That Jesus existed, there is no doubt. There is a great deal of written historical evidence, both from Christian and non-Christian writers, supporting the fact that Jesus was a genuine historical figure, living at the beginning of the first century AD. When applying the standard criteria of historical investigation, virtually all New Testament and Near East historians assert the historicity of Jesus as certain.

Dr Michael Grant (1914-2004) wrote “Jesus: An Historian’s View of the Gospels,” published in 1977. In it, he applied the standard disciplines of the historian’s profession and reached the conclusion that the four Gospels are sufficiently reliable to deserve the utmost respect. Subsequent discussions about the historical Jesus widely reference his work.

“If conventional standards of historical textual criticism are applied to the New Testament, we can no more reject Jesus’ existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.” – Michael Grant, Historian

Nearly all modern scholars are also in agreement about two key events in Jesus’ life, which they consider to be accurate and certain – that of his baptism and of his crucifixion.

“There is a consensus of sorts on the basic outline of Jesus’ life” in that most scholars agree that Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, and over a period of one to three years debated Jewish authorities on the subject of God, gathered followers, and was crucified by Roman prefect Pontius Pilate who officiated 26–36 AD.” – Amy Jill Levine

The criterion of embarrassment is used as the metric for establishing events such as Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion. Both events are considered to be accounts which would cause a high degree of embarrassment to the author and would therefore have no reason to be invented. Christians simply would not have invented the painful death of their leader, nor the baptism of Jesus by John, as it is a story in which John baptised for the remission of sins and Jesus was viewed as without sin. The conclusion then is that these events are historically accurate.

The Resurrection of Jesus – Who Was He Really?

The debate therefore is not whether Jesus existed, but whether he was who he said he was. He claimed to be the son of God (John 5:25, John 10:36, John 1:4, John 17:1). He claimed to be the promised deliverer of the Old Testament (John 11:25; Luke 4:17-21, John 18:37, Luke 24:27). Not only that, he claimed that he would be betrayed, put to death and after three days would be resurrected to life again.

“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” – Mark 9:31, NLT

It is easy to discount these claims as the words of a highly charismatic Jewish prophet, who met a cruel death at the hands of Roman power.

“That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus … agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact.” – John Dominic Crossan

What is more difficult to explain is how Jesus could have orchestrated his own death in such a way so as to corroborate with prophecy, or, more to the point, why he would even want to.

What is more confusing and unexplainable is the effect that Jesus’ death had on his followers. If, as history supposes, Jesus was a common man who lived a somewhat extraordinary life, it is hard to explain the complete explosion of the Christian faith in the years that followed. It was, after all, founded on the basis of “a risen Christ”. If this was a fabrication, the rulers only had to produce the body to prove the assertion to be false. If the disciples themselves had stolen the body, it seems psychologically improbable that their story, or their conviction, would be believable or maintainable, they themselves knowing it to be false.

We have the account of Thomas, the doubter, Peter, the denier, a small group of fishermen, a gathering of a few women – simple and ordinary people without status or connections who, within a relatively short passage of time (only some six or seven weeks), were completely transformed by a profound conviction.

“The actual position is peculiar and, I believe, quite unique in history. It is that the whole party, including the nine men who had fled at the arrest, and certain independent persons who have not previously come into the story, were convinced that something had occurred which changed their entire outlook. It turned their dejection into triumph and their sorrow into an intense joy.” –  Frank Morrison

Despite perhaps wanting to believe otherwise, the story of the arrest, death and resurrection of Jesus carries a strange ring of authenticity. Nothing can account for the strangeness of the narrative in the Gospels. The moved stone, the empty tomb, the baffled religious leaders, the transformed disciples – let’s be honest – “by the ordinary standards of human reasoning, the mystery attached to the person of Christ ought to have terminated with his death and burial” (Frank Morrison).

It isn’t our intention in this post to prove conclusively the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is simply to bring the reader’s attention to a subject, which on first glance, is assumed by many to be fabrication, but on closer inspection seems to arrive at no other explanation that that which is claimed – that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, as asserted in the Bible!

Who Moved The Stone?

This article is a extremely condensed summary of the excellent book by Frank Morrison, entitled “Who Moved The Stone?” For anyone with a genuine interest in examining the historical accuracy of the Bible’s claims regarding the resurrection of Jesus, this book is highly recommended.

