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Joysightings 52 Defining Faith and The Long Walk

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

Release Date: 03/24/2022

NL-Day096 Deuteronomy 7-8; Psalm 53; Acts 9:17-43 show art NL-Day096 Deuteronomy 7-8; Psalm 53; Acts 9:17-43

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DEUTERONOMY 7-8:Yesterday in Deuteronomy we heard Moses repeating the 10 Commandments and pleading with the people that they remain faithful in obeying all the commands and regulations the Lord gave. The reading ended with an important statement to remember when considering the difference between the old and new covenants: NLT: 6:25 “For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the LORD our God has given us.’” PSALM 53:This is another Psalm that is quoted in the New Testament, and therefore, often quoted in general. This is a tell-it-like-it-is psalm, not a sweet and...

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NL-Day095 Deuteronomy 5-6; Psalm 52; Acts 9:1-21 show art NL-Day095 Deuteronomy 5-6; Psalm 52; Acts 9:1-21

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DEUTERONOMY 5-6:Yesterday we heard Moses expound on the most important  command to never worship any idol or any god other than the Lord. He based this on the Israelite's experience of hearing God's voice and not seeing his form. Moses was realistic and knew that Israel would eventually leave God, and that God would judge them. He gave them this amazing promise: “from there (where you have been exiled by your enemies) you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.” PSALM 52:This is another psalm from David's...

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NL-Day094 Deuteronomy 4; Psalm 51; Acts 8:25-40 show art NL-Day094 Deuteronomy 4; Psalm 51; Acts 8:25-40

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DEUTERONOMY 4:Yesterday Moses gave his personal account of how God led the people of Israel in not attacking three nations, but finally led them in attacking two kings. Moses pleaded with God to allow him to cross the Jordan into the promised land, but God refused to let him. PSALM 51:This is one of the most quoted and most famous psalms. David's sincere and broken-hearted prayer for forgiveness is a pattern for all of us to follow. ACTS 8b:Yesterday we heard how the believers in Jerusalem were scattered by a wave of persecution following Stephen's martyrdom. Philip (the deacon, not the...

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NL-Day093 Deuteronomy 2-3; Psalm 50; Acts 8:1-25 show art NL-Day093 Deuteronomy 2-3; Psalm 50; Acts 8:1-25

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DEUTERONOMY 2-3:Yesterday we heard Moses preaching and confronting the people of Israel about their bickering and their incredible stubbornness in refusing to believe the Lord's commands, and their refusal to believe God’s loving intent in his commands. PSALM 50:Remember what Moses said yesterday in Deuteronomy? This Psalm tells us what God wants most from his people. ACTS 8:Yesterday we heard the conclusion of Stephen's speech. He confronted the high council with the indisputable fact that the people of Israel had always refused to follow what God told them and killed the prophets. “They...

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NL-Day092 Deuteronomy 1; Psalm 49; Acts 7:30-60 show art NL-Day092 Deuteronomy 1; Psalm 49; Acts 7:30-60

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

DEUTERONOMY 1:Yesterday in the conclusion of Numbers, we learned that each clan's allotment of land must stay within that clan, even when parcels of land could be inherited by daughters. Mears says, “Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance. The name ‘Deuteronomy’ means “second law,” which indicates that the law is repeated. Moses did this to remind the people what God had done for them and what they were to do to serve Him when they reached the Promised Land. This book omits the things that relate to the priests and Levites but includes the things that the people should know. And the...

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NL-Day091 Numbers 36; Psalm 48; Acts 7:1-39 show art NL-Day091 Numbers 36; Psalm 48; Acts 7:1-39

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NUMBERS 36:Yesterday we heard about the boundaries for the nation of Israel, the 12 clan leaders appointed by the Lord, and about cities set aside for the Levites and cities of refuge— to protect from unjust prosecution of murder. PSALM 48:This psalm praises God for Jerusalem and  shows that Jerusalem is a reflection of God's glory. It is clear that more than the earthly Jerusalem is the topic. God has prepared a city for us! ACTS 7a:Yesterday in chapter 6 we heard how grumbling in the ever-expanding group of believers in Jerusalem required that seven helpers (the first deacons) be...

