He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
Book of Deuteronomy 32:4
In this chapter we will address a crucial issue for salvation, the issue of faith. We will discover that the modern idea of faith, influenced by Hellenistic culture, is significantly different from that which characterised the period in which Jesus lived, and all that he said about faith must therefore be reviewed in the light of Jewish culture. Among other things, some fundamental connections with the concepts of sin and faithfulness to the covenant that we saw earlier will become evident. The reformulation of the idea of faith has important repercussions on the process of salvation that concern us closely. It is therefore necessary to pay due attention to this matter because, as the author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote, without faith it is impossible to please God.448 Finally, we will see what significance the concepts of discipleship and justification have in this light.
17.1. The meaning of faith
What is meant by faith? Answering this question correctly is of vital importance, otherwise the whole process of salvation may be hindered. Jesus often rebuked his disciples for their lack of faith, but on the contrary he praised several people, mostly pagans449 or Samaritans,450 for their great faith. It follows that, if we want to call ourselves true followers and disciples of Jesus, we need to understand what he meant when he used this term, in order not to be qualified as men and women of little faith.451 The definition of the word faith is as follows:
Faith: full and confident belief, proceeding from intimate conviction or based on the authority of others rather than on positive evidence. In religion: the set of one's beliefs, the firmly held principles by which one believes in the truth of things revealed by God, i.e., the supernatural and unprovable mysteries.452
We can see, from this definition, that the word faith is normally considered to be a synonym for “belief or conviction”, so much so that Christians are often referred to as “believers”. Nowadays, having faith consists in a mental adherence to certain doctrines or truths related to the existence and work of God and Jesus Christ. This idea of faith, in terms of intellectual acceptance, certainly stems from the influence of Greek philosophical thought, strongly rationalistic. From the very beginning, the disciples, having to integrate newly converted people from different cultures, especially Greeks and Romans, were confronted with this problem, so much so that the Apostle James openly addressed the issue: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”,453 because some supposed that the basis of Christianity was merely a matter of intellectual knowledge of the truth or belief in unknowable facts; this idea has not changed much in the course of history:
The extraordinary and eccentric emphasis on “belief” in Christianity today is an accident of history that has distorted our understanding of religious truth. We call religious people “believers”, as though acceptance of a set of doctrines was their principal activity.454
Unfortunately, many people today are under the illusion that they are Christians simply because they believe in the existence of God, or because they believe in what Jesus did. Well, we learn from the Gospels, as James also pointed out, that even demons believe that God exists and that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, but this does not help them in any way, much less bring about their salvation.455 It is therefore necessary to reconsider our concept of faith by freeing it from the conditioning of philosophy, and to do this we need to go back to the original meaning of the Hebrew word.
17.2. Pistis and Emunah
The word we translate as “faith” in the New Testament was represented by the Greek word “pistis”.456 However, we know that the authors of the New Testament were Hebrew-speaking Israelites, so Greek was not their mother tongue, but was considered the international language, as English can be considered today. In order to make foreigners participate in the revelation, they decided to adopt the international language, but in doing so they had to sacrifice the richness of their native language. Whenever they used the word pistis, they were thinking of the Hebrew word emunah457 which had a much deeper meaning, that the Greek language was unable to represent. The Greeks were purely rationalists, they believed in the centrality of reason, in dialectics and philosophical speculation, so the words they used were imbued with these ideas. Paul also testifies to this when he went to Athens and reported: “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”458 The Greek word pistis also pointed in that direction and began to delineate the nascent Christian faith as a belief in certain doctrines about Jesus. Belief in this truth, rather than in other supposed truths, would form the basis for salvation. Nothing could be more wrong. The word emunah, the true source of salvation, had a much broader meaning; it was derived from the verbal root aman whose meaning was:
Aman: to build up or support; to nurture as a parent or wet nurse; figuratively to make (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain.459
