Auxano Ministry
By the grace of God I am what I am:
1 Cor. 15:10a
Romans
Part 3
Believing
Normally, in Christianity, the conversation is about believers and unbelievers. I understand that conversation and agree with the terms used in those conversations. However, I want to have a different conversation. I want to have a conversation about who or what you believe. Many people do not know what they believe simply because they do not understand a belief nor how to identify a belief. You see, everyone believes. It is not a matter of if you believe, it is a question of identifying in what or whom you believe. Let’s see if I can help you identify what is in your believing storeroom.
Romans 10:17a
So then faith cometh by hearing…
Let’s break this sentence down to how those who spoke Koine Greek would understand it.
“So then” is the Greek word ara. It is drawing a conclusion to the verses that preceded it (Romans 10:14-16). Another way to translate ara would be to use the word, therefore. “Faith” is the Greek word pistis. Pistis is a noun, from it we get the verb pisteuo. Both pistis and pisteuo come from the root word peitho which means to persuade or to be persuaded. The Greek word pisteuo is used 248 times in the New Testament. It is translated believe or a form of believe 239 times. The Greek word pistis is used 244 times in the New Testament. It is translated faith 239 times. Faith has always been a nebulous term in Christianity, so much so, that many have struggled to clearly explain this concept. Considering the 478 combined occurrences of pistis and pisteuo, with added consideration of the root peitho a biblical understanding of these words would be, a full or complete persuasion that brings a person to the point of believing, a point of conviction. Therefore, I would translate pistis and pisteuo as to believe and believing in their appropriate tenses and contexts.
Now, what has persuaded you?
Meriam-Webster says persuade means, “to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action.”
The Cambridge Dictionary says persuade means, “to make someone do or believe something by giving them a good reason to do it or by talking to that person and making them believe it.”
Who or what has moved you to a position of action? Who or what has given you good reason to bring you to the point of believing their reasoning?
“Cometh” is not in the manuscript but is supplied because this sentence has no verb in the manuscripts, but this sentence needs a verb to be understood. “By” is the Greek preposition ek which means out from. “Hearing” is the Greek word akoe and it means to hear, to have the ability to hear what is said, stated, or spoken. Akoe, of itself, does not state what you do with the information you are hearing. Normally what you do with the information you hear is handled by a prefix and sometimes in the context. In this case the context determines what a person is doing with the information he hears. Contextually he believes, pistis. For example, the morning weather forecast you hear on the television, while getting ready for work says it will rain today. You leave for work wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella under your arm. You were persuaded to action.
This sentence, or half of a verse, has just taught us two important principles about all believing. All beliefs are based upon what information you have heard, and it is information that has fully persuaded you. It has persuaded you to the point of taking action. Considering the previous example of the morning weather forecast, you left for work wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella even though there was not a cloud in the sky. You received information and it fully persuaded you, therefore you took appropriate action.
Obviously, you have a relationship with this particular weather forecaster, or you would not have been persuaded by him even when his forecast went against the information you could determine by your own senses.
Therefore, it is wise to not just trust anyone to fill your mind with their thoughts…until you are absolutely sure you want their thoughts as your thoughts.
Romans 16:18b
…by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple.
“Good words” is chrestologia in the Greek. A compound word of chrestos, meaning virtuous or good, and lego, the root of logia, meaning to say or speak. Together they mean virtuous words. “Fair speeches” is the Greek word eulogia which means good sayings, flattering words. In English we get the word eulogy, the speech given about a person after he dies. Sometimes you do not recognize the guy in the eulogy compared to the guy you knew when he was alive. That is fair speeches.
The word “deceive” is exapatao, and it means to bite on the bait that hid the hook. The Greek word akakos is translated “simple.” Akakos means a person who is without fraud, someone who is harmless. The fisherman preys on the unsuspecting fish and seduces it with bait hiding a hook.
Who have you chosen to listen to? It does not mean everyone is out to deceive you, but some have only that intent. How precious would a source be that always spoke the truth? A relationship with such a source would be beyond comparison.
As you age and mature what you are hearing, what you are listening to is based upon your own likes and dislikes. You direct the information you allow to persuade you. You choose what you hear. You do not choose what is said to you, but you do choose what you truly hear, thereby making you responsible for what you believe.
