In just the same way, a faith has no works shows itself to be a dead faith or a faith that cannot save the individual James 2: Paul is thanking God for the faith of the Thessalonians which is clearly a live, vibrant, authentic faith as evidenced by their works. A faith that is dynamic, active and real rather than static and lifeless will produce good works James 2: We work from the cross but not towards it. Work ergon refers to active work and can also refer to the results of the activity, i. The phrase here is more literally "the work of the faith", and describes the work or activity that faith inspires or that springs from and is motivated by faith.
The focus is on active, faithful believers. This does not mean, therefore, a work of their own producing faith, but a work which showed that they had faith. Hiebert adds that in the phrase work of faith " the emphasis is on the work that faith produces. If there were no faith there would have been no work.
The faith of the Thessalonians was no mere speculative belief; it was energetic and productive. Paul fully agreed with James that faith without deeds is dead James 2: Paul's reference is not to the initial work of saving faith but rather relates to the whole Christian life as it is ruled and energized by faith. Faith pistis is synonymous with trust or belief and is the conviction of the truth of anything, but in Scripture usually speaks of belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it.
Note that this discussion of pistis is only an overview and not a detailed treatise of this vitally important subject. Those interested are directed to respected, conservative books on systematic theology for more in depth discussion eg, Dr Wayne Grudem's book Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine is an excellent, uncompromising, imminently readable resource for the lay person. See especially Chapter 35 which addresses the question "What is saving faith? As pistis relates to God, it is the conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things well as the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ.
As faith relates to Christ it represents a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation and entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Stated another way, eternal salvation comes only through belief in Jesus Christ and no other way. Faith is the hand that grasps. It is the means of communication, it is the channel through which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should say, the life which is the grace, comes to us.
It is the open door by which the angel of God comes in with his gifts. It is like the petals of the flowers, opening when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, laying bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and coloured, and made to grow by the sunshine which itself has opened them, and without the presence of which, within the cup, there would have been neither life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; the first shoot from which all the others ascend It is the foundation of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost say that.
But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness Your work of faith. There is the whole of the thorny subject of the relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what James said and it is exactly what a better than James said.
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This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,' and out of that will come all the rest. That is the mother tincture; everything will flow from that. Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you. Ask yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it. Read full sermon on 1 Thessalonians 1: Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
This definition emphasizes that saving faith is not just a belief in facts but personal trust in Jesus to save me The definition emphasizes personal trust in Christ, not just belief in facts about Christ. Because saving faith in Scripture involves this personal trust, the word "trust" is a better word to use in contemporary culture than the word "faith" or "belief. The essence of faith consists in believing and receiving what God has revealed, and may be defined as that trust in the God of the Scriptures and in Jesus Christ whom He has sent, which receives Him as Lord and Savior and impels to loving obedience and good works John 1: Biblical faith is not synonymous with mental assent or acquiescence which by itself is a superficial faith at best and not genuine saving faith.
For example, the apostle John distinguishes two types of belief using the related verb pisteuo but still illustrating a truth relevant to the discussion of the noun pistis , one of which is only superficial Note the superior category of faith of the disciples to that of the "many" John 2: The disciples did not believe because of the miracles but because of the Scripture and Jesus' words.
It is far better to place one's faith in God's Word than in signs and wonders. Note that their belief was associated with His signs. Although many in the Jerusalem crowd "believed in his name when they saw the miracles" John 2: The contrast is between people who put their trust pisteuo , Gk. Enthusiasm for the spectacular is present in them , but Jesus looks for genuine faith.