When God, in the verse we saw at the beginning of the chapter, called himself “A God of truth and without injustice” or in another verse “the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy”,460 the word used is aman, that is faithful, stable, true, loyal, righteous and trustworthy, certainly could not mean “believer”. The concept expressed by the word aman is that of building stably, founding one's life on certain principles and remaining faithful and loyal to them, literally “glued”461 to them without deviation of any kind. It is based on fidelity and is substantiated by building, by acting consistently with the affirmed principles. Sin, on the other hand, was understood as “missing the mark”, as twisted, oscillating and unstable action. This is the concept of faith to which Jesus referred:
Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Therefore, if we wanted to translate the concept expressed by emunah into English, the most appropriate expression would be: “steadfast, trusting and zealous faithfulness”.462 What Jesus demanded of his disciples, when he rebuked them for their lack of faith, was that they should trust him and be faithful to his word by putting into practice all his teachings, so that these would become the stable foundation of their lives and lead them to a just and loving existence; it meant remaining loyal to the mission, listening and putting into practice all that Jesus had commanded: “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”463
All good religious teaching – including such Christian doctrines as the Trinity or the Incarnation – is basically a summons to action. Yet instead of being taught to act creatively upon them, many modern Christians feel it is more important to “believe” them.464
The Jewish mentality was much more inclined to “doing” than to “believing” which, as we have seen, characterised Greek culture. Even Abraham, described as our father in faith, did not always “believe” God,465 but he acted according to the Lord's instructions, and remained faithful to him without ever bowing to other idols.
Judaism emerged through a struggle with idolatry, demanding loyalty to the one God, creator of the universe. This loyalty was to find expression in certain ways, pre-eminently through obedience to God’s will as expressed in the Torah. So long as one expressed that essential loyalty in speech and (especially) in action, little attempt was made to enquire closely into the doctrines one ought to affirm. Furthermore, Judaism developed as a religion intimately bound up with a distinct and often beleaguered community. Loyalty to the community was a further way in which loyalty to God and God’s revelation was expressed. Loyalty to God, Torah, and Israel, therefore, is the hallmark of the Jew: loyal behaviour, not systematic theology, is what is expected and demanded.466
17.3. Covenant faithfulness
In the previous chapters, we have seen how important the concept of covenant and loyalty to oaths was to the Jews. An oath of obedience was binding until death and consisted in doing everything that was commanded or promised. It arose from and was based on the recognition of the lordship of the one who established the injunction, and obedience was not based on assent or mental understanding of the provisions, but on total trust and loyalty to the lord who imposed them. Emunah was a way of conforming perfectly to what was required, so much so that even today it is said that something is a “faithful copy” when it imitates the original model exactly and without any deviation. Because of this, the idea of being imitators of Christ was very widespread in the early Church and was rooted in the very meaning of emunah, being a faithful copy; it meant doing everything he did and living as he lived, this was the true faith.467
There is another very important word in Jewish culture, and that is shema, which in the Bible is translated as “hear”: “Shema Israel”, “Hear, O Israel”. This word is found for example in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” and is the opening of the most important prayer for the Jews to this day, called Shema, recited twice a day, morning and evening; it was also mentioned by Jesus: “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”468 Actually, the meaning of shema is not simply “hear”, but is “hear and act”, in a word, “obey”. Lois Tverberg, a scholar of Jewish culture, states: “The word shema has a much wider, deeper meaning than “to perceive sound.” It encompasses a whole spectrum of ideas that includes listening, taking heed, and responding with action to what one has heard.”469 Once again we see how, in the translation representing our western culture, it is sufficient to “listen” in order to reasonably learn a certain truth, whereas the concept of the Hebrew word implied acting in accordance with the truth heard. There are a whole series of verbs, used in the Hebrew language, that require consequent action, but whose English translation is unable to render their meaning. When, for example, the psalmist prays to the Lord saying: “hear me”, “consider me”, “turn to me”, “remember me”, “answer me”, etc.,470 he is not simply asking the Lord to activate his senses but is requesting him to act promptly and decisively on his behalf. Similarly, believing was not merely an intellectual matter, but required conforming by action to what was believed.