Frank himself confesses that he set out to write quite a different book. He first began to sturdy the life of Christ as a young man and did so with a very definite feeling that the history of Jesus rested on very insecure foundations. He wasn’t wrong in his concerns – there was an entire school of thought throughout the ‘nineties that denied even the historical existence of Jesus. Frank Morrison didn’t find himself in this group at all – he says that “for the person of Jesus Christ, I had a deep and almost reverent regard.” but he wanted to write an article, more for his own peace of mind than publication, about the supremely important and critical phase in the life of Christ – his last seven days. Ten years later, the opportunity fully arrived to study the subject as he had first wanted, and “slowly but very definitely the conviction grew that the drama of those unforgettable weeks of human history was stranger and deeper than it seemed.“

The Christian faith hinges completely on this key doctrine of the literal resurrection of Jesus. Without the veracity of this event, Christianity falters. The Gospel isn’t the good news of anything and we would have to concede that the world had been duped by one of the great delusions in history.

Of course, this conundrum is for every person to consider and decide for themselves. However, there are certain questions and discrepancies that cannot be easily explained away. We believe that an honest examination of all the facts leads to an irresistible logic of their meaning.

“Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as the resurrection. If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it – if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of bare-faced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ – sheer fabrications if there’s no resurrection. If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever…but the truth is, Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.” 1 Corinthians 12-20, MSG

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To purchase “Who Moved The Stone” by Frank Morrison, Click Here

 

Religion is defined as “a cultural system of designated behaviours and practices, world views, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organisations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.“

Yet, there is no actual consensus among scholars as to what precisely constitutes a religion.

Nearly 85% of the world’s population identifies as being religious, claiming affiliation with one of the five largest religions; Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. These different religions all have distinct rules, regulations and beliefs that form part of that particular religion.

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers. Growing out of Judaism – its earliest converts were Jews who were followers of Jesus Christ in the first century – it quickly spread from Judea into Asia Minor and then further abroad. By the fourth century, Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity has, in fact, played a major role in the shaping of western civilisation.

What Is Religion?

When the Latin word religio found its way into the English language as religion, around the 1200s, it took the meaning of “life bound by monastic vows” or monastic orders. It eventually came to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities.

Yet the ancient and medieval world understood the word religio quite differently. For the ancients, it carried a meaning of individual virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge. In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, there is no precise equivalent of the English word religion. The Greek word threskeia, used in the New Testament, is sometimes translated as religion, however, the term was more correctly understood as ‘worship’, well into the medieval period.

In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up until the mid-1600s, translators expressed din as law.

Religion, in itself, is a modern, western concept and it was understood in quite a different way by those  who lived in the ancient world. Today, religion would perhaps be explained as a system of rules or practices governed by certain beliefs. The ancient world would have viewed this concept as law and saw religion quite differently; as the idea of worship or reverence of God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things and piety, or diligence.

Religion Has A Bad Reputation

Discussion about religion is often long, complex, divisive and inconclusive. It doesn’t come as any surprise that the IPSOS Global Poll released in 2017 shows that a majority of Australians (63%) believe that religion does more harm than good. Only one in four Australians say religion defines them as a person.

Religion has been much maligned – and perhaps with good reason. Unfortunately, when men and women get their hands on religion, it is often for the purpose of control and manipulation of others. Many terrible acts have been committed ‘in the name of religion’ and supposedly with a divine blessing – yet God is often furthest from the minds of those perpetrating such acts. In reality, God is often the last priority; intolerance is the driving force behind many actions that claim permission on religious grounds.

“Christianity itself has a long history of such intolerance, including persecution of Jews, crusades against Muslims, and the Thirty Years’ War, in which religious and nationalist rivalries combined to devastate Central Europe.” | The New York Times

What Is True Religion?

The aim of this article is not to impress on any reader the ‘rightness’ of our particular beliefs or doctrines. Whether a man or woman chooses to be religious, or not, should be a deeply personal consideration, without manipulation or coercion from others.

Rather, it is intended to be an honest examination of what ‘true religion’ should be for any committed Christian, professing belief in Jesus’ saving work and God’s divine plan for the world.

