Tag: trusting God

Trust in God

Paul’s famous statement, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe [pisteuō 4100] in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom 10:9), is misunderstood to mean that we’re saved by simply believing that the resurrection of Jesus Christ happened as an historical fact. Thus, countless sermons have been preached and books written lending evidence to the resurrection for us to have firm belief. But that this wasn’t what Paul meant is apparent by his quote from Isaiah, “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth [pisteuō 4100] on him shall not be ashamed” (v. 11), and by what he had written earlier, “if we believe [pisteuō 4100] on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (4:24). The Greek verb pisteuō appears about 250 times in the New Testament and usually rendered “believe” but actually means “trust.” It’s not believing Jesus was raised but trusting in Him that raised Jesus.

Peter quoted the same from Isaiah, “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth [pisteuō 4100] on him shall not be confounded [ashamed]” (1Pe 2:6. And he had already said earlier, “Who by him do believe [pisteuō 4100] in God, that raised him up from the dead” (1Pe 1:21). It’s trusting in Him that raised Jesus from the dead.

That “Whosoever believeth [trusts] on him shall not be ashamed” is that we won’t be put to shame, let down, or disappointed when we trust in Him. David said: “they trusted in thee, and were not confounded” (Psa 22:5); “O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me” (Psa 25:2); “let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee” (Psa 25:20).

To “believe [trust] in thine heart” is to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Pro 3:5). In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said nothing about believing. He taught us to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mat 6:20,21). This treasure is trusting in our hearts our “Father which is in heaven” (v. 1). We must live with no thought about our life or tomorrow, “Take no thought for your life … Take therefore no thought for the morrow” (vs. 25,34). We’re not to try and understand, figure out, and plan out everything but simply trust in God.

“The just shall live by faith [pistis 4102]” (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:10; Heb 10:38), is mistranslated. The Greek pistis doesn’t mean “faith” but “faithfulness” which is proven by Habakkuk’s statement, “the just shall live by his faith [‘ĕmûnȃ 530]” (Hab 2:4). The Hebrew ‘ĕmûnȃ appears about 50 times in the Old Testament and always indicates faithfulness in every context. Rendered more clearly in other translations, “live because of his faithfulness” (NET), “live by his faithfulness” (NIV), Habakkuk wasn’t speaking of our faith but His faithfulness! Abraham foretold of God providing the Lamb, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb” (Gen 22:8), and God swore His faithfulness to do it, “By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD” (v. 16). Isaiah later wrote of the Lamb to come, “he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isa 53:7), and John announced the Lamb had come, “Behold the Lamb of God” (Jhn 1:29,36). Therefore, the just will live—have eternal life—by trusting in God’s faithfulness.

The German Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) is the man that gave us the misunderstanding that “The shall live by faith” means we’re saved by faith. And he’s also the man that wrote the scathing antisemitic book “The Jews and Their Lies” which was used about 400 years later by another antisemitic German leader Adolph Hitler to fuel hatred for the Jews in the Holocaust. Yet ministers, pastors, scholars, and theologians sing the praises of Luther! Why keep his dark side a secret? Maybe because revealing it would hinder his doctrine of salvation by faith?

There are many places in Scripture where God’s people were called or called themselves “servants” or “faithful.” But there’s nowhere in Scripture where they ever called themselves “believers” as they do today. There are two places in the KJV where statements were mistranslated to sound that way, “And believers [pisteuō 4100] were the more added to the Lord” (Act 5:14), “be thou an example of the believers [pistos 4103]” (1Ti 4:12). The verb pisteuo and adjective pistos were both erroneously rendered as the noun “believers.” And the problem is far more pervasive in modern Bible Versions. The ASV has 4 places calling them “believers,” the ESV 15, the NET about 25, the NIV about 50, and the NLT about 175! Why such vast inconsistencies?

Salvation isn’t about simply believing the resurrection happened but trusting God that made it happen. Our salvation is victory over death in resurrection. But if we can’t even trust God in our life, “Take no thought for your life,” how can we trust God in our death?

Say Not in Your Heart

Paul quoted Moses’ words from Deuteronomy, “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart” (Rom 10:6-8). After having given the First and Great Commandment, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deu 6:4-5), Moses said the same thing several times: “If thou shalt say in thine heart” (7:17); “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart” (8:5); “And thou say in thine heart” (8:17); “Speak not thou in thine heart” (9:4); “there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying” (15:9); “And if thou say in thine heart” (18:21); “that he bless himself in his heart, saying” (29:19); “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart” (30:14). Loving God with all our hearts isn’t just what we say out of our mouths, but what we say to ourselves in our hearts, “in thy mouth, and in thy heart.”

Abraham learned the hard way to NOT laugh at God, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac [laughter]” (Gen 17:17-19). Telling Abraham to name his son “laughter” indicated that God knew he had just laughed at Him in his heart. Abraham got the point.

Jesus and John the baptizer both taught: “And think not to say within yourselves” (Mat 3:9); “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart” (Mat 24:48); “and begin not to say within yourselves” (Luk 3:8); “he spake within himself, saying” (Luk 7:39); “And he thought within himself, saying” (Luk 12:17); “But and if that servant say in his heart” (Luk 12:45); “but afterward he said within himself” (Luk 18:4); “Then the steward said within himself” (Luk 16:3). We all speak to ourselves in our hearts. And since people don’t know what we’re saying, it’s very easy to forget that God does and begin speaking to ourselves evil things.

Jesus didn’t just suggest but commanded us, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on … take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? … Take therefore no thought for the morrow” (Mat 6:25,31,34). We can’t be saved if we’re sinning against Christ’s commandment by thinking to ourselves about tomorrow. To take no thought for tomorrow requires that we trust God—that He becomes the God of our lives: “I will be their God” (Gen 17:8; Jer 24:7,32:38; Eze 11:20,36:28,37:23,27; Zec 8:8), “I will be their God” (2Co 6:16); “I will be to them a God” (Heb 8:10); “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb 11:16); “God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev 21:3); “I will be his God” (Rev 21:7). For God to be our Savior, God must be our God. It means no longer running our lives and ruining our lives!

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Pro 3:5), requires that we don’t say anything to ourselves displeasing to God, try to figure out situations, or “help” God work things out. It means being truly at peace with any outcome and sincerely content in any circumstance we find ourselves, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Phl 4:11). And this isn’t just a better way to live—it’s the way we must live to be saved.

The Greek verb pisteuō appears about 250 times in the New Testament and is almost always translated as “believe” but actually means “trust.” Paul taught about salvation, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe [trust] in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth [trusts] unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth [trusts] on him shall not be ashamed.” (Rom 10:9-11). That salvation isn’t by believing but by trusting is evident by what David said, “O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me … O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee” (Psa 25:2,20), “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed” (Psa 31:1). Salvation isn’t by believing but by trusting God. Our trust in Him won’t be put to shame, “Whosoever believeth [trusts] on him shall not be ashamed.”

Paul understood Moses’ words “Say not in thine heart … in thy mouth, and in thy heart,” that we confess the Lord publicly out of our mouths, and speak trust in God privately within our hearts. To be saved, we must trust the Father and obey His Son.