,
sometimes we lose. This struggle with our dark side is described in
Romans 7. Paul, as a Torah-observant Jew, describes his own battle
to overcome the downside of his flesh. In the end, Paul realizes that
it is only in Christ that he will have ultimate victory over his fleshly
appetites. He writes, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25).

Jesus Christ, God’s Anointed One, the Lamb of God, and the
one on whom God has conveyed “all authority in heaven and on
earth,” is the “captain of our salvation” (Matthew 28:18; Hebrews
2:10). When all other efforts fail, he will see us through. One of the
most encouraging statements in the Bible was made by Paul in a
letter to the Philippian congregation: “I thank my God every time I
remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with
joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until
now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you
will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 1:3-6).

God is good, faithful and consistent. As he said through the

prophet Malachi: “I the Lord do not change…” (Malachi 3:6a). He
said to the sinful people of Israel: “Return to me and I will return to
you” (Malachi 3:7b). We too are called to “return” to the Lord – to
perform teshuva. No matter how far we have strayed from him, we
can always return if we are willing to give up our personal package
of “works of the flesh.”

If we let it, our flesh with its unbridled desires, will drag us
down, into death. This is not mere physical death, but a “second
death” (Revelation 21:8). It is the death of which Jesus spoke when
he said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and

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body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The word translated “hell” here is
Gehenna. It is the same place described in Revelation 21:8, just
cited.

God offers us life in Christ – eternal life. God is not anxious

to destroy the work of his hands. He is “not willing that any should
perish.” He has made a way for us to live. That way is Jesus Christ.
John wrote: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the
Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may
have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only (Greek: monogenes = “only begotten." The same term as
used in Hebrews 11:17), that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”
(John 3:14-17).

If we repent of performing the dead works of the past, God

offers us eternal life in the world to come. Jesus Christ is the key to
God’s redemptive plan for mankind. When we repent of our sinful
deeds, and turn to God, we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ
that lasts a lifetime. Satan will continue to probe for weaknesses,
seeking to exploit them. He can only be as successful as we allow
him to be. In Christ, we can defeat him every time. We are called to
life of victories, of regular overcoming. Jesus defeated the devil, and
we are called to defeat his efforts in our lives as well. John recorded
Jesus as saying: “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit
with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches” (Revelation 3:21-22).

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 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part II

FAITH TOWARD
GOD

n the King James Version of Hebrews 6:1, “faith toward God” is

I the second listed foundational principle of the Christian faith.

When we use the word “faith” in certain circles, it elicits some
negative imagery: “blind faith,” stubborn belief without
evidence, or circus tent “faith healers” who put on an Elmer
Gantry-like show, whipping up audience emotions to a state of
expectation. None of these things is really what is meant by “faith in
-- or toward -- God.”

To understand how Jesus and his apostles comprehended

faith, we must begin in the Old Testament. In later times, other
influences came into both Judaism and Christianity, changing the
meaning of faith into “belief.” David Blumenthal explains: “During
the Middle Ages, under the influence of Islam and Christianity,
Judaism came to understand ‘faith’ as a matter of belief. Quickly, the
sage-rabbis distinguished between faith based on reason and faith
based on authority…This, however, is not the deepest understanding
of faith” (The Place of Faith & Grace in Judaism, p. 19).

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 A deeper, and earlier, understanding of faith, according to
Blumenthal, is “bound up with the Hebrew word, emunah” (ibid.).
To grasp the implications of this word, we will examine the story of
Joshua’s battle against Amalek. The account is found in Exodus 17:
8 ff.

Moses and Emunah

“The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight
the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the
staff of God in my hands.

“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and

Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses
held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he
lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’
hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat
on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the
other -- so that his hands remained steady [emunah] till sunset. So
Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” (Exodus 17:8-
13 NIV).

Emunah, here translated “steady,” in this context means

“firmness.” That meaning establishes the tone for subsequent uses,
according to Blumenthal. In II Chronicles 20:20, we find this
concept described in a clear play on words: “Be faithful to God and
you will be firmly established.” The Hebrew is: ha’aminu ba-
Adonai…v’te’amnu. Note the reverberation of the word emunah in
this verse. When Moses displayed firmness in his obligation toward
God; God reciprocated by demonstrating his power on behalf of
Joshua and his soldiers.

Heschel’s Insight

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The late Abraham Joshua Heschel was a philosopher of Judaism
whose insights into faith and other issues have benefited many long
after his decease. He explains, eloquently, what faith is not, and what
it is, from a Jewish perspective. “To have no faith is callousness, to
have undiscerning faith is superstition. ‘The simple believeth every
word’ (Proverbs 14:15), frittering away his faith on things explorable
but not yet explored. By confounding ignorance with faith he is
inclined to regard as exalted whatever he fails to understand, as if
faith began where understanding ended; as if it were a supreme
virtue to be convinced without proofs, to be ready to believe” (Man
is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion by Abraham Joshua Heschel,
p. 159).

Heschel has here penetrated to one of the great errors of a

popular Christian conception of faith: plunging recklessly ahead on
the basis of ignorance. Faith is not ignorance, nor is it blind. Faith is
not superstitious naiveté. It is not the exaltation of the
incomprehensible or mere belief without evidence. So what then is
faith?

We can understand something of the meaning of faith by the

example of Abraham, the “Father of the Faithful.” In Hebrews 11:8
ff. we read: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he
would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though
he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in
the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country…By faith
Abraham, even though he was past age – and Sarah herself was
barren – was enabled to become a father because he considered him
faithful who had made the promise.”

The key to understanding Abraham’s faith does not lie in

what he did not know, but in what he did know. He knew that God
was faithful. God was the object of Abraham’s faith: “…he
considered him faithful who had made the promise” (v. 11).

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 It was Abraham’s recognition of God’s faithfulness that
enabled his own faithfulness to God, despite the physical evidence
that he and Sarah could not again become parents.

Heschel further defines faith as it was understood in Old

Testament times: “To have faith does not mean, however, to dwell in
the shadow of old ideas conceived by prophets and sages, to live off
an inherited estate of doctrines and dogmas. In the realm of the spirit
only he who is a pioneer is able to be an heir. The wages of spiritual
plagiarism is the loss of integrity; self-aggrandizement is self-
betrayal.

“Authentic faith is more than an echo of tradition. It is a

creative situation, an event. For God is not always silent, and man is
not always blind. In every man’s life there are moments when there
is a lifting of the veil at the horizon of the known, opening a sight of
the eternal. Each of us has caught a glimpse of the beauty, peace and
power that flow through the souls of those who are devoted to Him.
But such experiences are rare events. To some people they are like
shooting stars, passing and unremembered. In others they kindle a
light that is never quenched. The remembrance of that experience
and the loyalty to the response of that moment are the forces that
sustain our faith. In this sense, faith is faithfulness, loyalty to an
event, loyalty to our response” (Man is Not Alone, pp. 164-165).

The idea of faith as faithfulness is the deeper understanding

of emunah. It is the older and more authentic understanding of
“faith.” In Genesis 15: 6, we are told, “Abram believed the Lord, and
he credited it to him as righteousness” (NIV). The Jewish
Translation renders this verse as follows: “And because he put his
trust in the Lord, He reckoned it to his merit.” Blumenthal translates:
“And Abraham had faith in God.”

Abraham’s faith in God was a response to God’s faithfulness

to Abraham. Abraham was loyal to God; he trusted God to do

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whatever he said he’d do, despite any evidence to the contrary, or
any lack of evidence. All the evidence he needed was God’s own
faithfulness to his human creation. God’s character, in other words,
was Abraham’s evidence.

God is always the object of faith. Jesus said, simply, “Have

faith in God” (Mark 11:22). The writer of Hebrews said, “Now faith
is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
This is what the ancients were commended for” (Hebrews 11:1-2
NIV). Why can we be sure we’ll receive what we hope for? --
Because of God’s faithfulness to us. God is reliable, predictable and
trustworthy. He will do what he says he’ll do, no matter the evidence
to the contrary, or the apparent lack of evidence.

Faith a two-way street

Faith as faithfulness is a two-way street. God is described in the

Bible as “faithful.” God always keeps his part of any agreement:
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful
God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those
who love him and keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV).
Because God is faithful to us, we should be faithful to him. Faith is a
reciprocal phenomenon.

Blumenthal adds another important insight to this discussion

of faith toward God: “I should note that, for God, faith as
faithfulness also has the nuance of faithfulness despite the evidence.
God is faithful to the human race despite the evidence of its
sinfulness, and He is faithful to His people even though the evidence
of their waywardness is undeniable” (Faith and Grace in Judaism, p.
21).

In the same chapter where the faithfulness of Abraham is

discussed, we find this statement: “And without faith it is impossible
to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that

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he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”
(Hebrews 11:6). God rewards. God responds, because God is faithful
to those who seriously seek him. The word “earnestly” is from the
Greek ekzeteo meaning “to seek out” or “search for.” Because God is
invisible, he must be sought out. Those who have diligently sought
out God have often been rewarded with a divine response. The
phenomenon of conversion itself is a supernatural act performed by a
force that originates outside of oneself. Yet, it is also an act of
yielding one’s will to a higher will – that of God. A converted person
is a changed person; one who is actively involved with God in a
transformation of the whole person, beginning at the level of the
mind (Romans 12:1-2). As we undergo this personal transformation,
we find ourselves developing new capacities of self-control, love,
patience and other products of the indwelling Spirit of God (cf.
Galatians 5:22).

As we experience God in our lives, our faith in him grows.

This was also something the Jewish people learned long ago.
Abraham Heschel writes: “Memory is a source of faith. To have faith
is to remember. Jewish faith is a recollection of that which happened
to Israel in the past. The events in which the spirit of God became a
reality stand before our eyes painted in colors that never fade. Much
of what the Bible demands can be comprised in one word:
Remember. ‘Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart
from they heart all the days of thy life; make them known unto thy
children and thy children’s children’ (Deuteronomy 4:9) (Man is Not
Alone, p. 162).

When my children and grandchildren and I get together, we

often reiterate some of the incredible things God has done in our
lives over the years. We talk about the healings we have participated
in, witnessed or experienced. We tell of how God changed our lives,
converted us, prospered us, blessed us, answered prayers, saved our
bacon and protected us. The telling of these true stories builds and

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shores up our faith in God. We also talk about all of the wonderful
things God has done for his people Israel, and for the many great
characters of Biblical times. “So then faith comes by hearing…”
(Romans 10:17a).