If we have accepted Jesus as our saviour, our beliefs and our practices must line up and work together in harmony. We must profess and practice true religion, not merely an inadequate form, which hasn’t touched our hearts. Timothy warns against a form of godliness, which appears righteous from the outside but in reality denies the power that godliness has to radically transform us (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

The word religion is only used a few times in the Bible. But the concept of religion, as it was originally understood, actually permeates the entire Bible. True religion, at its core, is about the relationship between God and ourselves and how this transforms us from the inside out.

This understanding began early on in the book of Genesis, where men began to call on the name of God (Genesis 4).

“Now men began to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in public and solemn assemblies. The worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves: so the margin reads it. ‘Then began men to be called by the name of the Lord’ — or, to call themselves by it. Now Cain and those that had deserted religion had built a city, and begun to declare for irreligion, and called themselves the sons of men. Those that adhered to God began to declare for Him and His worship, and called themselves the sons of God.” | Benson Commentary

Another commentary has this to say:

“The name of God signifies in general ‘the whole nature of God, by which He attests His personal presence in the relation into which He has entered with man, the divine self-manifestation, or the whole of that revealed side of the divine nature, which is turned towards man’. In Genesis 4, we have an account of the commencement of that worship of God which consists in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, or in the acknowledgment and celebration of the mercy and help of God. Those of the family of Seth began, by united invocation of the name of God of grace, to found and to erect the kingdom of God.” – Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

True religion – pure religion – is the acknowledgment of our need for God’s mercy, our worship of Him and what He has done for us and the application of His character in our lives, because of our thankfulness.

True religion is the seamless unity of believing and doing and it’s demonstrated throughout the Bible by countless examples of faithful men and women. (Hebrews 11:1-40). It’s an active faith, shown by both word and deed and not just empty talk.

“Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless (‘the fatherless and the widow’) in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.” – James 1: 26-27, MSG

Jesus put it in another way:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39, NIV

And again, in Hosea:

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” – Hosea 6:6, BSB

What True Religion Isn’t

True religion isn’t rules-based or rituals-based but is instead firmly rooted in faith. Faith, in response to God’s action in our lives, alters everything about us; our daily relationships, our perspective on life, our interactions with family, neighbours, friends and community. When God is present and completely sovereign in our lives, when we adhere to God and declare for Him and His worship, God calls us His children and part of His family. This is religion in its purest and most true form.

God’s gift of freedom is easily perverted and often squandered by men or women placing religious burdens and rituals on their fellow man. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day for exactly this, commenting that “they tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them…” (Matthew 23:4).

God is not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways. He is a deeply real and loving Father who invites us into a personal relationship with Him. It is always an invitation, never coercion or guilt-driven; we are given space and freedom to answer His invitation. Through Jesus, we have been set free and are invited to participate in God’s saving work with humanity.

How important it is for any sincere and genuine Christian to constantly promote this extraordinary message of God’s grace and ensure we don’t unwittingly return to a life of rule-keeping, which God finds no pleasure in.

What people need to see and experience from us is true religion – active, transformative and inspiring. The kind of religion that Jesus demonstrated every day.

“Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” | Galatians 2:21, MSG

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The modern concept of the meaning behind the word religion is an abstraction that involves distinct sets of beliefs or doctrines. Its usage, in this way, began with texts from the 17th century, resulting from events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalisation in the age of exploration.

However, the word religion, from the Latin religio, meaning ‘to bind’, is a word which in the ancient and medieval world was used to refer to individual virtue of worship; respect for what was sacred, and a reverence for the divine. It described an attitude of being rather than creed.

You may be interested to read more in the article: From Religion To Cruciformity.

When we think of the gospel, we can tend to think of it in only ‘New Testament’ terms. We might be of the impression that the gospel was something that came about around the time of Jesus and subsequently spread throughout the world by his followers. While this is somewhat true, upon more extensive reading we learn that the message of good news is much older than we thought. Yes, it concerns Jesus but it was preached long before his actual birth. In reality, it’s a message as old as time itself and its inception stretches right back to the garden of Eden. And it’s a message of good news and hope for all people!

A Little Background On The Word “Gospel”

“Good news” is the English translation of the Koine Greek word ‘euangélion’ (εὐαγγέλιον) (εὖ eû “good” + ἄγγελος ángelos “messenger”). In Old English, it was translated as ‘gōdspel’ (gōd “good” + spel “news”). The Old English term was retained as ‘gospel’ in Middle English Bible translations and has subsequently been carried forward into Modern English translations.