New American Standard Translation: In another example of belief that fell short of genuine saving belief John records that when Jesus spoke to the Jews " who had believed him " John 8: In the progress of belief there is a stage that falls short of genuine belief resulting in salvation. This is first seen in John 2: Jesus discerned that their faith was superficial, based only on the miracles they had seen. Later during the Feast of Tabernacles many of the people "believed in Him" but apparently not as Messiah Jn 7: Jesus spoke to the Jews "who had believed him" Jn 8: He later accused the same Jews of unbelief Jn 8: A prominent example of the " belief of unbelief " in the Book of Acts is Simon, a practitioner of the magic arts in the city of Samaria Acts 8: Simon "believed" and was baptized Acts 8: Peter rebuked him with strong words, "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin" Acts 8: The absence of any evidence of repentance or willingness to pray leads me to suspect that while Simon believed something about Jesus and went through the ritual of baptism, his belief was not genuine saving faith. Simon seems to have remained an unrepentant and unregenerate man in spite of his initial response and religious behavior.
Tenney refers to this kind of belief which falls short of genuine faith as "superficial. It is based merely on outward profession. The problem with this belief is its object. It seems to have been based primarily on miracles and was not rooted in a clear understanding of the person of Christ as Messiah and Son of God.
Many were inclined to believe something about Jesus but were unwilling to yield their allegiance to Him, trusting Him as their personal Sin-Bearer.
My Muslim friend believes in Jesus in the sense that he believes that Jesus is a prophet. My Mormon friend believes in Jesus in the sense that he believes that Jesus is a man who became a god, and that we have the potential to do the same. His faith is founded on the Book of Mormon and other Mormon writings.
They believe that various religious traditions, practiced by sincere people, will lead them to God. Thomas Nelson Publishers Bolding added. True faith that saves one's soul includes at least three main elements 1 firm persuasion or firm conviction, 2 a surrender to that truth and 3 a conduct emanating from that surrender.
In sum, faith shows itself genuine by a changed life. Click here for W E Vine's similar definition of faith. The highly respected theologian Louis Berkhof defines genuine faith in essentially the same way noting that it includes an intellectual element notitia , which is " a positive recognition of the truth "; an emotional element assensus , which includes " a deep conviction of the truth "; and a volitional element fiducia , which involves " a personal trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, including a surrender … to Christ.
Originally this word group seems linked with a more formal contract between partners. It stressed faithfulness to the agreement made or trustworthiness in keeping promises. In time the use expanded. In the classical period, writers spoke of trust in the gods as well as trust in people. In the Hellenic era, "faith in God" came to mean theoretical conviction about a particular doctrine, a conviction expressed in one's way of life. As different schools of philosophy and religion developed, the particular emphasis given pistis was shaped by the tradition within which it was used. The NT retains the range of meanings.
But those meanings are refined and reshaped by the dynamic message of the gospel. The verb pisteuo and noun pistis are also used with a number of prepositions. The most important construction is unique to the NT, an invention of the early church that expresses the inmost secret of our faith. That construction links faith with the preposition eis , "to" or "into. In the NT it portrays a person committing himself or herself totally to the person of Jesus Christ, for our faith is into Jesus.
Leon Morris in "The Gospel According to John" agrees with Richards writing that " Faith, for John, is an activity which takes men right out of themselves and makes them one with Christ " indicating that Morris likewise understands the Greek preposition eis in the phrase pisteuo eis , to be a significant indication that NT faith is not just intellectual assent but includes a " moral element of personal trust. One other aspect of the NT's use of faith words is fascinating.
Usually the object of faith is Jesus. Only twelve verses have God as the object of faith Jn The reason is clearly expressed by Jesus himself: No one comes to the father except through me" Jn God the Father has revealed himself in the Son. The Father has set Jesus before us as the one to whom we must entrust ourselves for salvation. It is Jesus who is the focus of Christian faith.
Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Wuest in his study of pistis and the related words in this family, pisteuo and pistos , explains that When these words refer to the faith which a lost sinner must place in the Lord Jesus in order to be saved, they include the following ideas; the act of considering the Lord Jesus worthy of trust as to His character and motives, the act of placing confidence in His ability to do just what He says He will do, the act of entrusting the salvation of his soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus, the act of committing the work of saving his soul to the care of the Lord.
