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F
A I T H
and Man's
Obedience or not
A New Testament Phenomenon --
from Jesus An
Old Testament Parallel -- from Abraham Shown
to be innately a part of God’s communication system/process. by:
J. R. Jim Ford Click on Chapter to open
1.
God's: GOD'S
POWER -- Manifested to Man. THE
COVER Symbolically,
from God's bright and sinless environ (top),
-ii- FAITH GOD'S POWER -- MAN'S OBEDIENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS Title
Page
iii I.
Faith Is
1
By way of introduction/summary, the reason for II.
Faith Came
3
Explicitly a New Testament premise - yet old - III.
Faith Was
4
Implicitly an Old Testament concept with IV.
Faith - Power
of God
9 Appendices
26 FAITH IS: GOD'S POWER/MAN'S OBEDIENCE BUT,
WHAT IS FAITH?
Many have set forth beautiful expressions about faith --
It is always of God, not of man, yet conditional with man as
This is a God and man transaction, desired of God, conditional upon
man, impossible without both. Great
potential to man with God's power to him, but not kinetic (not
active) until accepted/acted upon by man.
Now, don't take this wrong -- there are many times that God WHEN
DID FAITH START? BEFORE
FAITH
" -- before faith came .. shut up unto the faith LAW
AND CONSTRAINT
" ....wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to AFTER
FAITH "
...but after faith is come, we are no longer under IN
CHRIST
"... for we are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Chapter
III. FAITH
WAS
A quick review of my concordance (that within the New Scho THE
OLD TESTAMENT
In the Old Testament, only the following references to
Faith -
Only one reference, and it is a 'no faith' mode: Deuteronomy
32:20, " ... perverse generation, children in whom is no faith."
Faithful - 17 uses
Faithfulness - 28 uses
Faithless - no uses
NOTE: Appendix C provides a listing of these uses as a starting point
for your further review and study.
This small (actually zero) use of Faith in the Old Testament is
certainly confirmation of our earlier findings, where Scriptures declared
that, " ... before faith
came" (Gal. 3:26) and,
" ... we are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus .."
(Gal. 3:26).
Here, then is profound truth:
that the Lord Jesus Christ in coming to Earth to initiate the New
Testament (New Covenant) between God and man, established a new and powerful
line of communication; no
longer indirectly via one prophet, king, priest ... as before, but now
applied via the Holy Spirit on a one to one direct basis to all those of the
family of God. In effect, the manifestations of God to the patriarchs were prophecies of the future, types of the direct, in-dwelling counsel He would use under the New Covenant where His omni-present Holy Spirit is within the believer. FAITH
- A NEW TESTAMENT CONCEPT - YET OLD
Faith is, indeed, a New Testament word, a new concept (yet old).
This is a paradox. Yet, we do not find the "conjunctive" word faith
used in the Old Testament as it is in the New.
Once in awhile it is used, from the
"faithful" perspective, but not profusely as in the New
Testament.
Remember, in the Old Testament, Jehovah God spoke to the leaders He
selected. He dealt indirectly
with the people. His commands
were directed through their leaders. He
manifested Himself to them in that indirect manner.
With the New Testament, God chose first to manifest Himself through
the Lord Jesus Christ, although a few times directly audibly, but mostly
through Jesus. Later, and now,
He manifests Himself primarily through the Holy Spirit, the Comforter sent
to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be God's communicator.
It is true, Abraham and many others are said in the New Testament
writings to have been faithful: by
faith they did such and such. But
the Old Testament writings record rather that they believed and obeyed. An answer, then is that our New Testament faith is (as theirs
of the Old Testament), in two parts: God's
and ours:
GOD'S PART:
His manifesting of His power/command to us
OUR PART:
Obedience (faithfulness) to His command,
OBEDIENT:
Wise
DISOBEDIENT: Wicked/Sinful (See Daniel 12:10)
So, then, the Word of God takes on even more poignancy, more depth,
becomes more subjective, more intimate and powerful to us. Yes, there is a
new dimension of fellowship and mutual responsibility in our relationships
with our Heavenly Father, yet, one which presses for His perfection in that
relationship despite our imperfection, one which is tied solidly to His
person, His power and ability to perform, not tied to our limited sphere of
capability.
