Deleted Account

[WilliamK76]

How is it that someone who had absolutely nothing good in the ordinary sense of the word that he could offer God as for as works under the law are concerned, and yet, could be excepted into heaven with open arms of love? He had absolutely nothing in his life that he could boast about accomplishing like all those proud self righteous Pharisees who believed that they knew God better than anyone else, and they were keeping His laws down to the very jot and tittle. I’ll tell you how he made it into heaven. He had the audacity of FAITH to believe in Jesus! That He had the power to forgive him, and justify him from all things that the law never could have!

Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Glory to be to God! The thief is chilling with Jesus in paradise , and all those proud self righteous Pharisees who thought knew the law of God, and kept the law better than anyone else are chilling in the lowest bowels of hell unless they repented of their self righteous evil wickedness. The very ones who thought that they knew God and His ways the best, are the very ones who vehemently hated God the most and wanted to kill Him when He was right there in front of their faces.

The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The tree of life is Jesus Christ. Now, here is one of the most mysterious passages in all of scripture where Moses is rehashing to the children of Israel a conversation that he had with the LORD, and this is what the LORD is saying to Moses:

Deu 1:37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.


Deu 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.


Deu 1:39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

Where do you think the knowledge of good and evil comes from? The law

 

[guevaraj]

Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Brother, the translation you are using is incorrect! Where "faith" translates from the Greek, we know by the Hebrew cited on Abraham, that it must translate into "belief" and not "faith". As in any good definition, the defined word is not included in the definition of the two parts that formed Abraham's "faith". The definition of Abraham's faith becomes the following equation.

FAITH = BELIEVED + RIGHTEOUSNESS (work or a gift when you believed, completing your faith without having done any regular work)​

Paul in this passage reveals that "faith" is ambiguous in the Greek New Testament for the two Hebrew words in the above equation, which sometimes should be translated as "faith", which includes work, and other times as "belief" , which was credited as work when you believed.

When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné), not because of their work, but because of their belief (pistis) in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.” Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) by God because of his belief (pistis). But how did this happen? Was he credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! (Romans 4:4-10 NLT fixed)​

In the case of David receiving this blessing again at the beginning of his new "faith", it means that all his previous acts of God's given works of "righteousness" were forgotten and David would have died for his sin had God not brought him into a new "faith" through the prophet Nathan.

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous (adjective) people turn from their righteousness (noun) and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23-26 NLT fixed)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

 

[WilliamK76]

Brother, the translation you are using is incorrect! Where "faith" translates from the Greek, we know by the Hebrew cited on Abraham, that it must translate into "belief" and not "faith". As in any good definition, the defined word is not included in the definition of the two parts that formed Abraham's "faith". The definition of Abraham's faith becomes the following equation.

FAITH = BELIEVED + RIGHTEOUSNESS (work or a gift when you believed, completing your faith without having done any regular work)
Paul in this passage reveals that "faith" is ambiguous in the Greek New Testament for the two Hebrew words in the above equation, which sometimes should be translated as "faith", which includes work, and other times as "belief" , which was credited as work when you believed.

When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné), not because of their work, but because of their belief (pistis) in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.” Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) by God because of his belief (pistis). But how did this happen? Was he credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! (Romans 4:4-10 NLT fixed)
In the case of David receiving this blessing again at the beginning of his new "faith", it means that all his previous acts of God's given works of "righteousness" were forgotten and David would have died for his sin had God not brought him into a new "faith" through the prophet Nathan.

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous (adjective) people turn from their righteousness (noun) and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23-26 NLT fixed)
United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

Blessings brother.. I’m done with this forum. God bless you though. Thanks for responding

 

[Maria Billingsley]

How is it that someone who had absolutely nothing good in the ordinary sense of the word that he could offer God as for as works under the law are concerned, and yet, could be excepted into heaven with open arms of love? He had absolutely nothing in his life that he could boast about accomplishing like all those proud self righteous Pharisees who believed that they knew God better than anyone else, and they were keeping His laws down to the very jot and tittle. I’ll tell you how he made it into heaven. He had the audacity of FAITH to believe in Jesus! That He had the power to forgive him, and justify him from all things that the law never could have!

Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Glory to be to God! The thief is chilling with Jesus in paradise , and all those proud self righteous Pharisees who thought knew the law of God, and kept the law better than anyone else are chilling in the lowest bowels of hell unless they repented of their self righteous evil wickedness. The very ones who thought that they knew God and His ways the best, are the very ones who vehemently hated God the most and wanted to kill Him when He was right there in front of their faces.

The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The tree of life is Jesus Christ. Now, here is one of the most mysterious passages in all of scripture where Moses is rehashing to the children of Israel a conversation that he had with the LORD, and this is what the LORD is saying to Moses:

Deu 1:37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.


Deu 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.


Deu 1:39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

Where do you think the knowledge of good and evil comes from? The law

Sorry to see you go. Be blessed.

 

[WilliamK76]

Sorry to see you go. Be blessed.

I’m still here God bless you, Jesus loves you!