As Heschel writes, “With sustaining vitality the past survives

in their thoughts, hearts, rituals. Recollection is a holy act: we
sanctify the present by remembering the past” (ibid. p. 163).

Once we have experienced the reality of God in our personal

lives, we no longer have need of academic “proofs” for his existence.
Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith

to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-
17).

The last statement in verse 17 is a quotation from the prophet

Habakkuk. In the KJV version of that verse, it reads, “…the just
shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). In Romans, the KJV leaves
out the word “his” – which should be included in the verse. This is
an important thought for Paul quotes this verse twice in his writings
(Romans 1:17 & Galatians 3:11). The writer of Hebrews also quotes
it (Hebrews 10:38).

Faith is what sustains us. It keeps us going in the face of

adversity. The Jewish translation of Habakkuk 2:4 more accurately
captures the idea of faith as faithfulness: “But the righteous man is
rewarded with life for his fidelity [emunah].” “Fidelity” is loyalty,
faithfulness, a willingness to stick with, and believe in, God no
matter what happens around us or to us. We know that God is there
for us, no matter the evidence to the contrary. He lives in our
memories of the times when he did intervene for us. We are

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propelled ahead by our memories and our experiences with God. For
people of faith, God is no mere intellectual abstraction but a living
reality whom they have experienced. Without this kind of faith, we
simply cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6).

The world we live in is a frightening place, full of threat and

danger. Evil in our time is growing and the darkness seems to be
inexorably advancing. The hand of the Enemy is everywhere present.
Christians today live with large targets on their backs. We are under
attack by militant Muslims, the political Left, Academia, the Press &
Media, Communists and neo-communists, socialists, neo-Nazis, and
even other Christians. Yet, as Paul wrote, “We live by faith, not by
sight” (II Corinthians 5:7). If we governed ourselves by what we see
around us, we would be filled with fear and apprehension. As
Christians, we have few friends in the world. We live in faith that
God is there for us, that He will see us through. We believe that God
is faithful to us because of His divine character – because of whom
and what He is. We are faithful to God because we know He is
faithful to us. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote when God’s people
were living under divine chastisement: “It is of the Lord’s mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They
are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations
3:22-23). The word translated “faithfulness” here is emunah =
firmness. The Jewish translation renders it “grace.” As in the case of
Moses and the Amalekites, the word literally means “firmness,
steadfastness, fidelity” (see Bauer, Arndt-Gingrich lexicon, p. 53 c).
“Faithfulness” – emunah -- is a divine attribute.

A person who is faithful to God will be rewarded by a

manifestation of God’s faithfulness to those who show fidelity to
Him. As we read in Proverbs: “A faithful man shall abound with
blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent”
(Proverbs 28:20). This is a similar thought to something Jesus taught.
If we show fidelity to God, trusting him for our “daily bread,” we
will be blessed: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his

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righteousness; and all these [material] things shall be added unto
you” (Matthew 6:33 and verses 25-34). To place emphasis on the
things of God – on the advance of His kingdom in the world – is to
show fidelity to the divine agenda. Those of us who show firmness
in looking out for divine interests will experience God’s ongoing
provision. This is faith as faithfulness.

Examples of Faithfulness

Hebrews 11 is traditionally called “the faith chapter,” and not

without good reason. It offers us some sixteen examples of
faithfulness toward God that paid off in major spiritual dividends.
Abraham’s example is paramount because he became known as the
“father of the faithful.” The apostle Paul also wrote glowingly of
Abraham’s faithfulness to God: “Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, ‘In
thee shall nations be blessed,’ So then they which be of faith are
blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:6-9).

If we will be faithful to God like Abraham was faithful, we

will also be blessed as Abraham was blessed. Abraham believed
whatever God said, simply because he knew that the God who said it
was faithful. He could be relied upon, trusted and believed in.

Moses, who also was faithful to God, wrote of God: “Know

therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9).

To have faith in God is to tie our lives in a bundle with His

life. Abraham and Sarah connected their lives to God at every level.
Sarah, like her husband, responded to God’s faithfulness with

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faithfulness of her own: “Through faith also Sara herself received
strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was
past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised”
(Hebrews 11:11). God was faithful, so Sarah had faith that whatever
He promised would happen, would happen. She knew God’s
character.

In all of the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, the common

denominator is the faithfulness of God. God did what he said he’d do
through the people who believed in Him. Moses was able to burn the
bridges of Egypt behind him because he tied his life up with God:
“By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews
11:22). Moses knew that God was there for him. Consequently, the
full wrath and power of the most powerful man on earth in those
days meant nothing to him. His spiritual eyes were fixed on the
invisible God who would see him and his people through all trials
and tests if they were faithful.

Faith in God is a powerful thing. It can transform the world.

The writer of Hebrews said that there were people – prophets – who
through faith, “…subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the
violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others
were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a
better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were
stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the
sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:)
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth” (Hebrews 11:33-38).

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 Because of their faith in God, all these received “…a good
report.” They were assured of a place in the world to come. Their
faith in God gave them the capacity to endure otherwise unbearable
suffering for His sake. They knew that on the other side of the pain,
God was waiting for them. Their hope, their future, their very
existences were tied up with their faithful Creator.

Their fear of man dissipated, and their reverence for and awe
of God increased (cf. Matthew 10:28; Acts 5:29; II Timothy 1:7 &
Hebrews 13:6).

These deeds of faith are not limited to Biblical times. Today,

the Church is experiencing many of the same kinds of things the
heroes of faith of Biblical days experienced. Because of their faith in
God, even newborn “baby” Christians have been willing to lay their
lives on the line for Christ. Some have died, some have seen
miracles, but the same God is doing the same things for those who
have faith in Him that he did in Biblical times.

Justification by Faith?

The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “Therefore being justified by

faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Romans 5:1). What does it mean to be “justified by faith”?

To fully grasp the implications of Paul’s theology on this

issue, we must first clear the decks of a major misunderstanding on
the part of us Christians. Prof. Marvin Wilson explains the nature of
this error: “There is a common belief in today’s Church that Judaism
– whether in Paul’s day or our own – teaches salvation by works of
the Law, whereas Christianity is a religion of grace. Such an
understanding of Judaism is in reality far more a caricature or
misrepresentation than the truth. Indeed, as one Christian scholar
explains, ‘to the extent that we propagate this view in our preaching

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and our teaching, we are guilty of bearing false witness’” (Our
Father Abraham, by Marvin Wilson, pp. 20-21).

The Christian scholar to whom Wilson refers is Carl D.

Evans writing in “The Church’s False Witness Against the Jews”
(Christian Century, May 5, 1982, p. 531).

Wilson also cites a well-known Jewish scholar, Pinchas

Lapide, who wrote, “The rabbinate has never considered the Torah
as a way of salvation to God…[we Jews] regard salvation as God’s
exclusive prerogative, so we Jews are the advocates of ‘pure grace.’”
(Wilson, p. 21).

Lapide wrote that all masters of the Talmud taught that

salvation can be attained “only through God’s gracious love.”

When the apostle Paul wrote to Titus that it was “Not by

works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us…” (Titus 3:5), he was not stating something new
but something that was as old as Judaism.

When Paul also wrote, “For by grace are ye saved through

faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: Not of works
lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9), he was stating what
had long been taught in Judaism.

When Paul wrote the Romans: “But he is a Jew, which is one

inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not
in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:29),
he was repeating something that Moses had written more than a
millennium earlier: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,
and be no more stiffnecked” (Deuteronomy 10:16).

Centuries later, Jeremiah echoed the same thought:

“Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of

29
your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem”
(Jeremiah 4:4).

Summing it up, Wilson writes, “It is important for today’s

Christian community to understand, however, that Judaism does not
teach that participation in the olam ha-ba, ‘the coming world,’ is
achieved by works, but through the gratuitous mercy of God”
(Wilson, p. 21).

Luther & Romans

Much of the confusion in the Church about the roles of law, faith,
works and grace can be laid at the feet of Martin Luther and his
commentary on Romans. Dan Gruber writes: “Martin Luther’s
Commentary on Romans is considered one of the most influential
books of all time. It formed a major part of the foundation on which
the Reformation was built…Concerning the scriptures in Romans
that speak of a continuing role for the Jewish people in God’s plan of
redemption for the world, Luther responds basically in two ways: He
says nothing at all, or he greatly distorts the text, sometimes
maintaining that it means the opposite of what it says” (The Church
and the Jews – The Biblical Relationship, by Dan Gruber, p. 282).

A fuller discussion of Luther’s commentary on Romans, and

its impact on Protestant theology, is found in Chapter 41 of Gruber’s
book. As I write, I have before me a copy of Luther’s commentary,
and I concur with Gruber’s remarks.

Writes Wilson, “The Protestant tradition, especially

Lutheranism, has tended to see the leitmotif for Paul’s understanding
of the gospel in the emphasis on justification by faith as opposed to
works of the Law. Though this theme is certainly important to Paul,
we are in essential agreement with Davies, who finds the locus of
Paul elsewhere, namely, his ‘subordination of the Law to Christ as in
Himself a New Torah – new not in the sense that He contravened the

30
old but that He revealed its true character, or put it in a new light’”
(Wilson, pp. 28-29).

Jesus and Paul were not antinomian – that is, they were not
against the Torah. At the same time, they did not espouse the notion
that no works were necessary because we are “saved by grace
through faith…” Christians are called to perform “good works” – not
to earn salvation by doing them, but because that is the way God’s
people are called to live. In fact, right after explaining that
justification is not achieved by works, Paul writes, “For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Christians should perform good works just as Jesus

performed good works. In fact, we should perform the same works
that he performed. Yet there is no work we can perform that can save
us. We must have faith in the fact that only God, in his grace, and out
of his mercy, can justify us, save us and grant us eternal life.

Faith in the New Testament

In the three instances in the New Testament where Paul and the
writer of Hebrews quote Habakkuk 2:4 – “the just shall live by his
faith [emunah = faithfulness]” – the word “his” is omitted, and the
Greek word used is pisteoos. It is from pistis which basically means
“faith, trust.” It is used in various ways in the New Testament;
therefore meaning must be determined by context and usage.