I have found great personal blessing and insight as the New Testament
renderings of faith have been explored from this two-fold perspective --
You will note that the appendices are keyed to the books of
the New Testament (per the new King James edition), providing an
expanded command/obedience view of all verses containing the words faith,
faithful,
Realize that it will take a little patience and dedication, but I
think you will soon get the pulse of this study and find each verse a new
and challenging revelation. THE
GOSPEL OF JOHN AND II JOHN
You will note, I'm sure, that the appendices for the Gospel of John
and the second of John's epistles are unique; unique in that there are no
uses of faith or faithful. These
books are the only New Testament books without one positive use of faith. It is thereby suggested that John, the beloved, in his
desire to be very clear, most often used the expanded forms rather than the
"conjunctive" - leading to the difference. It should be noted
here, that he did use faithless once (John 20:27).
In the books of I John, III John and Revelation, he did use the
conjunctive forms of 'faithfully' extensively.
Very interesting. This
"lack" in the Gospel of John spurred me to look for examples of
the expanded form. These
necessarily include most expressions of our Lord's as likely candidates of
this expression -- manifesting
God to the disciples and people, seeing His specific
"manifestations" and their obedience or disobedience.
This part of the study has been particularly a rewarding experience
for me, bringing more depth of understanding to our Lord's messages and
purposes.
This all breaks down to a single common denominator:
When God spoke in "old times" (or speaks today), it was and
is incumbent upon 'us' to be faithful (obedient). No questions asked. Yes,
it has always been "our" great privilege to be obedient
(positively responsive) to God. Scripture
is replete on this subject and certainly Scripture such as, .. obedience is
better than sacrifice." confirm this truth (See Samuel 15:22).
After reviewing the Gospel of John (attempting to synthesize the
"faith" type of statements), since often John did not use the
conjunctive "faith" but rather (supposition on my part) the
explicit manifested power directly in various forms, it has therefore become
apparent that the other New Testament writers more often than not may have
also used the explicit forms: that is, whenever Jesus speaks or makes
himself known to man, does a miracle, or highlights a particular truth, he
is manifesting Himself and/or God's power (etc) to man.
He, as the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1) is ever manifesting God
and His plan/purpose. As such,
there yet remains much to be reviewed and studied to glean ever new
directives and blessings from the written, yet
"living" dynamic
Word of God. When we realize
that the Lord Jesus Christ was/is always God manifested, it is no wonder
that we can literally "hang" on every word and action, allowing
the full significance of each to impact us.
The parts of the written Word that the Holy Spirit has illuminated to
my ever increasing understanding has
Indeed, I have personally found that he has taken me from
"just" objective factual knowledge of Himself and His plan, to the
very personal subjective realization of: (1) God indwelling me (as He became
my own manifested Savior); (2) God leading me (as He became my own
manifested Lord); (3) God ministering by His Holy Spirit to others through
me (as He uses me as an Ambassador to manifest Him); and (4) God manifesting
His plan of the ages to me through His Word, manifested by His Holy Spirit
of truth and light.
Chapter
IV. FAITH
THE POWER OF
GOD "Without
faith it is impossible to please Him." (Hebrews 11:6) Or
from the eyes of "His Power Manifested" this says:
Normally we feel that we must have some
"blind" faith, or else we can't/don't please Him. Actually, we
must only believe and obey Him -- obey His command(s) to us. Even as Jesus
said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments".
The supposition of this first example is that we always hear His
voice, and know His will. FAITH
IS SUBSTANCE "Now
the power of God manifested to you (faith) is the
From such examples, we then see that without obedience to God's power
we can neither please our God nor even know substantively of Him;
but with obedience to His power manifested to us (it) we can
know Him and please Him, which results in sweet fellowship with Him and
discipleship of others. The
other-side-of-the-coin, of course, is the infinite differences of the lost
-- utter despair versus utter joy to the saved.