 

[guevaraj]

Blessings brother.. I’m done with this forum. God bless you though. Thanks for responding

Brother, happy Sabbath, starting this Friday, October 13, 2023 at 11:09 AM EDT! You changed the title of your thread from "The Thief On The Cross" to "Deleted Account". Are you no longer interested in what we can learn from "the thief on the cross"? God tells us that the truth frees us from sin's hold on us or, as Paul writes, our slavery to sin.

I’m still here God bless you, Jesus loves you!

Was your reaction due to the need to work as part of our faith? Was it that faith is more than belief? Was it that God credits our having believed as if it were work? Was it that God forgets every good when you continue sinning? Was it that God forgives your past sins as a gift when you believed before you did any further work of obedience to gain mastery over sin?

When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné), not because of their work, but because of their belief (pistis) in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.” Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) by God because of his belief (pistis). But how did this happen? Was he credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! (Romans 4:4-10 NLT fixed)​

The thief on the cross did not have to offer a lamb for the forgiveness of past sins in the temple, because having "believed" was credited as his first work of "righteousness", completing his "faith" and granting initial forgiveness of past sins without having done any regular works of "righteousness" in the temple.

FAITH = BELIEVED + RIGHTEOUSNESS (work or a gift when you believed, completing your faith without having done any regular work of obedience to start your faith)​

The definition of "faith" in the following passage summarized in the above equation on Abraham is confirmed when "David" receives this "blessing" again after the sin of taking another man's wife.

And Abram believed (aman) the LORD, and the LORD counted it to him as righteousness (noun). (Genesis 15:6 NLT fixed)​

The definition of "faith" above is composed of two parts: belief and work. The work part that completes our "faith" is given as a gift when you "believed", granting initial forgiveness without doing any regular work at the temple. This initial gift of forgiveness for past sins is made clear by "David" having received this "blessing" again after his sin of taking another man's wife.

Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the LORD has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. (2 Samuel 12:13 NLT)​

Similarly, as the thief on the cross not having done any regular work at the temple for the forgiveness of past sins, David did not have to offer a lamb for the forgiveness of past sins at the temple, because his having "believed" was credited as his first work of "righteousness", completing his new "faith", where all his previous works of "righteousness" were forgotten and David would have died for his sin had God not brought him into a new "faith" through the prophet Nathan.

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous (adjective) people turn from their righteousness (noun) and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23-26 NLT fixed)​

This "blessing" David received is not something you can abuse to continue sinning. You do not get David's blessing without having "turned away" from the "faith" when we "deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth". For David to have continued his faith, he would have had to go through the daily temple service to gain forgiveness for past sins, which he did not do as he headed to destruction by letting sin have dominion over him. Had God not found a way to reach David through the prophet Nathan, he would have been lost to sin. Without David's use of the temple to gain forgiveness for his past sins, there would be "no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins". This second chance for David is not something God can accomplish for others "who turn away from God to their own destruction" as David did. God reached David by giving him the truth, truth being what limits God's ability to reach you. God can run out of further truth to reach you. This blessing David received was a rare creative act by God to save David, which can not save someone without David's background if you "continue sinning" after having "received knowledge of the truth". How God reached David was by using his years of practice as a judge of God's people in his role as king to convince him that he was worthy of death for his sin. Think how God could reach you if you continue sinning. Has God already exhausted all the ways He could reach you through further truth? Truth, as God did with David by having David judge himself, David thinking he was judging someone else as he had done for years as king.

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies... Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (Hebrews 10:26-27, 32-39 NLT)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

 

[biblelesson]

How is it that someone who had absolutely nothing good in the ordinary sense of the word that he could offer God as for as works under the law are concerned, and yet, could be excepted into heaven with open arms of love? He had absolutely nothing in his life that he could boast about accomplishing like all those proud self righteous Pharisees who believed that they knew God better than anyone else, and they were keeping His laws down to the very jot and tittle. I’ll tell you how he made it into heaven. He had the audacity of FAITH to believe in Jesus! That He had the power to forgive him, and justify him from all things that the law never could have!

Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Glory to be to God! The thief is chilling with Jesus in paradise , and all those proud self righteous Pharisees who thought knew the law of God, and kept the law better than anyone else are chilling in the lowest bowels of hell unless they repented of their self righteous evil wickedness. The very ones who thought that they knew God and His ways the best, are the very ones who vehemently hated God the most and wanted to kill Him when He was right there in front of their faces.

The tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The tree of life is Jesus Christ. Now, here is one of the most mysterious passages in all of scripture where Moses is rehashing to the children of Israel a conversation that he had with the LORD, and this is what the LORD is saying to Moses:

Deu 1:37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.


Deu 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.


Deu 1:39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

Where do you think the knowledge of good and evil comes from? The law

You make a very good point about “where the knowledge of good and evil come from” and attributing it to the law.

This is the type of question that gets people thinking, or should get people to thinking.

So, my research led me to what Paul said in Romans 7. I now see how the law is related to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - thanks for making that connection.

I see this clearly now in Romans 7.

God bless!

 

[biblelesson]

Brother, the translation you are using is incorrect! Where "faith" translates from the Greek, we know by the Hebrew cited on Abraham, that it must translate into "belief" and not "faith". As in any good definition, the defined word is not included in the definition of the two parts that formed Abraham's "faith". The definition of Abraham's faith becomes the following equation.