Romans 5:19
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
This verse is speaking of Adam listening to God’s words. “Disobedience” is the Greek word parakoe, which means to hear “alongside of”. Earlier I said, akoe, of itself, does not state what you do with the information you are hearing. But what you do with the information you hear is handled by a prefix. Adam heard, akoe, God’s words placing them, God’s words, alongside of, para, his own words, his own thoughts. This helps us understand why Genesis chapter three went so badly.
Hebrews 5:8
Though he were a son,
yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
This verse is speaking of Jesus listening to God’s words. “Obedience” is the Greek word hypakoe. Again, akoe, to hear, with the prefix hupo in the accusative case which means to act from under what you are hearing. Jesus heard God’s words and placed himself under those words to obey them and to do them.
Both men listened to words that God had spoken to them. Both men had thoughts of their own. Both men also had the thoughts or impressions of the world that surrounded them, a world that spoke to them. Both men acted according to the thoughts and words that persuaded them.
Adam ultimately to the words of the Adversary, and Jesus to the words of God.
All men are responsible for what they choose to listen to and believe.
From the time we become maybe teenagers, biblically I know of no set age, but a time when we make the daily decision about what information we will feed into our mind. Information a person chooses to feed his mind builds his system of beliefs. The listener determines the value of what he is hearing. This value system will reinforce what you already believe or change your direction with a new persuasion.
Next, where do we store this information that has persuaded us to believe?
What is the home of our beliefs?
Romans 10:10a
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness…
The “heart,” kardia in the Greek, is the inner most part of the mind. There are three main words in the kardia word family; one speaks of knowing the heart, kardiognostes, this speaks only of God truly knowing, for God knows what is in each heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The next word in the kardia family speaks of a hard heart, sklerokardia, and only refers to a person who is refusing to believe God’s Word. The third word is kardia. God uses kardia in His Word 160 times.
There is an exception to only God knowing what is in the heart of man. In 1 Corinthians 2:11 God says a man knows what is in his own heart.
Do you know what you hold in your heart?
If you stop long enough to examine your heart, you know.
The heart is the physical organ that moves your blood, with its nutrients and oxygen throughout your entire body. However, the Greek word kardia is never used in the New Testament to speak of the physical organ in a man.
The heart is the innermost part of the mind whereby a person stores all the phronema, (which are the thoughts and the feelings, from the information you have received) and held in the form of thought patterns, sumballo in the Greek. Thought patterns are the bundling together of like thoughts you believe. All of which you have been persuaded is true, accurate, and completely trustworthy. Then you make the majority of your decisions based on these thought patterns in your heart.
The word heart in the New Testament is the figure of speech synecdoche of part. First, synecdoche is an exchange of one idea for another associated idea. As synecdoche of part the heart is put for the whole person, with respect to their knowledge or affections.
Your heart represents your entire life. Specifically, where you have been fully persuaded to action on your knowledge and affections. God has made this word a figure of speech in the Bible to emphasize its importance to who you are according to your beliefs.
“With every fiber of my being, with everything in my heart, I…”
By the figure of speech ellipsis, you automatically filled in the rest. The context for the ellipsis is your heart. You did this because like God, you understand the importance of the heart. Some filled in the missing phrase positively, while others filled in the missing phrase negatively. How you filled it in depends on what you are holding in your heart.
Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil:
for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
For is the Greek word gar, it gives you a further explanation. The further explanation, “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” What have you been saying? What is in your heart? In what area or areas have you been fully persuaded? Are you beginning to see in what or whom you believe?
Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart [leb] with all diligence.
for out of it are the issues of life.
The Hebrew word for heart is leb, used 596 times in the Old Testament. “Diligence” is the Hebrew word mishmar which means to keep or to guard like a prison. Guard your heart like a prison. Why? Because you do not want the wrong things getting in there. Normally we guard a prison so terrible things do not get out into the world of civilized society. This is the antithesis of a normal prison. We are to place a guard upon our heart so that wrong things or harmful things do not get into the heart. Why? Because out of the heart are the issues of life. “Issues” is the Hebrew word totsaah which means source. Out of the heart is the source of life.
A vehicle is the source of your transportation.
The sun is the source of your natural light.
Food is the source of your nutrition.
Goods are the source of commerce.
Beliefs in the heart are the source of your life.
From here understand another important point concerning believing.
Romans 3:27
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded.
By what law? of works?
Nay: but by the law of faith.
