Treasure Hunt
I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8 NASB
Faith – What will the Messiah be looking for when he returns? Faith. But what is faith? Is it having the trusting assurance of salvation? Is it doctrinal purity or creedal affirmation? Is it obedient commitment? If we read this verse in Luke, we find the Greek word pistis. It’s important to note that Greek terms from the root pist- are a special case in the apostolic writings. “The words in pist– do not become religious terms in classical Greek. Faithfulness to a compact is a religious duty, fidelity is related to piety, and one may trust a deity, but pistós does not refer to a basic relationship with God. At most one finds only reliance on deities and trust in deities or their utterances.”[1] What does this mean for our exegesis? It means that the use of pistis in the Bible cannot be based on the use found in other Greek literature. The apostolic authors use the Greek term as if it were Hebrew. Of course, that makes perfect sense for this verse because Yeshua wasn’t speaking Greek.
When we look for the Hebrew idea, we start in a different place. “Faith and fear are closely related in the OT; although contradictory, they shade into one another, and together they express the living tension and polar dynamic of the OT relationship to God.”[2] Most of the time, the Greek word group pist- translates the Hebrew ‘emunah. Faithfulness, not faith. The “living tension” of trusting God when things don’t make sense. Jonathan Sacks puts it like this: “Faith is born not in the answer but in the question, not in harmony but in dissonance.”[3] He elaborates:
At the heart of reality is a contradiction between order and chaos, the order of creation and the chaos we create. There is no resolution to this conflict at the level of thought. It can be resolved only at the level of action, only by making the world other than it is. When things are as they ought to be, then we have reached our destination. But that is not now: it was not for Abraham, nor is it yet for us.[4]
What is the Son of Man looking for? Perhaps he is looking for those who are experiencing the tension between ought and is, and who are doing something about it. Perhaps his treasure hunt is for those who do not flinch in the face of the question, for those who, despite the chaos, continue to demonstrate active trust in the God of what ought to be.
Is your faith certain? If it is, perhaps you have secured the wrong treasure. Perhaps you have opted for religious fidelity as a way of squelching the primal scream of a world in chaos. Perhaps what you seek is cognitive comfort while he is looking for the paradox of tikkun (restoration) in a world of tohu va-bohu (Genesis 1:2). It’s nice to think we have the answers, but what good is an answer to the wrong question? Could you live with that?
Topical Index: faith, pistis, ‘emunah, tikkun, chaos, Jonathan Sacks, Luke 18:8
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, p. 849.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Jonathan Sacks, Radical Then, Radical Now, p. 54.
[4] Ibid., p. 55.
I think there is all the difference between how the world views chaos and how it is presented in the Bible. The world is stuck with what is; with what is in front of its face. I see the world stuck with attempting to use the results of the past to try to manipulate the future. We love statistics and almanacs and war histories and our world leaders also seem to be obsessed with various methods of divination to prognosticate that future.
We want to know the future so that we can ‘plan’ for it. This appears to me to be one of our favorite illusions, and some of our greatest comforts seem to be derived from thinking we know what is going to happen next. We want to arrange ourselves in the matrix. I don’t think this is wrong, per se; however, I think we do not have a very good grasp of exactly HOW we fit in that future. Specifically, attempting to manipulate what IS is never going to get us where we need to go.
I see YHVH present the future in conditional terms: if this, then that. This creates an active dynamism between our choices and that future. This is how we have been given to interact with it. The best way to predict and manipulate the future is not a crystal ball: it is the correct action of faith projected into that future. Lining up my choices and actions based on what love would and should do with what is, is the best way to fit into the future correctly. YHVH is going to prevail: love is going to win. My faith lines me up with that win.
What is better than ‘controlling’ the chaos? obliterating it. Instead of “order ob chaos”, which is basically an attempt to rearrange the mess, we are, through faith, instructed to OVERCOME the chaos of this world. This is a little like running the projector backwards: faith puts things back the way they should have been the first time around – only better. Faith doesn’t just rearrange the mess: faith transforms it. Faith could care less about the past because faith is not stuck with building the future on that past. Faith literally IS the future. What is better than ‘knowing’ the future? Being it. Forget the matrix.
Correction: when I say “faith could care less about the past” I am talking about the past that the world sees, of course. The world cannot see YHVH, nor can it see His hand in the past. We, of course, have been given the only real view of YHVH’s dealings with us in that past. Faith is not blind for us. Faith, in fact, lines us up with what we have seen Love do in that past, because we can be assured that that Love does not change: what Love did last time, it will do this time, too. Faith places all its bets on this fact.
