You Cannot Know God Without Baithicn
You Cannot Know God Without Faith A person is not born with faith.' The apostle says that taith comes through hearing. And we hear through the word ot
God. "How will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe on him of whom Sa have not heard? And how will they hear without a preache
And how will they preach unless they are se nt? \s it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who publish glad tidings of good things!" (Rom. 10:14,15) Notice how Paul ties faith and hearing together. He shows that the preaching of the apostles leads to faith in the Son of God.
The Benefits Of Faith One benefit of faith is that it enables us to learn from God
The game of ball illustrates how this works. Plaving ball depends on two things: The first plaver must throw the bal with skill. And the second plaver must catch it with dexterity.
Similarly, teaching is best accomplished when those hearing have faith. The very best instruction is useless without a receptive student. Even prophecy is of no avail without a believing listener.
This same principle is seen in God's creation.' Seeds can't grow without the productive power of the earth. A fire is not
You Cannot Know God Without Faith Page 85 easily started without a bundle of dry twigs. Just like a magnet attracts steel, faith attracts instruction.
Another benefit of faith is that it brings about repentance.
Unless a man believes that the thing to which he is addicted is sin, he will not abandon it. He will not reform unless he believes that punishment is imminent for sinners, and that those living by the commandments will receive salvation.
The divine Logos cries out, calling all mankind together.
He knows perfectly well who will not obey. Still, to obey or disobey is in our own power, provided we are not ignorant of the options. God justly demands from each of us according to our ability. Some are not yet able to obey, but they are at least willing. Others, through practice and purification, are both willing and able to obey. The soul has power to will, but it cannot act without the body.
Furthermore, God does not evaluate actions by their results alone. Rather, he also looks at the degree of free choice in the action. For example, one person might help his neighbor because he wants to." Another may do it only because he was forced to."
There is a difference between repentance and innocence.'
Repentance comes when a person recognizes a transgression after he commits it. But innocence means that a person has knowledge of right and wrong beforehand [and so he doesn't transgress].
Another benefit of faith is that it leads to hope.' For hope is based on faith. A person has hope when he actually expects to possess the good things promised. This expectation comes from faith.
What It Means To Be Faithful A person who is faithful safeguards the things that have been entrusted to him. He doesn't betray the trust. We Christians have been entrusted with the divine utterances and the divine commands. We also have the obligation to obey them.
The one keeping this trust is the faithful servant who will be praised by the Lord.
Page 86 The One Who Knows God When it is said, "God is faithful," it means that he can be believed no matter what he says. We believe God and can place our confidence in him regarding our salvation. We confide in him because we know he will not fail to do the things he has promised to us nor fail to give us the things he created for us. To have charitable generosity is to want someone else to have good things. God needs nothing, so his generosity and goodness are directed to us for our benefit.
The Gentiles Are Saved By Faith Abraham's faith was considered rightequsness. Since we are his descendants, we must also believe through hearing.
We are Israelites, being convinced by hearing—not by signs.
The prophets said, "Rejoice, childless ones; break forth and cry, you who did not go through the pain of childbirth. For the children of the desolate will number more than those of the woman witha husband." (Isa. 54:1) It was also said, " You have lived for the fence of the people, your children were blessed in their fathers' tents." Since the same mansions promised by prophecy to the patriarchs are also promised to us, we see that the God of both covenants is the same.* And therefore the words were added, "You have inherited the covenant of Israel." This clearly refers to those nations that were once considered to be barren because they did not have
God's Word.
The apostle says in his letter to the Romans, "For the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." (Rom.
1:17) So he taught about the one salvation that is perfected from the prophets to the Gospel by one Lord. He says, "I commit this task to you, my son Timothy, so that in agreement with the prophecies before you, you might fight a good battle; holding both faith and a good conscience. Some who have put away these things have made shipwreck of their faith," because, through unbelief, they have stained the conscience God gave them. (1 Tim. 1:18 19)
*The Gnostics taught that the God of the Old Testament was a different Being than the God of the New Testament.
You Cannot Know God Without Faith Page 87 i ee So faith cannot be belittled as simple and common. If it were a mere human trait, as the Greeks assumed, it would have passed away. But because it grows and flourishes everywhere, | assert that faith is something divine. It cannot be torn apart by friendship nor dissolved by the presence of fear. Love makes men believers because of its connection with faith. Faith, the foundation of love, introduces the doing of good. Faith is truly the first step toward salvation. Faith, fear, hope, repentance, self-control, and patience—these things lead us to love and knowledge.
The Apostle Barnabas says, "From what I have received, I have been diligent to send bit by bit to you; that with your faith you may also have perfect knowledge. Fear and patience are helpers of your faith; and our allies are patience and self-control. Continuing in purity, these are accompanied by wisdom, understanding, innecessary to life telligence, and knowledge."* pees These virtues are the things We breathing = making up knowledge. So actually faith is more fundamental than any of these virtues. It's as necessary to life as breathing is. Just as it's impossible to live without air, so it's impossible to acquire knowledge without faith. In short, faith is the foundation of truth.
Faith is as "From the Letter of Barnabas. Many early churches believed this letter was written by the companion of the Apostle Paul, and they therefore included it in their New
Testament canon.
nary Seam
To Know God Is To Love Others Clement [of Rome] says, "Our love for mankind seeks the common good.'"* But to a the common good sometimes means we must suffer as a martyr. Other times, it ee us to teach by both word and deed. This is love—to love God and to love our neighbor. Clement continues, "This [love] carries us to indescribable heights. Furthermore, 'love covers a multitude of sins.' 'Love bears all things and suffers all things.' Love joins us to God and enables us to do everything harmoniously. The chosen ones of God were perfected in love. Apart from love, nothing is well pleasing to God. Whe is fit to be found in it, except those whom God counts worthy?"* The Apostle Paul says, "If I give my body, and have not love, lam a sounding [piece of] brass and a tinkling cymbal." (1 Cor. 13:1,3) If | simply confess the Lord out of fear, or in expectatior of reward, lam an ordinary man. | may use the Lord's name but I do not really know him. For there are people who love only with their lips. There are even those who give thei bodies to be burned. But Paul says, "If I give all my goods tc the poor" but not out of love, "lam nothing." For I have giver
"Prom the Letter to the Corinthians written by Clement of Rome around 95 A.L Many early churches included this letter in their New Testament canon. Clement ¢
Rome should not be confused with Clement of Alexandria.
To Know God Is To Love Others Page 89 SE with thought of reward—either from the one I have helped, or from the Lord. Paul further says, "If I have all faith so as to remove mountains," but I am not faithful to the Lord because of love, "I am nothing." (1 Cor. 13:3)
Love Hates Sin Love does not permit sin. Yet, if a man with love falls into any sin because of the interference of the adversary, he will imitate David. Like David he will sing, "I will confess unto the Lord, and it will please him more than a young bull that has horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it and be glad." For he says, "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Lord. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." (Ps. 50:13-15) "For the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit." (Ps. 51:17)
As it is said, "God is love." (1 Jn. 4:8) And he is good. Love "works no injury to one's neighbor." (Rom. 13:10) It never injures or extracts revenge. In short, it does good to all according to the image of God. So "love is the fulfillment of the Law." (Rom. 13:10) For example, love fulfills the commands to not commit adultery and to not covet your neighbor's wife. In the past, those sins were prohibited through fear. But now we obey them out of love.'
All the generations from Adam to the present day are gone.
But those who have been pertected in love, through the grace of God, hold the place of the godly. And the godly shail be manifested when the kingdom of Christ comes.
Even though two deeds may be identicai, they can differ in quality, depending on the motive behind them. For it makes a difference whether a deed is done out of fear or out of love. Appropriately, then, the reward is different, depending on the motive. The reward that awaits the one who knows
God is that which "eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and mind has not conceived." (1 Cor. 2:9) But the reward awaiting the one who has merely exercised elementary faith is the promise to receive a hundredfold that which he has left.
(Matt. 19:29) It's still a magnificent reward.' But it's a reward that humans can comprehend. In contrast, the reward that
Page 90 The One Who Knows God awaits the one who knows God is beyond human comprehension.
Love Does Not Lust I remember a certain man who considered himself to be one who knew God. Once he expounded on the words, "But I say unto you, he that looks on a woman to lust after, has committed adultery." (Matt. 5:28) His explanation of this passage was that Jesus was not condemning the bare desire
[for a woman]. Rather, as he explained, what Jesus condemned was actually imagining having sex with another woman.
His explanation reminds me of the judicial decision of Bocchoris the Just, which historians have written about: A certain young man felt passionate love for a prostitute. So he persuaded her to come to him the next day. And he agreed he would pay her a stipulated amount for doing so. However, that night he dreamed of having sex with her. And the dream satisfied his desire. So when the prostitute came to him the next day as agreed, he turned her away.
Later, however, she learned of what had taken place in his dream. And she demanded payment from him. But he refused.' So they both went before the judge. Hearing the story, the judge ordered the young man to take out his purse and hold it out in the sunlight. He then told the prostitute that she could grab the shadow as payment. In other words, he facetiously ordered the young man to give the image of payment in exchange for the image of an embrace.
Chaste love does not admire the beauty of the flesh.
It admires the beauty of the spirit.
But Jesus condemns more than just imagining having sex with a woman. For to fantasize is to already commit an act of lust. Rather, Jesus goes further.' He condemns any man who looks on the beauty of a woman with carnal and sinful
To Know God Is To Love Others Page 91 admiration.
It is a different matter, however, to look on beauty with chaste love. Chaste love does not admire the beauty of the flesh. It admires the beauty of the spirit. With such love, a person sees the body only as an image. His admiration carries him to the Artist himself—to true beauty.