Everyone has heard of and experienced the law of gravity. Throw something up in the air and it is coming back down. Some may know of Newton’s three laws of motion or the laws of Thermodynamics. These are physical or natural laws God has placed in the world. The law of pistis or believing is another law God has placed in the world. As a law believing works for everyone who believes, as long as it does not go against other laws of God. For example, you believe you can fly, so you jump off a high cliff. That is when you will meet the law of gravity. However, believing is also a spiritual law, and as a spiritual law it supersedes and overrules natural law.
Matthew 14:24-25
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea,
tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Have you ever tried walking on water? The molecules in water are too far apart to support the weight of a footstep. The water Jesus was walking on had whitecaps from the wind and the storm. Peter joined Jesus for a few steps but lost his focus on the promise to the wind and the waves.
Matthew 14:28-30
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord,
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come…
That is the promise, COME.
…And when Peter was come down out of the ship,
he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
That is the Law of believing superseding the natural law that says water molecules are too far apart for a person to walk on water.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous,
Peter forgot about the promise of God because he physically saw the mighty wind. You cannot see the wind. The wind is invisible. But you can see the effect of the wind. Peter saw the whitecaps and became afraid. “was afraid” is in the passive voice. Peter relinquished control of the situation to the whitecaps. Peter is persuaded by the elements of the storm and sinks.
he was afraid; and beginning to sink,
he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
The Law of believing supersedes natural or physical Law. Water molecules are too far apart for a person to walk on water, but moving those molecules closer together to be able to support the weight of a person was not a big deal for the Creator of the heaven and the earth.
To operate the spiritual Law of Believing you need two things. First, you need a promise from God to you. It can come either spoken by a man of God, as Jesus did with Peter. Or it could be written, as in God’s Word. Or it could be a statement from God to an individual by way of revelation. Second, you need to believe what God has said, unwavering, unmoved by those things that refute the promise of God.
Science puts things in test tubes to examine and investigate. Believing, as small as a mustard seed, is too immense to squeeze into a test tube! It is being fully persuaded that what God has said, He is also able to perform.
Romans 4:21
And being fully persuaded that,
what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
“Fully persuaded” is the compound Greek word plerophoreo. The first part of the word, plero, from pleres, means to fill to capacity and the end of the word phoreo means to carry. But where do we get the idea of persuaded? It is carried over from the context by the figure of speech ellipsis.
Romans 4:20 says, he, Abraham, staggered not, meaning he did not waver, he was not swayed from the promise of God. God had promised Abraham a child, but he was a hundred years old and could see that his body was dead sexually. His wife, Sarah, was ninety years old and her body was no longer capable of bearing a child. There were plenty of reasons for Abraham to lose his focus on the promise of God. But Abraham was strong, endynamoo in pistis, believing!
He was “strong” in believing, what does that mean? It means in his heart he recognized the power of a promise from God. He gave the glory to God, the One who made the promise. The One he knew could keep the promise. Strong is in the passive voice, he received strength and power to remain fully persuaded in the words God had spoken to him, for words that God speaks give life and are energizing (Hebrews 4:12).
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
“Faith” is the Greek word pistis, believing. “Substance” is the Greek word hupostasis which is a foundation or a firm assurance. “Of things hoped for” is the Greek word elpizo which means to confidently anticipating, confidently expecting. “Evidence” is the Greek word elegchos normally referring to reproof, it refutes what is wrong or contrary to what is right.
The essence of what God is saying in Hebrews 11:1 is this, “Believing is the firm assurance of things confidently expected refuting things that are visible and contrary to the unseen promise of God.”
God’s promise is unseen because you have not yet received it. Now it is your choice to believe the promise like Abraham or, like Peter, to look at the waves.
Abraham had a promise from God. Believing the promise was Abraham’s firm assurance of what he confidently expected God to do. The belief in Abraham’s heart refuted what his eyes could see when he looked at his body and the body of Sarah. Abraham could see they were both passed the age to have a child, but his believing was in the power of God to perform what he, God had promised.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie;
neither the son of man, that he should repent:
hath he said, and shall he not do it?
or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Let’s recap the principles I have just laid out for you.
Believing is based upon information you have received and trusted.
Believing is to be fully persuaded to the point of action.
Be sure of whom you trust to feed you; not all are truthful.
Each individual decides what information he will feed his mind.
Beliefs are stored in your heart, your source of life.
What is believed in the heart is seen in decisions, in actions.
What is believed in the heart is heard in your words.
Consider these things and you will begin to see what beliefs you have established in your life.
I will end this portion of the teaching with this…
John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Romans
Foundation of the Administration of Grace