FAITH = BELIEVED + RIGHTEOUSNESS (work or a gift when you believed, completing your faith without having done any regular work)

Romans 4:5 KJV, is using the word “faith” correctly. …”his faith or his doctrine is counted for righteousness.” Another way to say this is: there is a “faith” or there is a “doctrine” that is accounted for righteousness. That is, that man’s faith/doctrine is accounted for righteousness.

See righteous and unrighteousness has already been established based on which doctrine is believed - you are either “of the faith” or “of the law.”

Paul is using “faith” in Romans 4:5 KJV the same way he uses it in Romans 4:16 KJV, Ephesians 4:13 KJV, 1 Timothy 3:9 KJV. These verses are speaking of those “of the faith.”

You are either “of the faith” or “of the law.” So faith in this context is speaking about a “doctrine” - “the doctrine of Christ,” Hebrews 6:1 KJV, 2 John 1:9 KJV, etc.

In regards to translation. The Bible has already been translated into the King James Version. The NLT paraphrases words of the Bible causing major errors. And to do a search on the Hebrew language or Greek to translate words in the Bible that has already been translated by a King and his scholars 412 years ago is the wrong approach.

It’s important to understand:
There is no man in a position of a preacher, teacher, Bible scholar that can translate or re-translate the Bible. God chose a King who He ordained to complete this work. The work done to complete the King James Version Has the blessings of a King as God Himself is a King, and a King’s throne in the eyes of God is of honor, which solidifies the words of a King, God. God ordains Kings. This means the other translations done after the King James Version were not ordained by God, and for these people to take on this task themselves, they have done so in dishonor. Also many words and their meanings have been removed from the original Bible, therefore they have done so in error. But blindness have come over the people and we can’t see.

 

[guevaraj]

Romans 4:5 KJV, is using the word “faith” correctly. …”his faith or his doctrine is counted for righteousness.” Another way to say this is: there is a “faith” or there is a “doctrine” that is accounted for righteousness. That is, that man’s faith/doctrine is accounted for righteousness.

Brother, the Hebrew cited shows what you are saying is not correct because it is Abraham's having "believed" and not "faith" that is credited as "righteousness". God has made the Greek language subordinate to the original Hebrew language in how the Greek word translated in English as "faith" is used in the Greek New Testament. Every time we come to the Greek word that we translate as "faith", we need to explain why we think it should be translated as either "belief" or "faith" in context and is not otherwise known to be one or the other except by our careful examination of the word's context. The reason we know that the Greek word translated into English as "faith" must be translated instead into "believed" is because the Greek is citing Hebrew where we know it says "believed" and not "faith", "faith" being a different word in Hebrew. Here is the evidence in the following passages where two Hebrew words are cited by the same Greek word, making the Greek word ambiguous for the two Hebrew words.

1. And Abram believed (aman) the LORD, and the LORD counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NLT fixed)
2. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faith (emunah). (Habakkuk 2:4 NLT fixed)

The two passages below in Greek quote the two Hebrew passages above using the same word in Greek for two different words in Hebrew. Both words "believed" and "faith" are translated from the same word in Greek when they are different words in Hebrew, deliberately making this Greek word ambiguous for two different words in Hebrew.

1. Now, is this blessing (makarios) only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham, having believed (pistis), was credited as righteousness (noun). (Romans 4:9 NLT fixed)
2. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith (pistis) that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:17 NLT)

God, through Paul, is revealing that the Greek word we are translating from Greek to English as "faith" is actually ambiguous in the Greek New Testament for two Hebrew words: "belief" and "faith". This astonishing revelation by Paul destroys two millennia of misguided human excuses for disobeying God's Eleven Commandments where Abraham's faith would obey all of God's Eleven Commandments.

See righteous and unrighteousness has already been established based on which doctrine is believed - you are either “of the faith” or “of the law.” Paul is using “faith” in Romans 4:5 KJV the same way he uses it in Romans 4:16 KJV, Ephesians 4:13 KJV, 1 Timothy 3:9 KJV. These verses are speaking of those “of the faith.” You are either “of the faith” or “of the law.” So faith in this context is speaking about a “doctrine” - “the doctrine of Christ,” Hebrews 6:1 KJV, 2 John 1:9 KJV, etc.

A false human dichotomy based on a bad translation from Greek to English that disregarded the use by God of a deliberately made ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament. Each time the word "faith" is encountered in the Greek New Testament, you must give the reasons why you think it should be translated as "faith" or "belief", forcing a more careful study of all passages containing the word "faith" in the Greek New Testament. The following passage is made clearer when you understand that the word in Greek we translate as "faith" is sometimes "belief" and not "faith" when it says: "we are shown to be right with God by what we do (showing our faith), not by 'belief' alone", where the believer continues to be as much a sinner as the unbeliever disregarding the growth in "righteousness" offered by Jesus through His daily temple forgivenesses as our High Priest living forever to complete the work of growth through practice of obeying the Eleven Commandments to gain mastery over sin.

