The peitho word group[i]
supplies further light on the nature of Christian faith.[ii] The verb means “to come to believe the
certainty of something on the basis of being convinced—‘to be certain, to be
sure, to be convinced,’” or “to believe in something or someone to the extent
of placing reliance or trust in or on—‘to rely on, to trust in, to depend on,
to have (complete) confidence in, confidence, trust.’”[iii] Coming to saving faith, to believing, is to be persuaded[iv] of the truth about Christ and the gospel, and
consequently, turning from all false confidences,[v]
to trust or place one’s confidence[vi] in Him alone.
Related words signify persuasive,
convincing,[vii]
persuasion,[viii]
and confidence or trust.[ix] Paul, as a pattern true for every
Christian, testified: “I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.”[x] The saving faith of the Old Testament
saints, set forth as a paradigm for those in the dispensation of grace,
possessed, in addition to knowledge, persuasion of the truth concerning Christ
and the promises about Him as a constituent element, which resulted in an
embrace of the promises and He who was offered in them.[xi] Persuasion, confidence, trust, and
assurance that Christ will indeed save those who come to Him are elements of
saving faith.[xii] Since “[t]o be convinced and to believe
is finally to obey,”[xiii] peitho
consequently passes over from confidence and trust to obedience.[xiv] The idea obey is clearly present in the word group.[xv] The people of God are those who
believingly trust and consequently obey[xvi]—thus,
the verb disbelieve or disobey[xvii] is never used of them, nor are its related noun[xviii]
or adjective.[xix] Saving faith is an entrusting of
oneself to Christ which results in obedience.
[i]
pei÷qw, Matthew 27:20, 43; 28:14; Mark 10:24; Luke 11:22;
16:31; 18:9; 20:6; Acts 5:36–37, 40; 12:20; 13:43; 14:19; 17:4; 18:4; 19:8, 26;
21:14; 23:21; 26:26, 28; 27:11; 28:23–24; Romans 2:8, 19; 8:38; 14:14; 15:14; 2
Corinthians 1:9; 2:3; 5:11; 10:7; Galatians 1:10; 3:1; 5:7, 10; Philippians
1:6, 14, 25; 2:24; 3:3–4; 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Timothy 1:5, 12; Philemon
1:21; Hebrews 2:13; 6:9; 11:13; 13:17–18; James 3:3; 1 John 3:19 (the only use
in the Johannine corpus; John 3:36
is the only other use in the entire word group); pepoi÷qhsiß, 2 Corinthians 1:15; 3:4; 8:22; 10:2;
Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:4; peiqo/ß, 1 Corinthians 2:4; peismonh/, Galatians 5:8; peiqarce÷w,
Acts 5:29, 32; 27:21; Titus 3:1; aÓpeiqh/ß, Luke 1:17; Acts 26:19; Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:16;
3:3; aÓpeiqe÷w, John 3:36; Acts 14:2; 17:5; 19:9; Romans
2:8; 10:21; 11:30–31; 15:31; Hebrews 3:18; 11:31; 1 Peter 2:7–8; 3:1, 20; 4:17;
aÓpei÷qeia, Romans 11:30, 32; Ephesians 2:2; 5:6;
Colossians 3:6; Hebrews 4:6, 11.
[ii]
“pei÷qw . . .
[is] allied with pistis, fides,
foedus, etc.” (Thayer, Greek Lexicon, on pei÷qw). “Constructs in pist- derive from the dep. pei÷qomai” (pg. 175, Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament, vol.
6, Kittel). Note the parallelism
between pei÷qw
and pisteu/w in John 3:36 (oJ pisteu/wn . . . oJ
de« aÓpeiqw◊n).
[iii]
Louw-Nida
31.46, 31.82. The breakdown in
BDAG is very helpful.
[iv]
Acts 17:4
(aorist passive); 28:24 (imperfect passive); cf. Luke 16:31; Acts 18:4; 19:8,
26; 26:28; 28:23; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Galatians 1:10. Paul persuaded men to turn from their sins and entrust
themselves to Christ, and then continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43).
[v]
E. g.,
riches, Mark 10:24, themselves, 2 Corinthians 1:9, their own righteousness,
Luke 18:9, or the flesh and religious ceremonies Philippians 3:3-4.
[vi]
2
Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 2:24; 3:3-4; Hebrews 2:13 (Christ as the Son of
Man, identified and in union with his human brethren, perfectly trusted in God,
as do they, Psalm 18:2, albeit imperfectly; also Matthew 27:43 & Psalm 22:8); 13:8. See also Luke 11:22.
[vii]
peiqo/ß, “pertaining to being able
to persuade or convince—‘persuasive, convincing.’” (Louw-Nida).
[viii]
peismonh/, “the means by which someone is caused to
believe—‘that which persuades, the means of convincing’ . . . [or] the actual
process of persuasion” (Louw-Nida), that is, “peismonh/ . . . like the English ‘persuasion,’ may be either active
or passive; ‘the act of persuading’ . . . or ‘the state of one persuaded’” (St.
Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, J. B. Lightfoot on Galatians 5:8).
[ix]
pepoi÷qhsiß, “1. a state of certainty about something to the
extent of placing reliance on, trust, confidence.” (BDAG).
[x]
2 Timothy
1:12, oi•da
ga»r wˆ— pepi÷steuka, kai« pe÷peismai o¢ti dunato/ß e˙sti th\n paraqh/khn mou
fula¿xai ei˙ß e˙kei÷nhn th\n hJme÷ran. Paul had entrusted himself to the Lord
Jesus, at which moment he came to be persuaded that Christ was able to keep him
from spiritual destruction, and his entrusting and persuasion continued to the
time of his statement.
