The "Faith" of Matthew 23:23 Eau Claire
8/4/2007
Intro
There is an aspect of faith that I want to explore today. Because
we may not understand "faith" in just the same say as the Bible writers
meant it.
I want to focus on the words of Jesus, where he summarizes the 3 most
important things for us to do.
I know that is of interest to you, to this audience. Trying to obey and
please your Creator is what this group is about. It's why you have
gathered from far and wide to this place on the Sabbath day.
And when the firstborn from the dead - the door to your own eternal life
says there are 3 important principles of God's law - I know that has
your attention.
The verse is Matt 23:23:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint
and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave
the other undone.
This is an interesting verse to me. It has been for some time - as it
may be for you.
Three big things that Jesus says we ought get out of God's law. Judgment,
mercy and faith. I think you could more clearly translate the first two
as "justice" and "kindness". But today I just want to focus on the third
one -- "faith".
What kind of "faith" is Jesus talking about in Mat 23:23 ? What kind of
"faith" is taught by the law?
Other people see a conflict, even an opposition, between faith and God's
law. Our friends down the street, in any direction, in almost any
other Christian church, would quote words like this to us:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
(Eph 2:8)
... a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ, ...
(Gal 2:16)
You will be constantly discouraged from trying to follow God's law, the
words of scripture.
And yet here is Jesus, in Matt 23, saying that "faith" is one of the
weighty matters of the law.
SPS
What kind of "faith" did Jesus mean in Mat 23:23 ? I'm going to
divide that subject up into 3 points:
1) What kind of faith is taught in the Law?
2) Parallels to Mt 23:23 - what they reveal about this "faith".
3) Is this "Belief and Faith/Faithfulness" consistent with the New Testament?
Body
1) What kind of faith is taught in the Law?
The word "faith" appears only used 3 times in the King James translation
of the 5 books of Moses. So how can it be one of the 3 weightiest matters?
Num 12:6-8
And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the
LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him
in a dream.
My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful [aman] in all mine house.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, ...
So Moses had faith. He is described as faithful.
Deu 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful [aman] God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations;
So God is faithful. Notice that this is in the long term.
Deu 32:20-21
And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end
shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no
faith [emun].
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have
provoked me to anger with their vanities:...
So disobedient Israel had "no faith".
Moses, God and disobedient Israel. That's all that the Law says about
"faith" -- at least as the King James translates it.
Where is Abraham, the "father of the faithful"?
Perhaps the Law teaches "faith" by another word.
Indeed, one of the words for faith [emunah, as in Deut 32] is translated
this way in Exodus:
Ex 17:12
But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him,
and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on
the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady
[emunah] until the going down of the sun.
The Old Testament idea of "faith" or "faithfulness", is thus base on
the idea of steadiness, firmness.
The other word [aman] that we see translated "faith" is mostly translated
"believe" - 14x in the Law.
Here is the classic scripture about the "father of the faithful":
Gen 15:5-6
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So
shall thy seed be.
And he believed [aman] in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness.
Here Abraham "believed", using the same word as describes Moses as
"faithful". Paul quotes this in Rom 4:3, and uses the common Greek word
for "believe". [pisteuo believe 210x] The father of the faithful
first "believed" God.
(Notice that "believe" is therefore the same meaning as in the New
Testament; it is "apples to apples").
What is the difference between "faith" in God, and "believing" him?
There is little difference.
In the Biblical sense, if you "believe" God, you are convinced that he
is God and is the one who will reward or punish.
In the Biblical sense, in the Old Testament sense, to believe is not
a casual thing, but to be convinced. To "believe" is to be persuaded
and convinced. In fact, that belief is verified by the evidence:
Gen 42:20
But bring your youngest brother unto me [Joseph]; so shall your words be
verified [aman], and ye shall not die. And they did so.
They had to make their words believable, by evidence. That is the sense
of "believe" in the Law.
In Exodus 4 we see that Israel was to be convinced, to believe because
of what God shows them:
Ex 4:8
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken
to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe [aman] the voice
of the latter sign.
The small miracles given to Moses were meant to persuade, convince.
Ex 14:31
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians:
and the people feared the LORD, and believed [aman] the LORD, and his
servant Moses.