This means a definite taking of one's self out of one's own keeping and entrusting one's self into the keeping of the Lord Jesus. William Barclay notes that "Faith begins with receptivity.
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It begins when a man is at least willing to listen to the message of the truth. It goes on to mental assent. A man first hears and then agrees that this is true. But mental assent need not issue in action. Many a man knows very well that something is true, but does not change his actions to meet that knowledge. The final stage is when this mental assent becomes total surrender. In full-fledged faith, a man hears the Christian message, agrees that it is true, and then casts himself upon it in a life of total yieldedness.
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Faith is relying on what God has done rather than on one's own efforts. In the Old Testament, faith is rarely mentioned. The word trust is used frequently, and verbs like believe and rely are used to express the right attitude to God. The classic example is Abraham, whose faith was reckoned as righteousness Ge At the heart of the Christian message is the story of the cross: Christ's dying to bring salvation. Faith is an attitude of trust in which a believer receives God's good gift of salvation Acts Lightfoot discusses the concept of faith in his commentary on Galatians. He notes that in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the definition of the word for faith.
The loss in grammatical precision is often more than compensated by the gain in theological depth They who have faith in God are steadfast and immovable in the path of duty. Faith , like grace, is not static. Saving faith is more than just understanding the facts and mentally acquiescing. It is inseparable from repentance, surrender, and a supernatural longing to obey. None of those responses can be classified exclusively as a human work, any more than believing itself is solely a human effort. Much of what we comprehend we cannot see: He who lives by sight lives poorly indeed.
Faith is learning to live by insight rather than by sight. No human had ever set foot on them. Then the first settlers arrived. They were Polynesians from other Pacific islands who had sailed a thousand miles in outrigger canoes. The Polynesians came with the purpose of settling in New Zealand. How did they know the land was there? How did they know they would not simply sail across empty seas until food and water ran out and they perished?
The Polynesians had known for generations that land was there because their voyagers had seen a long white cloud on the distant horizon. They knew that when a cloud stayed in one place over a very long period of time, there was land beneath it. Faith is like that.
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It is voyaging to an unseen land, journeying to an unknown future. But it is not mere guesswork, or chance, or superstition. There are facts behind faith, facts that suggest conclusions. Faith is manifest by not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence. John uses the related verb pisteuo to demonstrate the relationship between genuine faith and obedience writing But the one who "does not obey the Son shall not see life.
And logically, to believe in Christ is to obey Him. As I have noted elsewhere, "This verse clearly indicates that belief is not a matter of passive opinion, but decisive and obedient action. Tragically many people are convinced that it doesn't really matter what you believe, so long as you are sincere. This reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon in which Charlie Brown is returning from a disastrous baseball game. The caption read, " to nothing!
How could we lose when we were so sincere? Many people are sincere about their beliefs, but they are sincerely wrong! This book is recommended if you are looking for a very readable, non-compromising work on "systematic theology". Wayne Grudem's work noted above is comparable. Subjectively faith is firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness though rare.
Objectively faith is that which is believed usually designated as "the faith" , doctrine, the received articles of faith. Click separate study of " the faith pistis ". To be contented and unafraid when going on a journey with his father the child need not be able to imagine events; he need but know the father.
Our earthly lives are one shining web of golden mystery which we experience without understanding, how much more our life in the Spirit. Jesus Christ is our all in all. We need but trust Him and He will take care of the rest God has not failed me in this world; I can trust Him for the world to come.
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Faith and morals are two sides of the same coin. Indeed the very essence of faith is moral. Any professed faith in Christ as personal Saviour that does not bring the life under plenary obedience to Christ as Lord is inadequate and must betray its victim at the last. The man that believes will obey. God gives faith to the obedient heart only. Where real repentance is, there is obedience.
