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Does Faith = Belief? Part 2
(My Unusual Road of Life....)
** If you ask many people, they would say that faith and belief are the same thing. It is understandable in the new world of do your own thing ideas! But not true! Because that simply leads to all sorts of confusion. ** The trouble is they are interrelated, which makes them very close in meaning. In fact, that many modern Bible translations don’t always differentiate clearly between the two. Which only leads to even more confusion. ** When we equate faith and belief it can make Jesus seem a little contradictory. For example here is how the New Living Translation presents Matthew 17:20.
Date: 11/21/2013 4:07:31 PM ( 11 y ago)
One of the best examples is found in Matt 17:14 - 20
***
{ Following from John Gills commentary}
* http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/mat...
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Matthew 17:14
And when they were come to the multitude
Which was on the next day, as in ( Luke 9:37 ) when Christ and his three disciples, Peter, James, and John, came down from the mount to the other nine, with whom the multitude of the people were; during their stay on the mountain,
there came to him a certain man;
who was, as Mark says, "one of the multitude"; and as Luke, "a man of the company": who had applied to the nine disciples on the behalf of his son, but without success, and was waiting till Christ came from the mount; who when he saw him, made up to him, and
kneeling down to him
in the manner of a supplicant, doing him homage and worship; hereby showing his great esteem of him, and veneration for him,
and saying
the following words:
:15
Lord, have mercy on my son
He addressed him with great marks of honor and respect, not only by gesture, but by words; he craves mercy, pity, and compassion; for the case he had to present, was a miserable one; and his earnestness and importunity he hoped might be excused, since it was for a child of his own. Luke adds "for he is mine only child"; and therefore his affection for him must be thought to be very strong, and he greatly concerned for its grievous affliction, and earnestly desirous of its health and life.
For he is lunatic:
not a mad man, but troubled with the epileptic disease; upon which, as on madness or lunacy, the changes and full of the moon have an influence: hence the next clause,
and sore vexed,
is rendered in the Arabic version, "and sore vexed at the beginning of full moons"; at which times, he had very grievous and frequent fits of his disorder:
for often times he falls into the fire, and oft into the water:
which shows it to be the "epilepsy", or "falling sickness", he was afflicted with; which, whenever it seized him, whether by the fireside, or by the side of a river or brook, or any place of water, or in any other dangerous situation, he fell into it, not being able to help himself, or avoid any danger to which he was exposed. A larger account of this child's disorder, and of the circumstances of his cure, are related by ( Mark 9:17 Mark 9:18 ) where this case will be more fully considered. (See Gill on Mark 9:17). (See Gill on Mark 9:18).
:16
And I brought him to thy disciples
To the nine, whilst Christ was with the other three upon the mountain: no doubt but his design was to bring him to Christ first; but he being absent, he applied to his disciples, and, desired them to make use of their power to heal him; and which they attempted, but without success:
and they could not cure him.
This he said, partly to show the malignity and stubbornness of the disease, and partly to accuse the disciples of weakness; when he himself was as much in fault as they, as the following words show. Here the Jew F23 insults, and charges with contradiction, that in one place it should be said, that Jesus gave his disciples power to cast out unclean spirits, and here all the disciples could not cast a spirit out of one little child: but without any reason; let it be observed, that "all" the disciples were not present, the three principal ones were with Christ; besides, this was not owing to want of power in them, which Christ had conferred on them, and which they often made use of with success: but partly to their own unbelief, and partly to the unbelief of the father of this child, and others with him, as appears from what follows: and it is clear from Mark, that when he came to Christ, he had but little faith; he says to him, "if thou canst do anything, help us"; and after Christ had talked with him about his faith, he could only say, "Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief".