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NL-Day090 Numbers 34-35; Psalm 47; Acts 6 show art NL-Day090 Numbers 34-35; Psalm 47; Acts 6

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NUMBERS 34-35:Yesterday we heard the listing of the stages of the nomadic journey of the people of Israel. God began giving instructions for the time when the people would enter the promised land. PSALM 47:This is a jubilant song of praise. This has been a special Psalm for our family. We remember singing this whole Psalm with one of our favorite churches. And when we were in Indonesia, they made a recording and we listened to it many times. ACTS 6:Yesterday we heard Peter and the apostles give fearless testimony before the Jewish high council. They were beaten, but counted it an honor. NLT...

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NL-Day089 Numbers 33; Psalm 46; Acts 5:17-42 show art NL-Day089 Numbers 33; Psalm 46; Acts 5:17-42

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NUMBERS 33:Yesterday we heard how the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh promised to go ahead of their fellow Israelites into battle on the west side of the Jordan, because they were receiving land on the east side of the Jordan. In hindsight, I must say this was not a great idea. Because of how often all the men were required to go to Jerusalem for the holy assemblies, it must have been very easy to not attend those events and grow increasingly far from the Lord. PSALM 46:This was the inspiration for the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The word translated by the GNT as...

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NL-Day088 Numbers 32; Psalm 45; Acts 5:1-21 show art NL-Day088 Numbers 32; Psalm 45; Acts 5:1-21

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NUMBERS 32:Yesterday we heard of the conquest of the Midianite people. That story is an example of how hard it is for us humans to follow God's instructions. PSALM 45:This psalm may have originally been intended as a wedding song for King Solomon, but from our vantage point we can see that it is really a song of praise to our King, the Messiah, and we— the people of God, are the bride. ACTS 5a:Yesterday we heard of the fearless praying of the believers after being commanded to no longer teach about Jesus. And we heard of the wonderful unity of spirit among them.   Unless otherwise...

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NL-Day087 Numbers 31; Psalm 44; Acts 4:19-37 show art NL-Day087 Numbers 31; Psalm 44; Acts 4:19-37

Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields

NUMBERS 31:Yesterday the listing of sacrifices continued with those for the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the 8 day Festival of Shelters. Then in Numbers 30 we heard laws concerning the annulment of rash vows. These laws show how seriously God takes any vows made to Him! PSALM 44:This is a psalm with extreme contrast between part one and part two. Part one has a tone of praise— reciting the wonderful way God helped Israel. But part two accuses God of abandoning Israel. This psalm can be a pattern for us in how to plead with God to fulfill his promises or to again act as He...

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More Episodes

After being directly involved in Bible translation since 1983, I have wanted to share with younger generations about the things I have learned from my experiences as a Bible translator— the things that made the most impact on me through my years. I have now decided to put a few of my most important stories in this JoySightings podcast. I know that I am never going to write a book. But now if anyone ever asks about my experiences, I will have a place to send them: Go to JoySightings.info and start at episode 52. I hope to add several other stories this year. Today I will also read one more parable of Safed the Sage.

When we were about 7-8 years into the Orya translation project, back around 1991, Nahe asked one Sunday morning to have a private conversation with me. Nahe and I had never had much communication, so I felt it was an unusual request. I knew him mainly as a young guy who made his income by cutting trees into lumber with his chainsaw. He was strong and athletic, but a man of few words.

He came that evening and we sat down together in my candle-lit rustic cabin’s front room. He said, “You wouldn’t have heard this, because it happened in another village. I got very sick and died. When I came back to life, the men were already building my coffin. But while I was dead, I went to heaven and saw wonderful things. The people in heaven are so happy and rejoicing.”

He ended his story with tears in his eyes saying this, “I cry every single day because I know that someone like me can’t go to heaven. What do I have to do to be saved?”

I thought, “Oh boy! A chance to be a real missionary! This will make a good prayer letter.” (But I was in for a surprise!) I immediately answered his question from the book of Acts chapter 16, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

Nahe answered, “That’s just it! How can I tell if I have believed?”

I responded incredulously, “Can’t you tell if you’ve believed something?”

And he said, “We Orya people don’t think so.”

That’s how the conversation went according to my understanding of it in those moments. But what we said really meant this:

I answered wrongly from the book of Acts, “Have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

Nahe’s answer made sense, “That’s just it! How can I tell if I have faith?”

I responded incredulously, “Can’t you tell if you have faith?”

And he said, “We Orya people don’t think so.”

The difference is between ‘believe’ and ‘faith’. It took a little while in the conversation before I figured out what Nahe was saying. This was a heavy moment for me, because I realized that the word for ‘believe’ that we had used in all our translation work for six years was wrong, including verses in Scripture booklets we had carefully checked and distributed.