In Romans 3:3, it is used of the faithfulness or reliability of

God: “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make
the faith [faithfulness] of God without effect?” Paul is here speaking
of the unbelieving Israelites of the Exodus who were skeptical about
God’s ability, or willingness, to deliver them through all of the trials
of the Exodus. God did not waver; he was firm in his commitment to

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them and he faithfully carried out what he said he would do for them,
despite their doubt.

The word pistis can also mean “trust, confidence or faith.” It

is the word used in the famous verse quoted earlier: And Jesus
answering saith unto them, Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). Jesus
is teaching us to place our trust and confidence in God, but it can
also have the meaning of being faithful to God – that is, loyal and
steadfast, for that meaning is part of the baggage carried by the word.
We are called to be firmly confident in God. If we stick with him,
God will come through for us.

So our basic working definition of “faith” is faithfulness

toward God. This is the older, Hebraic understanding. This meaning
is confirmed for the Greek word pistis in the Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich
Greek-English Lexicon (BAG), p. 662: “1. that which causes trust
and faith – a. faithfulness, reliability.” It is used of the faithfulness of
God, as we saw above (Romans 3:3). In Titus 2:10, in reference to
slaves, the word is translated “fully trusted” (NIV) or “fidelity”
(ENT). Moffat reads, “faithful.” The Amplified version says, “truly
loyal and entirely reliable.” “Faithfulness” (pistis) is listed as one of
the fruits or products of the indwelling Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

God wants his children to be loyal to him, to stick with him

like glue, to express absolute fidelity, reliability, trustworthiness,
firmness, faithfulness and unflinching adherence to him, for he
demonstrates all of these things to his children. If we are faithful to
God, then God’s faithfulness to us will be richly manifested.

Unwavering Faithfulness

God does not seek in his children a wishy-washy kind of

faithfulness. As Moses’ assistants firmly held up Moses’ hands
during the battle with Amalek, we too must maintain a firm
faithfulness to God. Jesus’ half-brother, James, speaks of this kind of

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unwavering firmness in his letter: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he
should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe, and
not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown
and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive
anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all
he does” (James 1:5-8).

When he wrote this, James may have had one of David’s

Psalms in mind in which he writes, “Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may
fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). God seeks in us an “undivided
heart” – that is, absolute loyalty that is not split by loyalty to anyone
or anything else. In ancient Israel, for example, there were times
when the people worshiped Yahweh while at the same time serving
pagan idols. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God addressed this split
loyalty: “They will return to it [the land of Israel] and remove all its
vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart
and put a new spirit into them…” (Ezekiel 11:18).

God seeks in his children undivided loyalty and faithfulness.

Our hearts and minds must be single, not split. God is not willing to
share his rightful glory with others; either we are wholly committed
to God, or we are not.

To doubt God is to waver in faith. To worship God and idols

is to divide faith. God wants from us faith that is unwavering and
undivided. Consider I Kings 18 in this regard. In Elijah’s day, some
of the people worshiped Baal, while at the same time claiming to
worship Yahweh. Elijah confronted them on their double-
mindedness: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the
Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him” (I Kings
18:21). Study the whole chapter to understand the context and
circumstances of Elijah’s question. Throughout Israel’s history, the
problem of double-mindedness was acute. Their worship of Yahweh

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was often split. They were not utterly faithful to him. They tried to
have it both ways: “Even while these people were worshiping the
Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and
grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did” (II Kings 17:41).

God seeks our undivided attention. He wants us to worship

him and him alone. He desires a firm, unwavering, constant devotion
to him that he might fully bless us. He desires emunah: faithfulness,
fidelity, firmness, loyalty and unswerving devotion. Wherever the
New Testament writers quote the Old Testament (TaNaKh), and the
OT uses the word emunah that is what is meant by it.

Other Meanings of Pistis

The Greek word pistis is used in two other fundamental ways in the
New Testament. It can mean “trust, confidence, faith” (BAG, p. 662,
meaning No. 2). It is the word used in Mark 11:22, referenced
earlier, showing that God is the only legitimate object of faith:
“Have faith in God…”

Speaking of Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter writes: “Through

him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified
him, and so your faith [pistis] and hope are in God” (I Peter 1:21).
Here the word means “trust and confidence.” It is in this sense that
Paul seems to use the word in Romans:

“But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all
who believe…faith in his blood…faith in Jesus…justified by faith”
(Romans 3:21-28, excerpts).

To be “justified” means to be declared innocent. If we rely on

our own ability to rigorously obey those parts of Torah (God’s
instruction or direction) that apply to us as a means of becoming

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justified, we’re doomed. Later law-keeping cannot erase the penalty
for earlier law-breaking. All of us have sinned, no exceptions:
Romans 3:23; I John 1:8 &10; Proverbs 20:9 etc. The wages of those
sins is eternal death: Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8. Before Christ
came into our lives, we “were dead in…transgressions and sins”
(Ephesians 2:1).

Now, in the wake of sin and death, we can no longer rely

upon our own efforts to save ourselves. As Paul writes: “Therefore
no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the
law…” (Romans 3:20). To be justified – that is “declared righteous”
– we must rely not upon ourselves but upon Jesus Christ. Our trust,
our confidence, and our faith must reside in what God, in Christ, has
done for us by way of redemption. The righteous status that we now
enjoy came not through our own efforts, but, “This righteousness
from God comes through faith in [trust or confidence in] Jesus
Christ…” (Romans 3:22). “Righteousness” is a covenantal term.
God’s righteousness is based upon his faithfulness to the covenants
he makes with man.

Of course the redemptive work of God in Christ in which we

now have confidence does not relieve us of our obligation to keep
those aspects of Torah that legitimately apply to us. As Paul writes,
“Do we, then, nullify the law (Torah) by this faith? Not at all! Rather
we uphold the law (Torah)” (Romans 3:31).

[Note: The Hebrew word Torah which means “instruction,”

or “direction” from God, is usually translated with the Greek word
nomos in the New Testament. Nomos is not an exact equivalent, but
when we know the Hebrew word behind the Greek word, we gain a
better idea of the intent.]

A Third Basic Meaning

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The third basic meaning of pistis is “That which is believed, body of
faith or belief, doctrine” (BAG, p. 664a). It is used this way by Paul
in Romans 1:23: “They only heard the report: ‘The man who
formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to
destroy.” Paul was speaking here of himself. He uses “the faith” as
the body of beliefs and practices of the early Jewish Church, which
he once opposed. Jude seems to use “the faith” in the same way in
Jude 3. We speak today of “the Christian faith” as opposed to say,
“The Jewish faith.”

Summing Up

This article does not say everything that could be said about faith;
but it does provide the basics. Faith (emunah in Hebrew, pistis in
Greek) is faithfulness, firmness, fidelity to God. It is trusting God for
that for which we cannot trust ourselves (i.e. justification). It is
loyalty to God under any and all circumstances. It is placing
confidence in God because he is faithful to us. It is God’s
unwavering faithfulness to his children that makes our faith in him
both possible and wholly valid. Faith is that which carries us forward
in obedience to God. It enables us to trust God in otherwise
threatening circumstances.

It is the possession of faith that made the difference between

the great men and woman of God, and ordinary people (Hebrews
11). As the writer of Hebrews puts it: “And what more shall I say? I
do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered
kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promise; who
shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and
escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to
strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign
armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others
were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a
better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others

36
were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed
in two; they were put to death with the sword. They went about in
sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the
world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and
mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them
received what had been promised. God had planned something
better for us so that only together with us would they be made
perfect” (Hebrews 11:32-40).

It is little wonder then that the same author writes: “Without

faith it is impossible to please God…” (Hebrews 11:6).

37
 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part III

THE DOCTRINE OF
BAPTISMS

he King James translation of Hebrews 6:2 describes the “the

T doctrine of baptisms” as one of the “elementary teachings

about Christ” (Hebrews 6:1). The word “doctrine” is here
translated from the Greek didache, meaning simply
“instruction” or “what is taught” (BAG*). Note another
point: the word “baptisms” is plural.

In order to understand what was taught among the original

believing community about baptisms, we must first consider the
origins of baptism. The ritual was not new to the Christian church.
Its origins stretch deep into history.

The Origins of Baptism

The rite of baptism was not invented by Christians. Its beginnings

are of much greater antiquity. Ritual immersion was well known
from early times in Judaism. Our English word “baptize” comes
from the Greek baptizo (pronounced “bap-tid-zo”) which means to
“dip” or to “immerse” (BAG*). In non-Christian usage, it was

38
commonly understood to mean “plunge, sink, drench or overwhelm”
(ibid. BAG). Of all these words, the most appropriate is “immerse.”

In Biblical times, baptism was a rite in both Judaism and

early Christianity, but it was not designated a “sacrament” until post-
New Testament times.

[Note: “The word “sacrament” is not found in the Bible. It is

derived from the Latin word sacramentum, which originally denoted
a sum of money deposited by two parties in a lawsuit. After the
decision of the court, the winner’s money was returned, while that of
the loser was forfeited as a sort of offering to the gods. The transition
to the Christian use of the term is probably to be sought (1) in its
military use to denote the oath by which a soldier solemnly pledges
obedience to his commander; and (2) in the Vulgate’s use of it to
translate the Greek word for mystery. The sacraments were regarded
as both pledges of obedience and mysteries” -- Manual of Christian
Doctrine by Louis Berkhof, pp. 310-311].

Ablutions in Israel

The real origin of the Christian rite of baptism is to be found in the

ritual purification rites of ancient Israel. Washings and ablutions
were very much a part of Israel’s relationship with God. It is in the
Oral Law of the Jews (Mishnah, Sotah, ix. 15) that we find the basis
for the well-known proverb, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

When God commanded the people of Israel to appear before

him at Sinai, he said to Moses: “Go to the people and consecrate
them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be
ready by the third day…” (Exodus 19:10). God did not want his
people appearing before him caked in sweat and dust from the desert
floor. When we approach the holiness of God, we must be clean
inside and out.

39
 As Israelite practice became formalized, it took on three
forms: 1) The washing of hands, 2) The washing of hands and feet
and 3) Immersion of the whole body in water. Technically, the ritual
washing of hands is not specifically commanded in the Bible. It was
based on deductive thinking drawing from passages of Scripture like
Psalm 26:6. Once it was established, an elaborate set of support
rituals grew up around hand-washing. Those who wish to research
hand washing ritual further may consult the rabbinical code Shulhan
‘Aruk, Orah Hayyim, pp. 117-165.

