Tag-Archive for » histemi «

“Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus”

Tuesday, November 08th, 2011 | Author:

Do we then nullify the Law through faith?  May it never be!  On the contrary, we establish the Law.  Romans 3:31  NASB

Want to hear the song?

Establish – In the 1800’s Duffield and Webb combined their talents to produce a hymn that became a standard battle cry of the Christian army of saints.  I don’t know if Duffield and Webb took their lyrics from Paul’s use of histemi, but they could have.  The Greek verb means “to cause to stand, to place, to set up, to establish, to make firm, to put.”  It is the same verb used metaphorically for the resurrection (to stand again).  Paul has just completed a long argument showing that the mere possession of the Torah (Law) is of no consequence when it comes to experiencing God’s grace.  All have sinned, with or without the Torah. “Man is justified by faith, apart from the law,” says Paul, quoting Habakkuk.  But this leads to the big question.  If the Law does not justify me, what good is it?  If faith is all that matters, why worry about the Law?

Paul’s answer underscores the lyrics of Duffield and Webb.  Faith does not and cannot replace or nullify the Law!   God forbid anyone would draw such an erroneous conclusion.  Why?  Because faith is doing the Law!

How does faith make the Torah stand up?  Simple.  When I do what God asks me to do, I demonstrate my utter reliance on Him and my trust in His word.  But that is faith – to depend entirely on God and what He says.  Faith is not the statement of creeds or doctrines.  Faith is emunah, trustworthiness, reliability, stability, safety.  To have faith is to act in ways that exhibit God’s trustworthiness.  Faith is the visible sign of the invisible reality of God’s purposes.  The man who has faith shows that he has faith by doing what God asks.  His behavior is his faith.  Faith isn’t some sort of mental state of mind independent from actions.  In the Hebraic worldview, faith is the actions, just as God is His acts of righteousness, goodness and holiness.  If we take away holiness, righteousness and goodness from God, we don’t have a god left behind who just doesn’t have those characteristics.  If we take them away, there is no God.  Just so, if you take away obedience to Torah, you don’t have  reduced-calorie faith, a kind of  “faith-lite.”  What you have is an empty bottle.  Nothing.  Gone.  Faith without works, faith without obedience to Torah (which is what “works” means) is dead!  It doesn’t exist.

Now we can see why Paul’s statement is perfectly reasonable.  If faith is doing what Torah requires, then of course faith establishes the Law.  Anyone who looks at the consequent behavior will see faith because faith is the action of following God’s instructions.  Anyone who claims to have faith but does not follow God’s instructions is like the man who buys a six-pack of empty bottles, proudly displaying what a great purchase he made.

Topical Index:  stand up, histemi, establish, faith, Romans 3:31

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 17 Comments

Paul of Tarsus, P.A.

Friday, October 28th, 2011 | Author:

Do we then nullify the Law through faith?  May it never be!  On the contrary, we establish the Law.  Romans 3:31  NASB

Nullify/Establish – What in the world is Paul talking about?  Isn’t faith independent of the Law?  Doesn’t the Law simply lead us to faith?  Don’t all those rules and regulations merely point out how much we need to be rescued by grace?  How can Paul possibly say that faith establishes the Law?

One of the biggest doctrinal roadblocks separating Jews and Christians is the Christian view of the Law.  Ever since Origen, Chrysostrom and Augustine, Christian theology has proclaimed that grace set aside the Law.  According to this teaching, the Law was incapable of rescuing men from sin.  It was nothing more than a spotlight illuminating the hideousness of our unholiness.  Fortunately, Jesus removed the curse of the Law in His sacrificial death and we, as Christian believers, no longer live under the impossible demands of those ancient Jewish ways.  Nearly all denominations teach that Paul rejected the primacy of the Torah and converted to Christianity, articulating replacing the Law with grace.

But this verse is a real thorn in the flesh for Law vs. Grace theology.  Paul boldly proclaims that faith makes the Law stand (the Greek verb is histemi).  Faith fixes, makes firm, sets in place, the Law (the Torah).  This claim seems to be 180 degrees from the idea that faith replaces the Law.  What’s going on here?

