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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Non-Christian
Christianity Is what we have
traditionally called Christianity in our western-world quickly becoming
non-Christian? For many
reasons I think it is, yet in my opinion one reason stands out above the
rest. It's failing to
understand and uphold the meaning of John 3:16 that defines Christian.
John 3:16 reads: "For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus spoke the above
words in Hebrew or Aramaic which John later translated into Greek.
I will, then, make two assertions concerning the word
"believes" in John 3:16 based on John's Greek text.
Our English verb
"believes" in John 3:16 is translated from the Greek word
"pisteuo" which means "trusts," as in "whoever
trusts in Him." Pisteuo
does not mean a mere mental acknowledgement of a fact, and thus, the
Amplified Bible's rendering of John 3:16. It
reads:
“For
God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave
His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in
Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life." Our English verb
"believes" in John 3:16 is a present, active, Greek participle.
Simply put, a participle is a word, an adjective or noun, that is
formed from a verb that describes something or someone.
In this case it describes one who will inherit eternal life as
being a present-day, active demonstrator of his new nature in Christ as a
believer, or as I say, a "trusting-in-Jesus one." This
Greek participle emphasizes a person being a trusting person over him or
her simply doing the action of trusting.
I see a difference between doing something, like trusting, and
being someone, like being a trusting person. Based on the above, I
understand Jesus to have said that whoever is a present-day, active
inherent believer, or a trusting-in-Me one, will not perish but will have
eternal life. It's more than
doing. It's being.
It's more than believing. It's
being a believer, and here's my point.
Much of what is called Christian today has exchanged the concept of
actually being a believer with a mere acknowledged claim of believing.
Such a claim makes no one Christian. This has turned a matter of
the heart that transforms a person into a new creation (2 Corinthians
5:17) into a mere matter of the mind that has no transformative power.
It is why we have politicians claiming a great relationship with
God but living a hypocritical life of ungodliness.
It is why a recent rap star can beat up a woman as he is pictured
wearing a big cross on a chain around his neck.
It's why many are falling away from the faith because they see no
real difference between being a Christian and a non-Christian.
John 3:16 says nothing
about a mere mental claim of faith, and if that is today's prevailing
thinking as I think it is, our traditional Christianity in the western
world is quickly becoming a non-Christian religion.
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