Incidentally, our modern word, evangelise or evangelist comes from the original Greek and carries the same meaning – one who preaches or tells good news, a ‘messenger of good’. The writers of the gospels are sometimes known as the Four Evangelists, for this reason.

The message of ‘good news’ is taught throughout the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and it’s certainly no coincidence that these books are collectively known as The Gospels.

But What Is The Good News?

The Gospel is described as “the good news of the Kingdom of God and the things which concern Jesus Christ”. Jesus himself preached about the coming kingdom of God, together with John the Baptist. Later, men like Paul the Apostle and Peter continued the message of good news

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.” – Mark 1:14, KJV

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ . . . And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom . . .” – Matthew 4:17, 23, NIV, KJV

“But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptised.” – Acts 8:12, HCSB

“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” – Acts 28:30-31, NIV

In The Beginning…

God’s purpose, from the beginning was populate earth with people He could call His family, who were like him in every way. God created humans with this in mind and established the principle of free choice. He wanted us to choose Him, to want to be like Him. This kind of living, that reflects a desire to honour God and manifest His character to the world is what God calls the beginning of the kingdom of His son (Colossians 1:13).

Unfortunately, when given the choice, humanity chose wrong. We acted in a way completely foreign to God’s character. Motivated by pride and selfishness and driven by impatience, we chose to “make ourselves like God” on our terms, not His. This choice, the first act of sin in the world, brought about its awful consequence – mortality, and being driven from God’s presence in shame and disappointment. This is the story of Adam and Eve and their banishment from the garden of Eden.

Jesus Is The Good News

Yet God didn’t give up. His desire to be at one with us, to complete His purpose with humanity, was so intrinsic that He immediately put in place a plan to bridge that ravine, to heal the breach between Himself and His creation. He did not allow His purpose to be compromised by our choice. This extraordinary plan was revealed in His son, Jesus.

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, BSB

The saving acts of God, due to the work of Jesus on the cross and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, bring reconciliation (“atonement”) between people and God and it is a message of hope for the whole world (Luke 14:15-24). Through Jesus, we have forgiveness of sins and the blessing of God’s grace.

The Message Isn’t New

It would be easy to assume that the gospel was introduced by Jesus during his earthly ministry. Yet, this message isn’t new at all – it’s much older than that and, in fact, Revelation 14:6 calls it ‘the eternal gospel’, “proclaimed to all those who dwell on earth.”

In Galatians 3:8, we read the following: “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” Here, Paul is referencing a time in Abraham’s life, shortly after he left Ur, when God blessed him and told him the purpose He had with him.

“I will bless those who bless you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.” – Genesis 12:3, CEV

This blessing is further clarified by the words of Peter the Apostle in Act 3:28, where he was addressing the Jews, Abraham’s descendants. He tells them, “You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” (Act 3:25-26

Jesus Christ himself revealed that the Kingdom of God has been prepared for us for far longer than we can imagine.

“Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” – Matthew 25:34, ESV

God’s plan of blessing has been in place since the beginning. It was made known to Abraham and he was promised a descendant who would fulfill God’s promise of blessing for the world, first to the Jewish people and then, to all peoples of the world. In this way, Abraham was able to look forward in faithful anticipation of the future when the saviour would be born, to fulfill the promise of blessing made to him. Jesus confirms this, when speaking to the Jews (who doubted he was the one who had been promised).

“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” – John 8:56, NIV

Our Purpose Is God’s Purpose

Our purpose and the reason for our creation is to be part of God’s family. The good news is that through Jesus, we can be! We can become part of God’s family and part of His kingdom community right now, saved through the work of Jesus. Not only that, we can look forward to a future that is full of hope and blessing, trusting in God’s promise that has been established from the beginning of the world.

God has great plans for you, if you choose to accept them. The gospel message is one of hope and blessing and everyone is invited to take part.

^“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

(Not a reader? Take a listen instead ⇓)

 

I heard a sermon recently about the life of Abraham and it got me thinking a lot about the man, his life and the choices that he made. There are very good reasons why he’s described in the Bible as “the father of the faithful” (Romans 4:12) and “the friend of God”.

It’s worthwhile considering these two great epitaphs about a man who provides so much inspiration and encouragement for our own lives today.

