U-Haul
who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:21 NASB
Believers in – While this phrase has a smoother sound in English, the Greek really says something a bit different. That difference is critical, and worth having a translation that is a bit choppy. The Greek text says “the ones through him faithful into God.” Notice that our crucial phrase is an adjective and a preposition (in Greek pistous eis). The English translation is unfortunate because it converts the adjective (faithful) into a noun and adds an implied verb (are), a change that might make us think that we can be a believer without living the activity of believing. We must guard against this fallacy, especially in our culture, dominated by the Greek idea that knowledge (the collection of facts and principles) is all that is required to “believe.” “Faithful” is a constant state of action, not a static collection of facts.
There is another bad translation in this phrase. The word translated “in” is the preposition eis. It really means “into.” This is an important difference. If we translate the word as “in” then once again we might think that Peter is saying we need to have the proper “thoughts” about God. In our culture, “to believe in” something can be as passive as “I believe in happy times and good vacations.” This kind of belief requires nothing more than mental assent to some ideal. But the preposition eis does not allow this kind of belief.
The preposition eis is really about “place.” It has the sense of “into,” like “he went into the house” or “I moved into a new position.” Why is this so important? Because the New Testament teaches us that believing is an activity that moves us from one place to another. It is not about intellectual assent to certain facts. That would be “I believe in God” – that is, I believe the facts about this person. No, the New Testament says that faithfulness is an activity of the will, not just the mind. It moves me from a world dominated by moral activity based on my self into a world where my moral activity is based on the character and demands of God. Eis tells me that I must be taken out of one place and put into another place. That is what faithful is – it is movement of my whole being out of myself and into God.
In our modern religious world, we are surrounded by claims that the only thing required to be Christian is to have a certain knowledge of Christ. The New Testament never supports this. Being faithful is an act of the will that transports us into a new world where all of our living is based on a new relationship. There is no “faith” without activity just as there is no life without breathing.
If you are “faithful into God” you will breathe, move, grow, feel, think and change in this new place. Get into the U-Haul of Scripture and move yourself.
Topical Index: pistous eis, faithful into, 1 Peter 1:21
Yes, yes, yes!!! Fill me with Yourself Oh God -with Your Strength – Savior, Father, Friend and walk my life into Yours!!!
Great presentation! I was thinking of the same thing this morning, that being of the same will is what Paul meant in Philippians 2, 3 & 4, where he repeatedly mentions “this mind” and indicates in the structure of his argument that the Very One who gave up His invisible form and took on Himself the human form is going to exert His power to take away our human forms and put us into His esteem WHEN WE ARE OF THE SAME MIND as Paul recommends in these chapters. It seems his use of “mind” points toward our will to be like Him.
Have faith in God? How do I do that?
Believe in God? That goes without saying.
Skip is focusing others on God’s word
And helping us to understand it
But I think we need to do something for ourselves and others
It seems to me we can serve others in some capacity as an expression of faith or belief
Or say the Lord’s prayer and focus on doing what it says
Or meditate
Studying Skip’s text is more meaningful and practical to me
Than the concepts of having faith or believing 🙂
Thanks for the wonderful complement, Michael.
Compliment or complement, Skip?
Perhaps you could supply the full sentence so that I might investigate. Is it in the “U-Haul” edition?
Yes, in the U-Haul edition. It is in your nice reply to Michael, the first line in his post: “Have faith in God How do I do that?”
But, Skip, my reply had nothing to do with the content of that post!!! You used the word “complement”, which would have indicated that his post was an addition to, or a referral to what you had written.
If you meant that the content of Michael’s post was a “compliment” to you for something you wrote, (an okay of your content) then the spelling should have been with an “i”, rather than an “e”.
And if this explanation confuses you, then join me in the confusion it has caused me in attempting to explain it. : )
I apologize for allowing my study of English grammar to nudge me into replying to your reply to Michael. I should not have done that. : (
In fact, I just read/studied the post from Michael and your reply, and am now thinking that I was wrong……you actually did mean that his post complemented what you had written,
Helen
OK, got it now. Thanks.
I read your emails weekly so I never seem to catch up to the day you write. So typically I do not comment. Todays U-Haul was great. The post covered two things for me. First it affirmed in a simple statement that all of us need to move into the Lord and how that action changes everything. The second part is actually even better as this post is easy to explain and understand. Sometimes people need to see, and understand how to see. You are doing great work and I thank you for your effort to help us into the Lord.
Daniel