Did you notice that the crucial verbs in this sentence have a legal ring to them?  “Nullify” (Greek katargeo) means “to render inactive, to cause to cease, to terminate.”  These are just the kinds of words you would associate with a legal contract.  In fact, if I don’t do what is required in the contract, I breach it.  The only way out of a contract is either to fulfill the requirements or to have it rendered null and void.  But notice what Paul says.  Faith does not render the Law (Torah) null and void.  Faith does not set aside the Law.  In fact, Paul is so adamant about this point that he uses the enhanced negative expression me genoito alla (May it never be – but [the strongest form of “but”]).  This is the idiomatic expression “God forbid!”  Anyone who thinks that faith makes the Torah null and void is crazy!

Instead (really with a lot of !!! since it is alla in Greek), faith establishes Torah.  How does faith do this?  Well, if you were Jewish, it would be obvious.  Faith is doing what the Torah requires.  That’s why faith establishes Torah.  By doing what the Torah instructs me to do, I become a living example of the reality of faith.  My trust in God’s word, and the subsequent practice of that word, makes faith obvious to the world.  Do I have faith?  Look at my life!  If I am observing Torah, then you know that I have faith because that’s what faith means.  There is no separation between believing and doing.  If I have faith, I do what God asks me to do.  Conversely, if I am not doing what God asks me to do, then I don’t have faith no matter what I may claim about myself.  Faith is the application of trust in God to my daily behavior.  Faith works.

It’s just like any other legal contract.  I accept the arrangement God offers.  I agree to live by the terms of the contract.  By the way, He didn’t have to offer it to me but He did anyway.  That’s grace.  But faith is fulfilling the contract because I trust what He says.

The Hebrew idea of faith cannot be divorced from obedience.  A person who does not obey does not have faith, just like a person who does not honor a legal contract cannot claim the benefits.  Go ask Paul of Tarsus, P.A.

Topical Index:  faith, Law, katargeo, nullify, histemi, establish, Romans 3:31

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Taking A Stand

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | Author:

Do we nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. Romans 3:31

Establish – Put yourself in Rome in the first century. You are part of a small group of believers. You have heard the good news of peace with God through Yeshua, the Messiah. How did that happen? Since we’re imaging, we’ll pretend that you’re just as much a Gentile then as you are today. You’re one of the masses of people who are under Roman rule; not Jewish, just part of the Empire. Perhaps you heard the news from someone you know. Perhaps you were merely curious. But one thing is certain. When you became a believer, you joined the Jewish synagogue. How do we know this? Everything that Paul teaches assumes a thorough understanding of Scriptures, and in the first century, the only Scriptures available were the Old Testament books (Tanakh). You are an adopted, proselytized Messianic believer grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. You might not be Jewish by birth, but you are certainly Jewish by life choice. That’s why Sha’ul can say, “Faith establishes the Law.” When you came to believe, you took a stand. That stand was on Torah. You decided God’s instructions for living would be your instructions for living.  Your people will be my people.  Your God will be my God.  Ruth all over again.

Sha’ul uses the Greek verb histemi. It means “to stand, to place on firm footing, to stabilize.” The Hebrew equivalent is qum, a verb that means “to rise up, to set up, to establish.” Where do we find this verb in Hebrew thought? We might look in Genesis 6:18 where God establishes a covenant with Noah or in Exodus 6:4 where God reminds Moses of His covenant established with Abraham. You can see Sha’ul’s choice in Greek points us to the permanency of God’s covenants. Those covenants are the basis of the Law. In fact, from the perspective of God’s unwavering character, the Law, in its entirety, is a covenant. Can faith ever undo a promise God made? Impossible! “Don’t even think like that,” says Sha’ul. Just the opposite is true. When we become believers through the promised Messiah, the one who re-establishes our relationship with the Father, we take a stand for the Torah. We say to the on-looking world, “By these principles I live.” That establishes the Law for us, and it happens because of faith, not in contrast to faith.

