What did HE say? (continued)
Bread of Life (Part 2)
We spent some time yesterday exploring the Masters saying that “this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”. In this discussion was the caution not to take these sayings out of their context nor out of the overall context of His teachings. In our discussion we looked at the various meanings of the word believe to arrive at a set that fits both this saying and the meaning of the word itself and at the same time fits well with the overall message and teaching of the Christ. We have said that to do His work, is to believe and that to believe is to follow and to trust the one in whom we believe and in following we are joining Him as a disciple. Thus in the end to believe in this context is to follow and to follow is to be a disciple and this is the work of God.
An interesting note on this verse that we covered yesterday is that it became today’s ‘verse of the day’ on BibleGateway.com appearing there as a stand alone verse which, we can only assume, is leading people to believe that which it says: “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29). Herein lies some of the danger that even the Lord Himself told us of when, after the parable of the sower, He says to the people ” take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have” (Luke 8:18). The above saying regarding having versus not having in repeated several times in the gospels and it remains rather obscure. It is seen by some in a that having reflects the meaning of valuing a thing and not having reflects the meaning of not valuing it; that we will get more or lose more depending on its value to us. Now in some ways this can be true because as we set our minds and hearts to something we will generally focus on that and attend to it and prosper. This is our overall message; if we focus on spiritual we will see the Kingdom and if we focus on worldly we will remain in this place and mostly away from the Lord. In this verse from Luke however the Lord is speaking specifically about hearing; saying be careful what you hear and we can interpret this as His saying that if we are strong in understanding we will understand what we hear properly and use it properly but if we are not strong in our understanding we are apt to misunderstand what is said and grow evermore confused of confounded.
Before we continue on with our main text, let us take on one more that deals with believing as this is an important part of His message and ours. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). Several words in this saying need clarification. We have already looked at believe and the next is condemned. Many of the other translations translate the Greek word krino as judged and not as condemned. This takes on a different idea from the outset. The word is the same, krino, in all translations and the lexicon says this of it: to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose; to approve, esteem, to prefer; to be of opinion, deem, think, to be of opinion, to determine, resolve, decree, to judge; to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong; to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one’s case may be examined and judgment passed upon it; to pronounce judgment, to subject to censur; of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others; to rule, govern; to preside over with the power of giving judicial decisions, because it was the prerogative of kings and rulers to pass judgment; to contend together, of warriors and combatants; to dispute, in a forensic sense; to go to law, have suit at law. Again, like believe, a rather lenghty and diverse definition. Strong’s has a similar definition saying that it means to decide, consider, as preferring one thing over another or determining the correctness of a matter; by extension, to judge, pass judgement on, condemn in a legal sense.
Now condemned does seems a wrong translation while judged seems to be more correct; what else can we take out of the literal meaning of this but to separate, pick out, choose as in the lexicon or to decide, consider as in Strong’s. Before summarizing this however let us look at the next word of meaning in our verse and that is name which is the key word in the entire saying as it identifies what is to be believed. Name is translated from the Greek word onoma of which the lexicon says: name: univ. of proper names; the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one’s rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.; persons reckoned up by name; the cause or reason named: on this account, because he suffers as a Christian, for this reason. Strong’s says that this means: name; title; reputation. We commonly consider the idea of name as it being what a thing or a person is called; Strong’s adds to this the idea of reputation and the lexicon adds to this everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by the words of the name. Webster’s has a rather long list of ideas for the definition of name that we will not list here as the are similar in nature to what we have above. We will however add one from the 1828 edition, number ten in the list, as it gives an additional idea for the meanings of this word: 10. In Scripture, the name of God signifies his titles, his attributes, his will or purpose, his honor and glory, his word, his grace, his wisdom, power and goodness, his worship or service, or God himself.
We have then three words to confound our understanding or to assist us in placing this saying and others like it into the mainstream of His teaching so that they do not stand out as shortcuts or simpler ways to do what is needed to attain the Kingdom. We explored believe yesterday and again in the beginning of this post and simply put we can say that to believe is to follow and to trust the one in whom we believe and in following we are joining Him as a disciple. Our next word is condemned and from the definitions we find above for the Greek word krino in English we should summarize as separated and in separated we should assume separated from God as this is the nature of the entire dialogue regarding eternal life and being saved. Our last word here is name in our verse and for this we should take on the added understandings of this word as they tell us that His name brings with it the idea of His qualities, His attributes, His Will and purpose.
Putting this all together our subject verse of: “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” can be seen to say to us that we that believe on Him trust in Him and we follow Him and do His words and in doing we are not separated but we are with Him, in His Presence. Those who do not believe and all that is included in this as trusting and following are already separated. And this is because they have not believed in and trusted and followed in the quality and the will of the Son of God which is Love and do not do the things that He says. The change here, like the change in our previous verse on believing being the work of God, is to say that attaining the Kingdom is not found in simply believing that a thing is true but it is in acting on that belief by doing the work of the Christ and of God.
Now there are many who understand these sayings by the Master as that to simply believe and is all that is necessary for salvation and whatever comes with it. But we who are looking to attain to the Kingdom of God and to dwell in His Presence here and now must look at this in a way that is in line with His teachings to us which we can summarize simply in one saying by the Master:
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?” (Luke 6:46)
Well, we spent a lot of word on this topic which was not the intent but in seeing the verse of the day today I thought it important to follow up on yesterdays discussion. We will get back to the main theme of Bread of Life in tomorrow’s post.
“this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
We posted this Quote of the Day yesterday without comment and will leave it again today with some commentary.
The verses below are from Young’s Literal Translation of the bible as some of the wording is clearer than in the King James Version. What is the message here but the same as our message and the message of the Christ. We partake of the promises and the divine nature through the knowledge and understanding of God and when we leave the corruption of worldly life that exists in fulfilling our own desires and lusts. If we do so by faith we should add to our faith the virtues listed below.
through which to us the most great and precious promises have been given, that through these ye may become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world in desires. And this same also — all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge, and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety, and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love; for these things being to you and abounding, do make [you] neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4-8)
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
