Belief and Unbelief

John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

What does it mean to “believe in him”?  Of course we must start with understanding.  This, Jesus told Peter, is by God revealing that to us (Matt 16:16).  But surely it does not mean only to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God!  I like to go to the Sermon on the Mount for coming to faith.  Begin by being “poor in spirit” with a humble and contrite heart.  But true change only comes when we are sorry for our sins.  When we mourn our sin, we are comforted.  And then we must, in meekness, in quiet strength, be filled with the power of His Holy Spirit.  This means letting go of our own desires and being filled, like a sail is filled with a gentle breeze, like a calming word spoken to a wild colt, like an antidote driving the poison of sin and unforgiveness from our heart.  And so we begin our lives in Christ.  But let us not stop there!

The next beatitude is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Justice, for they will be filled.”  (New Century Version and others).  This is followed by “Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy”, as Mercy should always follow Justice (Micah 6:8).  Next, our hearts become pure, seeking only His Face, and we become Peacemakers, loving even our enemies.  

All of this requires not just believing in our minds, but loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and “muchness”, trusting in Him even when we do not understand why some trial besets us.  Walking in selfishness, in pride, with any twisting of Jesus’ thoughts, words or deeds is to live hypocritically.  I believe that is what Jesus meant by “not believing”.  If belief means walking humbly by trust in the Holy Spirit, unbelief is anything other than that.  

Matthew and Luke both tell the parable of the servants and both describe an evil servant who abuses God’s authority to hurt his fellow servants.  Matthew 24:51 “(the master) will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Luke 12:46 “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”  Do you see how Matthew and Luke use these words as synonyms?  

John 3:36 (New Century Version) “those who do not obey the Son will never have life. God’s anger stays on them.”  Many Christians take a more traditional translation, rejecting Jesus, to mean that anyone who is not Christian will go to Hell.  But can someone reject Jesus if they truly see him for who he is?  Saul was not able to, on the road to Damascus.  Before that, Saul saw only a caricature of Jesus.  He did not recognize Jesus, by appearance or by voice and was struck blind.  Only when Ananias opened his eyes did he understand and believe.  

Matthew 11:24, Jesus tells the Jews who did not recognize him, “on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for you.”  On the one hand, those Jews rejected Jesus, just as Saul / Paul did, and they go down to the Pit (Sheol).  On the other hand, Jesus does not say those who rejected him will not be forgiven.  And he clearly says the evil pagans from Sodom will fare better on the Day of the Lord.  So yes, it is very bad to reject Jesus.  But I think the parables above in Matthew and Luke show it is far worse to accept him, but then abuse God’s Authority, to invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and then fail to love in Spirit and in Truth.  

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting at the Right Hand of God.  Before you are two men.  A gymnastics coach who sexually abused his gymnasts, and a priest who sexually abused choir members.  Both, of course, are reprehensible.  Evil.  Which one do you think God would be angrier with?

Does any of this matter?  Is this just theology gone amuck?  I see Christians today so concerned with those atheists and agnostics, with LGBT communities, with anyone not professing Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but they are lost in hypocrisy, in downright abuse of God’s authority.  The non-Christians in this country see Christians as judgmental and bigoted.  And they are correct.  We are. Let us take the log out of our own eye before we get the tweezers for our neighbor’s splinter.  Let us remember the 10,000 talent debt (20 years’ labor) that God has wiped off our balance and forgive the 100 denarii (three months labor) that our neighbor owes us.  Let us in fact forgive others for their sins, so that our Father in heaven will also forgive ours. If we don’t forgive others, God will not forgive our sins (Matt 6:14-15).