10/02/24

It begins and ends with God’s grace.

Grace is the “unmerited favor” that God extends to his fallen creation. In our Wesleyan way of thinking we would say it is God’s grace that reaches out to us, leading us to salvation (prevenient grace); it is God’s grace that actually saves us (saving grace); it is God’s grace that transforms us into the image of His Son (sanctifying grace). 

But how do we respond to that grace?

Our response begins and ends with faith. Most of the time we think of faith as believing in the gospel, but that is just the beginning; it gets us in the door. After we believe,  there’s a lifetime of living to do and that’s where the other meanings of “faith” (the Greek word is pistis) come into play. 

In English we speak of “believing in” or “putting our faith in” Jesus. The Greeks would say it differently. They would say they put their faith “into” Jesus. There’s a big difference between those 2 words!

In July of 1859, Charles Blondin pushed a wheelbarrow across a tightrope stretching over Niagara Falls. Many expressed their faith in his ability to push the wheelbarrow across . . . but when offered, only one man was willing to put his faith INTO Blondin’s ability by actually climbing into the wheelbarrow as Blondin pushed him across!  

I can say I believe in his ability to roll that wheelbarrow across without falling in (and dying). That belief doesn’t cost me anything. It’s another matter entirely, however, for me to believe strongly enough to get into that wheelbarrow and let him push me across that tightrope! 

That’s the difference between believing in and believing into. Christ calls for us to believe into him, and that calls for a commitment deeper than just believing. After all, as  Ivan pointed out in Bible study this past week, James 2:19 tells us, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.” 

No, merely believing is not enough. 

The Greek word translated as faith or belief has a wide range of meaning. Think of our word “trunk.” It can refer to the trunk of a car, a tree, a body or an elephant! Likewise, the Greek word, pistis, means belief, yes, but it also means faithfulness, loyalty and allegiance (we’ll see next week that it has further meanings as well). It means that I believe so strongly in someone that I’m pledging my allegiance to them and living a life that’s faithful to them. 

Sounds almost like a marriage, doesn’t it! 

Marriage is a good analogy. In fact, in the traditional wedding vows from the Book of Common Prayer, the groom would say, “I plight thee my troth” and the bride would respond with, “I give thee my troth” (I remember as a kid hearing that and thinking they were saying “trough,” which conjured up interesting associations from my aunt’s pig farm). What are they plighting and giving? The Groom is saying “I pledge my truth (my faithfulness) to you” and the bride is saying, “I give you truth (my faithfulness) in return.”  

In other words, the couple are pledging their complete fidelity to one another.

But does that plighting and giving stop with their vows? I joke about marriage being my one superhero gift: I can make 2 people one! No, marriage vows are not just magic words that make a couple. The vows are promises that create, shield and protect the life of the married couple  “till death do us part.” They aren’t promising for a moment but for a lifetime of faithfulness and loyalty. 

This also might remind us of the pledge a soldier would make to his country. The Greek soldier pledged pistis to his king and the Roman soldier pledged fides (which comes to us as both “fidelity” and “faith”) to the emperor. This allegiance meant they were willing to ride into the fiercest battle and be willing to give up their lives for their ruler. 

This meaning of “faith” is found in the New Testament as well. In II Thessalonians 1:4, Paul writes “Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and pistis during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.” I checked 31 translations of that passage. 29 of them translated pistis as “faith,” one as “believe” and one as “faithfulness.” 

In the face of persecutions, what is Paul concerned about? Their belief or the way that belief is lived out in their faithfulness in the face of persecution? The New Living Translation correctly reads: “We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering.”

Here’s one for those attending the Bible study starting this week: in Titus 2:10, Paul instructs his protègè to tell slaves “not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect pistis, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior.” That word, pistis, is most often translated as “faith.” But Paul’s not concerned about the slaves trusting in their masters!  Just the opposite! Paul is concerned that they show faithfulness or fidelity to their masters, thus “adorning the doctrine” as the old KJV puts it. The fidelity of the slaves was a way that made the Christian life attractive to non-believers.  And so the NRSV (correctly) translates the verse as: “Tell slaves . . . not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior.” 

We hear the gospel and we respond with faith or belief in the gospel. But that belief is the sort of belief that is strong enough for us to pledge undying allegiance, loyalty and faithfulness to Christ. What does that look like? What is the outcome? I’ll write more next week! 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry