Persevering of hope and faith

Article text:
Rom 5:1-5 – 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.  5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

This Romans 5 text is a follow-on from Romans 4 where the author, believed to be the Apostle Paul, talked about the persevering faith and hope, of our Father of Faith, the patriarch Abraham.

Starting from Rom 4:16, we can see Paul held up Abraham as our Father of Faith.  God told Abraham that He was going to make him the father of many nations.  In Rom 4:17, Scripture tells us that Abraham believed the God whom he believed, to be “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not”; in other words, he believed his God (and ours, too) was/is almighty God who is the creator of all things, that nothing was/is impossible with God.

Some people noted that this Romans 5 text started with hope and then ended in hope (character produces hope [v4])!  It is right to say, we believers already possess a hope and a faith, to begin with (if we have indeed accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior); in Rom 4:18-21, it is said the same, of Abraham.  Rom 4:18 (NIV), Paul said “Abraham IN HOPE believed, and so became the father….”  In fact, there was the phrase “against all hope” preceding “Abraham IN HOPE believed ….”; what does it imply?  It was meant to say, despite many challenges to his hope over time, Abraham continued to believe.  He did NOT lose hope despite the odds staring at him.  Hope is made stronger and persevering when it “has survived” challenges thrown at it. 

Again, was Abraham with some faith already?  Yes, Rom 4:19 (NIV) said this, “WITHOUT WEAKENING IN HIS FAITH, he [Abraham] faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead”.  As is the case for hope, faith too, is made stronger and persevering when “it has survived” challenges thrown at it.  That is what Rom 4:20 said, “Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but WAS STRENGTHENED IN HIS FAITH ….” V21 – “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised”

The Apostle Paul went on to explain how righteousness is accorded (counted/credited) to us.  In Rom 4:22, Paul explained, “This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.””  How? Righteousness is credited to Abraham in his persevering of hope and faith, giving up, NOT.  And Paul said how (in v23) “it was credited to him” were written not for him [Abraham] alone, (v24) BUT ALSO FOR US, to whom God will credit righteousness— ….”.  It is the same for us, through our perseverance of hope and faith, and it begins with our initial faith (salvation faith) [that the works of Christ Jesus wrought us our justification], and with our hope of going to Heaven (salvation hope/hope of glory).  That was how Romans 4 ended, and in Rom 5:1, we read, “Therefore, since ….”. 

The “Therefore, since …” is what links the Roman 5 text we are looking at, to Paul’s talking about we need to be persevering of hope and faith as illustrated by the patriarch Abraham’s life (Romans 4).

Paul was in this Romans 5 text saying, therefore, we, as believers, we have had also righteousness counted to us, and we will continue to have righteousness counted to us, just as we could expect it to have happened to Abraham, that God continued to count righteousness to him, when a life of persevering of hope and faith is being pursued.

“Initiation” has a place in God’s scheme of things or His ways.  What it means is that from then on (from “initiation”), you are counted as ……. whatever the counting is for.  So, for our entry into salvation, we are counted righteous, we counted as citizen of Heaven, we are counted as children of God, we are counted as disciples of the Lord, etc. 

The idea is similar to (metaphor only) when we are recruited into a company, as (say) the Accounts Manager (Accounting Manager) of the company.  So, when you report for work, after the recruitment process (“initiation”), you are introduced as the Accounts Manager of the company.  Now, you have then to function as the Accounts Manager of the company.  You are in name or status, the Accounts Manager of the company, and you are to function as such.  Now, suppose you made a mistake and the company (the recruiter) also made a mistake; you were a Sales Account Manager (previously), but you are recruited as the Finance Accounts Manager.  Now, you do NOT know and cannot perform your role; you may be the Accounting Manager in status, it is a matter of time, you will be discovered of your unfitness for the position, and you will stripped of your position, and asked to go.  What would have made you fit for the position that you have been named into?  The accounting schooling and experience thereof would have fitted you for the position; you have none of it, actually; but you got in, first. (I am NOT suggesting, though, that we can easily have our names erased from the Lamb’s book of life – this is a metaphor. But justification and sanctification are both required for you to get into the company of Heaven, so to speak).

That is why we can find such texts in Scripture:

1 John 3:7 (NASB) – “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one WHO PRACTISES righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous,” and

Rom 8:14-17 (NASB) - 14 FOR all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, IF INDEED WE suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Phil 2:12 -  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my [Paul] presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling.

The notion (of some) that all we need, is righteous standing, and there is NOT the necessity of right living is incorrect.  If it were just right standing only is necessary, the NT Bible needed NOT be that thick, loaded with so much the “dos and don’ts”, and the “hows”; 6-7 pages will do, isn’t it NOT, if all is needed is justification, which is by grace (God’s part anyway). 

Yes, when we entered into salvation, we are counted (adopted) as sons, yet Rom 8:14 said that (truly) sons of God are the ones led by the Spirit of God.  The adoption or conversion is the “initiation”. We still need to walk worthy of the counting or crediting (or calling); and how is that ever able to be accomplished?  Rom 8:14 said it, by being led by the Spirit of God.  If you are no longer being led by the Spirit of God (not referring to occasional lapses), you are no longer the sons of God.

People like to jump to Rom 8:16-17, and say we are children of God and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ Jesus, of the Kingdom of Heaven, but many just imagined the last bit away – the “IF INDEED WE suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  This is NOT the right way to handle scriptures.

I will NOT go into what suffering is, here, but it suffices to say that, it, at least includes sacrificing, even though that, sacrifice, may need to be explained for some to understand.  We do need to make some sacrifice (for sacrifice is part of love, that we love God), so that we may share in the Lord’s glory.  The Apostle Peter painted for us the same picture of suffering-participation (or sacrifice for Jesus) as being part and parcel of our salvation walk.

1 Pet 4:12-19 - 12 Dear friends, DO NOT BE SURPRISED at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

If you look closely at this 1 Peter text, in v18, the Apostle Peter did imply it is NOT as easy as some think, we will get to Heaven (like we just need to accept Jesus as our Saviour by saying the Sinner’s Prayer).  Reading v18 with v17, the “righteous” of v18 should be referring to the believers (God’s household); not so easy for righteous to be saved!  Why? Because many do NOT love the Lord enough, for their version of love has no suffering and no sacrifice for the Lover (God) of their life.  Perhaps, rather, they suffer and sacrifice for other reasons other than as a “participation in the sufferings of Christ”. 

What does the v19 mean by “those who suffer …  should commit themselves to their faithful Creator ….”?  It implies we have to persevere in hope and faith in our Creator God (Also, as a side, it is to be noted that it is NOT God must lead you by His Spirit, but that God is faithful (to lead you); the two are NOT the same; and some people are erroneously holding out to us that it is “God must”; God owing us!  No.).

The Apostle James also highlighted the same -

James 1:2-4 - 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It is in the trials of many kinds, that our posture and actions tell on us, whether or NOT, we are still holding on to our faith and hope.  When the trials call for participation in the sufferings of Christ or sacrifices, will you still hold on to your faith and hope?!  Will you persevere and continue to do good?  Will you consider it pure joy, with the understanding that the development of perseverance of hope and faith, is part and parcel of our Christian character development; joyous that God could use the trials to develop our holiness and godliness, which are necessary for us to of, to go to dwell with Him, in Heaven.  Why is it NOT joy to know that one is progressing (onwards to Heaven)!

In 2 Cor 1:5, the Apostle Paul said this: “For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” 

And he went on to say that if they (Paul and his company) get comforted, it was for the Corinthians’ comfort, which would produce in them (Corinthian) patient endurance of the same sufferings they (Paul and company) suffered.   What Paul said was that we can expect to be comforted by God, in our present life (if NOT, in our after-life, when we come into the sharing of the glory of our Lord), when we do participate in the sufferings of Christ.  

When Paul and his company did get comforted by God, then they would have a (positive) testimony for the Corinthians to take comfort in, and to help them (testimony “encourages” hope and faith) in patient endurance of the sufferings they, too, might have to face (believers, generally, may have to, too).

Phil 2:12, that “work out our salvation” is a reminder to us, that salvation is NOT a one-off incident of saying the Sinner’s Prayer; if it were, there is no “working out” to talk about.  Salvation is justification followed by a life of sanctification before culminating in sharing of the glory of our Lord, in Heaven.  In that life of sanctification, there is testing of the faith and hope, “that it may prove genuine”. In 1 Pet 1:6-7, we read this: “6 In all this [inheritance in Heaven] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

I return to the Romans 5 text; again say, therefore, we, as believers, we have had also righteousness counted to us, and we will continue to have righteousness counted to us, just as we could expect it to have happened to Abraham, that God continued to count righteousness to him, when a life of persevering of hope and faith is being pursued.

Through justification, by faith, we are initiated back into peace with God (Rom 5:1), but it does NOT stop there, unless you die straightaway!

For Rom 5:2, some Bible translation use the word, “introduction” in place of “access”, and I think that word is a better word.  Through the works of Christ Jesus on the Cross (and the resurrection thereof), we obtained introduction into this grace in which we stand.  What is this “this grace in which we stand”?  It is the state of God’s favour.  What is this state of God’s favour?  It is the favour of God counting out righteousness to us as we continue to persevere in our hope and faith. 

What is so important about this God’s counting of righteousness to us, you may ask. It is most important, for without it, righteousness (being counted to us), we lose the reconciliation with God, or we, ill-able to stand before God.  Righteous believers stand tall before God (unrighteous ones dare NOT look up, so to speak!)

Through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, we get into this – the grace of God counting out righteousness to us.  But it is God continues to count to us righteousness as we continue to persevere in our hope and faith.  If we do NOT continue to hold on to our hope and faith, we disqualify ourselves from this counting out of righteousness to us, by God. 

Paul said (Rom 5:2) we rejoice in our salvation hope (the hope of glory), which the works of Christ has secured for us; but why? Because it (hope) lets us see we can be led to the end-point of sharing in the glory of our Lord in Heaven.  Paul, in v3, said it is NOT only that, that we rejoice that we have that hope, we rejoice in our sufferings, too; but again why? Because it (sufferings), when we go through them, it builds up in us, perseverance (of hope and faith), such perseverance defines us, what we will and will NOT do, or our character (One’s character characterises him); and the character from perseverance of hope and faith, is NOT an anyhow character, but a tried character of hope.

Some find it astonishing this Romans 5 passage seems to start from hope and then, in a round circle comes back to the same – hope! I have said, from hope (and faith), through perseverance through sufferings where our hope (and faith) are stretched and tested, we develop of a tried character of hope.  And this tried character according to Rom 5:4 produces hope! 

How are we to understand this (the tried character produces hope)?  One way, discernible from the above exposition of mine, is that the resultant person will be one NOT easily persuaded from his hope and faith; in other words, he will die, die persevere in his hope and faith.  Another way of looking at it, is that after perseverance, in sufferings, has finished its work, the person will NOT just be a person of hope (and faith) but a person with persevering hope (and faith).

I believe it is more than that (above), it is also that Hope has taken hold of him.  What is Hope?  Or who is Hope?  In 2 Cor 4:7-12, we read this:

7 But we have this TREASURE in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life [hope] is at work in you.

The treasure in this 2 Cor 4 text, has been said to the Gospel, God, Spirit of God or Spirit of Christ; they are all NOT incorrect.  I say, it is also Hope.  What do we say Christ is?  Yes, He is hope of glory (Col 1:27 – “Christ in you, the hope of glory”). 

Such a tried character, NOT only the hope in him will be able to see him through the harshest scenarios, some of which was given us in 2 Cor 4:8 (see above), Christ (the hope of glory) lives out of him; he becomes the hope, because Christ or the Spirit of Christ or the Gospel lives through him; he becomes the bearer of light, the bearer of hope.

Lastly, we find the last verse, v5, of this Rom 5:1-5 text said that (the tried) salvation hope, it will NOT shame us, or disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us; what does it mean? To understand this, we need to go back to the Rom 8:14-17 text I have given above. The understanding is like this:

Rom 8:15 tells us that upon entry into salvation, we (our spirits) get counted or adopted as sons of God. But when we take the whole text together, we will realise that, with vv14 & 16 & 17 in, it is, as we are being led by the Holy Spirit, including when we do suffer with Christ (participate in sufferings of Christ), the Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.  As we let the Spirit leads us through all the good times and the bad times we face and pass through, we become knowing (ginosko-knowing) of God’s love as it is showered into our hearts through the Holy Spirit as He leads us.

A person having through such, undergone perseverance of hope and faith through sufferings, will know (ginosko-know) the hope he is having will NOT shame and will NOT disappoint, ultimately. 

Have NOT you heard it being said, “If Christians are wrong about the Gospel (the hope therein), they would be most miserable people to have lived!”  By “miserable”, these people mean we, Christians, in their eyes, gave up all the liberties and so-called opportunities to indulge one-self, which they did NOT (as non-Christians).  If we are wrong, we have been stupid and “don’t know where to hide our faces”, is what they are thinking.  What do you think?  As for me, I say my hope will NOT shame or disappoint, for I know the love of God poured into my heart through the Holy Spirit indwelling and leading me (as I let Him to; you have to let Him lead you).

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here. 

Why Cain’s offering was rejected, and Abel’s accepted

I was in a fellowship meeting, and was sharing about we need to love God back (and we need to absolutely love Him back), even as He first loved us and has continued to love us; a brethren then said that he had a question to ask.  Because I deferred to the “speaker” of the meeting, I did NOT answer this brother, as I was only sharing in connection to the message shared by the speaker which was centered on “God knows” as in He is omniscience. 

I shared about love, because there is the “God knows” as in He knows everything (omniscience), and there is the “God knows” as in He ginosko-knows (If you want to gain greater understanding of the different “know” words used in NT Scripture, go read this: “I don’t know you – Part I”).  I quoted 2 scriptures on the importance of the “God knowing us grounded from personal experience (with us)”; that is what ginosko (a Greek word for “know”) means.  They are John 10:14 – I am the good shepherd; I ginosko (know) my sheep, and my sheep ginosko (know) me; and 1 Cor 8:3 – And he who loves God is ginosko (known) by God.

This brother had the issue as spelt out in the title of this entry, bothering him, and so, took the chance to ask if there is an answer to the question posed – Why Cain’s offering was rejected, and Abel’s accepted; purportedly he was asking how does God love, and so, how are we to love Him back?  In other words, at the back of his mind, he was puzzled by how come, the love of God manifested forth as rejecting one and accepting the other.  It was indeed serious, for, subsequent to that rejection, Cain ended up killing Abel, and Cain got banished by God.

So, here, I would like to put down my thoughts.  Now, why did I say it as such (my thoughts); it is because there are different ideas expressed by interpreters of this Cain and Abel’s account, a very brief account.  Brief account generally poses difficulty to exegesis, for the lack of details mentioned; and some filling in the gaps and assumptions often become necessary.  The cautions are these: 1. Whatever filling in, of the gaps, and assumptions, they must be reasonable AND they must NOT in any way contradict what was plainly stated already in the account; 2. Interpretation must NOT be inconsistent with other scriptures and the overall counsel of the Word.  3.  Don’t manipulate to fit self-made doctrines/theology of the faith.

These are the relevant texts, from Scripture:

Genesis 4:1-10 (NIV) - 1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." 2a Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

2b Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Heb 11:4 (KJV) - By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

1 John 3:12 (NIV) - Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Jude 1:10-11 - 10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them. 11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.

Is it plainly just the sovereignty of God at work? Now, this is one proposition.  The proponents argued that God accepted one and rejected another; no reason needed to be given, and it is NOT fruitful to try to find out the reason.  Is it really solely due to the sovereignty of God?  Is the sovereignty of God quite correctly portrayed, when we attribute this case to reason of sovereignty?  Is there NOT another or other key attributes of God working together?

No doubt the key personhood attribute of God is “God is God”, and that means sovereignty is His and His alone, but at the same time, God is God firstly, also means He is the most wise or Wisdom, and so, things aren’t expected to be haphazard or decisions made for no realm or reason.  Furthermore, the key nature-hood attribute of God is Holiness; this definitely defines how God would make decisions and act.  We have to be careful if we too easily assign sovereignty as in there is no reason for a thing done, to explain issues. God has reasons, it is just we do NOT know; and when it is so, that we do NOT know, we have to accept that or pursue revelation, and NOT to be too presumptuous.  I, of course, hope I am NOT being too presumptuous here, for, later on, we will see, another proposition for the rejection, is that Cain was being presumptuous!

A little analogy:  Suppose I am the King, and I want to eat papaya, and I don’t want to eat durian, the king of fruits.  I want my papaya, and you are to give me papaya; I am exercising my sovereignty, for I am the King. 

If it were the other way round, I have been demanding for durians, and have been having durians for a while now, and NOT papaya; and now Mr Can and Mr Able come to me, and Mr Can gives me durians (that which I have been eating), and Mr Able, papaya, can I just say to Mr Can (durians), “you evildoer”, and Mr Able (papaya), “you done well”, and throw Mr Can into the dungeon and throw away the key!  Mr Can did wrong?! This is NOT God’s kinda of sovereignty, as far as I know.  It is more of tyranny!  So, don’t make God out to be the evil tyrant.  Or God faulting people out of whims and fancy!

Is it Cain’s offer was from cursed ground, and Abel, NOT? Now, this too, is a common proposition, but is it quite acceptable?  In my view, no!  What is meant by the secondary punishment that God cursed the ground that men would have to toil much to meet their needs?  No, it does NOT mean just the ground, as in the ground where we grow crops on!  If it were, if you go fishing, you need to toil NOT, and you would get loads of fish easily?  Today, if you are an agent taking booking for seats of spacecraft to go to the moon, for example, you are NOT doing anything that get to do with the ground, and you are NOT under the curse?  Or you are a stockbroker, buying and selling stocks and shares on the stock exchanges for your clients, you are excluded?  No.  And so, too, one who breeds livestock is NOT excluded from it.  For one thing, what do sheep and cattle feed on? Grass of the ground!  So, it is NOT Cain brought something from the ground, and Abel, NOT, per se, the reason for one being rejected and the other, accepted.

Is it one was a gardener, Cain, and the other, a flock keeper, Abel; occupation the issue?  Yes, it is written in Gen 4:2 that Cain worked the soil, and Abel, kept flocks, but there weren't others in the first family, apart from the parents, Adam and Eve; someone got to be working on the ground, to grow something for the vegetable side of the diet.  God, we know, did NOT ostracise or gave farmers a miss; Gideon was believed to be a wheat farmer before he was raised by God to be a Judge (Judges 6:11).  Good and honest occupations were (and are) never a problem to God – Moses was a shepherd (flock keeper); Gideon, a farmer; a few of the disciple-apostles of Jesus, fishermen.

Is it quality of the offerings, the problem?  Now, if we mean Cain brought in, NOT the best of the fruits, maybe there was a case to talk about, but if we are comparing fruits with fats portion in terms of quality, I think that is comparing apple with orange, so to speak.

So, did Cain bring in, NOT the best of the fruits, and Abel, brought in the best of the flocks?  What was said there, was that Cain brought in some fruits as the offering, and Abel, the fats portion from some of his firstborns of the flocks.  It is possible to say, Cain just took some fruits, NOT carefully picking the best of the fruits, to include in his offering.  Abel, could be argued to have taken the trouble to select the firstborns, and took the fats portion thereof. 

One question to ask would be, “Had Abel also just brought in fats portion of some other borns (borns other than firstborns) and offered it up, would it make the 2 offerings, Cain and Abel’s equivalent?”  The point is that “firstborn” was recorded for us, for a reason, even if we may or may NOT know the reason.  Otherwise, it could have been recorded for us, as simply, Abel brought in some fats portion or fats portion from the flocks.  Perhaps, there was even significance to the “fats portion”; otherwise, it could have just said, Abel brought in some meat or brought in a sheep or a goat as offering.  The reasonable deduction is that Cain missed something, maybe more than one, while Abel got enough thing(s) right.

If quality was the issue, I submit to you, it would be best if we define quality; and it should be: “a quality offering is one that would meet the requirement”.  We will talk about requirement, in our next section.

Is it one meeting requirement and the other, NOT?  I have already hinted before, above, and I will say it again, I do NOT believe God is whimsical or our God is a capricious God.  When the person is whimsical or capricious, and He is God, that would be a formula for a very evil tyrant!  I don’t believe my God is such; if you do, your God, then what’s the point of following after such a god!  “Boy, you will NOT even know how or when, you would get hacked to death!” goes a colloquial saying, here, over this part of the world. 

No, God is NOT like that; He is God, first of all; He is Holiness, first of all, also!  And, He is Wisdom, and He is righteousness.  Scripture, in Ps 89:14a and Ps 97:2, said that the foundation of God throne or rule is justice and righteousness.  It is NOT anyhow, and without order, for God is order.  Our God, as portrayed in Scripture, is a God of demand and order.  How can God have no demand; how can Holiness have no demand; how can Wisdom have no demand; and how can it be righteousness, if there is no demand.  I think people are engaging in self-deluding fantasy in painting to us, God is without demand and order.  Chaos is what you will get if God is chaotic!

Remember the durian-guy (Mr Can) and the papaya-guy (Mr Able), I talked about above.  In the example above, had the King NOT given any clue as to what He wanted, durians or papaya or whatever fruit, how in the world are these 2 fellows to know what to bring before the King.  If the King left them no choice, Mr Can and Mr Able would look for clue(s) to bet their lives on.  Despite the absence of mention, it is therefore reasonable to assume some clues had been given, as to what God would be happy with, as offerings, the children of the first family could bring to Him.

Perhaps, Adam and Eve had had on occasions brought offerings to God, and the children were aware, or even witnessed them.  Or perhaps, the parents had told them about such things as offerings to be made to God.  Or perhaps, God Himself revealed certain hints or clues to the children directly or indirectly.  Or maybe, even, God had been specific and laid down some requirements, in the past.  The Word of God, His communications (NOT just words, but included others, like signs and wonders, signals, etc.) and testimonies of Him, they are knowledge of Him that we are to take note of.  These are what I meant as “clues” given.

Before I bring an important key from the Book of Hosea to bear on this account, let me say that, some revelation was available; but what exactly, was the revelation, was beside the point!  In other words, it matters NOT, if for Cain, it was pointing to the best pulp from the “firstborn” fruits (or firstfruits), and for Abel, fats portion from the firstborn flocks, or it was a case of a one “type” of offering for both, like it was to be fats portion, or blood sacrifice, as some have suggested (In my view, there was nothing to suggest the offering MUST be blood sacrifice. The Hebrew used for the offering word was NOT indicative of such, also).

What is this important key from the Book of Hosea?  This is what we read in Hosea 4:6 and 6:6 –

Hosea 4:6 (KJV) - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Hosea 6:6 (KJV) - For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

We can see (from Hosea 6:6), the knowledge of Hosea 4:6 is in fact referring more, to the knowledge of God (or the faith), and NOT any knowledge.  God’s people can get destroyed for lack of knowledge of God or the faith.  And often, it is that people have rejected such knowledge, or they could have been NOT bothered with such.

I submit to you, both Cain and Abel were surrounded by the same presence of knowledge of God; there were only 4 persons in the first household then – Adam and Eve, and these 2 sons, Cain and Abel.  It is reasonable to assume both Cain and Abel had equal access opportunities as to the knowledge of God; the sources of which, I had elaborated above, including the lives of their parents, Adam and Eve.

Hosea 4:6 said if you reject knowledge, which could mean you could NOT be bothered with it, God could reject you, saying “thou shall be no priest to me”.  What is one of the things that priests do?  Make offerings.  What happened at the Genesis 4 account?  Cain was rejected of his offering.

I want to draw our attention to the author of the Book of Hebrew’s mention of the account, in Heb 11:4 (KJV) - By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

It said “By faith Abel offered”; it means that Abel exercised faith in his offering to God.  Faith is NOT spelt “F A C T S”, it is “F A I T H” (or you have seen it said – “R I S K”).  People give various opposites to faith; but I have NOT seen one putting it as facts.  When it is a fact, there is no faith involved.  It is just like, it is either you SEE or you are BLIND, “see” and “blind” don’t go together.   So, if it is a fact, no more question of exercising faith, and if it is faith, it is NOT yet a fact.  And so, for faith there is theoretically an element of risk; that is why some say, faith is spelt as “risk”. 

We deal with God always in FAITH, if we choose to.  It is NOT, “in FACT”, as a whole, for we have yet the full mind of God directly (No, the one verse in Scripture, where it said we have the mind of Christ, it does NOT mean directly we have the mind of God – I will NOT explain here; it is a separate exposition). We are expected to deal with God in faith, for Scripture said in Heb 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God; in Rom 14:23, it is said that, that which proceeded NOT from faith, is sin.

Pertaining to the account of Genesis 4, although NOT mentioned, like I said and elaborated, it is NOT unreasonable to assume, there was knowledge of God accessible in the setting, and this is very important, for faith is of two components - a right belief and a conviction thereof.  