There is a biblical verse that is instead used, often inappropriately, to support the thesis that it is sufficient to “believe” to be saved:
Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
However, if we interpret the first part of the verse based on Jewish traditions, we find that “to confess with the mouth” meant to swear solemnly, and “Jesus as Lord” meant to acknowledge his lordship and agree to obey all his commandments. In essence, it was an oath of allegiance, and a more appropriate interpretation would be: “If you have solemnly sworn allegiance to Jesus as Lord, pledged to obey all his commandments, and trusted that he is alive, you will be saved.” Believing is only a part, it is not the whole programme, there is to faithfully obey his commandments after believing. Having faith in Jesus means remaining loyal to Jesus, not only believing in what he did, but above all doing what he said:
When we read of “believing in Christ” (where they used the verb form, pisteou) they generally meant being faithful to him. This faithfulness encompassed loyalty, obedience and perseverance. Their term for “faith”, pistis, implied and required human effort. […] In their minds, being faithful to Jesus meant being committed to his movement, his teachings, his example and his cause. It meant obeying his teachings and striving to live in the way he had instructed. It meant remaining loyal to him and persevering in the way of life that he had taught. For the early Christians, living rightly and being faithful to Christ were one and the same.471
With this I would say that we can put a stop to the unhealthy idea that has characterised much of Christian history, especially in recent centuries. Believing in Jesus Christ does not mean convincing oneself that he existed, that he was crucified, and that God raised him from the dead; even Satan is convinced of this. Believing in Jesus means recognising him as Lord, being faithful to him, listening to all that he said, doing all that he commanded, remaining steadfast in his word and loyal to the cause of love. It means founding our lives on the principles he preached and obeying his commandments, not simply because of the example he gave, but because of his Holy Spirit who is given to us, lives in us and makes all this possible. The rest is theory, which is good to know, but has never saved anyone if it remains an end in itself.
17.4. The great misunderstanding of faith vs. works
Let us now address a subject that has been, from the very beginning, a subject of bitter debate and sometimes confrontation, the subject of salvation by faith or by works. The controversy arose as early as the time of the first Church and was mainly addressed by Paul and James in their letters. The Pauline approach has always been seen as an idea of salvation by faith alone, whereas James seemed to be more about works. This kind of reading is the result of some misunderstandings, let us see why.
Paul, particularly in his letters to the Galatians and Romans, came down hard on the idea that was spreading in the churches, that it was necessary for the salvation of the pagans to fulfil the law of Moses, like the Israelites. It should be noted that in his letters he was not speaking of good works but of works of the law, that is, of legalistic fulfilment of the rules contained in the Torah. The problem arose from the fact that the first Christian converts were Jews who practised the law, many of whom, when the pagans began to convert, felt that they too should submit to Jewish practices and the Torah. Thus, they began to demand circumcision of new converts, abstention from certain foods, purifications, observance of holidays, etc. Paul was furious, especially against the practice of circumcision, because he considered that the Mosaic law was now superseded by the law of love in Christ, which was a spiritual law of a higher order, making the former superfluous. Among other things, the old law had not been able to “create” love but had only served to delineate its contours and to show sin, rather than to give life. What was supposed to lead to life had produced death because of sin, but this had come to an end with the new law of the Spirit. Therefore, Paul was talking about the works of the law, but someone went further and assumed that salvation came by faith alone and that converts were not required to do any works, but only to “believe”, falling into the misunderstanding we discussed earlier. At this point James intervened and ruled: “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”472 In reality, the conflict between what Paul and James argued was only apparent, as they were talking about different things:
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.473
James 2:24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Paul, in fact, was referring to the works of the law (circumcision, sacrifices, purifications, etc.) while James was referring to good works. The alleged conflict is resolved by the meaning of the word emunah, which we have seen to be a steadfast, trusting and zealous faithfulness. By grace we have indeed received faith, but this same faith and trust in Jesus naturally leads us to do what is good, to do good works in accordance with his word, that is, to be faithful to him. If a person who calls himself a “believer” has no desire to do good works and to put into practice what Jesus taught, he is most likely deceiving himself and his faith is inauthentic, a mere intellectual exercise. In fact, Paul himself preached that people should do works worthy of repentance and that they should persevere in doing good works.474