Hand and foot washing were only required for priests. The
rule is found in Exodus 30:19 & 40:30. This practice was continued
until the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.

Ritual immersion of the whole body is found frequently in

the Old Testament (The TaNaKh). We read the following in the
Jewish Encyclopedia: “The washing of the whole body is the form of
Ablution most frequently ordained in Scripture, and for the greatest
number of causes. According to rabbinical interpretation, this is only
valid when performed by immersion, either in a natural fountain or
stream or in a properly constructed mikweh, or ritual bath,
containing at least forty seahs (about one hundred and twenty
gallons) of water” (Jewish Encyclopedia.com, article “Ablution”).

Examples of whole body immersion requirements are found

in the following passages: Leviticus 22:4-6; Leviticus 14:8-9;
Leviticus 15:5-11; Leviticus 16:23-28; Leviticus 15: 16-25 and other
verses.

The same source tells us that, “A Gentile wishing to become

a proselyte must also immerse his whole body. This ceremony is, no
doubt, historically allied to Baptism, which is thought by modern
authorities to have originated among the Essenes, who were very
scrupulous respecting ablutions and in the observance of the rules of
purity…” (ibid.).

40
 A gentile who became a Jew was, during the second Temple
period, required to perform three things upon conversion: 1) Ritual
immersion, 2). Circumcision (males only), and 3). Offer a sacrifice.
These rites became an issue for the early Church which found a need
to set forth a ruling on it; more on that later.

The Mikveh

The Mikveh – ritual immersion bath – was invented to accommodate

the requirements of ceremonial immersion. As we have seen, it was
designed to contain at least 120 gallons of very pure water. The word
mikveh means “a gathering of waters.” It has its source in the
account of the third day of creation where God calls “the gathered
waters [mikveh] seas…” (Genesis 1:10). Because of this reference to
the oceans, the ocean itself is considered a legitimate mikveh.

The Essenes practiced daily immersion.

Ritual immersion baths – mikva’ot – were found in some

Jewish homes, and in synagogues of the second Temple period.
Many very large mikva’ot have been found at the Temple site itself.
Herod’s temple contained a large number of such baths constructed
primarily for priestly use. In fact, 48 mikva’ot have been found near
the monumental staircase that leads into the larger Temple complex.

For Jews, there were multiple occasions for which ritual

immersion was called. Converting proselytes (as we saw earlier) had
to be immersed. Menstruous women were required to undergo
immersion following their period. Various bodily emissions required
it. Even pots and pans manufactured by non-Jews had to be
immersed before usage. Jews were also immersed just prior to the
observance of Yom Kippur (Atonement) as a sign of repentance and
purity.

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 In the construction of synagogues, the building of the mikveh
was more important than the synagogue itself. Attention had to be
paid to exacting requirements. Mikva’ot had staircases leading down
into the water with a divider to separate those going down from those
coming up. As we have already learned, 120 gallons of water were
needed to ensure complete submergence. (If you wish to study
Jewish ritual immersion in greater detail, please consult the tractate
Mikwaoth in the Mishnah (Oral Law of the Jews).

Mikveh Requirements

The water in a mikveh could not be mixed with any other kind of
liquid. It had to be “living” water, not manually drawn water. Natural
springs, rivers or oceans were all considered legitimate mikva’ot.
The water channeled to the ritual immersion bath must not be passed
through anything unclean. It could not be taken from a vessel or
receptacle in which it had been standing. Typically, the water used in
a mikveh was taken from a river or a spring. In some cases, rain
water was channeled directly into the ritual immersion bath.

Those being immersed often went down into the water naked,
but never in the presence of the opposite gender. Prof. Marvin
Wilson describes the process for proselytes: In proselyte baptism,
“The candidate, fully naked, immersed himself in the waters,
symbolically cleansing himself from the antecedent defilement. His
past behind him, he emerged to take his stand with the people of
Israel.” (Our Father Abraham, p. 22.) Self-immersion was the most
common form, though officiating priests or priestesses were allowed
to touch the baptized person to ensure that all went under, or to
stabilize the person. The candidate walked down into the water and
squatted down with arms stretched straight out before him or her.
Total immersion was then accomplished.

An interesting observation about ritual immersion is found in

the Jewish Encyclopedia: “The baptismal water (Mikveh) in rabbinic

42
literature was referred to as the womb of the world, and as a convert
came out of the water it was considered a new birth separating him
from the pagan world. As the convert came out of these waters his
status was changed and he was referred to as ‘a little child just born’
or ‘a child of one day (Yeb. 22a; 48b; 97b). We see the New
Testament using similar Jewish terms as ‘born anew,’ ‘new
creation,’ and ‘born from above’…”

These terms were not new with Jesus. They were common in
nd
2 Temple Judaism and reflected Jewish ritual immersion practice.

The Significance of Jesus’ Baptism

We have seen that the rite of Christian baptism had its roots in long-
standing Jewish practice. Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan
River by John the Baptist. All three synoptic Gospels (Matthew,
Mark & Luke) include an account of the event. As we have already
seen, a free-flowing river like the Jordan met the requirements for a
mikveh.

Each account of Jesus’ baptism includes a detail not

contained by the other two. Luke’s account (the translation) uses the
passive voice: “Jesus was baptized…” (Luke 3:21); it says nothing
about John the Baptist in this context. We also learn from Luke that
Jesus was praying during his baptism (same verse). The next verse
tells us that the Holy Spirit took on the “bodily form” of a dove as it
came down upon Jesus (verse 22). The arrival of the Holy Spirit was
followed by the voice of God from heaven saying, “You are My
beloved Son, in You I am well pleased” (verse 22b).

Mark’s account adds the detail that it was John who baptized
Jesus (Mark 1:9).

Matthew’s report tells that Jesus experienced baptism “to

fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15b). What does this mean? We

43
know that Jesus was not a sinner and that John baptized for
repentance (verse 11). What need of baptism did Jesus have? There
was nothing in his life of which he needed to repent (Hebrews 4:15).

What does it mean to “fulfill all righteousness”? Dr. Brad

Young, a noted Hebrew roots scholar, comments: “He [Jesus]
explains that he must fulfill all righteousness. In his identity with the
total human need, he submitted to baptism in order to affirm the
process of redemption which was in action as a result of John’s
prophetic career. Luke’s portrayal drives home the message. Jesus is
with all the people, thus demonstrating his total identification with
all humanity.” (Jesus the Jewish Theologian, p. 17)

What is important about the descent of the Holy Spirit upon

Jesus is not so much the symbolism itself, but the fact of Jesus’
empowerment to carry out his Messianic role in the divine plan.
Again, Dr. Young explains: “Perhaps this is the point at the baptism
of Jesus. The phenomenon of the Spirit’s descent is of greater import
than supposed symbolism. It is so tangible and real in the dimension
of human experience that a dove descends upon him. The Spirit
empowerment for service is of prime significance at the baptism of
Jesus. Although sometimes the dove is thought to symbolize the
Holy Spirit or the people of Israel, it actually opens a vista into the
supernatural realm…God has empowered Jesus for service” (ibid. p.
20).

According to Dr. Young, the heavenly voice is alluding to

two important Messianic passages in the TaNaKh (Old Testament):
Psalm 2:7 & Isaiah 42:1. The NIV translation of the former passage
reads as follows: “He said to me, ‘You are my Son, today I have
become your Father.” Dr. Young suggests that a better rendering of
that verse would read: “I have brought thee forth.” God is presenting
and empowering His Anointed One before the world. This is clearer
in the NIV rendering of Isaiah 42:1: “Here is my servant, whom I
uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him

44
and he will bring justice to the nations.” The word “chosen” in
Hebrew is bachiri – synonymous with “beloved.”

John’s Prophecy

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. He knew who Jesus was
and he understood his mission – at least in part. Matthew’s account
sheds light on what John knew: “In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1-2). When he said “at
hand,” he meant just that. The Kingdom of God (Heaven) was not
merely some promise to be fulfilled millennia down the line – with
Jesus it would become a present reality. The Greek word here is in
the perfect meaning: “it has drawn near but it has not necessarily
arrived” (Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament by Reinecker.
P. 6).

The Kingdom of God was imminent because Jesus was about

to commence his ministry. He had spent 30 years of his life
preparing for it. Now it was time. God in Christ was now setting in
motion the centerpiece of his redemptive plan.

John then quoted a Messianic passage from the book of

Isaiah: “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias,
saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3 KJV; Isaiah
40:3). This is an unfortunate translation. It obscures the meaning of
Isaiah’s original statement. In the KJV of Isaiah, we read the
following: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.” The word “Lord” here is YHVH and “our God” is Elohim. The
“Lord” whose way John is preparing is YHVH, and he is to come
through or from the desert.

45
 The Jewish translation makes it even clearer: “A voice rings
out: Clear in the desert a road for the Lord! Level in the wilderness
a highway for our God!”

In the KJV, not only is the Tetragrammaton (4-letter name of

God) obscured, but the punctuation is wrongly placed. The latter part
of the statement also refers to “our God” – the word there is Elohim.

It is no wonder then that John spoke of the imminent arrival

of the Kingdom of God – the King himself was now on the scene!

John then warned that repentance was in order and that

human “trees” that failed to bear good fruit would be cut down and
burnt up (Matthew 3:10). John spoke of his own mode of immersion;
then he spoke of two other baptisms that he would not perform. They
would be carried out by the Anointed One: “I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand and he
will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the
garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”
(Matthew 3:11-12 KJV).

John was saying that the one who was now in their midst was
able to immerse his people in the Holy Spirit – that is, the Spirit of
God. The Spirit of God is the empowering aspect of the Deity. When
Jesus was baptized, he received more of that Spirit to enable him to
carry out his divinely appointed tasks (Matthew 3:16). His people,
who would come to represent the Kingdom, would also need
empowerment. Jesus told his followers: “But you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8a).

Jesus’ experience with divine empowerment set a precedent

for every true Christian. Ideally, we should first repent, as John
taught, then be immersed, and finally become empowered with the

46
Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost that was the “birthday” of the
Church, the apostle Peter said to the “men of Israel” (Acts 2:22):
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

The Rite of Christian Baptism

In the centuries since that first day of Pentecost for the Church, many
changes have been made to what was once a simple rite practiced
within Judaism. (It must be remembered that the first manifestation
of the “Church” took place entirely within Judaism. There, it was
known as “the sect of the Nazarene” (cf. Acts 24:5). It was a
movement centered on Jesus and it was part and parcel with the
Jewish world.)

