I thought I would share a brief email correspondence that I and my pastor, Dan, recently had.
On Sun, Sep 10, 2017 at 8:25 PM, Pastor Merrill <pastormerrill@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Hi Pastor.
Last Sunday I copied down in my Bible the three faiths you gave us from James 2; dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith.
It sounded good then, but then when you reminded us of it in this morning's sermon the part about demonic faith stuck on my mind.
I would like to share what I am thinking, and then ask you to consider it, and see if I am missing something, or if we need to reconsider using this point of "demonic" faith in our teachings in the future.
A couple of memory verses came to mind when I was sitting in church this morning considering this point. First of all James 2:19 doesn't say the demons have faith. It says the devils/demons believe. Heb 11:1 says "Faith ...the evidence of things NOT SEEN." The demons believe because they have seen, not by faith having not seen. 2Co 5:7 says "We walk by faith, not by sight." Again, the demons are not walking by faith, but by what they have seen, having originated themselves in Heaven before their fall. John 20:29 says "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed..." He wasn't believing by faith, but by sight, just like the demons. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this point in the light of this.
Greg
I think you are right. Pisteueis (believe) is not the same as Pistis (faith). Close in the Greek the but not the same. I probably pushed the alteration, "Dead Faith", "Demonic Faith", and Dynamic Fath" too hard.
As always, thanks for your input.
Dan
Yes, I think preachers sometimes look too much for their "three points and a poem" (or stories or jokes to tell) as well as aliterations for their points, instead of just trying to read the text, and then explain it so the people understand it, and then draw what might be applied. Ne 8:8. Some are more concerned with entertaining their congregation rather than doing the text justice. Some preachers are also as dry as dust, even though they may teach the text well, so the congregation may not even pay attention to them. It is not easy doing a good job of both teaching/preaching and keeping the interest of the modern day listener. Thanks for all the work that you put into both of these areas, and for helping us grow in the Lord.
Greg
On Sun, Sep 10, 2017 at 8:25 PM, Pastor Merrill <pastormerrill@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Hi Pastor.
Last Sunday I copied down in my Bible the three faiths you gave us from James 2; dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith.
It sounded good then, but then when you reminded us of it in this morning's sermon the part about demonic faith stuck on my mind.
I would like to share what I am thinking, and then ask you to consider it, and see if I am missing something, or if we need to reconsider using this point of "demonic" faith in our teachings in the future.
A couple of memory verses came to mind when I was sitting in church this morning considering this point. First of all James 2:19 doesn't say the demons have faith. It says the devils/demons believe. Heb 11:1 says "Faith ...the evidence of things NOT SEEN." The demons believe because they have seen, not by faith having not seen. 2Co 5:7 says "We walk by faith, not by sight." Again, the demons are not walking by faith, but by what they have seen, having originated themselves in Heaven before their fall. John 20:29 says "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed..." He wasn't believing by faith, but by sight, just like the demons. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this point in the light of this.
Greg
I think you are right. Pisteueis (believe) is not the same as Pistis (faith). Close in the Greek the but not the same. I probably pushed the alteration, "Dead Faith", "Demonic Faith", and Dynamic Fath" too hard.
As always, thanks for your input.
Dan
Yes, I think preachers sometimes look too much for their "three points and a poem" (or stories or jokes to tell) as well as aliterations for their points, instead of just trying to read the text, and then explain it so the people understand it, and then draw what might be applied. Ne 8:8. Some are more concerned with entertaining their congregation rather than doing the text justice. Some preachers are also as dry as dust, even though they may teach the text well, so the congregation may not even pay attention to them. It is not easy doing a good job of both teaching/preaching and keeping the interest of the modern day listener. Thanks for all the work that you put into both of these areas, and for helping us grow in the Lord.
Greg
