Spiritual Direction
because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; Philemon 1:5 NASB
Toward – prós is a complicated Greek preposition. Its meaning changes with the case. If it expresses possession, it is a genitive and generally means “before.” If it is a dative, it is usually an indirect object and can mean “before, at, by, about,” or (as direction) “to.” As an accusative, it expresses movement toward (if it is spatial) or psychologically, “toward” like saying something to someone, approaching a point in time or the goal of an action. But this grammatical background, although useful, leave us with some confusion. Why? Because we expect Paul to say, “which you have inthe Lord,” or “which you have for the Lord.” We don’t expect him to use a preposition of direction. After all, our usual view of faith is contractual, that is, if we have faith, then we have a contract, a completed agreement. It’s something we possess, not something we’re heading toward.
However, Paul seems to imply that faith is really a journey in some direction. You and I progress toward the Messiah and toward each other. We don’t own this path. We’re just on it. In fact, the destination isn’t quite clear (to me, anyway). While I embrace the idea of the ‘olam ha’ba, it doesn’t appear to be anything like the Christian Paradise so often portrayed in paintings. I am reminded that my friend Yoav informed me that ‘olam ha’ba is really “what is arriving,” not “where we are going.” The path of the faithful is the journey toward the Messiah, not the arrival or the possession of the Messiah. In this respect, I might comprehend why Paul chose prós. My faith is my orientation, my journey; not my possession or my arrival. If I have faith toward Yeshua, that means I am moving in his direction. Of course, since my compass point isn’t quite the same as yours, our direction will be just a bit different. But I will be moving toward you too, as we meet along the road.
It seems to me that far too often we attempt to box God in by requiring that “faith” be fixed around certain beliefs, doctrines, and dogmas. Of course, Western epistemology has been searching for a fixed and certain center for thousands of years, but I suspect that the Hebraic approach is much wider and, as Avivah Kushner said, much messier. Tolerance instead of conformity seems to be the watchword. That should have been obvious in a language without vowels, but human history has done its best to force us to think the same way, even in Hebrew. The Masoretes wanted standardization of the text. We want conformity in religion. Paul seems to encourage some diversity along the way. You may want to ask yourself, “What am I aiming toward?” rather than “What do I have now?”
Topical Index: prós, toward, faith, direction, Philemon 1:5