What is a right belief?  A right belief is a belief in the knowledge of God - a truth of God, a word of God, a communication of God, a will of God or an instruction of God.  A right belief is NOT what you think; it is your believing what God said or His truths. 

Remember, I said earlier that one of the propositions is that Cain had been presumptuous.  Now, when we think or say (and so, accordingly do), “God doesn’t mind”, and there is no support for that, from the knowledge of God, we are being presumptuous.  Perhaps, Cain had thought, “God doesn’t mind, I will just give Him some fruits, any fruits; after all He could just speak the word, and He could get whatever fruits He wants; I  will just give Him some fruits, that’s it.”  If against the backdrop of the knowledge of God then, there was no support of that, and I believe there was no such support, then Cain had been presumptuous.  We can say Cain was being presumptuous, but I prefer to say the more sufficient answer is to connect the presumptuousness back to faith.

How is faith and presumptuousness connected?  If want another opposite of faith, it is being presumptuous.  To be with faith, is NOT to be presumptuous; and to be presumptuous is to be, NOT with faith (or without faith).  At the centre of faith is the knowledge of God; at the centre of presumptuousness is the ignoring of the knowledge of God or without the knowledge of God.  In other words, Abel was making the offering by faith; Cain, NOT by faith or by presumption.

King David understood the peril of presumptuousness.  We read this in Ps 19:13 (KJV) - Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

We come back to what I have said as “A right belief is NOT what you think; it is your believing what God said or His truths.”  For example, you may think all you want, that it is alright to steal; that cannot be a right belief, for God said, “Thou shall NOT steal” (one of the 10 Commandments). 

Faith is right belief with conviction.  If the conviction is NOT strong, your belief in the matter is NOT strong, and it is likely you will NOT launch into the action consistent with that belief; we say the faith is NOT yet operative.  When the conviction has busted the inaction threshold, you go into action, and we have a faith in action or operative faith or a living faith (and NOT a dead faith). 

When you could easily put off doing the thing consistent with the right belief, it means the belief conviction is NOT strong; your faith is weak or you have ineffective faith or in the extreme, you are in unbelief or without faith in the matter.  Many people let a little inconvenience and a little cost put them off, from doing what faith calls for; their faith in the matter is just too weak.

Some may argue that even if Cain, by faith, trusted that God had wanted fats portion as offering, he could NOT give it, for he was a farmer; the brother, Abel had the flocks.  My answer is that, still that does NOT mean he could NOT come up with the offering.  He could have barter-traded with Abel for the required animal offering; or he could have offered some form of payment to Abel for it.  It was NOT excuse enough, I would say.  Talking about this, King David said, “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing”, and had insisted to pay for the Araunah threshing floor (to build the altar on) and the oxen (for the burnt offering) (2 Sam 24:24).

I submit to you, Cain did NOT come close to the requirement of the offering because he had NOT come close to the requirement of “by faith”; Abel did.  The issue is the faith of Cain; one or both components of the faith unit was faulty; it was either the belief was wrong, because he lacked the knowledge (for example, that fats portion was called for) or rejected it or couldn’t be bothered with it, or his belief was right, but the conviction thereof was weak, and he allowed excuses for himself for NOT doing the right thing.  God actually explained it to Cain, in verse 7 of Genesis 4: - If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

I submit to you, it is reasonable to assume both Cain and Able was able to come to the faith, NOT fact, that fats portion was called for (or even if, for Cain, it was something else).  Cain did NOT reach that faith, and it was his fault; Abel did. 

It could even have been a much earlier and so, more serious fault of Cain of NOT wanting to pay attention to the matter of knowledge of God, and so, missed or could NOT reach the belief that fats portion was called for (or the something else, for Cain’s part).  This need to pay attention to the matter of knowledge of God, in itself is a faith subject matter, and if Cain or us, did (do) NOT build up our conviction, and allow excuses to prevent us from paying attention, our disinterested attitude, it too, is subject to the same warning words of God as in verse 7 of Genesis 4.  Abel did come to the “fats portion” called for, by FAITH (NOT by facts), as said in Heb 11:4. 

Actually, Cain was NOT punished by God for his offering; it was just that God rejected it (did NOT look upon it with favour).  The stress was NOT the burnt offering (fats offerings were burnt to give the aroma as incense unto God), per se, for that occasion; that was why no punishment was meted out except the rejection of the offering, for God was, as in Hosea 6:6 pointed out - more wanting to teach this: “For I desired ….. the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Next, I feel it is necessary to talk a little more, on the Heb 11:4 text on the account - By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Going by faith, will any time, leads to more excellent sacrifice or offering or works for God.  You should be able to understand this, as you have noted how faith is comprised (I explained above).  Knowledge of God is in faith; action by faith is action with the knowledge of God.  Prov 29:18a said to us that without (vision) revelation from God, the people perish (vision here is NOT necessarily goal, some people mis-preached this; it is revelation).  We need revelation from God, for revelation from God gives us knowledge of God, the substance of belief (or what I called right belief), and so, the vital component of faith; without which we cannot please God (Heb 11:6); and we would be in sin, quite easily (Gen 4:7; Rom 14:23), which can lead to our destruction. 

The author of Hebrew, in that Heb 11:4 text ,said that Abel was counted righteous.  What is the simple definition of righteous?  It is this: being right on, as to what God wants done, and being right on, as to when God wants it done.  Being counted righteous or even righteousness always goes with operative faith (NOT non-operative faith or dead faith; faith without works is dead).  It is faith, NOT fact, leading to being counted righteous; when it is fact, it is already over.  To take note is that, it said there, it was God who was the witness; in other words, righteous or NOT righteous, is weighed against God’s will and desires (NOT men's or another).

What about the last bit “and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”  The “it” there was referring to “he (Abel) being counted as righteous by God”.  God does NOT forsake the righteous; and so, the dead righteous Abel "spoke", and God gave ear.  The psalmist, King David, said this, in Ps 37:25 – “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”  Not only does this able to hold true in our mortal lives, it holds true past death.  God gave ear to Abel’s (spirited) soul, after death (murdered by Cain).

There is also this 1 John 3:12 text, put up there, at the beginning of this article, that has the account referred to. 1 John 3:12 (NIV) - Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.

Why did Cain murder Abel?  It said there because Cain’s own actions were evil, and those of Abel were righteous.  The actions of both, included that particular action of making the offering to God as depicted in Genesis 4 were referred to.  Those of Cain were evil and those of Abel were righteous. 

