So, You Believe That Jesus Walked On The Earth
(The
Greek words are written in the “Englishman’s Lexicon” style)
Isn’t
that nice! I am so happy for you!
You
have caught up with Satan and his demons!
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one
God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Demons believe that God is and they tremble because He has
cast them out of Heaven! Mankind is in a different position!
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
That may be the best known and the
most misunderstood verse in the entire Bible!
“Believeth” (Gr. pisteuoon-pisteuwn), does not speak of merely acknowledging his existence!
That
Greek word translated “believeth” indicates a deep abiding trust in Christ
Jesus, the only begotten Son of God!
If
you have come to the point for total trust in Christ Jesus, you have “everlasting
life” (Gr. zooeen aioonion-zwhn aiwnion)!
That
life does not come to you because you choose to gain it!
Life
everlasting is given to you as a gift, because God has chosen you to receive
it!
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:
In that verse, the phrase “and that”
(Gr. kai touto-kai
touto) is not just a reference to grace
or faith. It is a reference to the
entire grouping to words that precedes it!
The verse is telling us that none of
the preceding is ours by mere human will or effort!
In English, that phrase would refer
back to the first noun preceding it (i.e. faith)!
But, that phrase appeared in Greek
long before it was ever translated into English!
Right
now, you may be thinking, “Oh no, no, no!
My faith is in Christ Jesus!”
So,
let me be the first to break it to you!
To
put this in the vernacular, your puny, weak-kneed human faith is not up to the
task!
By
human faith, we sit in our chairs, ly on our beds,
and drive our cars!
By
the faith OF Christ, we trust
when our human senses tell us that the situation is too difficult!
You
require the faith OF Christ
to fully trust in Him! And, God gives it to you as a gift!
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, and
not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified. (Accents are mine.)
Unfortunately, the KJV is perhaps
the only translation that gets it right!
Biblical
Greek is straight forward, except in the area of colloquialisms and genitive
words.
Galatians
2:16 was written using the Greek genitive case.
When
Paul indicates the faith OF Christ Jesus, he used the genitive case, (Gr. Christou Ieesuo-Cristou Ihsuo).
When
Paul indictes faith IN Christ Jesus, he writes “in
Christ Jesus” (Gr. en Christoo Ieesou-en Cristw Ihsou),
The
Holy Spirit leading Paul apparently knew that some of the readers would not
understand the flow of faith, so He (the Holy Spirit) made it easy for us.
The
faith to believe is a gift from God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) just as the
grace needed and the resultant salvation are also gifts!
By
means of the gifts of grace and faith we are given the gift of salvation!
Praise
Him for all He has done!
Life
in Him is God’s most precious gift!