Sha’ul makes a lot of assumptions about his readers. He assumes they know the promises. He assumes they know the story. He assumes they know Torah. But he does not assume that they cannot be confused about this issue. That’s why he spends so much time elaborating the connection between faith and Torah. One endorses the other. One validates the other. They are both necessary. They just have different spheres of operation. One (faith) brings us into community. The other (Torah) shows us how to live in the community. Some Christians speak as if Paul is a convert to Christianity. They think he left Judaism behind and moved toward a Hellenistic, Torah-free religion later called Christianity. He would say, “Impossible!” No man who claims that faith puts the Law on firm footing could ever be accused of setting it aside.

Where do you stand?  Where does your community stand?  If you aren’t standing at the foot of the mountain saying “All these things we will do,” then why are you here?

Topical Index: Law, Torah, faith, establish, histemi, qum, Romans 3:31

A view on the canal – click here

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Asumir Una Postura

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 | Author:

¿Anulamos entonces la ley por medio de la fe? ¡De ningún modo! Al contrario, confirmamos la ley. Romanos 3:31

Confirmamos – Ubíquese en Roma del primer siglo. Es parte de un grupo pequeño de creyentes. Has escuchado las buenas nuevas de paz con Dios por medio de Yeshua, el Mesías. ¿Cómo sucedió? Ya que estamos imaginando, pretendamos que eras tan gentil entonces como lo eres ahora. Eres uno de las multitudes de personas bajo gobierno romano; no eres judío, solo parte del Imperio. Quizás has escuchados las nuevas de alguien que conoces. Quizás solo sentías curiosidad. Pero una cosa es cierta. Cuando te convertiste en creyente, te uniste a la sinagoga judía. ¿Cómo lo sabemos? Todo lo que enseña Pablo asume un conocimiento pleno de las Escrituras, y en el primer siglo, las únicas Escrituras disponibles eran los libros del Antiguo Testamento (Tanak). Eres un creyente mesiánico adoptivo, prosélito, injertado en la ciudadanía de Israel. Podrás no ser judío de nacimiento, pero ciertamente eres judío por opción de vida. Es por eso que Sha´ul puede decir, “la fe establece la Ley.” Cuando creíste, tomaste una posición. Esa posición fue la Tora. Decidiste que las instrucciones de vida de Dios serian tus instrucciones de vida.

Sha´ul utiliza el verbo griego histemi. Significa “pararse, colocar en pie firme, estabilizar.” El equivalente hebreo es qum, un verbo que significa “levantarse, erigir, establecer.” ¿Dónde encontramos este verbo en el pensamiento hebreo? Podríamos buscar en Génesis 6:18 donde Dios le recuerda a Moisés del pacto que estableció con Abraham. Puedes ver que la opción de Sha´ul en griego nos señala la perpetuidad de los pactos de Dios. Esos pactos son la base de la Ley. De hecho, desde la perspectiva de la invariabilidad del carácter de Dios, la Ley, en su plenitud, es un pacto. ¿Acaso puede la fe deshacer un pacto hecho por Dios? ¡Imposible! Ni siquiera lo consideres dice Sha´ul. Justo lo opuesto es lo cierto. Cuando nos convertimos en creyentes en el Mesías prometido, quién restablece nuestra relación con el Padre, asumimos una posición a favor de la Tora. Decimos al mundo que nos observa, “vivo por estos principios.”  Eso establece la Ley para nosotros, y eso sucede por la fe, no en contraste a la fe.

Sha´ul asume muchas cosas sobre sus lectores, Asume que conocen las promesas. Asume que has aprendido la historia. Asume que comprenden la Tora. Pero no asume que no pueden confundirse sobre este tema. Por eso dedica mucho tiempo explicando la conexión entre la fe y la Tora. Una avala la otra. Una valida la otra. Ambas son necesarias. Solo tienen diferentes esferas de operatividad. Una (la fe) nos introduce a la comunidad. La otra (Tora) nos enseña a vivir dentro de la comunidad. Algunos cristianos hablan como si Pablo es un converso al cristianismo. Creen que abandono el judaísmo y se traslado a una orientación helenística griega. El diría “¡Imposible!” ningún hombre que afirma que la fe ubica a la Ley en pie firme podrá ser acusado de hacerla a un lado.

Ley, Tora, fe, establecer, histemi, qum, Romanos 3:31

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