Timeline for Why is first faith and then believing mentioned with regard to overcoming the world in 1 John 5:4-5?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| yesterday | comment | added | Nhi | Edited: Certainly all things are from him, including our ability to choose and our ability to execute that which we choose. But if God ultimately determines whether we choose that our desires be fulfilled or His, then we would be little more than servants who do not know nor have the need to know what his master is doing (Jn 15:15). If such were the case, it would take away much of the glory from the victory that overcomes the world. | |
| yesterday | comment | added | C. Stroud | It appears to me that the "willingness" you mention is ultimately from him. All things from him and through him, Ro 11:36. God providing the ends and the means e.g., guidance through his word. The obedience of faith becoming "our" faith because it is given. | |
| yesterday | comment | added | Nhi | The perfect tense of God’s action in verses 1 & 5 indicates ongoing effect, but the faith that is given is called “our” faith. If the genitive means ownership, it suggests that the believer shares more than a small share of responsibility. We are indeed instruments of God’s grace, but it requires consent and cooperation on our part, a willingness to lay down our own will in order to fulfill God’s purposes - an ongoing process. Whether God’s grace bears fruit is not guaranteed. That John has to offer guidance on how to gauge whether we are on the right track lends support to this theory. | |
| yesterday | comment | added | C. Stroud | You use the word "responsible". Lorry is responsible for a carrying a load. No, it wasn't the lorry, the driver was responsible; no it was the driver's boss; well really it was God who sustains all who is really responsible. Here we have the lorry/an instrument/instrumental responsibility and God ultimate responsibility. If there are two sorts of responsibility then we would need to define which one we are using. | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Nhi | Besides v13, which contains a textual variant, all the occurrences of pisteuó in 1 Jn 5 are participles. I find the variant, and how it is translated in the NKJV to be most interesting: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, ... and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” The 1st use of pisteuó is a participle, the 2nd is a verb in the subjunctive mood. The difference between life vs. living came to mind as I was pondering this question. It is a gift, but the recipient is responsible for the ongoing action. | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | C. Stroud | Helps Word-studies says, "Faith [4102/pistis] is always a gift from God, and never something that can be produced by people." But it does not describe pisteuo in those words. | |
| 2 days ago | vote | accept | C. Stroud | ||
| 2 days ago | history | answered | Nhi | CC BY-SA 4.0 |