First, we see that it is the power of God that is substance.
It is the very evidence of things not seen.
Note that in general, we automatically take this faith as being
"our faith" of understanding instead of the generating force
(God's creative force/power) to accomplish. In
power, it reads as follows: THE
APPENDICES
The heart of this study is really
in the appendicized These each have been analyzed and
prayerfully re-expressed
in the "two-fold"
faith concept.
It is my desire that you too would
find great blessing and Chapter
V. FAITH -
OBEDIENCE OF MAN
The actions of faith are initiated by God, are His communi
Yes, faith is action personified -- by both God and man.
Why do we not always find it easy to obey God's voice?
Personally, I have found that I (and it is probably THERE
CAN BE NO FENCE STRADDLING
No middle ground - We are obedient or disobedient - which
That's right - You and I can't get away with being "luke-
To be obedient is wise, -- to be disobedient is wicked. In
Please stop right now and read it prayerfully -- "His people,
Daniel, the prophet, as he was given insight into the end times,
Chapter VI. FAITH EXAMPLES Here
are some examples highlighting the power of God
HEBREWS 11
(the classic "faith" chapter) 11:1 "Now the power of God manifested to us for obedience (faith) is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
11:2 "For by it
(faith) the elders received witness [or obtained a
good report -- because of their obedience to His instructions."]
11:3 "Through
the power of God manifested (faith) e understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of
things that do appear..." [i.e., the creation was obedient to is
commands].
11:4 "By
the power of God manifested to him (faith) Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous..." [because of his obedience to His instructions]. 11:5 "By the power of God manifested to him, Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found..."[he pleased God before his translation -- was obedient to His Instructions ].
EPHESIANS 3:17-19
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by the_power of God
manifested to you for obedience (faith} that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of
Christ, which possesseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all
the fullness of God."
NOTE: These are just a few samples of the over 250 examples As such, the appendices are keyed to each of the books of the New Testament - Matthew through Revelation - with all uses of faith found being delineated per the "Power of God" and the "obedience of man" concept. I trust you will find increased blessing and insight for further study and understanding of the Word of God via these appendices. A
REVIEW OF SOME DEFINITIONS
HIS FAITH:
The power of God manifested (to us) -
OUR FAITH:
Obedience to His instruction/command.
(FAITHFULNESS)
GRACE:
God's posture of forgiveness, His willing
GOD'S LOVE:
The Father heart-drive of God, the driving (Agape) force of His
Grace, the switch for His power -- so
remarkably expressed in Jesus. "For God so
loved the world, that he gave..." (John 3:16) EXAMPLES
OF GRACE and FAITH
Via the duality approach (God's and man's)
EPHESIANS 2:8,9 "For
by God's posture of forgiveness and willingness to make a
way out for man (grace) are
ye saved through the power of God
manifested to you (faith);
and that not of yourself, it is
the gift of God, not of works," [rather, of obedience to His
instruction] "lest any man should boast." NOTE:
This is only one "definition" of grace as shown above, THE
OCCURRENCES OF FAITH - A HISTOGRAM
As I concluded the search for faith statements, I realized that only
a few books of the New Testament (specifically two of John's writings) had
no (zero) uses: some had many. A
faith histogram by books of the Bible seemed in order; as such Figure 1 resulted, showing the number of occurrences of
"faith" per book.
It is very interesting to note that the two having the most prominent
uses were also the key treatises to the Greeks and to the Jews (the books of
Romans and Hebrews). These had
38 and 36 uses,
It is of interest, though, that both I Timothy and Galatians have
denser uses of faith on a per verse basis:
I Timothy, 21% of verses use faith;
Galatians 18.8%; Hebrews 11%; and
Romans 9.4%. The 11th
chapter of Hebrews is the most dense chapter with 35% of verses using faith.
The significance of this is not too clear, but, it is interesting
that faith in one of its forms is used at least 284 times in the New
Testament, and without clarity of definition the depth of meaning and
understanding is at least partially lost.