:17
Then Jesus answered and said
Not to the disciples, but to the father of the child; see ( Mark 9:19 ) and those that were with him, and the Scribes that were present, disputing with the disciples, upbraiding them with their weakness, and triumphing over them: "O faithless and perverse generation"; a way of speaking, which is never used of the disciples, and indeed could not be properly said of them; for though they often appeared to be men of little faith, yet not faithless; nor were they so rebellious, stubborn, and perverse, as here represented, though there was a great deal of perverseness in them: but the characters better suit the body of the Jewish nation, who, on account of the incredulity of this man, and those that were present, being of the same temper with them, are exclaimed against in words, which were long ago spoken of their ancestors, ( Deuteronomy 32:5 ) and from whence they seem to be taken.
How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?
Upbraiding them with the length of time he had been with them, in which so many wonderful works had been done among them, and yet they remained unbelieving and incorrigible; and intimating, that his patience and long suffering would not always continue; and that in a short time, he should be gone from them, and they should no longer enjoy the benefit of his ministry and miracles, but wrath should come upon them to the uttermost: but however, whilst he was with them, notwithstanding all their unbelief and obstinacy, he should go on to do good; and therefore says,
bring him hither to me,
meaning the lunatic child. These words also are directed, not unto the disciples, but to the father of the child; for so it is said in ( Luke 9:41 ) "bring thy son hither"; and so the Syriac renders it here (whyta) , "bring thou him"; though, as expressed in the plural number, may very well be thought to intend him, and his friends.
:18
And Jesus rebuked the devil
The words may indeed be rendered, "and Jesus rebuked him, and the devil departed out of him"; so the Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental versions; but the sense our version gives is certainly right; for it was not the father of the child Christ rebuked for his unbelief; this he had done already; nor the lunatic himself, as some have thought, either for his unbelief, or because he was possessed by the devil, for some sins of his own; which is not likely, since he was so from a child, and perhaps not now in his right mind, and capable of any rebuke: besides, the Evangelists Mark, and Luke expressly say, that he "rebuked the foul", or "unclean spirit": for though it was a natural disease which attended this child, yet he was afflicted with it in a preternatural way, by the means of Satan; who, by divine permission; had a power of inflicting bodily diseases: and that this disease was effected by him, is clear from the manner of curing, by the dispossession of him; for when
he departed out of him;
at the command of Christ, whose power he could not withstand, but was obliged, whether he would or not, to obey;
the child was cured from that very hour;
directly, immediately, and continued well, and in good health. Hence the word rendered lunatic, in ( Matthew 17:15 ) is in several Oriental versions, translated in the sense of "demoniac", or one possessed with a devil. The Arabic version renders it, "he is with a demon": the Persic thus, "on whom a demon hath power"; and the Ethiopic after this manner, "an evil demon takes hold on him". And it is usual with the Jews, to ascribe diseases to evil spirits; and perhaps this uncommon dispensation in the times of Christ, may give rise to such a notion; particularly, they ascribe this very same disease of the "epileptic", or "falling sickness", to the same cause, which they call F24 "Kordicus", or "Cardiacus", the "Cardiac" passion, which one of their commentators F25 explains thus.
``It is a disease which proceeds from the repletion of the vessels of the brain, whereby the understanding is confounded; wherefore it is one of the sorts (lpwnh ylwx) , "of the falling sickness".''
Says another F26 of them,
``It is (hdyv Mv) , "the name of a demon", that rules over such, that drink much wine out of the vat.''
To which others agree, saying F1, that one attended with this disorder, is one,
``whose understanding is confounded, (dv tmxm) , "by means of a demon", who rules over such, that drink new wine; and lo! the spirit's name is "Kardiacus".''
From whence it is clear, that with them, the disease and the demon go by the same name; and that the former is from the latter.
FOOTNOTES:
F24 Misn. Gittin, c. 7. sect. 1.
F25 Maimon. in ib.
F26 Gloss. in T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 67. 2.
F1 Bartenora & Yom Tob. in Misn. Gittin, c. 8. sect. 1.
** Conclusion :19
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart
Or "secretly", as the Vulgate Latin, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel read; that is, privately, and when alone; and as Mark says, "when he was come into the house"; and was by himself, then came the nine disciples to him, to converse with him about this matter,
and said unto him, why could not we cast him out?
