Saltwater
Be aware that I don’t believe in the Protestant idea of Sola Fides. James clearly says that faith and the works that express that faith are inseparable. Thus faith alone is an impossibility, no matter what faith is in relation to. Faith unexpressed doesn’t exist.
Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
(KJV)
There’s a little difference in this verse between the Byzantine and Alexandrian compilations, but not enough to change the meaning.
According to the Christian interpretation, I haven’t fulfilled this verse and have thus never been saved. But I understand this verse differently than Christianity.
First, is my understanding of the Greek word mentanoia that is translated as repentance. The Greek word means nothing more than to agree with. The English word repentance means to “feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin†(Oxford Dictionary). The English word doesn’t convey the meaning of the Greek word. The Christian interpretation of the Greek word is that it refers to a turning to God and turning away from one’s sin. Which doesn’t convey the meaning of either the Greek word or the English word used to translate it.
I am one who still sins. I am very conscious of when I do. And I ask forgiveness of the God whom I have sinned against. But one who still sins, no matter how often, by no stretch of the imagination has turned away from sin. Thus I haven’t fulfilled that part of the interpretation. But I do agree with God concerning that sin. And that’s all that the Greek word means.
Second, is my disagreement with the way Greek prepositions are translated in English Bibles.
One Greek preposition is in this verse twice, but translated by two English words that have two entirely different meanings. In both cases, the phrase is in the Accusative, so that has no bearingon the differences in translation. And the two English words used to translate the preposition isn’t even the meaning of the Greek word. It is interpretive translation. The practice of interpretation amounts to an opinion. No way to translate or understand the Bible. That is, if it’s a Divine book.
There are two Greek prepositions that mean two different things. Eis means into. En means in. One would think by the translation that at least the Greek preposition used is en, so that at least one translation is accurate. But that’s not the case. The Greek preposition used is eis.
Third, Eis doesn’t mean toward. Pros means toward. When one goes eis Jerusalem, one goes into the city of Jerusalem, not toward it. The first Greek phrase means literally, “ to agree with into Godâ€. Christians see no sense in the phrase, having no experience of it. They have to interpret the meaning to accommodate their own experience. The only interpretation that makes sense to them changes both the meaning of the Greek word metanoia into repentance and the Greek preposition into toward. And Christianity even changes the meaning of the English word repentance into turn to God from sin.
When I was converted, I knew nothing of the diversity in Christian philosophy. I only learned something of one of those philosophies after I became associated with a Calvinistic Baptist Church. So when I was converted I simply believed what I knew to be true from the Bible as made real to me from within. I agreed with God concerning my state as one who needed saving. I agreed with God that he sent his Son to save me from my state. So I turned to God, and in doing so, I agreed with that part of the Christian interpretation, even though it isn’t part of the meaning of the word metanoia. But I didn’t turn away from sin. As I read the Bible, I only gradually became aware of sin, what it is, and that I’m committing it. And gradually I have been turning away from sin ever since. Not in the total sense of the Christian interpretation of metanoia. And not always successfully according to the total sense of the Christian interpretation of that word. So my hope is in God and in his Son as my Saviour. Not in my turning from sin, my ability to turn from sin even with the grace of God, or the sinless perfection (one of the many interpretations of holiness without which I won’t see the Lord) I won’t attain in my lifetime.
Fourth, Eis doesn’t mean in. The Greek preposition en means in. This has to do with the second phrase that literally means, “faith into our Lord Jesus Christâ€. Again, apart from the experience, or an understanding of the experience if they’ve had it, meaningless to Christians.
Paul, on many occasions, refers to being in Christ. How does one become in Christ? To understand that we first go back to something Jesus said, a commonly known verse,
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(KJV)
The translation “believes IN him†is followed by every English translator. Yet the Greek preposition used here is eis, not en. The ones gaining eternal life are the ones who believe INTO the Son.
Romans 6:
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection
(KJV)
These three verses are actually translated literally wherever the Greek prepositions eis and en are found. But note what it says about baptism. We are baptized INTO Christ. A literal translation of eis. Why isn’t it baptized in Christ?
How do we believe into the Son? Paul says in Romans that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. That is the same as believing into the Son. When we believe God as to what he says about his Son, we are believing into the Son.
One of the works of our human faith in God is water baptism. When we are water baptized, we are simultaneously baptized into Christ, into the Body of Christ, by the Spirit. Is baptism necessary to salvation? Absolutely. In both its aspects, water and Spirit. Doesn’t do any good to bring a scenario wherein water baptism is not possible. Like the thief on the cross. God knows. Jesus is clear in Mark 16:16.
Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
(KJV)
Galatians 2:16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
(NIV)
There are three phrases in this verse referring to faith. In the NIV they are all translated as “faith IN Christâ€
The first and third phrases are Genitive phrases, the meaning of which are determined by the tense of the verb. Grammarians claim that a Genitive phrase can be translated as a subjective Genitive (OF) or as an objective Genitive (IN). That gives the Bible translators an interpretive choice. Since the common idea in Christianity is that one is justified by their own faith in Christ, so also the modern translations.
But there is a corollary to their definition of a Genitive. When a person is involved, it refers to possession. Hence, I believe the KJV gets it right in this verse. Faith OF Christ. We’re NOT made righteous by our faith IN Christ. We are put into the proper position by our faith in God to be made righteous. That position is IN Christ. We are then made righteous by the faith of another. We believe and we are baptized INTO Christ. Thus we are IN Christ. By virtue of being IN Christ we are made righteous by the faith OF Christ, and the works of Christ that express that faith.
The second phrase has the Greek preposition eis, not en. Thus the meaning is “we have believed into Christ in order thatâ€. In order that we might be made righteous by the faith of Christ.
I understand salvation to be conditional only initially as we choose whether or not to believe God. Whether or not to receive the free gift of God in Christ. Once in Christ, there is no more choice. It is Christ’s faith that has already determined our righteousness in the eyes of God. Only our behaviour is then determined by a choice. Whether to walk by the Spirit or by the flesh. Gal 5:25 is clear that walking by the flesh doesn’t change the fact that we live by the Spirit.
If our salvation is up for grabs by our own behaviour after we’re in Christ, then I would have to believe that the RCC idea makes more sense. That we aren’t actually in Christ nor receive eternal life until after death. Both being dependent on our works that express our faith in God and in Christ. If our faith changes, the we never see the Lord. Whatever our works, it is an expression of our faith. If we just do works to escape a perceived hell, that is the works that expresses a faith in the existence of hell. Is it sufficient to save? Now that’s the question, isn’t it? Perhaps Jude 23 is the answer.
FC
