Monday, May 14, 2012

Believers

“The response to the gospel message is 'turning to God'. This is natural language to use of erstwhile pagans who had worshiped idols, less appropriate of Jews who already believed in God. But much more common is the term faith, which signifies a complex of trust, commitment and obedience directed toward God and his Son, Jesus. Faith is referred to so often and so casually that it was clearly the principal mark of Christians in their relationship toward God. This is all the more remarkable in that while faith is also a characteristic attitude in the Old Testament and is not unknown in other religions, there does not appear to have been any other religion in which it was so central and characteristic that the term 'the believers' could become the normal way of referring to the adherents.”—New Testament Theology, page 241

<idle musing>
Kind of ironic that today "believers" tend not to believe God can do anything and have become practicing atheists, or deists, at best...
<idle musing>

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