Scholars of the Jerusalem School believe the events of that

Pentecost day took place within the Temple itself (Luke 24:53) – that
is the “house” spoken of in Acts 2:2. It is significant that the birth of
the Church occurred on the same day Jewish tradition teaches the
Torah was given on Mt. Sinai. A sound “like a rushing mighty wind”
filled the Temple. Some have suggested that it may have been the
sound of a shofar – the ram’s horn used in many Jewish ceremonies;
however, there is no way to prove this.

Immediately following this sound, “Then there appeared to

them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:3-4).

The Spirit descending upon Jesus had manifested a dove-like

appearance. For the disciples, it was “cloven tongues of fire.” The
Holy Spirit then empowered those gathered in the Temple to speak
in languages they had not learned: “And they were all filled with the

47
Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

The people who were gathered were all Jews. Many had
come in from various parts of the Diaspora. A wide variety of
regional languages was represented. Remarkably, the assembled
Jews heard people from other parts of the world speaking in their
languages (Acts 2:5-6). Perhaps the significance of this is to show
that the Spirit would give them the wherewithal to carry out the
commission they’d been given: “And He opened their
understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He
said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).

Jesus said that it is “necessary” that his redemptive story be

told in all nations. It was to start at Jerusalem, and that’s exactly
where it did start. God showed that the Holy Spirit could provide the
first apostles with anything they needed to get the job done –
including the gift of foreign languages if necessary. (I did hear of
one man in our time to whom was given the ability to speak
Portuguese by the Holy Spirit in order to go to the people of Brazil.
He had never been exposed to that language in his life. It is rare to
see this happen in our day.)

Baptism into the Body

The Church is not primarily an institution or an organization. It is the

Body of Christ – that is, it his instrumentation in the world. The
apostle Paul explained this to the Corinthians when he wrote: “The
body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its
parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we are
all baptized [immersed] by one Spirit into one body –whether Jews

48
or Greeks, slave or free –and we were all given the one Spirit to
drink” (I Corinthians 12:12-13).

The Church has organizations, but it isn’t an organization.

The organizations that it has are tools, not ends in themselves. The
Body of Christ is the spiritual entity into which we are all immersed
by the action of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we “drink of” the
Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13b).

It is the Holy Spirit, not organizational affiliation, or belief

systems, that makes one a part of the “Church.”

Water Baptism

Christian water baptism has its origins in Jewish ritual immersion. It

is done once, at conversion (Acts 2:38), not thrice daily or weekly.
To be baptized means to be immersed in water, not merely sprinkled
with it. The significance of full immersion is explained in Paul’s
letter to the Romans: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on
sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin;
how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us
who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We
were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:1-4).

Christian baptism represents a burial of the old sinful self –

the person you used to be. When we rise from the baptismal waters,
we are born anew. We begin a new life in Christ. In the past, we
were dead in our sins, but now we are alive again because of what
Christ did in our lives. When we come up out of the baptismal
waters, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to “walk in newness of
life.”

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 In baptism then, we have died to sin, and have been
resurrected to a new, moral life.

In Galatians 3:26-29, Paul connects baptism with faith and

sonship. He writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ
Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor
free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according
to the promise.”

As baptized Christians, our union with Christ overcomes all

human divisions including race, class and gender. Each of us is a
new person in Christ. Spiritually, we are all on a par as children of
God. We are equally eligible to co-inherit the promises made to
Abraham and his progeny.

Paul expanded on his understanding of the meaning of

baptism in his letter to the Colossians, “For in Christ all the fullness
of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in
Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you
are also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature [“body of
the sins of the flesh” – Greek], not with a circumcision done by the
hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been
buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in
the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:9-
12).

Paul then adds one more clarification, “When you were dead
in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature [Greek:
“of your flesh”], God made you alive with Christ” (verse 13).

Summing Up

50
“Baptism” means “immersion” in most cases. A possible exception
would be Luke 11:38 where the term is used of hand-washing, yet,
even that passage could refer to the immersion of the hands in water
to cleanse them.

Christian baptism retained the sense of ritual purification

found in Jewish practice (I Peter 3:21). It also depicts our adoption
as God’s children. When we receive the Holy Spirit at baptism, we
gain the right to call God “Abba” or “Father” (Galatians 4:6;
Romans 8:15-17).

In Judaism, circumcision for males symbolized entry into the

fold. For Christians, baptism has the same effect – it is the formal
entrance rite into the covenantal community (Colossians 2:11-12). In
baptism, we Christians symbolically die to our sins and close the
door on our past lives. We are buried in baptism with Christ, and we
rise from that watery “grave” in purity to share the new life brought
about by Jesus’ resurrection (Romans 6:1-4). Baptism is, in effect, a
new birth (John 3:4-5) to a new life in Christ.

51
 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part IV

LAYING ON OF
HANDS

he practice of laying on of hands has an antiquitous history.

T In Moses’ day, Israel offered animal sacrifices to God in the

tabernacle. God himself instructed Moses in the correct
procedures. He said, “Bring the bull to the front of the Tent
of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on
its head. Slaughter it in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the
Tent of Meeting...” (Exodus 29:10-11 NIV).

Laying hands on the sacrificial animal’s head symbolically

transferred the deeds and their effects of the one offering the
sacrifice to the animal. The animal’s death represented the death of
the individual. The priest would lean his hands on the animal’s head,
between the horns. Similar instructions were given for sacrificing
rams (verse 15).

In Leviticus 3:2, 8 & 12, we find similar instructions

concerning the sacrifice of goats. The sacrifice of animals was for
the atonement of sins: “After the Levites lay their hands on the heads
of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other
for a burnt offering to make atonement for the Levites” (Numbers
52
8:12). Study also Leviticus 16:20-22 to see how the sins of the sins
of the Israelites were transferred to the goat to be carried into the
wilderness.

Transfer of Authority

Not only were hands laid on the heads of sacrificial animals in

ancient times, the ceremony was also used to transfer authority from
one person, or group, to another: So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take
Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hands
on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire
assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of
your authority…” (Numbers 27:18-20).

When God separated the Levites for special service to Him,

He invoked the authority of the whole congregation: “Bring the
Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and assemble to whole
Israelite company. You are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and
the Israelites are to lay their hands on them” (Numbers 8:9-10). The
Levites were to represent the people, so the people formally
consented to their commissioning. Laying on of hands is also for
commissioning: “Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took
Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole
assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as
the Lord instructed through Moses” (Numbers 27:22 – 23).

When Moses laid his hands on Joshua, it had a concrete

result: “Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom
because Moses had laid his hands on him” (Deuteronomy 34:9).

Transfer of Power

The laying on of hands also represented a transfer of power – in

some cases, for healing: “My little daughter is dying,” said a
distressed father to Jesus, “Please come and put your hands on her

53
so that she will be healed and live” (Mark 5:23). While Jesus was en
route to lay hands on the little girl, a woman touched the hem of his
garment – probably the tassel of his prayer shawl – and immediately
“power” went out from him to heal the woman who was afflicted
with “an issue of blood” (Mark 5:27-30). Spiritual power can be
transferred by touch.

After Saul’s conversion, at which time he was blinded by

God (Acts 9:8), God sent a man named Ananias to lay hands on him:
“The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and
ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision
he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him
to restore his sight” (Acts 9:11-12).

Ananias obeyed the Lord, went to the house, entered it, and
found Saul. “Placing his hands on Saul, he said, ‘Brother Saul, the
Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming
here – has sent me to that you may see again and be filled with the
Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17). Once Ananias had laid hands on Saul, his
sight was restored. Immediately he was baptized (verses 18-19).

As most readers know, Saul’s name was changed to Paul and

he became one of the Lord’s most effective apostles. Paul preached
the Gospel to non-Jews all over the Roman Empire. His converts to
the faith were many. Ministers with various talents and abilities were
commissioned for service (Ephesians 4:11-13). Apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers were empowered to serve the Body
the Lord was raising up to experience salvation and to preach the
Gospel. They were commissioned by the elders. Writing to Timothy,
one of the elders, Paul said, “Do not neglect your gift, which was
given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid
their hands on you” (I Timothy 4:14).

Even today, in some churches, personal prophecies

sometimes accompany the commissioning, ordination and sending

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out of ministers for service. This practice is by no means universal
throughout the Church, but it does happen in some circles.

Receipt of Holy Spirit

Perhaps the most important function of the laying on of hands is for

the receipt of the Holy Spirit which is the empowering aspect of
Deity (Acts 1:8). Note Acts 8:12 in this regard: “Then Peter and
John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
A man named Simon Magus was able to observe the visible
transformation of those who received the Holy Spirit through the
laying on of hands, and he sought to buy the ability to do it himself:
“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of hands,
he offered them [Peter & John] money and said, ‘Give me also this
ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the
Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:18). Peter’s response was quick and to the
point: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you
could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in
this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of
this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for
having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of
bitterness and captive to sin” (Acts 8:20-23).

One can only impart to another what one first has oneself.

Paul at Ephesus

The apostle Paul happened to be passing through the town of

Ephesus. When he arrived there, he came across some disciples of
the Lord. In the course of his conversation with them, he asked them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:1).
Remarkably they replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is
a Holy Spirit” (verse 2).

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 Paul then asked about the nature of their baptism. They
responded that they had experienced “the baptism of John” – that is,
the Baptist (verse 3). Paul explained that “John’s baptism was a
baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one
coming after him, that is, Jesus” (verse 4).

Paul immediately knew that he needed to lay hands upon

them: “When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came
on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were
about twelve men in all” (verses 5-7). The results were obvious and
visible. It was clear that what the twelve experienced was of a
supernatural nature.

The impartation of the Holy Spirit comes, not by water

baptism, but through the laying on of hands of one who already
possesses the Spirit. Sometimes there is a clear manifestation of new
spiritual power, at other times it is not visible until later.

Summary

We see then the laying on of hands symbolizes or represents the

transference of something from one person to another person or from
a person to a sacrificial animal. It plays a role in empowerment,
atonement, ordination and commissioning, or in the impartation of
the Holy Spirit. Jesus laid hands on those he wished to heal. On one
occasion, Jesus reached out and touched a man with leprosy, and the
man was immediately cleansed of it (Matthew 8:1-3).