With the concept that faith is, indeed, God's primary communication
"media" to man via the Holy Spirit, as has been made quite evident
to me, the overwhelming urgency for me to be obedient to His every
command/instruction has
Yes, He
commands! We do hear ...
He implores us to be obedient --- to be wise
--- to be
Histogram 1a
HOW GOD COMMUNICATES WITH YOU AND ME I have long believed that God's plan is one plan ‑ one, total, complete, in depth plan and entity ‑ yes, in all His creativity, life forms, the explicit and implicit power, all in perfect balance and equilibrium, fully logical (to Him, not necessarily to us). In and through this stream of His power, life, sensibility, rational and "statistical" relationships, He placed man ‑‑ man in the very center of its flow ‑‑ man, the most sensible creation of His hand ‑‑ provided with spirit and soul (as well as body) ‑‑ man, designed to communicate with (from and to) God. This is a thrilling reality (to me), for as a communication engineer, I find great thoughts rumbling in my head, seeming parallel capabilities to some of our physical modes of communication; yet, these physical capabilities of ours are all frail in capability and power to God's "built-in" communication capability. You see, our "physical" modes of communication are each limited by distance, path anomalies, and large, cumbersome receiving antennas, not to mention noisy system elements and varying degrees of reproduction fidelity. Of course, as time goes on, techno1ogy is improving and these elements are getting smaller and smaller, better and better. But God's system suffers from none of these; yet, in a parallel sense, there are inhibiting elements. Satan adds in his spurious ideas in seemingly authoritative ways. These are, in effect 'noise'. We also misuse our input gates of the soul, notably our eyes and ears, as well as our other creature senses. These are often inhibitions of real magnitude, devastating 'noise levels'. Only as we allow God to develop in us that sixth sense that only He can provide, yes, only as His Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we accept and receive the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior from Sin (and sins). Yes, only then, do we have a truly positive direction for decision and practice for our lives ‑ a way to escape Satan's power and wiles, a way to defeat these powers which, although great, are not as great as He that is within the true believer. AN EXAMPLE OF COMMUNICATION AND INHIBITING ELEMENTS There is a block printed verse of Scripture which is a near perfect example of impeded communication, of poor "signal to noise" ratio. When initially "read" face‑on, it appears to be a blob. And, indeed, it is a cross patch of "noise" ‑ it's a mess.' Seemingly, there is no way to get any intelligence from it; indeed, no semblance of Intelligence (See Figure 2). NOTE: this figure was prepared by others and is used here as being of anonymous origin. However, by "phase tuning" the page (i.e., turning the page to each appropriate angle as noted by the numbers on the figure, you can go right down into the noise and pull the intelligence out. Actually, every line of that example is part of the verse (the Intelligence); yet, also, each line is noise to other parts of the verse. To detect the intelligence, we must know and obey certain rules. You can know the rules and continue to look at the block printed verse face‑on, and you will never see a part of the verse. But if you know that the verse is in four parts (one part aligned with each number around the block printed verse) and that each part may be read by tilting the page so as to view the block partially "edge on", where both the verse and block appears about 1/3 size in the height dimension, then you "know" how to get the intelligence out. But, if vou don't follow the rules, you will not see; yes, if you are disobedient to the information given you, you will not read it. However, those that follow the rules exactly will soon see each of the four parts of the verse "pop" out of the otherwise unintelligible block of "noise". Yes, #1 says: THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST; #2 says: HE IS A NEW CREATURE; #3 says: OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; and #4 says: BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW. -- do you see it!! Once you see it, it is so plain; yet, it is very difficult for some. A few, once they see it, can actually make it out face‑on; these are rare. But isn't that so true of life? We know, but do not obey; we understand, but don't do; we have the facts, but don't operate with them; we just plain want our own way despite His knowledge and convictions. Yes, sometimes we even flaunt our will in the very face of God and expect Him to bless. Yet, we know His rules, His will and way, that if we are obedient to His power manifested to our lives, His owner becomes ours; we are blessed as never before, and used of Him to bless others (See Romans 1:5): "We have received of His grace, His apostleship. because we have been obedient to His power manifested to us..." (faith) " ... obedient to all nations for His name." The following are clear examples of the greatness of our God and of His plan for our lives -- both Hebrews and 1 John speak eloquently of this: Hebrews 12:1‑2 "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...