True faith brings a spiritual and moral transformation and an inward witness that cannot be mistaken. These come when we stop believing in belief and start believing in the Lord Jesus Christ indeed. Faith is not optimism, though it may breed optimism; it is not cheerfulness, though the man of faith is likely to be a reasonably cheerful; it is not a vague sense of well-being or a tender appreciation for the beauty of human togetherness. Faith is confidence in God's self-revelation as found in the Holy Scriptures. To believe savingly in Jesus Christ is to believe all He has said about Himself and all that the prophets and apostles have said about Him.
Let us beware that the Jesus we "accept" is not one we have created out of the dust of our imagination and formed after our own likeness. True faith commits us to obedience. That dreamy, sentimental faith which ignores the judgments of God against us and listens to the affirmations of the soul is as deadly as cyanide. Faith in faith is faith astray.
To hope for heaven by means of such faith is to drive in the dark across a deep chasm on a bridge that does not quite reach the other side. Of God and Men. To escape the error of salvation by works we have fallen into the opposite error of salvation without obedience. A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to "accept" Christ without forsaking the world. Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ.
If our faith is to have a firm foundation we must be convinced beyond any possible doubt that God is altogether worthy of our trust A promise is only as good as the one who made it, but it is as good, and from this knowledge springs our assurance. By cultivating the knowledge of God we at the same time cultivate our faith True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie.
It is enough that God said it, and if the statement should contradict every one of the five senses and all the conclusions of logic as well, still the believer continues to believe. Heaven approves such faith because it rises above mere proofs and rests in the bosom of God Faith as the Bible knows it is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is a gift of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford. Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith but something else short of it. Faith is at the foundation of all Christian living, and because faith has to do with the character of God, it is safe from all vacillations of mood. A man may be believing soundly and effectively even when his mood is low, so low that he is hardly aware that he is alive emotionally at all.
True faith is not an end; it is a means to an end. It is not a destination; it is a journey, and the initial act of believing in Christ is a gate leading into the long lane we are to travel with Christ for the rest of our earthly days. That journey is hard and tired, but it is wonderful also, and no one ever regretted the weariness when he came to the end of the road.
The faith of Paul and Luther was a revolutionizing thing. It upset the whole life of the individual and made him into another person altogether. It laid hold on the life and brought it under obedience to Christ. It had a finality about it. It snapped shut on a man's heart like a trap. It realigned all life's actions and brought them into accord with the will of God.
When missionary John Paton biography was translating the Scripture for the South Sea islanders, the Aniwa , he was unable to find a word in their vocabulary for the concept of believing, trusting, or having faith. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! Adapted from the Biblical Illustrator An intensely interesting incident was related lately by Dr.
For instance, suppose a native were asked whether he heard a certain statement. No effort had been spared in interrogating the most intelligent native pundits, but all in vain. None caught the hidden meaning of the word sought by the missionary. Paton was sitting in his room anxiously pondering. He sat on an ordinary chair, his feet resting on the floor; just then an intelligent native entered the room, and the thought flashed to the missionary to ask the all-absorbing question yet once again in a new light. Was he not resting on that chair? Would that attitude lend itself to the discovery?
To lean on Jesus wholly and only is surely the true meaning of appropriating or saving faith. And so goes the story of how John Paton arrived at his word for Faith as resting one's whole weight on Jesus. Beloved, on whom or what are you trusting self, spouse, job, reputation, bank account, etc? Or are you like a little child continually Nothing before, nothing behind, The steps of faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The rock beneath - Whittier.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks to that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, And cries it shall be done. Important lessons are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Charles Swindoll explains genuine belief writing "My favorite illustration of what it means to believe is the true story of Ann Seward, a resident of Portland, Oregon.
She was asked to costar with high-wire artist Philippe Petit at the opening of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Intrigued by the opportunity, she responded, "I'd like to meet this man and see if I trust him. On August 31, , the ninety-one-pound Seward placed her life in the hands of the high-wire artist and was carried on his back while he performed high above the street.