A little later, Jesus found Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a

fever. He touched her hand with his and the fever left her (Matthew
8:14-15).

The power of Jesus’ touch, or simply of touching his

garment, was again demonstrated at Gennesaret: “And when the men
of the place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding

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country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let
the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him
were healed” (Matthew 14:35-36).

On the Isle of Patmos, where the apostle John received the

visions of the Book of Revelation, the same Jesus whom he had
“handled” or touched when he was in the flesh (I John 1:1) returned
the favor by laying his hand on John, reviving and strengthening him
to receive the disturbing visions of the Apocalypse (Revelation
1:17). The touch of our Lord is still available to his people in this
time. If we want it, we must seek it. When we receive it, we too may
lay hands upon others whose hearts are right, that they too might be
empowered by the Presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19 KJV), or healed
or commissioned. God gives his Spirit to those of us who are willing
to obey him (Acts 5:32).

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 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part V

THE RESURRECTION
OF THE DEAD

f only for this life,” wrote the apostle Paul, “we have hope in

I Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (I Corinthians

15:19 NIV). According to Christian Solidarity International,
“more Christians died for their faith in the twentieth century
than at any other time in history.” Thomas Horn writes, “Global
reports indicate that over 150,000 Christians were martyred last year,
chiefly outside of the United States. However, statistics are
changing: persecution of Christians is on the increase in the United
States” (www.worthynews.com).

If all there is to being a Christian is endless persecution and

eventual death, then what’s the point? In some cultures, choosing to
become a Christian is like committing slow suicide. The worst
countries in the world in which to be a Christian are: North Korea,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, Maldives, Bhutan, Vietnam, Yemen,
Laos and China (in that order). In nine out of ten of the above-listed
nations, there is one of two common denominators: Communism or
Islam. Only one persecuting power is neither: Bhutan. In that
Himalayan kingdom, Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion.
Officially, Christianity does not exist in Bhutan. Christians are not
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allowed to pray or celebrate in public, and multiple house gatherings
are forbidden.

At least 40 other nations, other than the ten worst listed

above, make it difficult to be a Christian. Some of them are supposed
to be U.S. “allies.”

Paul understood from personal experience, and the

experience of many of his converts, what it was like to be persecuted
for one’s beliefs. He went “through the mill” as they say (cf. II
Corinthians 11:16-33). To make his horrendous experience
worthwhile, Paul knew there had to be more than this persecution-
filled life. There had to be another better kind of life after this painful
mortal existence. Consequently, Paul, more than any other Biblical
writer, has much to say about the principle of resurrection. Before
we get to that, let’s consider some passages in the Hebrew Bible.

Daniel 12:2-3

Daniel writes: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will
awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting
contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the
heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for
ever and ever.”

This is the pivotal passage on resurrection in the TaNaKh. It

speaks either of two resurrections: one to life, the other to “shame
and everlasting contempt,” or of one resurrection with two outcomes.
It establishes the imagery of resurrection as an awakening from
sleep. Of this passage, the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says,
“The prevailing image – from which, indeed, the term itself
[resurrection] is derived – is that of waking from sleep (e.g. Daniel
12:2)” (Vol.4, p. 39).

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 To “resurrect” is to: “raise again from the dead.” It is to
awaken from an otherwise permanent sleep. Many other passages in
the Hebrew Scriptures (Isaiah 26:19; Job 19:25-27; Psalm 17:15;
Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 49:15 etc.) seem to hint at the idea of
resurrection, but only this one is entirely clear in its meaning.

Beliefs in Jesus’ Day

By the time of Christ, Judaism was divided on the issue of

resurrection. The Sadducees denied the resurrection altogether. This
fact came out on one occasion when Paul was hauled before the
Sanhedrin: “Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees
and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, ‘My brothers,
I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my
hope in the resurrection of the dead.’ When he said this, a dispute
broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the
assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no
resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the
Pharisees acknowledge them all” (Acts 23:6-8).

Jesus himself endorsed the doctrine – but not the practice

where hypocritical – of the Pharisees for his own disciples (Matthew
23:1-2). He too believed in resurrection, angels and spirits.

It is clear that Paul, following the Pharisaic rather than the

Sadducean model, believed in the principle of resurrection. In his
trial before King Agrippa, Paul again confirmed his belief: “Why
should any of you consider it to be incredible that God should raise
the dead?” (Acts 26:8). Paul took the hope of resurrection as a
given. It was an integral part of his theology.

Jesus and the Resurrection

The story of Lazarus helps us understand some major points about

the resurrection. Lazarus (Greek for Eleazar), whose name means

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“God is helper,” lived in the village of Bethany. The name
“Bethany” can mean either “House of affliction” or “House of
response.” Bethany was located on the lower eastern slope of the
Mount of Olives, about 2 miles east of Jerusalem. (It is not the same
as “Bethany beyond the Jordan” – John 1:28 – where John the
Baptist baptized.)

Lazarus fell sick. His two sisters, Mary and Martha – Mary,
being the same Mary who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair – sent
word to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:1-3).

Jesus’ response was enigmatic: “This sickness will not end in

death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified
through it” (verse 4). Instead of rushing over to Bethany to pray for
Lazarus, Jesus remained where he was for another two days (verse
5). Then he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea” (verse 7).
This idea didn’t “set well” with his talmidim. They reminded him
that some of his fellow Jews had attempted to stone him there (verse
8).

Again, Jesus’ response seems enigmatic: “are there not

twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble,
for he sees by this world’s light. It is when he walks by night that he
stumbles, for he has no light” (John 11:9-10). Jesus knows that his
hour of trial has not yet come. He is able to walk by the light of
prophetic insight. It is still safe for him to travel to Bethany. He
knows, for example, that his friend Lazarus has died: “Our friend
Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up”
(verse 11).

Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it. They replied that if Lazarus was
merely asleep, he would eventually revive and get better (verse 12).
But, “Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought
he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is

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dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may
believe. But let us go to him” (verses 14-15).

Jesus, like Daniel (Daniel 12:2-3), equates physical death

with sleep. Lazarus’ death had a divine purpose. Jesus knew it by the
Spirit of God. He was now about to fulfill that purpose. Jesus and his
entourage of students were about to head over to Bethany. Before
they left, however, Thomas (of “Doubting Thomas” fame) said to the
others, “Let us go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16b). He had
not grasped the meaning of Jesus’ statement a moment before: “A
man who walks by day will not stumble…” Since Jesus and his
disciples would again come under the withering gaze of those who
sought to stone him, Thomas assumed that all of them would share
Jesus’ fate. He did not understand that it was not yet Jesus’ time to
die, or that when he did, it would not be by stoning but by
crucifixion.

With this glum outlook, Jesus, Thomas and the other

disciples headed for Bethany.

Resurrection at Bethany

“On his arrival,” reads the account, “Jesus found that Lazarus had
already been in the tomb for four days” (John 11:17). Like Rover, he
was dead all over. Martha, one of Lazarus’ sisters, knew that by this
time decomposition of her brother’s body would have set in (verse
39b). This is exactly what Jesus wanted. He wanted everyone to
know with certainty that Lazarus was truly dead. If one who was
raised from the dead had not been dead long, then skeptics could
challenge the reality of the resurrection by saying, “Well, perhaps he
wasn’t really dead. Maybe he was just in a coma.” No one could say
that in the case of Lazarus! Jesus’ delaying his coming to this point
was of strategic importance.

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 When Jesus arrived at the sepulcher where Lazarus was
entombed, he was deeply moved (verse 38). He knew that his
followers did not fully grasp who and what he was, or what he had
come to accomplish. Lazarus’ burial site was a cave with stone rolled
over it (verse 38 b). Jesus ordered the stone rolled away from the
entrance (verse 39). Then Jesus reminded Martha and the others of
what he had said earlier: “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you
would see the glory of God?” (verse 40).

Belief here was an expression of faith in Christ – in the truth

of what he had said and what he could do. Martha understood the
doctrine of resurrection correctly. Speaking of her dead brother, she
said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day”
(John 11:24). This statement accurately reflected the teaching of
Jesus and that of the Pharisees, but Jesus had in mind something
more profound.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He

who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives
and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (verse 26).
This is one of the most important and profound statements in the
entire Bible. Martha’s response seems to indicate that she still did
not fully grasp the implications of what Jesus was saying: “Yes Lord,
she told him, ‘I believe that you are the Christ [Anointed One], the
Son of God, who was to come into the world” (John 11:27). Martha
was convicted that Jesus was the Anointed One about whom there
were more than 400 allusions in the TaNaKh (“Old” Testament).
[Note: A list of these Messianic passages can be found in The Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim, Volume II,
page 710 ff., Appendix IX. There are listed 456 passages in all.]

Martha then ran to fetch her sister, Mary, since Jesus was
asking for her. When Mary arrived she said to Jesus, “Lord, if you
had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11: 28-32).
Mary, grieved over what she perceived to be the unnecessary loss of

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her brother, broke into tears. The Jews who had accompanied her did
the same. Jesus was disturbed by this display of emotion because he
knew what God was about to do through him, and Mary did not.
Both Mary and Martha had a sort of “academic” understanding of
who Jesus was. They were “doctrinally correct” about him. But their
faith hadn’t yet caught up with their doctrine.

Jesus and the group then walked up to the site of the

sepulcher. The Lord commanded, “Take away the stone.”

Mary, thinking practically, and still not getting it, responded,

“But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for
four days” (John 11:39b). She understood that her brother’s body
would have begun the process of decomposition – and that’s exactly
what Jesus wanted. He wanted the whole crowd, including his
disciples, to know that Lazarus was truly dead.

Jesus then said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you
would see the glory of God?” (verse 40).

They then removed the stone, allowing the pungent aroma of

a decaying body to waft out into the ambient air. Jesus looked up and
prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you
always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing
here, that they may believe that you sent me” (John 11:41). No one
could raise the dead to life but with the power of God. Then Jesus
raised his voice and called out to the body of Lazarus: “Lazarus,
come out!” (verse 43).

Out of the fetid darkness of the tomb emerged a man

swaddled in mummy-like wrappings. Even his face was wrapped in
cloth. Jesus then ordered that the grave clothes be unwound and that
Lazarus be released (verse 44b). We assume that someone in the
audience provided the resurrected man with suitable garments.