God said in Genesis 4:7, that if we do not do what is right, sin is crouching at our door; it desires to have us.  That was precisely what happened, Cain’s NOT doing what were right (probably NOT just that occasion) made him vulnerable to be had by sin; eventually sin had him and he became belonging to the evil one, and he ended up murdering Abel who went about living by faith (leading to righteous actions, and so, as the offering incident showed, was counted righteous by God). 

The evil one is Satan; in John 10:10a, it is said Satan came to steal, kill and destroy.  And in 1 Pet 5:8, we read that Satan is like a roaring lion roaming and seeking to devour whom he may devour.  If we do NOT do what is right, he can be crouching at our door!

Now, this account is interesting for the reason that all of these, the offering incident and the subsequent murdering of Abel by Cain, happened so very early in the genealogy of Man, in the very first family, between the first natural children of the Adam and Eve after the Fall. I submit to you, we can be targeted by the evil one; even as a believer with the imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus, and so, we are still to live and act righteous.  Genesis 4:7 is a reminder for us all to live righteous for if we don’t, sin is crouching at our door; it desires to have us, and if we do NOT master it, it will master us once again. 

In 1 John 3:7, the Apostle John reminded us, in this regard: “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he {Jesus} is righteous.” Jesus was (and is) righteous yet He too had to live righteous (when He walked the earth). We likewise have to do the same.  That is what this 1 John 3:7 is saying.

Now, instead of heeding God’s warning in Genesis 4:7 to master over sin, sin mastered Cain, and he ended up murdering his brother, Abel, and he was unrepentant when confronted by God.  God punished Cain; banished Cain, and put a further curse of hardship on him in terms of toiling for his needs.  The refusal of Cain to live by faith, which necessitated the pursuing of the knowledge of God, had led to Cain being banished, and that too, put the descendants of Cain away from God.  Even Hosea 4:6, the last bit of the verse, had the warning – “I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” So, let this be a warning – we have to live by faith.  The righteous shall live by faith, said Heb 10:38.

Since there is still one last text having mention of Cain - Jude 1:11, I will address that too, before we end.  Jude 1:10-11, you can re-read it above; Cain’s way is only mentioned as one of the 3, and so, its link to the preceding verses of Jude 1, is NOT so strong; in other words, Cain’s way was NOT meant to explain all of what was said, preceding to the citation of the 3 incidents/happenings (Cain’s way; Balaam’s way; and Korah’s way).  Elements of Cain’s way applying was that Cain was NOT with knowledge of God (and so, faith), either he rejected it or couldn’t be bothered with it. 

Knowledge of God needs to be laid hold of, and that means exercised in operative faith, which Cain failed to do.  Absence or ignoring of the knowledge of God, and so, would NOT be operating in faith, men (such men as Cain) default to going by knowledge from carnal instinct, that they would end up being presumptuous, and this very presumptuousness is what would destroy them.

With all of the above, what have we said as to why Cain’s offering was rejected, while Abel’s, accepted?  It was due to Cain NOT living and acting by faith, which necessitated pursuing the knowledge of God, which is an essential element or component of faith, and without faith, he could NOT be righteous, and could NOT meet the requirement of the offering in question.  Abel, on the other hand, by faith, offered the offering that is right on, with what God wanted. 

How does this speak of how God’s love was, in the incident, or is, to us all?  Here is NOT the place to expound at length, on this subject of God’s love, but I will briefly lay it down: 

The love of God for men, is `ahab love, and an important essence of it, is  “love unto righteousness”.  It means God cannot anyhow love you and I; He can only ultimately love us unto righteousness.  He can only move to love us in line with His righteousness; or we say His love can promote only, righteousness in us; if it does NOT, he moves NOT.  Cain was NOT righteous, and so, God could NOT approve of him and his offering, in love.  Abel, on the other hand, was righteous, for he lived and acted by faith, and so, God could approve of him and his offering, in love. God is firstly holiness, and His love is subjugated to His holiness. He cannot love evil and he cannot approve in love, you and I, when we are evil or doing evil.   When we continue in evil, it is we making ourselves out of range of God’s love, and it is NOT God does NOT want to love us.

 

Anthony Chia, high.expressions

 

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: high.expressions@gmail.com Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.

Good works explained (PART I)

What is good works? The works of a philanthropic? The big, big good undertakings, like that of Mother Theresa? What about I give my lunch pack to another? Is my working to earn an income to support myself and to provide for my family a good works?

Common definition of works
What is a works? A works is something on which exertion or labor is expended; a task or undertaking. Very simply, a works is an action, a laboring or a deed. When we do something to produce something, that is a works. This is one definition, but is this the definition used in Scriptures?

What is lacking in the common definition
I believe as a minimum, we have to add “from whose point of view” into the definition. We need to interpret Scriptures theocentrically, meaning we have to interpret Scriptures from the perspective of God. In other words, whether what is done is works or not, must be viewed from God’s perspective; if God says it is works, it is works, if God says it is NOT works, it is NOT works.

For example, I can say Mr A is NOT working, but you may disagree and say he is; then another person may say Mr A is NOT working, he is playing, and Mr A himself may express that he is both working and playing! This illustrates the importance of attaching  “from whose point of view”.

Believing per se is NOT works
So how does God view works? For one thing, believing per se is NOT works; these scriptures tell us so:

James 2:14-18 –

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

James 2:20-24 –

20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

James 2:25-26 –

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

What about words or verbalization?
Are words or verbalizations, even “silent verbalizations”, works or not? I believe we have to divide such into 2 categories to consider. One category is verbalization of belief, and other, action through verbalization.

Action through verbalization
Actions through verbalization include all such actions like preaching, giving a lecture, instructing, teaching or singing; and they are works, mostly, theocentrically; are all works, generally (using the common definition) {Similarly, actions with mouth (not verbalization), such as eating, drinking, biting, kissing, etc are similarly mostly works (not necessarily good works), theocentrically; are all works, generally}.

Verbalization of belief, works or not?
First, let me pose this question, “Do you consider believing in your heart (NOT yet verbalisation) that Jesus Christ died for you, a works?” No, a mere belief or "faith" (or rather, I prefer to say, an incomplete unit of faith) is NOT works. This we have seen above, supported by verses from Apostle James, particularly James 2:22, 24.

How about confessing with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Savior? In other words, is the verbalization of your belief or "faith" in Jesus Christ, works? For THIS verbalization of belief, there is agreement, but NOT strong agreement (some still do NOT agree) that it is works. I will elaborate a little more below.