Long before we arrived in Guay, the word that the Orya people used to translate ‘faith’ was ei gwen, or to have ‘inner fruit’. By ‘inner fruit’ the Orya meant the inside part that you eat when you take off the skin. It’s the inside of the papaya or watermelon. The situation might be compared to buying a papaya at the market. You don’t know whether the inside is red or yellow until you take it home and cut it open.

Nahe told me that the Orya people assumed that you couldn’t know if you had this inner fruit (or faith) inside you until you died. They thought that at the door of heaven, God would somehow do an operation to reveal if you had any of the right stuff inside you.

It was clear that if we used ‘have inner fruit’ to translate ‘believe’, then no Orya person could tell if they had done the required action to be saved. No one could have assurance of salvation! After that Sunday evening conversation with Nahe, all day Monday Boas and I and several others worked to make sure we found exactly the right word for ‘believe’ in Orya. The word for believe in Orya is not ei gwen, but taïblïblan.

There is a weird twist that has happened with the words for faith and believe in several languages that is not like the Greek words pisteuo and pistis. The Greek words have the same root, so they sound alike.

  Greek English Indonesian Orya
verb pisteuo I believe Saya percaya taïblïblan
noun pistis faith iman ei gwen
visually clearly related dissimilar dissimilar dissimilar

If only pisteuo (I believe) and pistis/pisteos (noun/possesive noun) were translated into English with similar looking words like ‘I’m confident’ and ‘confidence’, we wouldn’t have so many false teachings being spread around! But because ‘believe’ and ‘faith’ share no visible or audible root relationship, the English noun faith has been allowed to wander— so to speak. The cohesion between pisteuo and pistis that was obvious for the original readers in Grrek has been lost in translation. Perhaps because of the influence of the KJV on Indonesian translations, the same thing has happened in Indonesian. The result is that the Indonesian word iman (like ‘faith’ in English) is used for all sorts of things, including inner fortitude, vague hope, blind trust, denominational faith, and a force for good luck.

Notice what happens in verses like Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. …” If you want to be saved, it would be a good idea to understand ‘faith’. But so many people who ask Nahe’s question, “How can I tell if I have faith,” will get all sorts of misleading answers.

Dear friend, anytime you want to understand what ‘faith’ means in a verse in the New Testament, just remember that you can substitute the word ‘believe’, ‘believed’, or ‘believing’ (whatever form fits) in place of the word ‘faith’. NLT translates Ephesians 2:8 as “God saved you by his grace when you believed. …” If you substitute the word ‘believe’ for ‘faith’ in translations that use that word, you will probably find that you want to add an object. You can choose an object from the context such as these: ‘believe in Christ’, ‘believe in the gospel’, ‘believe true teachings’, or ‘believe God’s promises’.

Now you know why in the Daily Bible Reading podcasts that I always substitute the word ‘believe’ or ‘fully believing’ for ‘faith’ in the NLT or GNT. It all stems from my conversation with Nahe. You see, I want people to know how to be saved.

Note that believing is a volitional act. We decide to believe, and we better hope our decisions are based on good logic and evidence. That is what makes it so different from the word ‘faith’. People believe that ‘faith’ just sort of happens. False teachers make money by promoting all sorts of things that they claim will increase your faith. But remember that in Greek, faith is the noun form for the verb believe. So if God gives you clear evidence of his power and love for you, like He did when he led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and then you refuse to believe in his good will for you, that is called stubborn disobedience. Believing is a volitional act. Deciding to believe what God says equals increasing your faith.

I wish I could tell you that Nahe followed through with my advice to fully believe in Jesus. Nahe’s widow goes to close friend Boas’ church, and I happened to meet her in his village two years ago. We both feel that Nahe never believed in Jesus to the point that it changed his life. But, interestingly, on that same visit to Boas’ village, two old friends there told me stories of their dying, going to heaven, and being told to return to this world. (If you ever experienced malaria, you would know how easy it would be to nearly die!) I am encouraged that both of my two old friends show signs of true new life in Christ.

Friends, I want everyone to get a clear answer to the question, “How can I be sure I am saved?” I want you to not get confused by the fuzzy word ‘faith’. Remember, faith is fully believing what the Bible says. Every time you read God’s Word and decide that you believe what you find there, you have increased your faith.