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Emunah, Faith, And God’s People

Emunah, Faith, And God’s People

Last updated on: November 2, 2023 at 2:40 pm by Martin Thomas Johnson

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Emunah, Faith, And God’s People 2023-11-02T14:40:42-04:00 Martin Thomas Johnson

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As I write this post Americans are celebrating two occasions, Reformation Day and Halloween. Many will choose not to celebrate the latter because of religious beliefs. Yet, a select number of others choose to celebrate Reformation Day.

Martin Luther

Image by Wikipedia

Protestants
Some Catholics
Calvinists
Lutherans

These are primary faiths in America and Europe. It was Martin Luther who said, “Faith is not a human act but rather (a) an act of God.” It seems faith is more complicated than many people believe.

Faith

The dictionary defines faith as, “A complete trust or confidence in someone or something. A strong belief in God.” In English, it is used as a noun because it is a thing, whether tangible are not. Faith is something God’s people possess.

Christianity also utilizes faith as a noun, it is something we have or place in God. The Apostle Paul emphasized the need for faith in God for salvation (2 Corinthians 5:7, Ephesians 8:2-9).

Bible

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Martin Luther emphasized we are saved by our faith in God alone. Our hope is in Him. The go to standard for Christian faith says its confidence in things hoped for, even if we don’t see it (Hebrews 11:1.)

The author of Hebrews goes on to mention the heroes of Judaism and what their faith led them to do (Hebrews 11:4-29).

Emunah

In the Torah the Hebrew word for faith is Emunah, it means to trust. It was first used to describe the actions of Abram when he obeyed God and left his family who worshiped false idols (Genesis 12:1-9; 12 Joshua 24:2, Romans 4:1-3.)

So we see that our faith in God results in actions. Below are 10 principles of the Jewish faith Jews live by. They order their life around their beliefs.

The existence of the Creator and He is perfect in every way.
The belief that God is unparalleled and oneness.
The belief in God isn’t affected by physical occurrences or movement.
The belief in God’s eternity.
The imperative to worship God only and have no foreign false gods.
The belief that God communicates with man through prophecy.
The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.
The belief in the resurrection of the dead.
The belief in divine reward and retribution.
The belief in the arrival of the Messiah in the messianic age.

The Jewish faith centers around the actions of Abraham. This is why Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their actions and said they did the works of their father, the devil (John 8:39- 41). Jesus goes on to say that our faith can move mountains (Matthew 17:20), who or what we place our faith in will determine what we do.

Jesus

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This is why Jesus taught His followers to examine the fruit (Matthew 7:15- 20), we can see what people believe, by what they do. Our faith should result in something happening, our faith must be working.

Works

Our works aren’t a way to salvation, but evidence of it. As Luther said, we are saved by “faith alone.” Our beliefs influence and shape our actions. This is why many Christians choose not to celebrate Halloween because they don’t believe in what it represents.

In God we trust

Image by Pixabay

God’s people are called to live by our faith, not the ways of the world. We cannot have a Christian faith and not have Christian works or fruit.

These works result from our faith in God. After my accident, I had to change my ways.

Stop drinking alcohol
leave drugs alone
Save sex for marriage

I didn’t make these changes to be loved by God; I made them because I do love God and wanted to live by the standards of my faith. We are not saved by works, but to do good works that glorify God—if He is where we place our Emunah (Ephesians 2:8-10).

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What does Jeremiah use to symbolize Israel's relationship to God in Jeremiah 18?

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A potter and clay A bride and bridegroom A shepherd and sheep A tree and fruit