You say you have faith (pistis), for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith (pistis) without good deeds is inactive? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his BELIEF (pistis) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith (pistis) complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed (pisteuó) God, and God credited to him as righteousness (noun).” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by BELIEF (pistis) alone. (James 2:19-24 NLT fixed)​

In regards to translation. The Bible has already been translated into the King James Version. The NLT paraphrases words of the Bible causing major errors. And to do a search on the Hebrew language or Greek to translate words in the Bible that has already been translated by a King and his scholars 412 years ago is the wrong approach. It’s important to understand: There is no man in a position of a preacher, teacher, Bible scholar that can translate or re-translate the Bible. God chose a King who He ordained to complete this work.

I use the NLT because it is a complete effort from the original languages that better translates the book of Hebrews. The miss-identification of Joshua as Jesus having the same name forced a twisted translation of the KJV that has been copied into most other translations. This twisted message in the book of Hebrews by misidentifying Joshua before David as Jesus led to a forced translation that conformed to that miss-identification. They changed God's correction of the Sabbath not being a day of the week to instead being used to say something false about Jesus being the Sabbath. The original message is about Joshua misunderstanding God's Sabbath in Jerusalem as a day of the week when the Sabbath falls in Jerusalem between two days of the week, half a day before the seventh day of the week. People reject God as their king when they ask for a human king instead! God never wanted a human king over His people because He is our King and no human can do the job. The lasting influence of bad human kings over the people was undeniable during the recorded history of Israel's kings. Israel took a single step forward with a good human king every three steps back because of their bad human kings departing further from God with every bad king. When the king was good, the nation went through a period of returning to God and when the king was bad, the nation went through a period of departing further from God. This progressive departure from God would never have happened if the people had not rejected God as their king.

But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:6-9 NIV)​

The work done to complete the King James Version Has the blessings of a King as God Himself is a King, and a King’s throne in the eyes of God is of honor, which solidifies the words of a King, God. God ordains Kings. This means the other translations done after the King James Version were not ordained by God, and for these people to take on this task themselves, they have done so in dishonor. Also many words and their meanings have been removed from the original Bible, therefore they have done so in error. But blindness have come over the people and we can’t see.

No translation into the English language from the original languages of the scriptures is guaranteed to be inspired. Only God's prophets are guaranteed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to write God's message in the original languages they used to write. When it is written that the word of God is spiritually understood, that means that a passage of scripture is understood by turning to other passages in the scriptures and not by what a person who is not a prophet thinks it should mean. This wrong thinking that a person who is not a prophet can understand a passage for themselves by asking for the Holy Spirit without regard to the rest of the scriptures has led to the false translation of the Bible when only the scriptures themselves are guaranteed to help us understand the scriptures. Had the human translators understood that the scriptures interpret themselves, they would not have passed down to us the error of how they have translated the word "faith" from the Greek New Testament, disregarding the deliberate use by God of an ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament.

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you (the Prophets). You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God (guaranteed by the Prophets as they were moved by the Holy Spirit) and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT overlaid with commentary)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

 

[biblelesson]

Brother, the Hebrew cited shows what you are saying is not correct because it is Abraham's having "believed" and not "faith" that is credited as "righteousness".

Look, the problem here is you are actually interpreting the Bible using the Greek or Hebrew to scrutinize words. No one can understand the Bible this way.

Our discernment comes from the Holy Spirit.

Now you have confused the issue of “faith” Vs “belief” using Hebrew phrases. Faith is not the same as belief. Faith is the substance of belief.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things unseen. Hebrews 11:1 KJV.

So, hope is believing things unseen, which is faith.

This “faith” is the work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. You make your assessment unmovable based on a dictionary of words in another language, that don’t show how belief resulted in faith.

Abraham believed God. God established the “faith” of the gospel based on the fact that Abraham believed Him, and all who come to “the faith” are made righteous. When someone believes in Christ, and believe the gospel as Abraham believed God, they are in fact walking in “the faith of Abraham,” which the New Testament is based off of. They are then “of the faith” - walking according to “the faith”’which is “the gospel or doctrine of Christ.”

 

[guevaraj]

Look, the problem here is you are actually interpreting the Bible using the Greek or Hebrew to scrutinize words. No one can understand the Bible this way.

Brother, happy Sabbath, starting this Friday, October 20, 2023 at 11:01 AM EDT! God has given us an ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament that is only discovered through the Hebrew cited in the Greek New Testament.

Our discernment comes from the Holy Spirit.

The scriptures come through the Holy Spirit guaranteed through the prophets to give us understanding of passages by way of other passages. The scriptures interpret themselves and we humans have no say in the interpretation of the word of God.

Now you have confused the issue of “faith” Vs “belief” using Hebrew phrases. Faith is not the same as belief. Faith is the substance of belief.

I agree that "faith" is not the same as "belief". The fact is that God has made the Greek word we translate as "faith" in the New Testament ambiguous for "faith" or "belief". Wherever "faith" is translated in the New Testament, you can not be certain which meaning it refers to. Whether it is "faith" or "belief" other than by careful study of the context of the word translated as "faith". Incorrectly always translated as "faith" in the New Testament because the translators disregard that God made it ambiguous for two different meanings: "faith" or "belief".

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things unseen. Hebrews 11:1 KJV.

