What Is Belief?: Part Five
I know in whom I have believed and have been persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed to him unto that day (2 Tim 1:12)
In the previous 4th article of these postings on “What Is Belief?” I gave an illustration of how this verse of Scripture contains the particulars of how faith must be actualized in order to be effective or redemptive. Here I wish to recapitulate a conclusion to the previous articles.
To know God is to believe in his existence, and be persuaded that what you have come to know is true. But to fully actualize one’s belief in the biblical sense of the word, one must commit or give him/herself over to what he/she has come to believe, thus becoming one with the knowledge and persuasion accepted as a reality. We can see this over and over in the beliefs of “the believers” in the New Testament, who commitment themselves to that of which they had been peruaded; i.e., belief in the supernatural, the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, and the many truths revealed in the Gospels, believing this “Godstory” to be the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).
Paul uses the concept of commitment over and again in his letters, making clear what is involved. In Romans 3:2, he says concerning the advantages of the Jews, “unto them were committed (paratheke), the Oracles of God.” The patrarchs of people of the Hebrew Scriptures had receive revelation from God, and they knew, believed, and had been persuaded of the truth of what they had been given. In 1 Cor 9:17, Paul says concerning his apostolic commission, “a dispensation of the gospel is [was] committed (paratheke) unto me.” In 2 Cor 5:19, he says that God had committed (paratheke) to [the apostles] the word of reconciliation.” In 1 Tim 1:11, he says that the commission of “the glorious gospel of the blessed God was committed (paratheke) to my trust.” In 1 Tim 6:20, he writes to Timothy, “guard that which is committed (paratheke) to you, turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called.” In 2 Timothy 2:2, he further says to Timothy, “the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit (paratheke) to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. And in Titus 1:3, Paul writes that God, “in due times [God] manifested his word through preaching, which is [was] committed (paratheke) unto me. ”
The most significant text conveying this sense of commitment is that of the cry of Jesus, as he died on the cross. Luke 23:46 reads, “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit (paratheke) my spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.” One cannot miss the significance of the words, “Father, into your hands,” Jesus fully knew what he was doing by committing his spirit into his Father’s hands. He was giving up his life force, his human spirit, as Jesus of Nazareth, and the Son of Man breathed his last breath. It was finished, his earthly sojourn as “one of us” ended in a self-sacrificial death effected by his giving (paratheke), his spirit into the hands of the one who gave him up to a human existence (John 6:38; 20:21; Rom 8:3-4; Gal 4:4-5; 1 John 4:10).
The meaning of paratheke in the words of Paul portrays the image of something or someone being given over to someone else. This is what is being said in Paul’s words of 2 Tim 1:12. “The knowledge” of the identity of Jesus of Nazarerth, the Messiah, the Savior of the human race, who was both “one of us“ and “God with us “ (Matt 1:22-23), had been revealed to them. And they were “persuaded” of the truth of this story called, “the Gospel.” When we have become so “persuaded” (peitho) of the truth of this “knowledge” (oida) that we are willing to commit (paratheke) ourselves to this story so much so that we become one with it, and have become ho pisteuon - one who believes - “a believer.” This is the meaning of belief revealed in the New Testament. Is it not a sad commentary on our culture, let alone the community of believers called “the church,” that the concept of “commitment” discussed here is so absent from who we claim to be. Look at what is being done, or not done, in the area of edification in the church. How can we become one with our beliefs if we don’t know what those beliefs are?