Who Was Abraham?

Abraham, originally named Abram, was born (c 2000 BCE) and lived in the city of Ur, in what is now modern-day Iraq. Abraham was the son of Terah, ninth in descent from Noah, who was the main character in the Great Flood narrative found in Genesis 6-9. After the Great Flood, Noah’s descendants settled and spread out from what is now modern Turkey, moving south into the region of Mesopotamia.

Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia, meaning “land between rivers”, has long been called the cradle of civilisation and the region was one of the four riverine civilisations where writing was invented. Once a coastal city, near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted over time and Ur is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, in modern-day Iraq.

As with all the city-states, Ur was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city. The city was ruled over by a priestly governor or a king, who was intimately tied to religious rites that took place in the city.

It was a wealthy, prosperous and advanced city, with culture, religion and social statras firmly established. This cradle of civilisation was also the seat of a vigorous polytheism, chief of whom was Nanna, the Sumero-Akkadian moon god.

It is with this rich and complex background that Abraham is introduced to us in Genesis 12. This is where God appears to Abraham for the first time, telling him to leave all that was familiar and travel to an unknown place.

Hebrews 11, the great dissertation on faith, expands further, telling us that “by an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8-10).

The Call Of Abraham

God’s call has been echoing down the centuries, appealing to any who would listen. Isaiah 55 likens this call to the provision of thirst-quenching water, free of charge, to those who are dying of thirst.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Isaiah 55:1, ESV

Abraham, surrounded by gods of every description, was dying of spiritual thirst and eagerly accepted the call of the one true God when it came. However, the most interesting and thought-provoking aspect of Abraham’s acceptance is the fact that he had no idea where he was going.

Think for a moment what Abraham was leaving behind in Ur; the comforts and security of a highly advanced civilisation, the birthplace of culture, learning, and writing. A well-established society, wealthy and prosperous.

He left all this on the word and promise of God (Genesis 12:1-3). He chose to enter into God’s story and this choice was the turning point in his life. It was a risky decision from Abraham’s perspective, based only on trust, and it is this extreme act of faith that enabled God to count him righteous (“justify” him) and guaranteed him the title of father of the faithful. He “trusted God to set him right, instead of trying to be right on his own” (Romans 4:1-3)

Paul, when commenting at length on the life of Abraham (Romans 4), does not say “Abraham worked for God and therefore was justified.” Neither does he say “Abraham undertook acts of love and, because of this, was justified.” or that “Abraham made progress in character reformation and therefore was justified.

He says, “Abraham believed God and that faith was credited to him as righteousness.”

It is the one aspect that elevates Abraham to the superior example of what faith is and why, without it, it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Hebrews 11 further indicates that faith is not about what we ‘know’ but is confidence and trust in God and belief that His promises are sure.

I find this remarkable: the word believe used in Mark 16:16 in relation to the preaching of the gospel (“whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”) is the same word used in Hebrews 11:6 describing Abraham’s decision to leave Ur. It’s a translation of the Greek word pisteōs (πίστεως) and means ‘to have faith’ or ‘to entrust’.

Abraham believed that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (without any facts or proof at that time that this was true). Then, he then acted upon it (living faith).

He demonstrated the kind of faith/belief that was worth commentary in Hebrews. And not just commentary, it’s the kind of faith we are to model.

It certainly wasn’t built on His ‘correct doctrinal understanding’ of God. It was trust in God. The reality is that when he left, he had no idea where he was going and, likely, a limited revelation, at the time, of the God whose call he was responding to. He simply entrusted his story into God’s safekeeping and believed that God was good for His word. This is the definition of belief.

God looks to our heart. He’s far more interested in who we can become, than in who we are right now. He’s also not impressed by the amount of catechisms we can recite or how much we know. None of those things are equivalent to the biblical meaning of ‘belief’. ‘Believing’ is to have faith, specifically, to have faith in the promise of God, not ‘to have agreement to doctrine’.

Believing is firstly a posture of the heart. Having faith is trusting God and believing in His provision of ‘water without cost’. Faith is looking away from our hopeless, ungodly self and looking to God’s grace.

The fulfillment of God’s promise to us depends entirely on trusting God and embracing Him and what He is doing.