Verbalization of belief on salvation
How does one enter into salvation? Typically, he believes in his heart, and confesses with his mouth that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior (Rom 10:10). So, is that works? Because, we are accustomed to saying salvation is by grace, through faith, and NOT by works, many of us will NOT even look at the verbalization of our belief, as works. I can appreciate that, but I also have no issue with saying that the confession with one’s mouth is a deed or works, using the common definition. But could it be regarded as a works theocentrically?

If believing with one’s heart that Jesus died for him, is NOT deed or works, and confessing with one’s mouth, the same, is also NOT deed or works, theocentrically, what is the significance of the calling for both, in entering into salvation?

Now, I said that typically, how one comes into salvation is by believing in his heart and confessing with his mouth (and that is what is said in Rom 10:10), but it really does NOT necessarily be that a confession with the mouth must be had; if for example, he was asked to come to the front of a sanctuary, and given a salvation form to fill in, and he did that, even if there was no verbalization, the person has entered into salvation. The coming up to the front of a sanctuary and filling in of the salvation form are actions acknowledging the belief in the heart (motive/purpose – to acknowledge). If you look at it that way, confessing with one’s mouth serves exactly the same function, acknowledging the belief, and is therefore, equivalent.

But I still have not answered the question of whether or not there is a unit of works here, theocentrically. Perhaps, this way of looking at the matter is admissible: Salvation believing is NOT works, theocentrically, confessing of that belief, for the first time, is works theocentrically (making confession of our salvation faith, the first good works of a believer). The point is that when it is the first time, the very act acknowledges (motive/purpose) that salvation faith.

Doesn’t contradict salvation is by grace, as far as I can see it
I see no real inconsistency with saying that the confession of one’s belief in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, completing the entry into salvation, as works, and the saying that salvation is by grace, through faith, not by works. The intent and purpose of saying that salvation is not by works, is to point to us not being able to earn or merit our entry into salvation; surely acknowledging our belief that is in our heart is no more meriting than stretching our hand out to receive or saying I will take it, when a gift is offered; rather this action pleases God, for it is in agreement with His will. As one's stretching forth his hand to receive a gift is NOT regarded that the receipient has merited or worked for the gift, in the same way, a non-believer coming into salvation, that he lifted up his hands or verbalised his belief, cannot be treated that he has merited or worked for the gift of salvation; it does NOT contradict "Salvation is a gift", by grace. But that lifting up his hands or verbalising his belief forms the first works, completing the salvation faith.

Actually viewing the process of entry into salvation in the above manner points us to “faith” in Jesus Christ is NOT faith in Jesus Christ, until the belief in Jesus Christ is acknowledged by the person; or when acknowledged, the belief in Jesus Christ becomes faith in Jesus Christ. The works of acknowledging the belief (in this case, in Jesus Christ) is what completes the faith. Belief in this sense is incomplete faith. I believe this is what James was trying to say in James 2:22, 24.

Confession and profession
Confession essentially is to acknowledge something that is already there. In this case, the “something” is the belief in the heart. Our confession acknowledges that belief that is already in the heart.

To me, there is a difference between confession and profession, although it is commonly used interchangeably. Maybe it is easier to see the difference when we reference it to sin (instead of salvation belief). When someone committed a sin against you, that is a fact, although not necessarily known to others. When he confesses that he has sinned against you, it means he acknowledges that he has sinned against you. Subsequently, when he makes mention of the same sin with you, he is not confessing, for what is already confessed, stays confessed. More correctly, to me, in the latter, he is professing (stating), not again confessing. Similarly, for belief in Jesus Christ, in the first time, we confess (acknowledge) our belief, subsequently, we profess (state) our faith.

What about subsequent professions?
When one has entered into salvation he is a believer or a Christian. His believing in his heart and his confession with his mouth made him to be a Christian. Now, what if he repeats (and repeats) he is a Christian, any works there or good works there, theocentrically? If it is MERE profession, my answer is “No”, for the motive/purpose of first time confession (to acknowledge the belief in the heart) has been expended. The first time mouthing of the belief was to acknowledge (motive) the belief of the heart. Subsequent profession of the same faith must be for a fresh motive/purpose. Now, if we just keep repeating without a motive, it is just vain repetitions, which do NOT please God. In Matt 6:7 we read this:

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

In general too, MERE mouthing of words do NOT constitute works, theocentrically, unless it is loaded with a motive/purpose. For example, you are saying you are a Christian in crisis situation to encourage others, that your God is mighty to save, your professing you are a Christian is a works, a good works, for it was loaded with a noble purpose of encouraging others in a time of crisis.

Mere talk or talk per se
We have seen that if you verbalize your faith with the intention to encourage another, that is a works or deed. Of course, if you speak to discourage another, that is a works or deed, too, albeit NOT a “good” works or deed. Lying is works or a deed, for when you lied, you talked with a motive, albeit with a bad one. What about mere talk or talk per se?

We often hear people saying talk is cheap, or even NATO (No Action, Talk Only). In such, perhaps, is also found a guide as to whether or not, talk or verbalization is works. For example, if before us, there is a thinly dressed, empty-handed young girl, understandably lost her way, outside, in the open, late at night, in freezing winter season, and we are indoor, around a warm fireplace, chatting and looking out of glass windows in front of us, and we only talk about the girl’s plight and the possibility of her freezing to death in the night, and do nothing for her, our talk is cheap talk, and we are just being members of NATO, so to speak, no action, talk only. There is no works in such cheap talk. Well, we could say we have a motive, we just wanted to pass time and we just took her as a subject of conversation. In that case, it is an occasion of talk per se, or mere talk, and there is no works there, in relation to the young girl’s plight, and in God’s eyes.

We can talk all we want, how much of it amounts to works
The point of such lengthy deliberation on words or verbalization or speech or talk, is to remind us that we can talk all we want, the crucial point is whether any of it amounts to works, and good works. Actually, a lot of us talk a lot; we use up a big chunk of our time in talking, in words, in verbalization (even writing, well, consistent with change of time, with electronic communications, SMSes, emails, chats, etc). There is indeed a need for us to see that bigger and bigger portions of our such verbalizations fall into good works, not bad ones, and not into no works. How do we do that? The way is to cleanse ourselves from corruptive ones, and to avoid more, those verbalizations, speeches or talks that do NOT amount to good works, and to do more of those that do, not forgetting our motives (or purposes) are key.

