Hello, bwap,
I find your analysis particularly relevant. Thank you.
As distinct from a disciple of Truth, that doesn't only look for his being consulted and praised, but can simply rejoice when only Truth is recognized, disciples of themselves only look for their worldly honour. Such was likely the case with Juda.
I think :
he didn't worry for the sake of Truth, whereas Jesus came, and died to bear testimony to Truth.
Truth had zero value for Judas. Reason why Jesus' teachings as well couldnt stir any emotion in him, and still less this faith that, alone, might have saved him
Strange word faith. The meaning is not absolutely clear in English, but it takes honest study to understand it. It is connected to the word for repentance and much is written about its meaning.
The Greek word in question is metanoia.
Jerome translated the Latin vulgate as “do penance” which implies and requires action.
The reformers prior to Martin Luther, translated it as Repent, which implies a change of mind apart from works.
The subtlety is that works cannot save, but faith apart from works is dead or not faith at all. Jerome gets it right in that faith is followed by works, so “do penance” is a more accurate translation but not complete. Wycliffe objected in that it is not works only, but must be accompanied by a change of mind, else the works are mere human effort.
Jesus taught us both perspectives. When He chides the Pharisees, He reproves them by saying that they do all these works to make their outer appearance look clean, but their inward thoughts are not transformed by metanoia, so they ignore the weightier parts of the law which are justice, mercy, and peace. See Matthew 23.
It is worth noting that He does not condemn the works, as they are good, but not sufficient. He says that they should have performed the weightier matters of the law, but not have left the former (their outward good works) undone.
He also rebukes faith alone or faith without works when He says, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, rather those that do the will of my Father. He does not accept mere lip service. Faith not only changes the mind, it changes behavior.
Faith does save. I do not have to rack up a list of works to get into heaven. The question is, what is faith? It is not merely believing in God, but believing God. His commandments are not burdensome.
The best example I can give from personal experience is sins of lust. Who has the greatest problem with this sin? Frequently, it is those that shout against the sin the loudest.
We can look at what happens to Jimmy Swaggart in the 1980s. He had loud sermons where he railed against pornography, yet he was seeing prostitutes. Who has problems with porn? Surprisingly, it is traditional Catholic men. Also preachers and priests with access to children have problems with sins of lust.
Does this make fornication and pornography righteous? Absolutely God forbid. Scripture tells us to flee fornication because those that commit it sin against their own body, and Jesus says if we even look at a woman with lust, we are guilty of adultery. What then shall we do, and who will deliver us from this body of death ?
First we have to stop believing the world’s lies, and believe God’s teaching. The world tells us that intercourse is for pleasure, and we need a regular outlet or we will drive ourselves crazy. That is a lie. God calls us to chastity
We drive ourselves crazy when we believe the world and try to obey God at the same time. Stop believing the world and believe God. How do we do that? Admit that intercourse is for the procreation of children in the bonds of matrimony, not for pleasure only
Sounds hard, but when I submitted to God’s teaching and stopped looking for an outlet as the world advises, the sin that so easily beset me was gone. Each time a lustful thought would come, I thought, am I thinking of having a child?
If the answer is no, then I asked God to help me. If the thoughts don’t go away, then listen to the sound of a baby crying. Thoughts of responsibility soon replace thoughts of lust
When people deny the responsibility of children and seek pleasure only, thoughts of lust take over and even if we say we can control them and not actually commit adultery, we find ourselves committing adultery in our heart by looking at porn or looking at prostitutes or strippers
The change of behavior requires the change of mind or metanoia. That is faith
If we don’t have the metanoia, we can shout loudly against porn, fornication and prostitution, but we wind up like the song from Cher in the 1970s
Gypsies, tramps and thieves, we hear it from the people of the town they call us Gypsies tramps and thieves, but at night all the men would come around and lay their money down
When we believe God, He delivers us from sin