This book [the Bible] is different. This is a world of revelation: God revealing to people just like us – men and women created in God’s image – how He works and what is going on in this world in which we find ourselves. At the same time that God reveals all this, God draws us by invitation and command to participate in His working life. We gradually (or suddenly) realise that we are insiders in the most significant action of our time as God establishes His grand rule of love and justice on this earth (as it is in heaven). ‘Revelation’ means that we are reading something we couldn’t have guessed at or figured out on our own.” | Eugene Peterson

Abraham Becomes A Father

Abraham is, quite literally, the father of the Jewish and Muslim peoples of the world but he became a father, long before either of his sons, from whom these descendants would come, were born. He was and is styled “father” of all those people who would embrace what God is doing for them and who believe and trust in that work. Abraham is the father of us all, if we choose it (Romans 4:18).

Accepting God’s call in our own life, entering into the same promises made to Abraham, and trusting that God will make good on His word brings us into the great story of what God is doing with humanity.

“Long ago the Scriptures said God would accept the Gentiles because of their faith. This is why God told Abraham the good news that all nations would be blessed because of him.” | Galatians 3:8, CEV

Abraham – The Friend Of God

God really wants us to know Him and trust Him. He always has. His plan from the very beginning was to have a relationship with us. Even when it seemed like we had ruined every chance of that, He went out of His way to put measures in place to repair the relationship, by sending His son to save the world.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” | John 3:16, ESV

Faith is what brings us to that place of being “put right with God” but it is faith, meshed with action, that really brings us into a full relationship with Him.

The all-encompassing meaning of belief is intrinsically linked with the actions that back it up – seamless believing and doing. It isn’t the doing that makes us right, but it’s impossible to show our faith, without the doing. James tells us that it’s like separating a body from the life force or spirit within – all you end up with is a corpse (James 2:18-26).

It is this faith, coupled with action – believing and doing – that elevates Abraham from being not just a “father of faith” but also the “friend of God” –  participant in a close and intimate relationship of knowing and being known.

Abraham is now regarded as one of the most influential people in all of history. The world’s three largest monotheistic religions—in fact possibly monotheism itself—found their beginnings with him. Over 3 billion people in the modern world cite Abraham as the “father” of their religion. Abraham was promised by his God descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, but today two branches of his family, the Jews and the Muslims, continue to battle for his birthright. – Encyclopedia.com

Epilogue

What did Abraham find in a strange and unknown place?

What Abraham found was grace in the eyes of God, through faith alone. God drew him to faith and God counted that faith as righteousness – as a “right standing with God”.

His great legacy and true birthright is as the Father of Faith to countless people who have come after him, regardless of their social status (Jeremiah 22:3), ethnicity (Acts 10: 34-35), or gender (Galatians 3:28).

Having faith or believing isn’t measured by an exhaustive list of facts we say we agree with but rather the act of entrusting our lives to God [through the work of His Son] and acting and living in a way that shows we believe His promise to be true.

The phrase to believe can sometimes be hijacked and become synonymous with agreement to a list of doctrines, but to make it this loses the living reality of what is meant by the word and contradicts the examples given to us of those who believed (‘had faith’).

The solid rock of confidence in Christ must be the starting point of a Christian’s faith, not an extensive list of facts to which they may give agreement, but their heart possibly remains unconverted.

Abraham knew very little but gave all his heart in confidence and trust to God. Perhaps we would call this allegiance. Perhaps we ought to speak more of allegiance and less of doctrine when evangelising.

We’re not joining a club when we become Christians, we’re giving our lives in trust to the Master and this trust will hold us far more steadily through the buffeting waves of life than all the facts (true or otherwise) that we’ve collected in our heads.

Having faith like Abraham looks like not always knowing what the next step is, what the future will look like, or even how we’ll get there. But it also looks like movement and transition; a stepping forward in confidence, believing in the One who does know what the future holds, trusting that He is a good, good Father and a rewarder of those who seek Him.

“We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.”| Dallas Willard

Abraham’s journey in faith towards the great unknown can become ours too. We just have to accept God’s call and take that first step…

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Further Recommended Reading

1. The subject of faith, coupled with action, is one of the great threads running through the Bible and makes for interesting and inspiring reading. I would recommend the following chapters as further reading on the subject: Genesis 12, Romans 4, Hebrews 11, and James 2.

2. As always, I value feedback and conversation, so I’d love your comments and thoughts on this subject!