[xi]
Hebrews
11:13, “These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Kata» pi÷stin aÓpe÷qanon
ou∞toi pa¿nteß, mh\ labo/nteß ta»ß e˙paggeli÷aß, aÓlla» po/rrwqen aujta»ß
i˙do/nteß, kai« peisqe÷nteß, kai« aÓspasa¿menoi, kai« oJmologh/santeß o¢ti
xe÷noi kai« parepi÷dhmoi÷ ei˙sin e˙pi« thvß ghvß. Their faith included
knowledge of the promises (“having seem them afar off,”), persuasion, and a
trusting embrace of the promises, which resulted in confession.
[xii]
The ideas
of persuasion and confident assurance are found in the New Testament in many
texts where the specific act of justifying faith is not under
consideration. For persuasion,
consider Matthew 27:20; 28:14; Luke 20:6; Acts 5:40 (aorist passive is rendered
“agreed”); 12:20 (the chamberlain persuaded, convinced, won over, cf. 2
Maccabees 4:45, h¡dh de« leleimme÷noß oJ Mene÷laoß e˙phggei÷lato crh/mata i˚kana»
tw◊ˆ Ptolemai÷wˆ Dorume÷nouß pro\ß to\ pei√sai to\n basile÷a, “But Menelaus, being now
convicted, promised Ptolemee the son of Dorymenes to give him much money, if he
would pacify the king toward him.”); 14:19; 21:14; 23:21 (being
persuaded results in yielding); 26:26; 27:11 (“believed”); Romans 8:38; 14:14;
15:14; 2 Timothy 1:5; Hebrews 6:9; 1 John 3:19. For confident assurance and trust, consider Romans 2:19;
8:38; 15:14; 2 Corinthians 2:3; 10:7; Galatians 5:10; Philippians 1:6, 14, 25,
2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Timothy 1:5; Philemon 21; 1 John 3:19.
It is one thing—and a truth—to say that saving
faith is inherently assured of the sufficiency of Christ and the truth of the
Divine promises in the Gospel. It
is another—and a falsehood—to say that saving faith involves within it the
assurance that one is personally converted. Assurance in this latter sense belongs to the well-being,
not the essence, of Christian faith.
[xiii] πείθω, πείθομαι,
πειθός, πεισμονή, πεποίθησις, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, vol. 3, Spicq & Earnest, pg. 67.
[xiv]
Acts
5:36-37; Romans 2:8 (note the pei÷qw/aÓpeiqe÷w contrast in the me÷n/de÷ clause); Galatians 3:1; 5:7; Hebrews 13:16; James
3:3.
[xv]
As
evidenced, e. g., in the uses of peiqarce÷w,
Acts 5:29, 32; 27:21; Titus 3:1.
The “verb is ordinarily translated ‘obey,’ . . . [with] the peculiar
nuance of . . . voluntary consent” (Theological Lexicon, Spicq).
[xvi] In none of its
55 uses in the New Testament are the people of God ever said to be people
devoid of pei÷qw. Galatians 3:1 & 5:7 would be the only texts that
might appear to indicate otherwise.
However, in these verses false teachers were seeking to lead the
Galatians to apostatize from the gospel, but in both verses “that ye should not
obey the truth” (thØv
aÓlhqei÷aˆ mh\ pei÷qesqai) is a purpose
clause, specifying, respectively, the purpose the false teachers had in their
bewitching (3:1) and the purpose of the false teachers in their hindering the
Galatians’ running well (5:7).
While many of the regenerate members of the church at Galatia had been
influenced by these false teachers, so that, no doubt, their understanding and
obedience were being shaken, neither in Galatians 3:1 nor 5:7 does Paul make
the affirmation that they had actually become people who were rejectors of the
truth or people who had now apostatized and become people of unbelief and
disobedience. He simply states the
purpose of the false teachers with the infinitive pei÷qesqai.
[xvii]
aÓpeiqe÷w
is used for those who disbelieve in or disobey the Son instead of believing (pisteu/w) in Him and not being condemned (John 3:36), for
unbelieving and disobedient Jews (Acts 14:2; 17:5), for hardened people who do
not believe or obey the gospel (Acts 19:9), for the unregenerate who disobey
and disbelieve the truth (Romans 2:8), as unconverted Israel disbelieves and
disobeys (Romans 10:21; 15:31) and the Gentiles disbelieved and disobeyed
before their conversion, but did not do so after their salvation (Romans
11:30-31), and for those who disbelieve and disobey so that they do not enter
into spiritual rest but eternally perish (Hebrews 3:18; 11:31). Christ is precious to those who believe
(pisteu/w), but to the disbelieving and disobedient He is a
stone of stumbling (1 Peter 2:7-8; cf. John 3:36). A non-Christian husband is disobedient and disbelieving in
the Word (1 Peter 3:1), as the ungodly in Noah’s day who died in the flood were
disbelieving and disobedient (1 Peter 3:20). A terrible end will come upon the disbelieving and disobedient
(1 Peter 4:17)—the lake of fire.
[xviii]
aÓpei÷qeia; The
lost are in unbelief or disobedience (Romans 11:30, 32), for they are the sons
of disobedience and unbelief (Ephesians 2:2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6), and they
will fall because of their unbelief and disobedience (Hebrews 4:6, 11).
[xix]
aÓpeiqh/ß; The
unsaved are the disobedient (Luke 1:17), disobeying both God (Titus 1:16; 3:3)
and their parents (Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2). Paul, in contrast, was not disobedient (Acts 26:19).
No comments:
Post a Comment