What about physical actions?
The framework is similar. For example, if you are simply walking for no apparent reason or motive, what you are doing is no works, but if you are walking with a motive of getting to a place where there is a phone to call for help for someone in distress, your walking can possibly be a works, a good one; if you are walking to a place to fetch a boulder to throw at someone already fallen into a well, that is surely works, but a bad one.

Remember, it is to be from God’s perspective
We will NOT go into quarreling over whether or not there is such thing as absolutely no works. Works is always in relation to or relative to someone or something. Even a man’s walking aimlessly maybe no works to us, but to that man, walking aimlessly, serves a purpose, whatever that purpose may be (even to give him time to calm down, for example, is a purpose), it is a works in his point of view (he did not do nothing, he was trying to calm down). But we are to remember that we are to view works from God’s perspective.

So, what constitute good works in the eyes of God?
Although it is NOT necessary to begin this discussion with the confession of salvation belief (or faith, as is more commonly referred to), I will start there. If you feel very strongly that it is wrong to treat confession of salvation faith for the first time as works (the first good works of a believer), you can still skip the next paragraph and go on with the one following.

The first confession (actually, there is only one confession, all subsequent ones are really professions, not confession) of salvation belief (even if it were not verbal, e.g. came to the sanctuary front and filled in the salvation form) with acknowledgment as a motive/purpose, has made the salvation belief a complete unit of faith. Putting it in another way, faith, even salvation faith is of 2 components, a right belief, and a conviction; and it is only when the conviction is so strong and strong enough to propel the person to an action like speaking the belief out, walking to the front of the sanctuary, or filling up a salvation form, that, that faith unit is made complete, and becomes righteousness-countable to God, and all works from belief conviction is good works in the eyes of God. 

What faith is
We know from Scripture that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). My understanding of faith is that a complete unit of faith or faith that is righteousness-countable to God is of 2 components, a right belief and a strong enough conviction in that belief. The right belief must be based on the Word and truth of God, His will and desires.

For example, if you think it is right to steal from another, and you go and steal from another, your belief is NOT a right belief, although you may think that you have the correct belief, that stealing is ok, but based on the Word and truth of God, that belief you have is NOT a right belief. The other component of faith is the conviction of that belief you have. If your conviction is strong enough, you will act on your belief, and we have an action or works. If you do not feel strongly enough stealing is the thing to do (your conviction not strong enough), you will not do it.

Also noteworthy is that our motives/purposes are invariably linked to our belief system. There is a lot of truth in the common saying that we hear, “You are what you believe”. Scripture puts it this way:

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:45-46)

He {Jesus} went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. (Mark 7:20-22)

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. (Matt 12:33-35)

In Scripture, where is our belief lodged in? It is in the heart.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Rom 10:10) – concerning salvation

That is why the set of verses quoted here made reference to the heart of man. God looks at the heart, for it is there that our belief is lodged, and they shape the thoughts or meditations of our heart. Before God commissioned Noah to build the ark, and sent The Flood, this was what God said:

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time (Gen 6:5).

This is what King David told his son, Solomon:

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts (1 Chr 28:9)

If it is not yet apparent to you, I will say it, “Many people confuse faith with belief”. One does NOT yet have a faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior until he has believed (a belief) in his heart, and confessed with his mouth (threshold-crossing conviction reached). Until one completes the second portion of the salvation process which NOT necessarily be confession with his mouth, it can be his coming to the front of the sanctuary and filling up a salvation form, he, at most, has a belief, NOT a (complete unit of) faith in Christ Jesus. What pleases God is, a right belief (as defined above) AND threshold-crossing conviction of that belief. When there is that combination, we have a faith unit, and we inevitably have an action or works. And because the action or works is based on a right belief, it is pleasing to God, and therefore, is said to be good. Righteousness-countable faith = right belief + works (motivated from that belief conviction). A NOT yet righteousness-countable "faith" or a non-expended "faith" (strictly, still an incomplete faith) = right belief + that belief conviction. When the conviction exceeded the thrusthold of inaction, works kicks in, and we have a "faith" in action that can be righteousness-countable by God. Therefore, another way of saying “without faith it is impossible to please God” is “Without good works it is impossible to please God”.  That way "faith" was used in Scripures, I believed, was in line with what described in Heb 11:1 - "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", meaning when "faith" was used, works was already factored in or expected; in other words, the "substance...." and the "evidence...." are NOT to be taken as applied on the "God's part" only but it is also to apply to the "Man's part".   In other words, it is proper to say, "Without faith it is impossible to please God", and improper to say, "With belief  I will please God"; it should be "With faith I will please God".

So, for the question of what constitutes good works in the eyes of God, from the exposition thus far, is: good works is works from and of faith; works apart from faith cannot be good works, for everything that does not come from faith is sin (Rom 14:23). Good works is works coming from faith, for it is coming from a right belief, and brought on by the conviction of that belief busting the threshold of inaction; and it is good, for faith pleases God.

Without good works it is impossible to please God
To me, the Apostle James had this understanding when he said this:

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do (James 2:18).

The Apostle James was saying if you claim there is a faith, there must have been a deed, too. Why? Because faith without deed is no faith (no complete unit of faith); at most, it is only a belief (an incomplete faith). When a belief becomes a faith, a deed would have been done. In other words, the deed evidences the belief, and when and only when there is a deed is there a (complete) unit of faith, or faith is faith only when it is an evidenced belief, evidenced by a deed, coming about when the conviction of that belief has busted the threshold of inaction. James said, “I will show you my faith by what I do”.


Although what is expounded so far, does not yet completely answer the questions and similar ones posed at the beginning of this article, I believe it has provided the beginnings of what can be used to better understand the topic of good works, viewed from the perspective of God. Watch out for other parts to this multi-part article.


Anthony Chia, high.expressions - The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good (Ps 14:1, KJV).

PS: Added: 04/08/2011 - The above led us to good works as faith in action or faith in exercise.  Additionally, my latest revelation is that faith is to be exercised through love (Gal 5:6, 1 Cor 13:2).  Therefore, finally good works is from faith in action through love.  For exposition of the more excellent way, of faith is to be exercised in love, read my separate article, "You need faith, and you need love"

Comments are welcome here. Alternatively, email them to me @: ... {click on it to reveal complete address}

Or just email me your email address so that I can put you on my blog (new entry) notification list. To go back to blog main page, click here.