But in the long run, Israel did not believe:
Deut 9:23
Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and
possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the
commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed [aman] him not, nor
hearkened to his voice.
If you believe, you do. Is that not the implication here? If they had
"believed" God, they would have gone up and fought for the promised land.
But because they did not obey, God says they obviously did not believe.
That is faith. That is belief. Real belief causes one to do what God says.
"Belief" is the beginning of "faith", or the steadiness and firmness we saw
with Moses' hands in Ex 17:12.
Faith continues in belief over the long run.
Abraham first "believed" God, and went to the land of Canaan. He was the
father of the faithful because he was steady, firm, continuing in obedience
over time. Even in the face of the death of his son. That is the ultimate
example of faith in the Old Testament.
Just as Jesus' willingness to die was the ultimate faithfulness in the New.
But is this the same "faith" that Jesus meant in Mat 23:23 ?
Is the word "faith" here, the same thing as we saw in the Law?
There is one word for "faith" in the New Testament. A very common word
used hundreds of times.
[ pistis, noun ~244x faith 239x
pistos, adjective ~65x faithful 52x
pisteuo, verb ~244x believe 233x
peitho, verb ~44x persuade 21x
apeitheo, verb ~19x not believe 8x
apeithes, adjective ~6x disobedient 6x
apeitheia, noun ~9x unbelief/disobedience 7x ]
What is the equivalent in the Old Testament? We can tell from
Rom 1:17
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as
it is written, The just shall live by faith [pistis].
Paul is quoting Ha-bak'-kuk:
Hab 2:4
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just
shall live by his faith [emunah].
And this word "faith" used by Habakkuk is the one used in Ex 17:12 for
Moses' "steady" hands.
And in Deut 32:20-21 for the "faith" that the disobedient Israelites did
not have.
So when Paul quotes "The just shall live by faith", he is quoting the
Old Testament idea of steadiness, stability and firm adherence to God's
law. That is the kind of "faith" that the just shall live by.
And this confirms that when Jesus said that "faith" is one of the 3
"weightier matters of the law", that is the same steadfastness that we
just read of in the Law.
2) Parallels of Mt 23:23 - what they reveal about this "faith".
I'm going to give you 6 verses. You might divide them in you notes into
3 columns.
1 Matt. 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and
not to leave the other undone.
1 2 3
judgment | mercy | faith
There is a parallel account of these words in one other place in the gospels:
2 Lk 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all
manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love (agape) of God:
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
1 2 3
judgment | | the love of God
Here the intent of "faith" is given by Luke as "love of God".
And remember the classic definition of the "love of God" in 1 John:
1John 5:3 For this is the love (agape) of God, that we keep his
commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Thirdly, I think Jesus was paraphrasing Micah:
3 Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God?
1 2 3
to do justly | to love mercy | to walk humbly with thy God
Is "faith" the same thing as to "walk humbly with thy God"?
Micah says these are the simple things God requires of us -- and I think
Micah was quoting from Moses:
4 Deut 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee,
but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him,
and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
1 2 3
fear the LORD thy God to love him, and to serve
to walk in all his ways the LORD thy God with all
thy heart and with all thy soul
The first could easily be equivalent to Jesus' word "judgment", or "justice"
in Mt 23:23.
And the second, to love God and serve him with all your heart would be
the equivalent of Jesus' word "faith".
And if these verses are indeed parallel, then this is what we do to
be "faithful" as taught in the Law.
5 Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment (mishpat), and in
lovingkindness (chesed), and in mercies (rachamim - tender mercies).
2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness (emunah - stability):
and thou shalt know the LORD.
1 2 3
in righteousness | in lovingkindness | in faithfulness
and in judgment and in mercies
Another very close parallel to Mt 23:23, and it ties the word "faithfulness",
or "steadiness" as Moses' hands, directly to what Jesus calls "faith".
This is the "faith" that disobedient Israel did not have, in Deut 32.
6 Hosea 12:6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment,
and wait on thy God continually.
2 1 3
keep mercy and judgment wait on thy God continually
A little different order, but the same 3, if indeed to "wait on your
God continually" is the same thing as "faith".