YHVH has not hidden what He has done from the world – in fact He has told us that He does nothing in secret, but has revealed His plans through the prophets and is utterly consistent with His past, but the world still cannot hear those prophets or see that past, because the world is deaf and blind. YHVH says that He has deliberately made them that way. I think that’s a good thing for us. It would not be a great thing for the enemy camp to get their hands on our side’s plans! These plans, of course, are all based on faith – God’s faith and ours, but the world knows nothing of faith. Faith, in fact, is the secret weapon we have been given to overcome that world. Halleluah!
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls – YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION. THE LORD GOD IS MY STRENGTH…” Hab. 3:17-19
When I trashed my faith in traditional creedal church doctrine and began my own quest for “the truth” anywhere, everywhere, I had to make some basic decisions. I was afraid I would have to become an atheist if I didn’t like what I found so it was only fair to give God a chance. I had faith that God could/would communicate with me if He existed and I was open-minded. Having faith in God’s ability to communicate with me ultimately led to finding TW and this community.
Today I learn a brilliant observation. “Faith and fear are closely related in the OT; although contradictory, they shade into one another, and together they express the living tension and polar dynamic of the OT relationship to God. Faith is born not in the answer but in the question, not in harmony but in dissonance.”
The contradictory faith and fear ebb and flow. This explains perfectly why I had stop thinking like a Greek and start thinking like a Hebrew. Thank you Skip.
You’re right, George. Faith faces fear. Its a “faceoff”. Faith, in fact, is the only correct response to fear, but this is why the world is stuck trying to negotiate with fear. They have nothing to ‘cure’ it with. Fear tells us that there are cracks in reality – cracks where love should be. There is only one thing to do with a crack – pull the fabric of that reality back closed. The world is stuck with stuffing or attempting to bridge the crack, or setting up oracles next to it(!), or trying to avoid it, etc.
Fear can only be faced head on if you are more afraid of something or Someone else. Fear signals distance, but we have to acknowledge the distance before we can take the steps that close it. Faith is the step into that abyss, but this is the only correct response to fear. Faith will always, therefore, be terrifying! (I need His faith in me to do it, in fact.)
Rubber, Meet Road
By Faith
Faith is just believing — what God said, He will do.
We learn by example. God said to Abraham, “you and Sarah, your wife are going to have a son.” Isaac is rightly referred to as “the son of Promise.” Abraham knew God was faithful and true and was incapable of speaking anything but the truth, therefore Abraham believed God and this belief was counted or imputed unto him as righteousness. (right-relatedness). Abraham, by believing what God said, in spite of the obvious circumstances, (he and his wife both far past what would be considered child-bearing or producing years) pleased God. God was pleased with Abraham, — (thank you for believing in Me!)
I have never seen God, but I have a written record, a collection of books, sixty-six of them, bound in a bundle, the Book God wrote. This Book was written by men, yes. Men who were inspired by God to write it.
No other book (or collection of books) even begins to compare. I believe the Bible to be the written Word of God. ‘Torah” translates “Law or Instruction.” The Bible, the Word of the LORD, instructs us, teaches us, guides us, guards us and gladdens us, as we live our daily lives according to His instructions — All of them. We are taught what not to do — don’t do that! And we are instructed what “to do” — help yourself to happiness.
But. (rubber, meet road). It is up to us whether or not we “shema” (wonderful word!- “listen and obey”) the Scriptures, the Lamb’s Book of Life. Case in point? Adam and his wife. They did not (shema) or listen or obey what God said. God said “Don’t eat the fruit of that tree.” God said “don’t,” and they did. They not only “erred” (sin is far more than an error!) but paid a dear cost as a consequence!
Friend, “blessed is the man” is no form of misery! Obedience equals blessing. It’s equivalent to a father instructing his child: “Please, don’t play in traffic!” or “Please, don’t place your hand on the hot stove!” “Please, don’t hurt yourself!” The Jews require a sign? lol! The signs are all there. “Wet Paint.” The name of the game? “Pay attention.”
~ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, (“and you are covered with wet paint!” ) then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey Him ~ (Deuteronomy 4:30)
“Welcome home!,” prodigal daughters and sons! ~ I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins!” ~ (Mark 2.10)
(Psalm 32.1) Of David. A maskil. ~ Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered! ~
Again, “blessed is the man” is no form of misery! I ought to know, for I am the one!
~ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst! ~
For you see, while the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” this man is grateful He does!
I will glory in the cross!
Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it o’er and over again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men!
