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Topic: In Christ (Part 8) By Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
Topic: In Christ (Part 8) By Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
Text Of Interest:
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Heb 12:22 – 24 (KJV)
In the meantime, before we go further in this lesson I would like us to address a certain observation which I believe some of us if not all of us must have made and it has to do with the fact that the names of the elders mentioned in the book of Hebrews were few; and therefore, the question is what happened to the rest people that were not mentioned? Again to answer this question one has to differentiate the elders mentioned and the ones not mentioned by their manner of approach to the message that came to them, It is certain that they also received the message but they had a wrong approach to it, which means that they didn’t receive the message by faith, they perceived it as mere words and couldn’t make anything out of it. See Hebrews 4:2 and quote “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
However, in the book of Hebrews chapter 12:2, it states that “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”The word ourin the sentence is in italics which implies that the translators by their privilege added it in the sentence. Therefore, it is not there in the original text and if we want to get the right meaning of the sentence we have to extrapolate or remove that word from the sentence and it will read this way “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. This will of course infer to us that Jesus is the author and finisher (completer) of faith, which again of course implies that faith, begins with Jesus and ends with Jesus.
Overtly, from the statement above it means that faith therefore, is Jesus and outside Jesus there is no faith. Better still faith is a person! Invariably, it suggests that if one wants to be in faith, the only way is to be in Jesus because it is in Jesus faith can be found. When Jesus comes into the life of someone, it means faith has come into him or her and he or she needs not to look for faith elsewhere. The bible says in the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Galatians that “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”(Gal 3:23). Suggesting that there was a time faith was absent and this was the period the law was in operation. In the days that the laws of Moses was in operation faith was absent because things and activities were conducted based on man’s ability to please God. So people were relating with/to God based on their ability to please Him in their conducts and this kind of relationship induced a conditional relationship that states “if you do I do and if you don’t do I do not” and as a result they never maximized their benefit from God. And of course without faith no one has the ability to please God.
In the same epistle of Apostle Paul to the Galatians it states that “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Gal 3:24-25). Again there is an issue with verse 24, the word bring is in italics suggesting that it wasn’t there in the original text. We know that it wasn’t the law that brought us to Christ; we came into Christ by Grace and as a result, the law was like a guardian until faith came and as faith came its service(s) are no longer needed. In verse 25 it states that “faith came”, so the question therefore is how did it come? Well the answer is not farfetched let’s see the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Romans in chapter 10 verse 10 what it says and I quote “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” To rightly put this quotation we should be having something like this, “Faith is by hearing and hearing the message of Christ”, and this accentuates the fact that Jesus is the source of faith, when the message of Jesus is given it comes into the receiver with faith attached to it.
Therefore, the only way to have faith is by listening to the message of Christ. Here again, notice that what God told or related to the elders was nothing but the message of Christ, and they had faith in what God would do in Christ and it was accounted unto them righteous. Consequently, righteousness is a product of faith in Christ or what Christ will do as in the case of the elders and faith in what Christ has done as in our own case. So to have faith in order to be in Christ one has to hear the message of Christ and the message of Christ is nothing but the message that is centered on the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. This is the only message that will produce the kind of faith one requires to be in Christ. Let’s see the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in chapter 15 and it reads “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1Cor 15:1 – 4). In verse one it states that by this message ‘they stand’, which means it is this message that solidifies one in Christ and if one didn’t hear this message and says he or she believes, well he or she has believed in vain according to verse three of this chapter. The implication of this is that without faith in Jesus Christ no one is qualified and can please God because Jesus is the only thing or one that pleased God (Matt 3:17, 17:5), being in Christ therefore means that one has pleased God!
To be continued…..
Till I come your way again, keep on basking in the Arena of Indubitable Truth!
Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
However, in the book of Hebrews chapter 12:2, it states that “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”The word ourin the sentence is in italics which implies that the translators by their privilege added it in the sentence. Therefore, it is not there in the original text and if we want to get the right meaning of the sentence we have to extrapolate or remove that word from the sentence and it will read this way “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. This will of course infer to us that Jesus is the author and finisher (completer) of faith, which again of course implies that faith, begins with Jesus and ends with Jesus.
Overtly, from the statement above it means that faith therefore, is Jesus and outside Jesus there is no faith. Better still faith is a person! Invariably, it suggests that if one wants to be in faith, the only way is to be in Jesus because it is in Jesus faith can be found. When Jesus comes into the life of someone, it means faith has come into him or her and he or she needs not to look for faith elsewhere. The bible says in the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Galatians that “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”(Gal 3:23). Suggesting that there was a time faith was absent and this was the period the law was in operation. In the days that the laws of Moses was in operation faith was absent because things and activities were conducted based on man’s ability to please God. So people were relating with/to God based on their ability to please Him in their conducts and this kind of relationship induced a conditional relationship that states “if you do I do and if you don’t do I do not” and as a result they never maximized their benefit from God. And of course without faith no one has the ability to please God.
In the same epistle of Apostle Paul to the Galatians it states that “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Gal 3:24-25). Again there is an issue with verse 24, the word bring is in italics suggesting that it wasn’t there in the original text. We know that it wasn’t the law that brought us to Christ; we came into Christ by Grace and as a result, the law was like a guardian until faith came and as faith came its service(s) are no longer needed. In verse 25 it states that “faith came”, so the question therefore is how did it come? Well the answer is not farfetched let’s see the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Romans in chapter 10 verse 10 what it says and I quote “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” To rightly put this quotation we should be having something like this, “Faith is by hearing and hearing the message of Christ”, and this accentuates the fact that Jesus is the source of faith, when the message of Jesus is given it comes into the receiver with faith attached to it.
Therefore, the only way to have faith is by listening to the message of Christ. Here again, notice that what God told or related to the elders was nothing but the message of Christ, and they had faith in what God would do in Christ and it was accounted unto them righteous. Consequently, righteousness is a product of faith in Christ or what Christ will do as in the case of the elders and faith in what Christ has done as in our own case. So to have faith in order to be in Christ one has to hear the message of Christ and the message of Christ is nothing but the message that is centered on the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. This is the only message that will produce the kind of faith one requires to be in Christ. Let’s see the epistle of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in chapter 15 and it reads “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1Cor 15:1 – 4). In verse one it states that by this message ‘they stand’, which means it is this message that solidifies one in Christ and if one didn’t hear this message and says he or she believes, well he or she has believed in vain according to verse three of this chapter. The implication of this is that without faith in Jesus Christ no one is qualified and can please God because Jesus is the only thing or one that pleased God (Matt 3:17, 17:5), being in Christ therefore means that one has pleased God!
To be continued…..
Till I come your way again, keep on basking in the Arena of Indubitable Truth!
Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
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