And faith is going beyond being persuaded and convinced to obey God. Faith
does it in the long term. To the end. So its seems to me that both the
Old and New Testaments agree on what Jesus meant by "faith" in Mat 23:23.
3) Is this "Belief and Faith/Faithfulness" consistent with the New Testament?
Do these definitions of belief and faithfulness hold true in the New
Testament?
Belief is being convinced. One is convinced by evidence.
Faith is a steadiness. Faithfulness is the same thing, just the
adjective form of the word.
I'd like to quote an example and explanation that I found in a sermon
transcripts from the home office:
Mr Antion:
"Now there are two sides of faith and in the New Testament."
[ faith (pistis) (noun) / faithful (pistos) (adjective) ~300x
believe (pisteuo) (verb) ~230x ]
"Faith in the New Testament carries with it this understanding:
two aspects, (1) I know (2) I do. ...
Living faith that is required for salvation is not just some thought
in your mind. It's not just some feeling that you conjure up but it is
actually combined with the physical side of it, the active part of it
because you see, if I believe something and I believe it down to my toes,
if I believe it with all my heart, I act according to that belief."
This is consistent with "believe" in the Old Testament.
In Exodus 4 we see that Israel was to be convinced by the demonstrations
that God would show them in Egypt:
Ex 4:8
... if they will not believe ... the first sign, that they will believe
[aman] the voice of the latter sign.
Ex 14:31
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did ... and the people
feared the LORD, and believed [aman] the LORD, ...
That was belief. They were persuaded, or convinced.
We know that they believed, because they "did" what God said.
But they did not believe firmly enough:
Deut 9:23
Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and
possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the
commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed [aman] him not, nor
hearkened to his voice.
In Hebrews, Paul cites the same example:
Heb 4:11
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief
[apeitheia - noun, negative of peitho, "to persuade"]
Your center margin says "or disobedience".
Can't the translators make up their mind? Which is it - unbelief, or
disobedience?
It is both. As Mr. Antion said. If you believe, in the Biblical sense,
then you do. They did not obey because they did not believe.
And so God destroyed them.
So "believe" is consistent in the Old and New Testaments.
This is a profound thing that you understand. God destroyed them for
their unbelief, which is evidenced by their disobedience.
Consider that these people had been saved from enslavement to Pharoah.
They had been redeemed. Saved by grace. Their salvation fulfilled a
promise to Abraham. It was undeserved, unearned. It was their salvation
by grace.
But because they did not believe, they were destroyed in the wilderness.
The generation that was saved by grace was also destroyed for disobedience.
They did not make it to that other salvation - that reward of the Promised
Land.
That is the example held up for us in Heb 4. And it illuminates the
meaning of grace and obedience.
First one has to believe. He has to be persuaded, and convinced by
evidence. It is not "blind" faith, as we have seen in the scriptural
use of the word.
Then if one believes, he practices that way of life. He is obedient
to that "faith".
Act 6:7
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied
in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to
the faith [pistis].
It is continuance, or steadfastness in that practice that is "faith",
in the Law's sense of the word.
Ex 17:12
... his hands were steady [emunah; faithful] until the going down of
the sun.
"Faith" and "faithful" are really the same word in Bible. "Faith" is the
noun - the conviction and perserverance that you have.
"Faithful" is the adjective of the same word. One is described as faithful.
One who shows that faithfulness has faith.
[ faith (pistis) (noun)
faithful (pistos) (adjective) ]
"Faith" in many New Testament contexts is something that sometimes seems
to appear suddenly in some people. I certainly don't mean to diminish that
meaning of faith as simple "trust" in God. It can simply mean strong
conviction.
But the notion of "only believe". Or of salvation by "faith alone", as if
that is exclusive of obedience, is not scriptural.
As we see in Mat. 23:23, the "weightier-matter-of-the-law" kind of faith
is not something different than obedience to God.
It is continuing in that obedience. It is steadfastness to that obedience
that is the weighty matter taught in the books of the law.
The word "faith" sometimes evokes something nebulous. Something that is
purely and internal feeling.
But "faithful", in contrast, is easy to understand.
Yet they are noun and adjective of the same word. They should both
be easy to understand. Faith is not opposed to obedience. It is clearly
related. What are we "faithful" to, if not with the words of God?