Come, and He will give you rest;
Trust Him, for His Word is plain;
He will take the sinfulest;
Christ receiveth sinful men!
Now my heart condemns me not,
Pure before the Law I stand;
He who cleansed me from all spot,
Satisfied its last demand.
Sing it o’er and over again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Christ receiveth sinful men,
Even me with all my sin;
Purged from every spot and stain,
Heaven with Him I enter in.
Sing it o’er and over again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men!
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luke 5.32)
~ but he, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me, the sinner”
~ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. f we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ~
~ If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared ~ Amen.
Forgiven and Free
~ But the Father said to His slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate!; for this son of Mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found!
And they began to celebrate.…
Is my faith certain…
I read a book that I cannot remember the title to that told the story of a woman who by trade was a Jewish teacher. During the Holocaust she was placed in a camp with a bunch of children that were too small for work. They were stripped of all their clothes and were given limited food and water. She would wake up every morning naked and wake up the naked children and sit them in rows on the gravel and get up in front of them and teach the Torah daily until one by one the children passed away. The story was told by one of her students who lived to tell it.
Elie Wiesel in his book Night, shares an account of walking by a pit of burning babies. His story shares of how he and his father’s faith ebbed and flowed. To me both of these accounts describe chaos. Chaos can be a short instance with a lasting impact as in a split second disaster or it can be something that lasts for a long time. Chaos over time I would imagine causes your faith to wax and wane. Rather than to assume Jesus would return when my faith is shrinking I would like to think that God is his Word and the Word is God. In Corinthians, Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes. I like to think he hopes in me as he watches my right and wrong choices as I hope in him that he will deliver me and forgive me. It also says in Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
As I endure chaos that I have caused myself because of my decisions and chaos that has been inflicted upon me and my faith and fear battle for control over my mind I take comfort that he waits for me to get up the 7th time. He loves us which is why he is waiting a little longer and we love him which is why we get up one more time. He is a God of Grace and Mercy! I am so thankful that he is faithful and lives up to all of his many names!
Is MY faith certain…
His Word is true.
He is just and He is faithful.
He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
I am certain of my faith in these things.
Don’t you just love a good question? I do, even more than a suitable answer. Answers can sometimes shutdown the thinking process and lead to mental laziness, when beneath the answer’s surface, may well lie the real substance of truth. Answers can be like ‘stop’ signs. Once you stop thinking, ‘knowing’ you have the answers, mental growth dries up and dies, like a garden without water or a good gardener. Yeshua was a master of asking questions, so I think I’m in very good company. His question about “will He find faith on the Earth” at His coming, seems to beg a simple answer. Of course. We’re Christians. We live by ‘faith’ not by sight. How could He not find faith? Again, another good question. Well, what do we mean by ‘faith’ and more importantly, what does God mean by ‘faith’? Is ‘faith’ shelved in our gray matter or is it found in ‘our feet’, in our actions, in the fruit that falls from our respective trees? And what of the tension between ‘faith’ and ‘fear’, what are we to make of that? To me, it all seems just as God ordered it and if that is the case, maybe that is just where God intends for us to live, in His good creation. Maybe we are created for that tension, for thriving in the tug between good and bad, chaos and order, cognitive ‘faith’ and working ‘faith’, ought and ought not, and all the myriad of positive and negative possibilities. There is an interlocking between Heaven and Earth and why wouldn’t there be as, they were made for each other. We followers of Yeshua live in that tension, in that interlocking, if the Spirit is resident in us. N.T. Wright states that “the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.” And so back to the question. ‘Will He find faith when He returns’? It’s a question for all ‘believers’ to really reflect on and not just pull the well rehearsed answers of church world, off of our theological shelves. Understanding the question and what God expects with ‘faith’ is critical. Because an answer to a ‘wrong question’ would have to be nonsense.
“Pray as though everything depended on God.
Work as if everything depended on you” – St Augustine
As you said, Skip, faith is not a bottle we can fill up and keep on the shelf, but for me faith,faithfullness, trust are a mixture in a magical bottle of anointing oil – the more you pour it out the quicker it fills up again for the next use. Its like Hesed and forgiveness- the more you give it , the better the chance of you receiving it.
If we are not doing faith( righteous acts according to YHVH’s definition) on earth, none will be found.
Hebrews CHAPTER 11
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders
obtained a good report. 3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of
God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4By 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. 5By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.
This excerpt defines for me scriptural faith applicable on all that live after the early apostolic era… and the results it has provided in the past and promised future; providing hope through decisive action and no hope through reckless ignorance…