Here it is—I'm putting my life in someone else's hands and trusting the whole crowd not to do anything to distract him. But their belief was merely intellectual and did not feature the absolute trust and total commitment exhibited by Ann Seward. She expressed her belief by placing her very life in the hands of the artist. This is the kind of "belief" referred to in the words of Paul, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" Acts This belief is not merely head knowledge; it is the response of a heart to the person of Christ saying, "I trust Your redeeming work to deliver me from sin and carry me safely to heaven.
Faith is contrasted with sight "for we walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Cor 5: Faith is the commencement of the spiritual life, love its progress and continuance, and hope its completion; faith is the foundation, love the structure, and hope the top-stone of God's spiritual temple in the soul. Faith is seen by its works; love, by its self-denying exertions; and hope, by its patience and endurance. Their reference to time. Faith refers to the past, love to the present, and hope to the future. Biblical love is more than sentiment.
Love is not sweetness. We confuse cultural love with true biblical love. Agape love is willing to sacrifice for others. It is others oriented. To love sacrificially is to labour until it hurts. It is a love of blood, sweat and tears. Self—sacrificial love moves us to labor. This love is willing to toil and to pay a price. Love activates arduous labor. Love prompts this tough grind. Kopos thus describes a state of discomfort or distress, trouble, difficulty, transferring the sense of the primary meaning which is beating. They stumbled and there was none to help.
As they have no liberty, so they have no rest. This soon subdues the stoutest heart, and makes the proud boaster sing another tune. Trouble and hard toil are enough to tame a lion. God has methods of abating the loftiness of rebellious looks; the cell and the mill make even giants tremble. Kopos referring to labor conveys the sense that the labor involves toil, fatigue, suffering, weariness and sorrow.
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It thus speaks of an intense effort which can be united with trouble. In short kopos conveys the idea of arduous toil involving sweat and fatigue and emphasizes the weariness which follows as a result of the straining of all of one's powers to the utmost. Kopos is used 18 times in the NAS -- Matt Below are some representative uses that convey different nuances of kopos. For she has done a good deed to Me. Kopos has same meaning of "bother" in Mark Don't fall into the trap of believing you can earn rewards by your self effort, no matter how strenuous and exhausting such efforts are.
Any reward believers receive in the future is a result of pure, amazing grace, given to those who have done the work God prepared for them, in a humble, properly motivated, Spirit filled and God glorifying manner, all apart from self effort or self aggrandizement. Paul's point is that no matter how great the temptation to compromise, do not yield! No matter how demanding and difficult may be the work to which God has called us, do not quit! There will be a day of resting and reward, but not yet - see notes on Hebrews 4: As an aside when you are serving the Lord, exhausting, wearying toil does not mean you are out of the will of God.
As someone has said when you are in His perfect will He may well "wear you out". In secular Greek writings kopos meant "beating," "weariness as though one had been beaten," and the "exertion" or "trouble" which causes this state. In prose kopos is the proper word for physical tiredness induced by work, exertion or heat. Expressing severe labor, it is synonymous with ponos , which signifies the most tense or strenuous effort, e. Ponos is the express term for the strenuous wrestling of the hero.
Present toil is contrasted with future rest Isaiah God, who never wearies Isaiah Kopos has a general sense in Mt. Paul as an apostle accepts troubles as normal 2Cor 6: His special troubles strengthen his assurance 2Cor Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Your labor prompted by love is the toilsome, laborious activity that is prompted and sustained by love when the going gets hard. The stress in the word labor is on the cost, exertion, fatigue, and exhaustion that it entails.
Had there been no love agape they would not have persisted in carrying on the hard and difficult activities now being performed. This love is not romantic love eros , nor the love of personal affection and warmth drawn forth by the attractiveness and desirableness of the object of love phileo , but distinctively Christian love, the love that springs from an unconquerable good will and persistent desire for the welfare of the one loved.
