34 Dictionaries by Larry Perry

Romans 16:26 English Standard Version (ESV) but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

Since God’s command is to bring about obedience of faith, it is essential that we understand faith. Looking to the Blue Letter Bible as a resource we will find thirty-four bible dictionaries that define faith and its uses. Having read all those dictionaries has been very difficult because of the language of the authors is intellectual in design, to convince us over this very important issue. There is no plain text reading.

This may serve you as an example of the complexities in trying to define faith.

1 Corinthians 12 English Standard Version (ESV)

Spiritual Gifts

⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit,…

Faith is listed in the spiritual gifts in such a way as to lead us to believe that faith is not given to all of us.

Ephesians 2:8 English Standard Version (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Since we cannot be saved without faith, then we all have been given faith as a gifts from God to be saved. Since both of these passages are true, then 1 Corinthians 12:9 must contain a narrow usage of faith that may be defined more thoroughly within one of those thirty-four dictionaries. To search out the exact meaning of faith as it is used in 1 Corinthians 12:9 using those intellectual pursuits puts us at risk of misunderstanding scripture by making it an intellectual decision.

Habakkuk 2:4 English Standard Version (ESV) “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

Romans 1:17 English Standard Version (ESV) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for* faith,^[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”^[b]

Footnotes:

 a Or beginning and ending in faith

 b Or The one who by faith is righteous shall live

Even within plain language there are complexities as the KJV uses *to faith.

2 Corinthians 5:17 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Most of us come up out of our baptism feeling emotions that range from gratitude to acceptance. What we don’t feel is new. We have the same memories, temptations, ailments, relationships and a host of personal problems. We don’t yet have a clear awareness of what really changed.

What makes us a new creation is the indwelling spirit that is given as counselor, companion and our eyes and ears to a life with Christ. So many comparisons have been made about being a babe in Christ. Understand that this spiritual life is in many ways just like being born. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again.

Paul told us in Romans that we should consider ourselves dead to sin. That is an awareness of our new life in Christ in which we are no longer sold under sin. Like a dead body, we do not have to respond to its presence. We can respond but shouldn’t, that is why we are to consider it. Sadly while sin has lost its sting, it has not gone away. It still hangs around as a constant reminder that we are not translated into His glorious form. That comes later, after we join Him in the air.

Meanwhile we are tempted and struggle. It takes time for us to learn how to accept help from the Holy Spirit. Adjusting to this new life takes time. We try to help each other during these struggles. We disciple one another. We teach and encourage one another from our human perspective but it is the Holy Spirit that does the real work of conforming us into a likeness of Christ.

Making decision for ourselves is what got us in trouble in our old life. Obedience of faith is the only avenue for real change.