That is not hard to understand. There is no confusion between being
"faithful" and being "obedient".
That is why James wrote "I will show you my faith by my works". He is
not conflicting with Paul.
In Paul's writing we are told that you do not show faith by "works of law".
These, I believe, were works of ceremony, sacrament, ritual or sacrice.
You are not save, or redeemed by those works.
But you show faith by obedience to God's law -- steadily and over the
long term. That is why Mat 23:23 calls "faith" one of the main lessons
of the books of the law.
This is from the song of Moses, at the end of Deuteronomy:
Deut 32:16,19-20
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations
provoked they him to anger. ...
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of
his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end
shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is
no faith. [emun]
[they turned from his words; they did not continue ]
This was an infamous generation - a byword for unfaithfulness. They were
redeemed from Egypt but then destroyed.
Rom 1:17/Hab 2:4 The just shall live by faith [pistis]/[emunah].
But that generation was destroyed for lack of that same "faith".
This example is held up for us in the New Testament as well.
You were saved by grace, but the just shall live by faith - which is
continuing to the end. Not by disobeying God on the journey to the
Promised Land.
Mr. Richard Pinelli gives an example in a sermon from 1999 that I'd
like to quote:
"Now faith is the conviction of what Jesus Christ says is true. ...
Unto us are given exceeding great and precious promises. Now you
can launch yourself on those promises, and recognize that these are his
demands upon us. And it is our firm persuasion [ belief!], our
trustworthiness, our faithfulness, it is full acknowledgment of God's
truth or God's revelation, that God is right. ...
I remember five years ago, I went back and I re-evaluated my entire
foundation because of what was happening in the church at that time. And
when I had finished the three-month study that I had, I went back to God
and I simply said, "I ain't goin', and I ain't buyin." I kept telling him
that for I don't know how many weeks. And I began to realize what I was
doing.
I was sinking down deep into that foundation of what I believed [ faith!],
and I was saying, I don't care if I lose my job, if I lose my ministry,
this is true. And no man is going to take me down that road. This is that
firm belief, ...
That is the attitude and frame of mind of faith, and it continues to
build upon that particular set of simple beliefs.
Persuasion, [belief] trustworthiness, faithfulness [long term] to what
the word of God said and the promises he has made there."
As we observed before in the parallel verses to Mat 23:23,
"faith", "the love of God", and to "walk humbly with thy God" are the
same thing. They are "the first great commandment" of the Law:
Mat 22:37-38
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
Which is indeed a weighty matter of the law.
In the Old Testament it is simple:
Deut. 5:32-33
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded
you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded
you, that ye may live ...
It should be in the New Testament as well. If we want to live, we
"walk" in God's ways - steadfastly, steadily, faithfully. That is
how one "waits on God". Or "walks humbly" with your God.
Conclusion
1) What kind of faith is taught in the Law?
We've seen that the Law says little about the word "faith", but a lot
about believing (from the evidence) that God is the one to be obeyed.
And that we are to be steady and continuing faithfully in that belief.
And we've seen that the words "believe" and "faith" in the New testament
are indeed talking of the same thing as in the Old.
2) Parallels of Mt 23:23 - what they reveal about this "faith".
We looked at other similar statements to Mat 23:23 and seen that the
"faith" that Jesus speaks of equates to steadfastness in obedience.
faith = love of God = walk humbly with God = faithfulness = wait on
God continually.
3) Is this "Belief and Faith/Faithfulness" consistent with the New Testament?
We've seen that in the New Testament "belief" also implies "doing" that
conviction. That to "not believe" is the same as "not obey".
True "faith" and being "faithful" the same thing: being steady in
continuance in that way of life.
I think you could more clearly translate these big 3 matters in Mat 23:23
as "justice, kindness, and faithfulness".
In Luke 18 Jesus was assuring his disciples that God does indeed hear
our prayers. Then he added in Luke 18:8 :
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of
man cometh, shall he find faith [pistis] on the earth?
He speaks of the end - the long term.
Will he find people who believe him? People who believe what he says?
People who believe that God rewards those who obey him? Will he find those
who are "steadfast" in a way of life?
That is the faith that we seek to preserve and spread in the world.
That is the kind "faith" that is one of the 3 weightier matters of the Law.