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The introductory text for this study on Biblical Belief is:
John 6:27-29
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you:
for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent.
So many in the religious world today believe, practice and teach that
personal mental acceptance in who Jesus Christ claimed He was and what He did for mankind
is all that is required for one's salvation. And here we have Jesus saying that
the work of God is that we believe on Him whom God sent. However,
backing up in the context we see Jesus instructing His listeners to labor for
the meat that endureth unto everlasting life. Is mental belief all
that is really required or is there something more?
The Greek word for believe here is "pisteuo" used
as a verb. This is also the same word used for "believeth" in John
3:16 and Ephesians 1:13. The verb form of this word means "to entrust, commit to".
We see this word used like this in Luke 16:11, "If therefore ye have not
been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your
trust the true riches?" Also we see this word used similarly
in 1 Timothy 1:11, "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God,
which was committed to my trust." In John 2:24
we see the the word "pisteuo" translated directly to "commit",
"But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all
men,"
So we see from a
study of the original language there is more to the meaning of this word
than a basic mental assent. This word carries the meaning of
trust in someone to the degree of committing oneself to them by actions.
We must have an understanding of what Biblical belief is if we are to
understand exactly what Jesus expects of us. Biblical belief is so
much more than a mental assent within oneself that Jesus is the Son of God.
It is commitment of oneself by trust in Jesus Christ to a course of action.
If we are to exhibit belief the way it was intended by inspiration then our
belief must be total. This includes not only believing in Jesus as who He
was but also believing everything about Him and everything He taught and being willing
to commit ourselves to those teachings obediently.
A study of Hebrews 4:9-11
reveals some insight as to the force of Biblical belief; "There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let
us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the
same example of unbelief." The Greek word for unbelief is "apeitheia"
which means "rebellious disbelief". We see that those whom the Hebrew
writer is addressing are instructed to labor lest they fall into an example
of unbelief. So we see from this example it requires effort, or a commitment of oneself
in order to avoid Biblical disbelief, it also requires the same to believe.
Simply stated, those who labor are true believers and those who fail to
labor fail to believe.
Peter wrote of belief and obedience in 1 Peter
2:7-8, "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is
made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient:
whereunto also they were appointed". Peter draws a contrast
between those who believe and those who do not by being disobedient.
Peter equates Belief as the opposite of disobedience, therefore Biblical
belief requires obedience.
John wrote in 3:16 that "God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life" and in a few sentences later,
he wrote, "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that
obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him"
(John 3:36, ASV).
Just like Peter and the Hebrew writer, John contrasted believers and those
who are disobedient. It is clear from a Biblical perspective that
proper belief is far more than a mental assent, but requires a commitment to
action. Those who fail to commit to obedience fail to believe in the
way it is used in scripture.
We cannot exhibit proper
Biblical belief in Jesus Christ unless we are willing to commit ourselves to
Him totally. We must believe, not only in Him as who He claimed to be,
we must also believe everything about Him and everything He said or taught
and be willing to commit to that in obedience to His authority.
To illustrate, we might consider the little boy who comes breathlessly
excited into his home and tells his little sister that the ice cream truck
is down the street and giving away free popsicles to all who come and ask.
The little girl did not go and get her free popsicle and then complained
when she saw her brother enjoying one. Her brother simply says to her,
"you didn't believe me".
On a more serious side, we
can likewise picture a man standing before the judgment seat never having
repented. Jesus taught in Luke 13:3 that unless we all repent we will
all perish spiritually. One can imagine Jesus saying, "you didn't believe
me when I said you needed to repent". The same can be said for
confession and baptism. Jesus said in Mark 16:16 that whosever "believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Those who were not baptized did not believe in Jesus enough to commit to
what He said, just like the little girl did not believe enough in her
brother to commit to going and getting her free popsicle. Both
individuals in these illustrations failed to have the kind of belief that
results in a commitment to action. And this is the way belief is used
in scripture.
There can be no half
hearted belief. We cannot pick and choose through Jesus' commands for
us and accept or reject any of His teachings for any reason. To do so
is to be guilty of unbelief and rebellion to Him. Yes the work of God
can be summed up in belief in Jesus, but a mental acknowledgement of who He
claimed to be and why He came here is not what is meant here. Jesus
taught us that only those who do the will of God can enter the kingdom of
heaven, (Matthew 7:21), and that those who do not love him to do not obey
Him, (John 14:24). Clearly action is required of us by Jesus if we are
to believe in Him. To fail to commit to His teachings in obedience is to fail to
believe.
As an exercise take
the introductory text of this lesson and substitute the word "commit"
in the place of the word "believe" and change the primary preposition, "eis"
from "on" to "to".
John 6:27-29
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you:
for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that [ye commit to] him whom he hath
sent."
That is what the word "pisteuo"
means in the Greek and is translated that way in other passages. Those
who do not commit do not believe in the Biblical sense of the word.
Those who do not obey Jesus' call to act, do not believe totally in Jesus.
If they believe in Him for who He is, but chose not to believe his call to
obedience, they therefore do not believe.
When asked how to work the
works of God in John 6:29, Jesus chose a word that when understood in the
way it was meant summed up all of His teachings in a call for man to commit
to them in a course of action. Those who truly believe, will accept
Jesus with all of His teachings and commit to them in obedience to the will
of God.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). "Jesus
answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings..." (John
14:23-24). "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:9).
Do you believe Him?
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