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 At one level, Jesus’ restoration of Lazarus to life had the
desired effect: “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit
Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him” (John
11:45). At another level, the effect was negative. Some ran to the
Pharisees who called a meeting of the Sanhedrin to discuss the
matter. Instead of viewing the event as the great miracle that it was,
they saw it through political lenses. You can read the results in
verses 46 through 57.

Jesus had shown irrefutably that he had the power and the
authority to raise the dead. When he said, “I am the resurrection and
the life,” he was speaking literally.

On an earlier occasion, Jesus had spoken plainly about his

authority to resurrect: “For just as the Father raises the dead and
gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to
give it” (John 5:21).

Jesus explained that God the Father had entrusted all

judgment to himself and that those who heard and believed Jesus
would have eternal life (John 5:24). Even in that time Jesus had
demonstrated his ability to raise the dead. He then pointed to a future
time of resurrection: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming
when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out –
those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done
evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:29).

Here Jesus is speaking of a mass resurrection of all of

mankind. Some will rise to live, others to be condemned. Clearly the
one death we must all die (Hebrews 9:27) is not the end of it. For
some, there will be eternal life after this physical life; for others, a
second, final, eternal death (Revelation 20:14).

In light of traditional pop theology, all of this may be quite

disturbing. We are accustomed to hearing the simplistic view that we

65
Christians simply waft off to heaven at death. Little is said about
wafting in the opposite direction – or about the principle of
resurrection from the “sleep” of death. The apostle Paul, in his letter
to the Corinthians, makes clear the process of resurrection.

I Corinthians 15

With good reason, this is often termed “the resurrection chapter.”

More than any other place in Scripture, it outlines what the apostle
Paul believed about the resurrection of the dead.

Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians of the Gospel that

he had preached to them. One of its cardinal message points was the
fact that Christ had died for the sins of mankind, as the Holy
Scriptures had predicted he would (I Corinthians 15:1-3).

Jesus’ death paid the penalty for human sin, the wages of
which is death (Romans 6:23). Following his crucifixion, Jesus lay
“three days and three nights” in a tomb. On the third day, also
according to the Scriptures, Jesus rose from the dead (I Corinthians
15:4).

Once he was resurrected, Jesus appeared to Peter, the twelve

apostles, and to more than 500 brethren, many of whom were still
alive at the time Paul wrote this first letter to the Corinthians. They
were living eye-witnesses to the fact that Jesus had indeed been
resurrected (verses 5 & 6). After that, Jesus continued to appear to
various witnesses including James, all of the apostles, and even to
Paul (I Corinthians 15:7-8). Between the time of his resurrection, and
the time Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians (perhaps around 54
or 55 AD), Jesus had appeared to hundreds of eye-witnesses. There
was no doubt that he had been crucified and killed, and there was no
doubt that he was now alive and appearing to his brethren in the
Church.

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 The reason God provided so many witnesses to Jesus’
resurrection is that it is the most important single event in God’s
redemptive plan. If it didn’t really happen in space and time, then the
Christian faith is a meaningless exercise in spiritual futility. As Paul
himself wrote: “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is
useless and so is your faith” (I Corinthians 15:14).

A few sentences later, Paul explains why this is the case:

“…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in
your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than
all men” (I Corinthians 15:17-19).

To the Romans, Paul put it this way: “Since we have now

been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from
God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we
were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much
more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
(Romans 5:9-10).

Our salvation hangs on the issue of whether Jesus is dead or

alive. His resurrection makes possible our resurrection.

Once we know that we will be resurrected, it’s natural to

want to understand the mechanics of the process. After establishing
the foregoing, Paul then addresses nuts & bolts issues.

Order of Resurrection

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the death, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man,
the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in
Adam, all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his
turn: Christ the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to
him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to

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God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and
power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his
feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:20-
26).

Death is an enemy, but Jesus is “the resurrection and the

life.” He is the destroyer of all of mankind’s enemies, including Ha
Satan – the Adversary. The devil is associated with the yetzer hara –
the evil impulse – in mankind. By tempting man to sin, as he did
Adam and Eve in the Garden, Satan produces the “wages of sin” –
death. Satan is a killer (John 8:44). Jesus is the opposite. He came
that we might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
As John also wrote: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to
destroy the devil’s work” (I John 3:8).

The devil is an unclean spirit who produces only destruction

and death. He is a tempter, a murderer, a liar, a snake-in-the-grass,
and an adversary to both Christ and man (Romans 12:9 &
elsewhere). He brings out the worst in mankind. Jesus brings out the
best.

The Resurrection Body

It is natural to speculate about the kind of body those who are

resurrected will possess. Will we have the same old body we have
now – with all of its flaws and imperfections? After all, didn’t Jesus
show Thomas his nail scars after his resurrection, and the wound in
his side (John 20:27).

However, until Jesus ascended to heaven, he was not yet

glorified (John 7:39b). When we read descriptions of the glorified
Jesus, there is no indication of any imperfection (John 1:12-15).

Paul addresses the issue of the resurrection body in I

Corinthians 15:35-41. He uses the picture of a seed to illustrate his

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point. The plant that comes up after we have planted a seed does not
look like the seed that was planted. After the plant has grown from
the seed, we can look in the ground in vain to find the seed. It is no
more. Yet it has produced a full-grown plant. By the same token, the
present mortal body is analogous to a plant seed that produces
something entirely new. One kind of body is suitable for dwelling on
this physical planet. Another kind works best for the spiritual
dimension. God gives everything a body appropriate for its
circumstances.

So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that

is sown is perishable. It is raised imperishable. It is sown in
dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in
power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (I
Corinthians 15:42-44).

Now, we live with the weakness of our own flesh (Matthew

26:41). We live with the sure knowledge that some day we’ll die.
Our fleshly tabernacles are subject to entropy. We, like the physical
universe we inhabit, are running down from the moment we are
born. Yet what goes into the ground at death produces a beautiful
new glorified “plant.” The body God will give us will be
imperishable, glorious, and spiritual. The new body will be given us
by Jesus who is himself a “life-giving spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45).

If we die in Christ, we will “sleep” in our graves until God’s

time to resurrect us. Our spirits will be in God’s safekeeping
(Hebrews 12:22-24). Then, suddenly, just as Lazarus heard the voice
of Jesus and came forth out of his tomb, we will hear the sound of a
divine shofar and we will come forth to life. Let’s listen to Paul as he
explains it: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we
will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must
clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality,

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then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been
swallowed up in victory’” (I Corinthians 15:51-54).

With the sound of that shofar, the dead in Christ will come
forth to inhabit eternity. Like Lazarus, they will shake off the
wrappings of death and embrace the golden bands of immortality.
Then we will all be able to sing the song, “Where, O death is your
victory? Where, O death is your sting?” (verse 55).

Paul then offers a final word of explanation: “The sting of

death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I
Corinthians 15:56).

The Hope of the Resurrection

Paul reminded other congregations of their hope in the resurrection,

but he cautioned them about setting dates for the return of Christ:
“Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to
you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a
thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’
destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a
pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (I Thessalonians 5:1-3).

The return of Christ will come upon the world when it is least
expecting it, just as Jesus said it would (Luke 12:35-40).

Paul also explained to the Thessalonians that at the same

time, the resurrection of the dead in Christ would occur: “For the
Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thessalonians 4:16). This is the
same blast of the shofar about which Paul wrote the Corinthians. The
Lord may command his dead to “come forth!” just as he commanded
Lazarus to come out of his tomb.

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 Those of us who happen to be alive when the Lord returns
will experience something a little different than the dead in Christ:
“After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so
we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other
with these words” (I Thessalonians 4: 17-18).

What could be more encouraging to persecuted Christians

than the sure knowledge that no matter how they die, or when they
die, they will one day hear the blast of the divine shofar and that at
that time, death, their death, will be forever defeated. They will rise
to dwell with the Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity. Is it any
wonder that Jesus taught us: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can
destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28) ?

That brings us to our next, and final, topic in this series:

eternal judgment.

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 First Principles of the
Christian Faith – Part VI

ETERNAL JUDGMENT

hat is meant by the term “eternal judgment” (Hebrews

W 6:2)? The word “judgment” in Greek is krima. In this

context, it refers to the action or function of a judge (see
Bauer’s Lexicon, p. 450d). Unlike man’s judgments,
God’s judgmental decisions are valid eternally.
Ultimately, all who have lived will come under divine judgment.
There will a final reckoning. This was a significant theme in Paul’s
writings, and indeed throughout the Bible.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, likely written by Solomon, we

find a wonderful, yet deliciously cynical, view of life. Over and over
again Solomon reminds us that much of what we do in life comes to
nothing. “Meaningless! Meaningless!” he cries, “Utterly
meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Each
generation of mankind is merely repeating the patterns of the past:
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done
again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

It’s the same old stuff, generation after generation. We have

the good guys vs. the bad guys, but no one is truly good: “There is
not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins”
(Ecclesiastes 7:20). People of wealth build great monuments to
themselves, yet future generations see them crumble to dust. No
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matter what we accomplish in the material realm, it all disintegrates.
So what if someone builds a bigger pyramid than someone else?
Does it really matter how many books someone writes, or how many
speeches he gives, or how much material wealth a woman
accumulates? When we die, we leave it all behind. In a few years,
most people will have forgotten that we were ever around, or that we
accomplished anything during our lifetimes.

God expects us to enjoy the material blessings he gives us.

He fully approves that we enjoy food and drink and material things:
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and
drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun
during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot.
Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions and
enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy n the his
work – this is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19).

Life is short; then we die. After this comes divine judgment.

While we are here, “A man can do nothing better than to eat

and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too I see is from the
hand of God…” (Ecclesiastes 2:24). I enjoy my work: writing and
painting pictures. But I realize that if I paint one more painting, it
won’t matter to the world. The satisfaction is in doing it, not in
storing or selling it. No matter how many paintings I paint, and no
matter how good they are, they could all end up in a garage sale, a
scrapheap, or being trashed by some invading barbarian.

I could write a jillion articles and a myriad of books, and all

might end up on the rubbish heap of literary history. What matters to
me is that I wrote them, and that I sought God’s inspiration in doing
so. Whether they bear fruit is not up to me but to God.