(the power of God manifested to us for obedience)... who, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." -- and, I John 4:4 Speaks of His keeping power and capability; yes, no one and no thing can ride rough shod over you, without His allowing it, and truly, He will only allow this to a point. Re‑read I Corinthians 10:13 and I John 4:4. Greater! Yes, FAR GREATER! FAITH ‑ COMMUNICATION Now then, where does Faith fit into this communication mode? Actually, the very heart of it, for it is the power, yes, the very "carrier power", as well as information channel, which God uses to transmit His ideas/instructions/commands/conversations and physiological/spiritual changes, to man and, similarly, from man to Him. Wow! ‑ That is something ‑ That is FAITH. In communications today we see systems which are growing in complexity, systems which were impossible a few years ago. Yet, we are convinced that these will all be smaller and less complex, less costly, year by year. This is all being driven by integrated circuit capabilities and increasing use of various Large Scale Integration (LSI) techniques, placing more in less space. Yet, most likely, this has all been pre‑empted by God. Maybe this, too, is part and parcel of our "brain" and distributed sensory system. A transceiver of incredible capability, yet micro‑micro reduced in size, essentially "invisible" to man at our present stage of technology. Impossible ‑‑ I think not ‑‑ and very few will think so either if they will only reflect upon the fantastic technological strides we have seen in just the last few years. Also, keep in mind, although not seen or felt, we have radio/TV and other intelligent waves of energy crises crossing our world and our very person at all times. Truly remarkable, especially when we realize that with the proper "receiver" we can make any of them available to our understanding. Also, we are now putting full computers with vast memories in volumes less than one 10,000th that of "equivalent" capabilities of just 10 or 15 years ago. The 'Dick Tracy" wrist transceiver has long since become passé. Yes. God's transceiver in us is fully credible in terms of present technology. Our brain is said to be the most incredible computer and storage device of all time, yet, requiring a very small volume and "trickle" power ‑ incredible! Yet, again, added credibility to our position on God's transceiver in us. Enough of this "hardware" synthesis; God could certainly devise such a mechanism, but, with or without such a machine in us, He does communicate, does impress us with His desires and will. We really know it, and the "ball is in our court" to obey or disobey. I have said it before, it is never (NEVER) that we have not heard Him have not been told what to do (His good pleasure for us); rather, it is right in our lap of disobedience, hedging, dodging, hiding, running, lying, procrastinating ("tomorrow"), minimizing; let's face it ‑ we'd rather "do our own thing" (as 'ole Blue Eyes put it -- "I've done it my way"). Oh, that we might, each one of us (you and me) develop "reflex obedience" to His will and way ‑ Yes, fully faithful (obedient to His power manifested to us). Yes, when He instructs we respond, and we continue to do His will until He changes our instructions. Remember, God has said: "Obedience is better than sacrifice". Yes, it is always better to do His will rather than sin and then later need to bring our sacrifice (sin offering) to Him. Oh, how He enjoys a heart of obedience and praise. The following appendices provide added study material -- each item leading us to further appreciate the wonders of God's dealings with mankind and with us in particular. Actually, no one escapes His challenges and direction -- as the Psalmist said: "I pant after thee as a dear thirsts for streams of water" (Psm. 42:1). "All kings on this earth have heard your promises, Lord, and they will praise thee" (Psm. 138:4). "You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me. (Psm. 139:1). Even so, " The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God" (Psm. 14:1). Yes, we all do know -- but we don't all obey, even part of the time. Remember to "study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth".
A
P P E N D I C E S
APPENDIX A-1
...when Jesus perceived, he said
unto them, O ye of little obedience to the power of God manifested to you
(faith) why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
ST. MARK
To be Continued -- Stay Tuned |
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