That is, the devil, and so cure the lunatic; the Syriac and Persic versions render it, "why could not we heal him?" The lunatic; which only could be done by casting out the demon: they were concerned, fearing they had lost the power which Christ had bestowed on them, and wanted to know what they had done, which had deprived them of it; and what should be the cause of their late unsuccessful attempt, when they had so frequently triumphed over the unclean spirits, that were subject to them. Though they might have learned from the answer Christ gave to the father of the lunatic, and the general character of the Jewish nations in that answer, the true reason of their own inability; but this they took no notice of, imagining it belonged entirely to others, and not to them.
:20
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief
The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "because of your little faith", or "the smallness of your faith"; and so does one Greek manuscript; and which is what is doubtless meant by their unbelief; for they were not altogether destitute of faith, but their faith was very low, and their unbelief very great. Christ says, not because of the unbelief of the parent of the child, and those that were with him, though that also was a reason; but because of their unbelief, being willing to convince them of their unbelief, as he had done the father of the child, who had confessed it, and desired it might be removed from him: but lest they should think they had lost their power of doing miracles, Christ adds;
for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed;
which was a very small seed, the least of all seeds, and is used very often proverbially by the Jews, to signify anything of a small quantity or weight F2, and is sometimes used of faith, as here; so speaking of the congregation of Edom, meaning the Christians, they F3 say,
``they have not (ldrx lv Nyerg wmk hnwma) , "faith as a grain of mustard seed".''
And it is used in like sense in other eastern nations; and by Mahomet in his Alcoran F4, who says,
``We will appoint just balances in the day of resurrection, neither shall any soul be injured at all, although the merit or guilt of an action be of the weight of "a grain of mustard seed".''
So that it has no reference to the quality of mustard seed, being hot and acrimonious; which has led some interpreters wrong, to compare faith unto it, for its liveliness and fervency: when our Lord only means, that if his apostles had ever so small a degree of faith in exercise, which might be compared for its smallness to this least of seeds, such an effect as he after mentions would follow; and which therefore is to be understood, not of an historical faith, by which men assent to all that is in the Bible as true; nor of a special, spiritual faith, by which souls believe in Christ, as their Saviour and Redeemer; for of neither of these can the following things in common be said; but of a faith of miracles, peculiar to certain persons in those early times, for certain reasons; which such as had but ever so small a degree of, as the apostles here spoken to might say, as Christ observes to them,
ye shall say to this mountain;
pointing perhaps to that he was just come down from, which might be in sight of the house where he was,
remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove:
meaning, not that it would be ordinarily or ever done in a literal sense by the apostles, that they should remove mountains; but that they should be able to do things equally difficult, and as seemingly impossible, if they had but faith, when the glory of God, and the good of men, required it. So that it does not follow, because the apostles did not do it in a literal sense, therefore they could not, as the Jew insultingly says F5; since it was meant that they should, and besides, have done, things equally as great as this, and which is the sense of the words. So the apostle expresses the faith of miracles, by "removing mountains", ( 1 Corinthians 13:2 ) i.e. by doing things which are difficult, seem impossible to be done: wherefore Christ adds,
and nothing shall be impossible to you;
you shall not only be able to perform such a wonderful action as this, were it necessary, but any, and everything else, that will make for the glory of God, the enlargement of my kingdom and interest, the confirmation of truth, and the good of mankind.
FOOTNOTES:
F2 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 3l. 1. Megilla, fol. 28. 2. Nidda, fol. 66. 1. Maimon. lssure Biah, c. 11. sect. 4. Maacolot Asurot, c. 2. sect. 21. &c. 14. sect. 8. Tumaot Okelim, c. 4. sect. 2. & 7. 6.
F3 Vet. Nizzachon, p. 148.
F4 C. 21. p. 268. & c. 31. p. 336. Ed. Sale.
F5 Vet. Nizzachon, p. 237.
*** Therefore one can have so called faith, yet not believe! The belief is the ultimate test of your true Faith! Period!
Do you actually believe?
If not then your efforts are wasted and foolish!
BELIEVE IT!
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