Consider what you do for a living, or as an avocation, and

ask, “Does this really matter to anyone else but me?” You can work

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for a company, a church, a school, or a government all of your life,
and wind up being discarded in a moment. The rule of thumb is:
what have you done for me today? If people remember anything
about you, it is more likely to be your sins rather than your good
works.

Sooner or later, everything any of us does comes to nothing.

In all the generations from Adam to the present, we still haven’t
learned how to live godly lives. We continue to murder, bomb and
destroy. Hate is the fuel that instigates war after war. No religion has
yet demonstrated that it can bring peace to the world. For the most
part, religions have brought only war and suffering to the world.

Proctologist’s View of Life

If you watch television news, you’ll soon realize that, as Dennis

Prager often says, it’s a “proctologist’s view” of life. It focuses
mainly and the bad things bad people are doing to each other. What
aspect of life do you know of that does not include at least a degree
of corruption, sin and destructiveness? Politics? The arts? Big
Business? Professional sports? Education? The military?

Sin is a universal phenomenon. None of us escapes it.

Though most of us could not be characterized as wicked, no one is
wholly righteous. We have all incurred the divine death penalty as
the “wages of sin” (Romans 6:23). Solomon knew that no one would
escape divine judgment in the end: “God will bring to judgment both
the righteous and the wicked” (Ecclesiastes 3:17b). Sooner or later
we will have to account to God for how we used the life that he gave
us.

What is important is that we learn to use all that God has

given us to His glory. If we have been blessed with wealth, do we
share it with those less blessed? If we have an abundance of food, do

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we distribute our surplus to the poor? Do we live selfish lives, or do
we seek to bless others and help make their lives better?

There’s nothing wrong with wealth, food, drink, or sex – so

long as we use them the way God intended. God has given us
instructions (Torah) that enable us to elevate the expression of our
appetites to the level of the holy. After explaining all this to his
readers, Solomon concludes with a note of judgment to come: “Now
all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God
and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For
God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden
thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

The apostle Paul also wrote of a time when even our most
secret acts would be judged: “…on the day when God will judge
men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Romans
2:16).

Jesus as Judge

At his first coming, Jesus did not come to judge the world. He said,
“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do
not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my
words; that very work which I spoke will condemn him at the last
day” (John 12:47-48). He then went on to explain that he came with
a message from God the Father. He preached it faithfully and
accurately. Anyone who chooses to ignore it will be accountable to
the Father (John 12:49-50).

When it is the Father’s time, God will send Jesus back to the
earth for a different purpose. John the Baptist explained it: “I baptize
you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is
more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is

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in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat
into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire”
(Matthew 3:11-12).

The word “baptize” means immerse, as we learned earlier in

this series. To be immersed in the Holy Spirit is not the same as
being immersed in fire. The latter refers to the time when God will
burn up the human chaff in the Lake of Fire, which is the second
death (Revelation 20:14-15).

Both Jesus and Paul referred often to this final judgment – a

divine decision that will last for eternity.

Jesus & Judgment

On one occasion, Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath. Some of the

leaders of the Jews viewed this as a violation of the Sabbath, though,
of course, it was not. Then Jesus, referring to God, said, “My Father
is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working” (John
5:16, 17). In calling God his “Father,” the Jews saw Jesus as
“making himself equal with God” (verse 18b). In response, Jesus
then spoke of his relationship with the Father, and of judgment to
come:

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover,
the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John
5:21-22). In other words, God will judge the world, but he will do it
through Jesus Christ.

Then Jesus elaborated on this coming judgment: “Do not be

amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out – those who have good will rise to

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live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John
5:28-29).

The apostle Paul was well aware of the coming judgment,

and of Jesus’ role in it: “For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the
things done in the body, whether good or bad” (II Corinthians 5:10).

For those who die “in Christ,” the resurrection will be good
news. For those who reject him and persist in sin, it will not. The
author of Hebrews wrote: “Just as man is destined to die once, and
after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take
away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not
to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him”
(Hebrews 9:27-28).

Jesus Christ is the key to the future of mankind. If man is to

have a future, it will because of him. He will grant life to whom he is
pleased to grant it. He will also condemn those who are unworthy of
it. The grace of God, as we all experience it, will be distributed
through the person of the glorified Jesus Christ.

Because of his sacrifice, Jesus bought each one of us (I

Corinthians 6:19-20). Our lives are no longer our own; they belong
to Christ. We are his “bond slaves.” We are here to serve his
purposes and to do his will. Paul wrote: “You were bought with a
price; do not become slaves of men. Brothers, each man, as
responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him
to” (I Corinthians 7:23).

If we have been called to Christ, and if we have accepted that

call, been forgiven, justified and redeemed, been baptized, received
the Holy Spirit, then we are the servants of Christ. We are
responsible to God, not to any human master (Acts 5:29). Our lives

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are tied in a bundle with the life of Christ and we will not be
condemned with the wicked in judgment.

If we abandon our calling, and slip back into the “world”

with its sins, then we have forfeited eternal life. In Hebrews we read:
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the
knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful
expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the
enemies of God” (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Of course these verses are not talking about the fact that we
all sin out of weakness, even after conversion. The apostle Paul
wrestled daily with sin (Romans 7). Anyone who says he doesn’t sin
is probably a self-deluded liar (I John 1:8, 10). The point of the verse
in Hebrews is to say that if we have been offered salvation through
Christ, and we refuse it and persist in the old sinful way of life, there
is no other solution to our sinfulness. We are yet “dead in our sins”
(Ephesians 2:1). When it comes to salvation, Jesus Christ is the only
game in town (Acts 4:12). How God applies the sacrifice of Christ to
any given individual is his business. The point is: we are all
accountable to God for how we spend our brief lives. In the end, he
will call us to account for what we did, or failed to do, in this fleshly
existence. As we live out our life cycles, we, like Jesus, must be
“about our Father’s business.” As the bond slaves of Christ, we must
seek to advance his cause anywhere, and any way, we can. We are
not here to do our own will, but God’s (Matthew 6:10). We are here
to advance the Kingdom (same verse). In an increasingly dangerous,
anti-Christian world, that effort may eventually cost us our lives (II
Timothy 3:12; John 16:1-2).

Paul said, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we

die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord”
(Romans 14:8).

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 If we tie up our lives with Jesus Christ, who sacrificed
himself for our sins, then we will have eternal life. John wrote: “And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son
of God does not have life” (I John 5:11-12). For those who are in
Christ, there is no fear of judgment to come.

Now is our day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2). Spiritually

speaking, it is our time to “clean up our acts.” In correcting the
Corinthian congregation for the inappropriate way in which they
were observing the Lord’s Supper, the apostle Paul wrote: “But if we
judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are
judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be
condemned with the world” (I Corinthians 11:31-32).

The writer of Hebrews also spoke of this time of training and

discipline: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the word of
encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make
light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes
you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes
everyone he accepts as a son’” (Hebrews 12:4-6, quoting Proverbs
3:11,12).

Boot Camp for Eternity

This present life, for Christians, is “Boot Camp for eternity.” We are
under discipline. Judgment has begun at the Church which is the
“house of God.” Peter wrote: “For it is time for judgment to begin
with the family [household – KJV] of God, and if it begins with us,
what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of
God? And, ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will
become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer
according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful
Creator and continue to do good” (I Peter 4:17-19).

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 God does not want any one of his precious children to perish.
He wants all of us to “lay hold on” eternal life (II Peter 3:9). The
path to life runs through repentance. For each of us, there will come
a time of judgment. How we fare in that judgment depends upon
how seriously we take our high calling in Christ. As we close this
series the words of the apostle Peter seem appropriate: “Since you
call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your
lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not
with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed
from the empty way of life handed down to you from your
forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without
blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world,
but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you
believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and
so your faith and hope are in God” (I Peter 1:17-22).

It is not important to know the precise mechanics of the

resurrection or the timing of God’s judgments. In the sleep of death,
there is no consciousness (Ecclesiastes 9:5). The next thing we who
are in Christ shall hear is the sound of a divine shofar (ram’s horn)
signaling the resurrection (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Pray that you are called to the resurrection of life. Live as

though your life depended on it – it does. In the last chapter of the
New Testament, Jesus, speaking in the first person, tells us: “Behold,
I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone
according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who
wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and
may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those
who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the
idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood”
(Revelation 22:13-15).

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 Then Jesus says, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you
this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of
David, and the bright Morning Star” (verse 16).

As the next verse shows, those of us who are influenced by

the Spirit of God will welcome the return of Jesus with great
enthusiasm: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who
hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation
22:17).

The “bride” is the Church. The Church, which is the body of

Christ, longs for the return of Christ. We regularly pray, “Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” In the
meantime, while we are waiting for our Lord to return, we preach the
life-giving Gospel into a spiritually dead world. We disseminate
hope into an otherwise hopeless culture (cf. Ephesians 2:12). We
strive to overcome our own flesh, the noxious influence of the world
around us, and the malevolent tempting of the devil. We accept the
discipline of God’s “Boot Camp.” We strive to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord with whom we’ll spend eternity. We
wrestle against spiritual forces of darkness which seek to destroy us
and thereby thwart the divine redemptive plan (Ephesians 6:12). We
resist all that Jesus resisted in his human lifetime, and though our
flesh is weak, in him we have the victory.

Summing Up

Now you understand the “elementary teaching” about Christ and

what it means to be a Christian. You have learned that the wages of
sin is death, and that all of us have sinned. You have seen the need
for repentance from “dead works.” You know that our trust, faith and
confidence must be in, and toward, God. It is through faith and
God’s grace that we are saved, not through our own efforts.

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 You know that baptism represents a burial of the old, carnal,
self. We arise from the waters of baptism to walk in newness of life.
When those who have God’s Spirit lay hands on us, we too receive
of that Spirit which is the empowering aspect of Deity (Acts 1:8).

We have learned that this life is a time of judgment,

discipline, learning, growing and overcoming for all believers in
Jesus the Messiah. Our hope is in Christ, not in any man or woman,
denomination, ideology, government or earthly power. Our
citizenship is registered in heaven and we are children of the
Kingdom. Though all of us are destined to die at least once, we live
in hope of the resurrection, without which our faith would be in vain.

We know also that there is coming a time of judgment during

which all of us will have to account to God for how we spent the
lives he gave us.

With these basics in place, we can now “go on to maturity”

(Hebrews 6:1).

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