The word translated as "faith" is ambiguous in the New Testament and we can not be certain that it should not be translated as "belief" in the mentioned passage other than carefully considering which of the two possible meanings is appropriate for this passage.

So, hope is believing things unseen.

Hope is best shown by having "faith" and not just "belief" in things unseen. For example, in Judaism, the "faith" of sacrificing an animal because of the "belief" that God grants forgiveness for such an act according to His given instructions.

This “faith” is the work of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. You make your assessment unmovable based on a dictionary of words in another language, that don’t show how belief resulted in faith.

Abraham's "faith" is said to be composed of two parts: belief and work. As in any good definition, the word defined is not used in the definition.

And Abram believed (aman) the LORD, and the LORD counted it to him as righteousness (noun). (Genesis 15:6 NLT fixed)​

This definition above for "faith" is confirmed in the following passage in the New Testament.

You say you have faith (pistis), for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith (pistis) without good deeds is inactive? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his belief (pistis) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith (pistis) complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed (pisteuó) God, and God credited to him as righteousness (work).” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do (faith), not by belief (pistis) alone. (James 2:19-24 NLT fixed)​

Abraham believed God. God established the “faith” of the gospel based on the fact that Abraham believed Him, and all who come to “the faith” are made righteous.

Abraham was not made righteous (adjective) for having believed but was credited an act of "righteousness" (noun) for having believed. Righteous refers to a person who does good works and righteousness refers to the good works that a righteous person would do and these two words do not mean the same for translators to use the word righteous, referring to a person, when the original says righteousness, referring to work.

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous (adjective) people turn from their righteousness (noun) and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23-26 NLT fixed)​

When someone believes in Christ, and believe the gospel as Abraham believed God, they are in fact walking in “the faith of Abraham,” which the New Testament is based off of. They are then “of the faith” - walking according to “the faith”’which is “the gospel or doctrine of Christ.”

We are saved by our "faith" that works and not by our "belief" alone without having worked, unless your having believed is credited as work completing your "faith" and granting initial forgiveness before doing any further works of righteousness, like circumcision for Abraham. "Faith" is not only "belief" but actually includes obedience to works of righteousness, as "Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the alter".

You say you have faith (pistis), for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith (pistis) without good deeds is inactive? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his belief (pistis) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith (pistis) complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed (pisteuó) God, and God credited to him as righteousness (work).” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do (faith), not by belief (pistis) alone. (James 2:19-24 NLT fixed)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

 

[HIM]

Brother, the Hebrew cited shows what you are saying is not correct because it is Abraham's having "believed" and not "faith" that is credited as "righteousness". God has made the Greek language subordinate to the original Hebrew language in how the Greek word translated in English as "faith" is used in the Greek New Testament. Every time we come to the Greek word that we translate as "faith", we need to explain why we think it should be translated as either "belief" or "faith" in context and is not otherwise known to be one or the other except by our careful examination of the word's context. The reason we know that the Greek word translated into English as "faith" must be translated instead into "believed" is because the Greek is citing Hebrew where we know it says "believed" and not "faith", "faith" being a different word in Hebrew. Here is the evidence in the following passages where two Hebrew words are cited by the same Greek word, making the Greek word ambiguous for the two Hebrew words.

1. And Abram believed (aman) the LORD, and the LORD counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NLT fixed)
2. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faith (emunah). (Habakkuk 2:4 NLT fixed)

The two passages below in Greek quote the two Hebrew passages above using the same word in Greek for two different words in Hebrew. Both words "believed" and "faith" are translated from the same word in Greek when they are different words in Hebrew, deliberately making this Greek word ambiguous for two different words in Hebrew.

1. Now, is this blessing (makarios) only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham, having believed (pistis), was credited as righteousness (noun). (Romans 4:9 NLT fixed)
2. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith (pistis) that a righteous person has life.” (Romans 1:17 NLT)

God, through Paul, is revealing that the Greek word we are translating from Greek to English as "faith" is actually ambiguous in the Greek New Testament for two Hebrew words: "belief" and "faith". This astonishing revelation by Paul destroys two millennia of misguided human excuses for disobeying God's Eleven Commandments where Abraham's faith would obey all of God's Eleven Commandments.

A false human dichotomy based on a bad translation from Greek to English that disregarded the use by God of a deliberately made ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament. Each time the word "faith" is encountered in the Greek New Testament, you must give the reasons why you think it should be translated as "faith" or "belief", forcing a more careful study of all passages containing the word "faith" in the Greek New Testament. The following passage is made clearer when you understand that the word in Greek we translate as "faith" is sometimes "belief" and not "faith" when it says: "we are shown to be right with God by what we do (showing our faith), not by 'belief' alone", where the believer continues to be as much a sinner as the unbeliever disregarding the growth in "righteousness" offered by Jesus through His daily temple forgivenesses as our High Priest living forever to complete the work of growth through practice of obeying the Eleven Commandments to gain mastery over sin.

