By Water and the Blood

Sunday, May 17^th, 2009

Easter 6B

Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes (has faith) that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴ for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵ Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes (has faith that) Jesus is the Son of God? 

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 

What is the difference between faith and belief?  Have you ever posed that question to yourself?  It wouldn’t seem to be necessary, would it?  After all, we could say that faith and belief are, if not one and the same, then maybe so closely related as to be indistinguishable from one another, at the MOST, we could call them two sides of the same coin.

Let’s do a brief word study:

belief:–noun

1. something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.

2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.

3. confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.

4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.

And here is faith:–noun

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.

7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.

8.  Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

They appear, in our english dictionary at least, to be so closely intertwined that we can use them interchangeably.  

It was not so for our first century forbearers.  In the original language in which this passage was written, there are two different words at play.  They both have the same root, but one is a verb and the other is a noun.  

Irene Alexandrou teaches modern Greek at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and explains it this way: 

 The Greek word, which is translated as faith, is pistis (noun) and believe, is translated from pisteuo (verb). The word believe (Greek verb "pisteuo"), according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, means: to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust, (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ.) believe, commit, (to trust), put in trust with. "Pisteuo" comes from the Greek noun "pistis" which means: persuasion, i.e., credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself; assurance, belief, believe, faith.

While this distinction seems subtle enough in the Greek, when we move the two words into the english language, even though ‘believe’ is known and understood to be a verb, the ‘ve’ at the end of the word oftentimes becomes one and the same with the ‘f’ at the end of our noun ‘belief’.  You may wonder what’s the big deal?  Belief, believe, faith, potatoes, po-tah-toes, tomatoes, to-mah-toes ... just leave it at that and be done with it.  

But you see, that, in fact, highlights the problem.  There IS  a difference between the verb ‘believe’ and the noun ‘faith’. If we replaced that first instance of the word ‘believes’ with the phrase ‘has faith’, it just begins to bring out the differences.  

The problem lies in that it is so easy to equate the ideas of having faith and believing in something.  We run the risk of thinking of them in the same intellectual terms; that having faith means believing in something... just like believing in something means ... having FAITH in something... we put the ideas behind the words on equal footing, and end up with circular reasoning, and each word defining the other, and no clear idea of where one ends and the other begins.   

The difference is that pistis, the noun and pisteuo, the verb, coming from the same root, lose some of their power when they are translated into our logical, conceptual, thinking minds.  I’m not knocking logical thinking at ALL, but what I AM trying to do is to introduce the idea that there is more than logic at work in the argument that John is putting forth here.  He isn’t simply trying to persuade or convince his hearers of the logical validity of his argument, but he is trying to introduce the idea that there is a power so overwhelming in the world that was unleashed by God’s coming to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.  

You see, that was an event, it involved action, and consequences, and movement and motion.  Jesus did more than just sit in the temple and argue with the teachers and leaders.  And that is the way it is with pisteuo belief - it is the enacting of that pistis faith in a way that makes it obvious that we have been moved by the same spirit of God that moved over the waters at the beginning of creation to DO SOMETHING for him and through him.  Ours IS a faith of ideas and reason, but it is NOT a faith of ideas and reason apart from action.  It doesn’t exist if there is no action.  We cannot SAY we are a follower of Christ’s teachings and leave it at that.   

This is the reason John writes in verse 2:  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 

One commentator, Edward A. McDowell, a retired professor from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, put it this way: 

This makes it plain enough that agape does not exist apart from its expression in conduct and action.  Agape demands doing, whatever one’s feelings or emotions may be.  A person may not ‘feel right’ towards a neighbor, a Christian brother, an enemy, and yet love him with agape by treating him as a person and doing right by him.   

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?  

Just as God’s love for us was expressed in so much more than simply spoken and written words, but ultimately through the living word, so is our agape love for each other and for the world around us to be expressed.  Over the last six weeks, and especially in these last two weeks, you have done that in spades, as the saying goes.  This past week, between Monday and yesterday, we said farewell to two precious souls who understood that the love of God was more than just an idea, more than a set of theological concepts and philosophies, it was a way of doing things and saying things and a way of being, a way of interacting with the world around them that helped us realize  that this love that we confess, that we profess, is one that can transform not only US, but has the potential to transform anyone we meet, as we are faithful -- literally -- full of faith -- in carrying out God’s command to love each other.  

May we be found so faithful. 

Let’s pray.