Such love found its supreme expression on Calvary.
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Such a divinely imparted and sacrificial love prompted the toil of the Thessalonians. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the satisfaction.
Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will over permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a bottom of faith, and do not believe in work for Christ which does not involve in toil And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have both these things: Just what form this love-prompted toil took is not indicated. Alford thinks it was "probably towards the sick and needy strangers. But Hendriksen, in the light of 1 Thes 1: Barclay gives us an example that illustrates to some degree what is meant by their labor of love writing that Bernard Newman tells how once he stayed in a Bulgarian peasant's house.
All the time he was there the daughter was stitching away at a dress. He said to her, "Don't you ever get tired of that eternal sewing? Westminster John Know Press, A T Robertson adds that the phrase means the "labour that love prompts, assuming gladly the toil. It is gluten animarum, the glue of souls, the cement and solder of the church; the jointing that runneth throughout all the living and squared stones Col 3: By this souls are mingled, and all mutual offices are cheerfully performed.
O for more of this sacred cement. The walls of many churches gape with huge cracks for lack of it. Building with untempered mortar is an ancient fault, but nowadays some build with no mortar at all. This will be far more useful than complaining of the lack of unity, for this complaint often creates the evil which it deplores. Critics pick out from between the stones the mortar, of which there is little enough already; but loving hearts fill up the cracks, and do their best to keep the structure whole. How am I acting?
Am I a bond in the building, or do I, like the foolish woman in the Proverbs, pluck down the house with my hands? O Lord of peace, make me more and more a lover of peace. Flowers from a Puritan's garden, distilled and dispensed. Remember that if you have the work of faith and the labor of love, you must complete the trio with the addition of the patience of hope.
You cannot go on without this last thing. The first sign of love at work is a changed attitude. Instead of wearisome complaining about their afflictions, the Thessalonians found "joy given by the Holy Spirit" 1Th 1: Not that there wasn't good reason to complain! These young believers were ostracized at their work, hounded out of their homes, arrested, and put into prison because of their newfound faith. But, says Paul, they had learned to see these afflictions in a new way. They saw them as privileges, given to them for Jesus' sake.
The result was joy! They responded to God's love by loving Him in return and welcoming the opportunities to bear suffering for His name's sake. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God. But there is always something that must come before that, something many people do not seem to understand. God asks us to love Him only because He first loved us. When trials, pressures, and hardships come along, we are able to see for ourselves what kind of solution God can work out. The Thessalonians had stopped complaining and started rejoicing because they saw God working through their trials.
If only we could understand that afflictions are opportunities for God to demonstrate His sustaining grace and show His work in our lives today, we could experience the same joy they knew. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
The point is that love is shown to be authentic by keeping God's commandments. One who says "Sure I love God and the brethren" should have substantiation of that declaration. What does this labor of love look like practically speaking? In 1Corinthians Paul teaches clearly that this love is not a warm, fuzzy, sentimental thing but is an active verb, manifest as a volitional choice and necessitating enablement of the Holy Spirit Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Note that the "action" verbs eg, is patient, is kind, is not jealous, not brag, not arrogant, etc are all in the present tense which calls for this to be the believer's lifestyle! Continuous action and habitual practice is the idea! Try to carry out these instructions for a godly living in your own strength! We cannot do this on our own, but only as we abide Jn Only as we submit and surrender and yield our "rights" to our Master, allowing Him to rule and reign and live through us, can we truly begin to experience the "victorious Christian life".
The next time you have a divine "pop test" someone you don't want to forgive, to speak to, to go see, etc or something that you don't really want to do because you are selfish to the core [as am I! Sure it is, but it is our Father's desire for us to experience this "Christ life" [Gal 2: Vine sums up labor of love writing that first in 1Th 1: He goes on to explain that Living in Your Fortified Place.
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