You say you have faith (pistis), for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith (pistis) without good deeds is inactive? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his BELIEF (pistis) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith (pistis) complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed (pisteuó) God, and God credited to him as righteousness (noun).” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by BELIEF (pistis) alone. (James 2:19-24 NLT fixed)​

I use the NLT because it is a complete effort from the original languages that better translates the book of Hebrews. The miss-identification of Joshua as Jesus having the same name forced a twisted translation of the KJV that has been copied into most other translations. This twisted message in the book of Hebrews by misidentifying Joshua before David as Jesus led to a forced translation that conformed to that miss-identification. They changed God's correction of the Sabbath not being a day of the week to instead being used to say something false about Jesus being the Sabbath. The original message is about Joshua misunderstanding God's Sabbath in Jerusalem as a day of the week when the Sabbath falls in Jerusalem between two days of the week, half a day before the seventh day of the week. People reject God as their king when they ask for a human king instead! God never wanted a human king over His people because He is our King and no human can do the job. The lasting influence of bad human kings over the people was undeniable during the recorded history of Israel's kings. Israel took a single step forward with a good human king every three steps back because of their bad human kings departing further from God with every bad king. When the king was good, the nation went through a period of returning to God and when the king was bad, the nation went through a period of departing further from God. This progressive departure from God would never have happened if the people had not rejected God as their king.

But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:6-9 NIV)​

No translation into the English language from the original languages of the scriptures is guaranteed to be inspired. Only God's prophets are guaranteed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to write God's message in the original languages they used to write. When it is written that the word of God is spiritually understood, that means that a passage of scripture is understood by turning to other passages in the scriptures and not by what a person who is not a prophet thinks it should mean. This wrong thinking that a person who is not a prophet can understand a passage for themselves by asking for the Holy Spirit without regard to the rest of the scriptures has led to the false translation of the Bible when only the scriptures themselves are guaranteed to help us understand the scriptures. Had the human translators understood that the scriptures interpret themselves, they would not have passed down to us the error of how they have translated the word "faith" from the Greek New Testament, disregarding the deliberate use by God of an ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament.

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you (the Prophets). You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God (guaranteed by the Prophets as they were moved by the Holy Spirit) and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT overlaid with commentary)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

Nice study but Pistis is faith all day long. Romans 4:9 needs translated with the noun not the verb because it is written. That doesn't take away from what your saying. For belief defines faith. And our belief is what we think, feel and thereby do. Our faith is grounded in that

 

[HIM]

Look, the problem here is you are actually interpreting the Bible using the Greek or Hebrew to scrutinize words. No one can understand the Bible this way.

Yet Millions through the Holy Spirit have and do.

Abraham believed God. God established the “faith” of the gospel based on the fact that Abraham believed Him, and all who come to “the faith” are made righteous. When someone believes in Christ, and believe the gospel as Abraham believed God, they are in fact walking in “the faith of Abraham,” which the New Testament is based off of. They are then “of the faith” - walking according to “the faith”’which is “the gospel or doctrine of Christ.”

The text says He believed in the God not believed God. The Preposition commonly translated "in" in the Hebrew is the contract name for house. Hence why Gesinius is his Lexical work cited below said in it's use as a prefixed preposition that it should be understood, prop. and originally, denoting tarryance in a place. (see below)

It is used in Genesis 15 in the clause "And He believed in God" Hence why the writers of LXX which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the NT writers translated it "believe to the God".

Paul through the Holy Spirit said something in Acts 17:28 that relates to this. He said, " in Him we live, and move, and have our being." It is interesting that Paul was including the Pagans he was speaking too when he said that. Isn't it?

There is more. Genesis 1:26 tells us how. Most translations say that we are made in God’s image and likeness. But the text actually says more in the Hebrew.

The words likeness and image are actually compound words, בְּ·צַלְמֵ֖·נ"in our image move" and בְּ דְמוּתֵ֑·נוּ "in our likeness move" is what God says there. The prefix כִּ meaning in and the suffix נוּ meaning move are in both words. With צַלְמֵ֖ being image. And דְמוּתֵ֑ translating to likeness.

In other words when Adam and Eve were made they were made in God’s image and likeness to move. Isn't that cool? For without Him we can do nothing. For it is He that wors in us both to will and do His good pleasure.




First ב From the Gesineus Lexicon

ב
Beth (בֵּית), the second letter of the alphabet; when used as a numeral, i.q. two. The Hebrew name is contracted from בַּיִת a house, a tent, and the most ancient form of this letter (whatever it may have been) appears to have imitated this figure. [“See Heb. Gramm. p. 291, 13th edit.; Monumen. Phœn. p. 21.”] The form of a tent is still that which it bears in the Ethiopic alphabet, በ....

בָּהֶם, בָּם, fem. בָּהֵן (Arab. بِ, rarely بَ, Eth. በ, rarely ብ) [“Syr. ܒܰ”], a prefixed preposition, prop. and originally (see the note as to its origin) denoting tarryance in a place (Greek ἐν, Latin in), afterwards applied to neighbourhood and association (Germ. an, mit), at, by, with, and joined with verbs of motion. The various significations of this much-denoting word, in part proper, in part figurative, may be arranged in three classes, which are called by the Rabbins בית הכלי

And נֵד From the Gesineus Lexicon

H5110 - GES5023
נוּד
(compare cogn. נָדַד)-

(1) to be moved, to be agitated (Arab, ناد Med. Waw id.), used of a reed shaken by the wind, 1Kin 14:15, hence to wander, to be a fugitive, Jer 4:1, Gen 4:12, 14 Psa 56:9, to flee, 11:1, Jer 49:30. Figuratively, Isa 17:11, נֵד קָצִיר “the harvest has fled” [“but see נֵד ” which some in this place take as the subst.].