This misunderstanding was exacerbated by Luther in the 16th century with his harsh attack on salvation by works. In fact, he was referring to the senseless practice of supererogatory and the scandalous sale of indulgences by the Roman Church, that we discussed in the first part of the book, but he remained an advocate of the importance of good works within an authentic faith. We read from his own words:
A person becomes a Christian not by working, but by hearing. The first step to being a Christian is to hear the Gospel. When a person has accepted the Gospel, let him first give thanks unto God with a glad heart, and then let him get busy on the good works to strive for, works that really please God, and not man-made and self-chosen works.475
However, the result was that in many Churches today, it is thought that to obtain salvation it is enough to believe in the redemptive death of Jesus and to trust in the work he did; and as Bonhoeffer said: “Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.”476 Believing in what Jesus did, gives confidence, but after believing, we need commitment and perseverance in obeying his commandments (loving one's enemies and praying for those who persecute us is quite challenging, just to give an example); we cannot do it alone, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, it becomes possible. It is not salvation by works, it is founding our lives on his teachings and persevering in faithfulness to them; in fact, only he who endures to the end will be saved.477
In short, a faith that is not emunah, faithfulness that is steadfast, trusting, zealous, responsible, participative and persevering, it is not an authentic faith, but an illusion. Salvation and justification are by “sola fide” as Luther claimed, but it is a faith that is emunah, that acts, not a sterile mental assent. It begins with believing but is then called to work in love with faithfulness and persistence, and to produce good fruit; because every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.478
17.5. Justification
Conversely, can good works lead to salvation? Can “unbelievers” be justified by the works they do? This is a very difficult and controversial subject; however, we see in the Bible people who acted faithfully without knowledge of any doctrine; think of the pagan prostitute Rahab,479 the Roman centurion Cornelius,480 Abraham himself who was a Chaldean, or the city of Nineveh.481 Or Abel, Noah, Isaac, Jacob; none of them knew Jesus and never had a Bible in their hands, let alone the pagan kings Nebuchadnezzar482 and Cyrus of Persia.483 What was the justification for these people? They all had in common the shema or listening and obeying to the voice of God. God is the creator, origin and source of all life, and he speaks in the hearts of all people, regardless of ethnic or religious considerations; anyone who listens to his voice and puts into practice what it says, is in fact putting emunah in Jesus, the word of God, and this is what justifies and at the same time moves him or her to do good works according to God. This voice, whispered in the heart of every man and woman, spoke openly through the prophets and was fully manifested in Jesus Christ, making itself recognisable and accessible to the whole of humanity. On the other hand, anyone who wants to do supposedly good works whose source is other than God, is doing what Paul called “carnal” works, which serve no purpose except to swell the pride of those who do them.
In conclusion, there is no salvation outside of God, but this is not expressed in a formal adherence to a “religious club”, but in a concrete response to his call to do good, to practice justice and to love one's neighbour, since he is the unique source of all that is good and right. Instead, whoever hears his word without putting it into practice, is only deluding himself and the true light is not in him. For we shall be judged by our works, that is, by how we have responded to God's call, which is the true attestation of faith, and not by the correctness of our doctrines:
John 5:28-29 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Romans 2:6 Who will render to each one according to his deeds.
Revelation 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
17.6. Discipleship
The subject of discipleship is often glossed over because it implies a rather uncomfortable truth, namely that we cannot call ourselves Christians unless we are willing to become disciples of Jesus. Jesus' great commission to the Apostles was in fact to make disciples of all peoples, not “converts” or “believers”. But what exactly does it mean to be disciples of Jesus? The fear rising in almost every listener is that of having to leave everything behind and equipped only with a bag and a stick, go around the world preaching the Kingdom of Heaven; this may well be the case, but it is not the only option. To clarify what it means to become a disciple, we must first understand what discipleship was in Jesus' time.
Firstly, the word “disciple” simply means “student” and the “Rabbi” was the teacher. However, this kind of school was a full-time activity and not limited to a few hours of the day; the disciple had to leave his home to follow the teacher together with the other students, so much so that Jesus asked his disciples to leave everything and follow him without hesitation.