momchild

Genesis 15:6: “And he (Abraham) believed the Lord and He counted it as righteousness.”

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

John 3:16 is the hallmark verse for salvation, just believing in God and we will not perish but have everlasting life.  That has always troubled me as it sounded contradictory to James 2:19 that the devils believe and tremble and verse 20 of James 2 which says that faith without works is dead.  So what gives. Jesus said all we need to do is believe (Gr. pisteuo)  but James says we must have faith (Gr pisteuo) and works. I believe the answer lies in the fact that Jesus spoke Aramaic and James wrote his book in Greek.  When Jesus said that whoever believes, he did not say pisteuo for he was not speaking in Greek but Aramaic and my Aramaic Bible says He said ‘emen which is identical to the Hebrew word rendered for faith or belief ‘aman.

The Talmud teaches that trusting in God is more important than anything else.  One may keep all the laws of Torah, follow every ritual, but it is only belief ‘emen, which will ultimately save the individual.  Remember how Saul lost his kingdom because he performed a sacrifice before a battle rather than wait for Samuel to arrive to do it.  Samuel was late, Saul’s army was deserting him but Saul would not go to war until that sacrifice was offered, so he did it himself.  What was his sin?   Yes, disobedience of course. But I never heard a Christian preacher or teacher give the root reason.  I had to go to Jewish literature to find it. It was that Saul did not believe or ‘emen in God. This is more than just believing that a God exists.  The Bible says that the devil believes and trembles. James 2:12.  That hardly sounds like this belief or ‘emen is counted as righteousness. The word used in the Greek for believe in James 2:12 is pisteuo which means to have faith in, trust in or have belief.  So why is it that the devil’s pisteuo is not counted as righteousness?

The reason is that pisteuo is not the same as the Hebrew word for ‘aman which is used in Genesis 15:6.  I don’t think there is an appropriate word in Greek or in English to render the word ‘aman.  You can only describe ‘aman.  That is why James says that faith without works is dead, he is saying pisteuo without works is dead.  If this was written in Hebrew he would have used the ‘aman and thus, like Jesus he would not have to mention works because that was already built into the word ‘aman‘Aman is pisteuo and ergon (works) all wrapped in one word.  Now it is important to understand that the Greek word for works is ergon and it does not just mean good deeds but it is a work which fulfills an inner desire.  Then what is this work that fills an inner desire?  Ah, the Hebrew word ‘aman and its twin Aramaic word that Jesus used in John 3:16 ‘emen gives us the answer to that question.

The Talmud teaches that if a drowning man suddenly spots a tree within reach, which part of the tree does he lunge for?   Not the branches, for they will break under his weight;  rather he grabs the roots of the tree. Belief in God is similar to the strong roots of a tree, it is the basis and foundation of the entire tree.  That is our salvation in Jesus Christ, which is what it means to believe ‘emen or ‘aman in Jesus.

See the Jewish sages understood the Semitic root of the word ‘aman. This word comes from a Semitic root common is most Semitic languages. At least the Semitic languages I have studied. It is found in the clay tablets of the Akkadian cuneiform, the Sumerians, and the Ugaritic. Not to mention the Persian, Phoenician and Canaanite languages. It is the word AMN.  It is the word that is used to describe a mother who is nursing baby. Now, why would the Hebrews take a word for a mother nursing a baby to describe their trust or belief in God? Why would Jesus use such a word to tell us that this is what will give us everlasting life and will keep us from perishing?

Consider the dynamics involved in nursing a baby.  The mother must cradle the baby in her arms. The baby is in the total protection of its mother.  The mother is providing sustenance to the baby directly from herself, not from a spoon or cup, and it is her own milk, not the milk of a goat or cow. Artists, in depicting a mother nursing will have the mother looking at her baby with total love in her eyes and the baby looking up to its mother with total trust and dependence in its eyes.  Also, during this nursing process, there is a deep bonding taking place between the mother and child. Is there any better picture than that of trust or belief?  When we trust or believe in God we are not just acknowledging the existence of a God.  That does about as much good in the salvation process as believing in the existence of mothers.  To believe in God as Jesus said in John 3:16, is to believe in the sense that it will keep us from perishing, going to hell and having everlasting life. This means we must become like a baby in a mother’s arms.  It is as natural as a baby reaching out to its mother, as natural as receiving nourishment and strength like a baby receives from its mother.

To receive this everlasting life we are to simply cradle ourselves in the arms of Jesus, looking up at him and seeing nothing but Him as He looks lovingly down at us providing nourishment and strength from His own being.  To that baby who is ‘aman with its mother, nothing else in the world exist but its mother and to the mother nothing else in the world is more important than that baby in her arms, just as nothing else in the world is more important to Jesus than we are when we are cradled in His arms.  The baby does not have to behave to get its mother’s love and be fed by its mother.  The baby does nothing except to rest in its mother’s arms and lets its mother just love on him. Nothing else is required for you see that baby naturally has performed its ergon (works). The work in salvation is not good deeds, going to church, throwing money in an offering plate. Ergon is doing a work which fulfills your inner desire.  The inner desire of that baby is to be held by its mother and nourished by its mother that is his ergon, his works.  Our ergon, our works with God is ‘aman that is fulfilling our inner desire to be held and nourished by God.  If a baby is too busy cooing and looking cute in his crib and ignores its mother’s attempts to hold it and nourish it, it will perish.  If we are too busy cooing and looking cute in the natural world to allow ourselves to be held and nourished by Jesus, we too will perish and not have everlasting life. According to Jesus the only way we can have eternal life is to submit ourselves to  God and let Him cradle us in His arms and nourish us with eternal life, for just as life flows through that mother into the baby, so too does eternal life flow through Jesus into us.  We just have to be willing to receive it. That is salvation.

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