(2) Followed by a dat. to pity, to commiserate (as signified by a motion of the head, compare Job 16:4, 16:5,); hence-(a) to comfort the afflicted, followed by לְ of pers. 2:1, 42:11, Isa 51:19, Jer 16:5.-(b) to grieve, to lament, to deplore the dead, 22:10.

Hiphil הֵנִיד.-

(1) causat. to cause to wander, to expel, 2Kin 21:8, Psa 36:12.

(2) i.q. Kal, to agitate, to nod, wag with the head (בְּרֹאשׁ), Jer 18:16.

Hophal, part. מֻנָד 2Sam 23:6, shaken out, thrust out; but R. b. Asher reads מֻנָּד, from the root נָדַד.

Hithpael הִתְנוֹדֵד.-

(1) to be moved to and fro, to wag, Isa 24:20, to move the head, Jer 48:27.

(2) to lament, Jer 31:18.

Derived nouns, מָנוֹד, נִיד, נוֹד [and in Thes. נֵד].

 

[biblelesson]

The text says He believed in the God not believed God. The Preposition commonly translated "in" in the Hebrew is the contract name for house.

You can reference the scripture below, which says Abraham believed God.

Romans 4:3 KJV,
3 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Based on your error in reading scripture and scrutinizing words, you have gone off in another path by scrutinizing the word “in” when the scripture did not use that word.

 

[guevaraj]

Nice study but Pistis is faith all day long. Romans 4:9 needs translated with the noun not the verb because it is written.

Brother, yes! It is written in Paul's Greek language citing the Hebrew verb "believed" as if it were the noun "faith", but it is also written in the original Hebrew cited by Paul, the verb "believed", which is not the noun "faith" in Hebrew, leading to only one conclusion: God has deliberately made an ambiguous Greek word that can either refer to the Hebrew noun "faith" or the Hebrew verb "believed". You do not know which one is meant other than by examining the context. What is written in Greek by Paul is that "pistis" can refer to "believed", which is not "faith", making "pistis" ambiguous when Paul cites the original Hebrew about Abraham. Remember God's rules of inspiration: what comes first triumphs over what comes later. Any contradiction that says something different from what was said before eliminates what comes after not having been inspired by God. Knowing from an abundance of evidence that Paul is inspired and cannot be stating a contradiction only leads to one conclusion, that God has made "pistis" an ambiguous word in the Greek New Testament that can either refer to the verb "belief" or the noun "faith" in Hebrew. In other words, we cannot change what is in the prior Hebrew, but we can change our view of the newer Greek word so as not to contradict the original Hebrew, arriving at the same conclusion of God making the new Greek word ambiguous for two prior Hebrew words.

Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. (Isaiah 8:20 NLT)​

That doesn't take away from what your saying. For belief defines faith. And our belief is what we think, feel and thereby do. Our faith is grounded in that

What God is revealing through the recognition of this ambiguous Greek word is that what distinguishes "faith" from "belief" is the doing. Abraham's "faith" does works of righteousness based on his "belief", giving the following equation: faith = belief (trust) + righteousness (work).

You say you have faith (pistis), for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith (pistis) without good deeds is inactive? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his belief (pistis) and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith (pistis) complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed (pisteuó) God, and God credited to him as righteousness (work).” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do (faith), not by belief (pistis) alone. (James 2:19-24 NLT fixed)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge

 

[daq]

You can reference the scripture below, which says Abraham believed God.

Romans 4:3 KJV,
3 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Based on your error in reading scripture and scrutinizing words, you have gone off in another path by scrutinizing the word “in” when the scripture did not use that word.

The definite article is omitted in the English language because most already believe there is one Almighty Creator "God", (regardless of who or what they may believe the Almighty One to be), so that when the term "God" is used in the English language it is already emphatic and does not tolerate the definite article. However Greek is not the same and in this case, (literally, the dative masculine singular case), and because of the context, it actually may be more correctly read as to/toward/unto/into [the] God, (τω θεω).

The following is the Textus Receptus from which the KJV reads:

Romans 4:3 T/R (Textus Receptus)
3 τι γαρ η γραφη λεγει; επιστευσε δε αβρααμ τω θεω και ελογισθη αυτω εις δικαιοσυνην

Romans 4:3 Greek Text Analysis

 

[HIM]

Brother, yes! It is written in Paul's Greek language citing the Hebrew verb "believed" as if it were the noun "faith",

No verse nine is not quoting Genesis 15 verse 3 is, As a matter of fact it is almost verbatim of the Septuagint. The only difference is highlighted in red below. Verse nine is a totally different grammar construct and context. Stating Believing not circumcision was the action that showed his state of being, his Faith which reckoned into Him righteousness. Take care.

Rom 4:3 τί What γὰρ For ἡ The γραφὴ Scripture λέγει Says? Ἐπίστευσεν Believed δὲ but Ἀβραὰμ Abraham τῷ by the θεῷ God, καὶ And ἐλογίσθη Was Reckoned αὐτῷ To Him εἰς into δικαιοσύνην Righteousness.

Gen 15:6 καὶ and ἐπίστευσεν believed Αβραμ Abram τῷ by the θεῷ God καὶ, and ἐλογίσθη was reckoned αὐτῷ to him εἰς into δικαιοσύνην righteousness

Rom 4:9 ὁ 'Is' This μακαρισμὸς οὖν Blessedness οὗτος Then ἐπὶ On τὴν The περιτομὴν Circumcision ἢ Or καὶ Also ἐπὶ On τὴν The ἀκροβυστίαν Uncircumcision? λέγομεν We Say γάρ For ὅτι That Ἐλογίσθη Was Reckoned τῷ To the Ἀβραὰμ Abraham ἡ the πίστις Faith εἰς into δικαιοσύνην Righteousness.

 

[HIM]

You can reference the scripture below, which says Abraham believed God.

Romans 4:3 KJV,
3 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Based on your error in reading scripture and scrutinizing words, you have gone off in another path by scrutinizing the word “in” when the scripture did not use that word.

The definite article is omitted in the English language because most already believe there is one Almighty Creator "God", (regardless of who or what they may believe the Almighty One to be), so that when the term "God" is used in the English language it is already emphatic and does not tolerate the definite article. However Greek is not the same and in this case, (literally, the dative masculine singular case), and because of the context, it actually may be more correctly read as to/toward/unto/into [the] God, (τω θεω).

The following is the Textus Receptus from which the KJV reads:

Romans 4:3 T/R (Textus Receptus)
3 τι γαρ η γραφη λεγει; επιστευσε δε αβρααμ τω θεω και ελογισθη αυτω εις δικαιοσυνην

Romans 4:3 Greek Text Analysis

Almost all translations of the Greek manuscripts ignore the definite article "the" and the Dative case of the clause, 'Ἐπίστευσεν Believed δὲ but Ἀβραὰμ Abraham τῷ by the θεῷ God.' It is not ignored here for you and the correction is highlighted in red. Interestingly though the Dative case is not ignored in the rest of the syntax of the verse by most translations. That is highlighted in purple for you.

The Dative case is used for indirect objects, instruments of action, and there are other uses, And it is usually expressed by the use of the words by, to, of, or for depending on context, syntax and the translator's faith and or bias.

Rom 4:3 (TR) τί What γὰρ For ἡ The γραφὴ Scripture λέγει Says? Ἐπίστευσεν Believed δὲ but Ἀβραὰμ Abraham τῷ by the θεῷ God, καὶ And ἐλογίσθη Was Reckoned αὐτῷ To Him εἰς into δικαιοσύνην Righteousness.

 

[Leaf473]

Some interesting information about the definite article in Greek

The Greek Definite Article

Be careful about basing doctrine on the Greek definite article. Ten ways the Greek definite article differs in its usage from the English definite article.

soothkeep.info

 

[guevaraj]

No verse nine is not quoting Genesis 15 verse 3 is, As a matter of fact it is almost verbatim of the Septuagint. The only difference is highlighted in red below. Verse nine is a totally different grammar construct and context. Stating Believing not circumcision was the action that showed his state of being, his Faith which reckoned into Him righteousness. Take care.

Brother, your own statement above shows that Paul has seemingly contradicted the original Abraham passage where it is clearly his having "believed" and not his "faith" that was credited to Abraham as "righteousness", "faith" being a different Hebrew word. What you are pointing out is that we do not even have to turn to the original Hebrew to know that Paul has seemingly contradicted the original Abraham passage, because he gives us the correct quoting of the Hebrew with "believed" before he switches from the verb "believed" over to the noun "faith", the noun "faith" being a different word in Hebrew replacing the original verb "believed" in the Abraham passage as what is credited as "righteousness". In summary, Paul is seemingly treating "believed" and "faith" as interchangeable equivalent words when they are different words in Hebrew. There is only one way to understand Paul without having him contradict the original Abraham passage. God has shown through Paul the deliberate act of making the Greek word "pistis" ambiguous for two different words: the verb "belief" and the noun "faith" in the Greek New Testament.

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed (verb) God, and God credited to him for righteousness (noun)”. When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné), not because of their work, but because of their belief (pistis) in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.” Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that Abraham was credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) by God because of his belief (pistis). But how did this happen? Was he credited righteousness (dikaiosuné) only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! (Romans 4:1-10 NLT fixed)​

The second complication in the above passage is understood when David receives this "blessing" of initial forgiveness for his having "believed" God after having sinned by taking another man's wife. David, having received this "blessing" again at the beginning of his new "faith", having "believed" God that he was worthy of death for his sin meant that all his previous acts of God's given works of "righteousness" were forgotten and David would have died for his sin had God not brought him into a new "faith" through the prophet Nathan.

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous (adjective) people turn from their righteousness (noun) and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. (Ezekiel 18:23-26 NLT fixed)​

United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge