Thank you for this. I sometimes say that Mary Magdalene didn’t “believe” in Jesus the way we’ve been taught to. She recognized him. And in that mirror of recognition, she became what he was. That’s not belief—it’s participation. That’s not doctrine—it’s embodiment.
We traded a living path for a theological résumé. And somehow convinced ourselves that Jesus is more interested in what we mentally assent to than how we show up for our neighbor.
Honestly, if Jesus came back today and said, “You’re not loving people,” half the church would reply, “But I believe the right things!”—as if he’d forgotten to check their Statement of Faith.
So yes, give me the ones trying to live it, stumbling forward with grace. If belief doesn’t birth practice, it’s just noise. Thanks for naming it with such clarity.
Thanks so much for this. It’s what I’ve believed, thought and tried to live for most of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to find people that support and challenge me to do this. Honestly, the older I get , I feel so much less inclined to “talk”about my faith and somehow I’m not needing to “ explain”, faith to people- it’s not what people need mostly. I do feel the need to live my faith in action; acts of love, kindness accompaniment and collaboration to share what we have been given in abundance. Being in the world is being in relationship with myself, God, others and our environment. That’s how I focus my reflection, prayer and action… asking myself how are these relationships going? Blessings and good wishes to you. Thanks for your courage, discernment and willingness to share your understanding. You never know where your words land.❤️🕯️🙏
You are so right about this topic. Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words. If my actions don't tell you I'm a Christian, then I'm doing it wrong and something needs to change. Glad I've been following your enneagram series on CFA. Always knew I was a 9 from the first time I was introduced to the enneagram, but finally figured out I'm an SP-9w1 this week. I can use this knowledge to correct my bad habits that can turn others away from Christianity. Also, even at my healthiest in my type, I know not everyone is going to like me and I'm ok with that.
Everything Christians believe about God and his will has come to us filtered through fallible humans, clearly influenced by the specific times, places, gender, and societal norms in which they lived. For that reason I take them with a block of salt, subject to whether they feel right to me personally (a practice rejected by my former religious leaders). Next, I believe that the term "Christian" has been polluted by the disconnect you've explained here.
So for those like me who are focusing on the teachings of Jesus and Jesus alone (to the extent we actually have them, and salt block included), I think we should call ourselves "Yeshuans." A fellowship of Yeshuans. It sounds like the name of a cool church. But it seems that once belief is institutionalized it inevitably becomes corrupted. So maybe just followers of Yeshua. Yeah.
Righteousness comes by faith, not belief in the magic words, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” like a pagan incantation, but faith in God, emunah faith, a Hebrew term that means faithfulness, not just intellectual assent. “Because you did not believe (Heb. emunah) in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel” (Num 20:12 ESV). No one would claim that Moses did not believe in God! The opposite of emunah faith is not unbelief, but rather disobedience, sinfulness.
The Greek concept of faith, pistis, meaning intellectual assent replaced the Hebrew emunah, meaning belief, loyalty, and faithfulness. “Abram believed (emunah) the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). We have misunderstood this faith; emunah is not just about pistis intellectual belief; emunah also means steadfast faithfulness (Grk. Pisteos, Lat. fides), reliable trust, and truthfulness. “The righteous will live by his faith (emunah)” (Hab 2:4), is rendered in Greek as pistis throughout the New Testament (Acts 3:16, Gal 5:6). Pistis does not mean what emunah means. The righteous will live by faithful reliance on the Holy Spirit of God being holy within them, regardless of what they intellectually believe about Jesus.
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile” (Rom 3:22) This verse is always mistranslated in our Bibles. The Greek is “Dikaiosynē de Theou dia pisteos Iēsou Christou” which literally translates “The righteousness of God comes by faithfulness from Jesus Christ” which should be understood, “Emunah steadfast faithfulness we receive from Jesus Christ.” We received that faithfulness from Jesus, and indirectly, from Judaism. It is far more than mere intellectual assent.
In Greek, John says: “Whoever believes (pistis) in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects (apeithon disobeys) the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36). But the Aramaic text reads: “Whoever believes (emunah, is loyal to) in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects (lo mestipis, disobeys) the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36 AENT Aramaic-English NT). Apeithon, to disobey, is not the opposite of pistis, intellectual assent, but it is the opposite of pisteos, emunah, faithfulness. God’s salvation, rescue from His wrath does not go to the one who merely believes, even the demons do that, but to the one who is steadfast, obedient. Pistis only requires agreement and confession of a postulate where pisteos, emunah demands trustworthy obedience to a Person. Parroting magic words is not enough. Confining God’s salvation only to those who pronounce the evangelical profession of faith is the worst form of “works-righteousness,” substituting the evangelical law, our Christian identity markers, for the “works of the law,” Jewish identity markers.
And by “saved” we meant not genuine righteousness before God, but a kind of bribery. God would find us innocent even though we were guilty as the blackest mire because we had a connection, we knew the Boss’s son; he would pull strings for us and get us off. But we were speaking Greek; the converse of emunah faith is not unbelief, but rather defiant sinfulness.
I've always hung my hat on what Jesus said about loving God and loving others. He was pretty clear and didn't stutter. That's the whole thing. Not easy, but pretty simple.
I am beginning to differentiate faith and belief. I associate faith with trust; it is relational. I associate belief with knowledge; it is intellectual. Faith (trusting in God) without works (expressions of truths I embrace that reflect my faith) is dead (empty; useless).
In my history of western philosophy course in a Christian university we encountered the topic of belief itself. It messed with a lot of strong believers who had never thought about belief itself. Often the object (content) of belief is expressed & considered but rarely do we unpack what a belief is regardless of the content.
What exactly is a belief? There’s not an agreed upon definition. Surprisingly!
Belief is generally different from knowledge. To have knowledge you must believe, but also be justified in holding the belief to be true. So a belief can be knowledge or it can just be a belief. Kierkegaard would put religious beliefs in the category of mental things we accept epistemically but they’re not knowledge in that they are not justified by evidence.
Knowing this, what do you think is the main reason there is such a disconnect in much of American evangelicalism and the gospel accounts of Jesus' teachings? I see how it happened, particularly politically, but I still sometimes don't see how so many Christians seem to completely ignore the teachings of Jesus. What story are they believing to get there? Is it really just all fear?
Thank you for this. I sometimes say that Mary Magdalene didn’t “believe” in Jesus the way we’ve been taught to. She recognized him. And in that mirror of recognition, she became what he was. That’s not belief—it’s participation. That’s not doctrine—it’s embodiment.
We traded a living path for a theological résumé. And somehow convinced ourselves that Jesus is more interested in what we mentally assent to than how we show up for our neighbor.
Honestly, if Jesus came back today and said, “You’re not loving people,” half the church would reply, “But I believe the right things!”—as if he’d forgotten to check their Statement of Faith.
So yes, give me the ones trying to live it, stumbling forward with grace. If belief doesn’t birth practice, it’s just noise. Thanks for naming it with such clarity.
❤️
Thanks so much for this. It’s what I’ve believed, thought and tried to live for most of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to find people that support and challenge me to do this. Honestly, the older I get , I feel so much less inclined to “talk”about my faith and somehow I’m not needing to “ explain”, faith to people- it’s not what people need mostly. I do feel the need to live my faith in action; acts of love, kindness accompaniment and collaboration to share what we have been given in abundance. Being in the world is being in relationship with myself, God, others and our environment. That’s how I focus my reflection, prayer and action… asking myself how are these relationships going? Blessings and good wishes to you. Thanks for your courage, discernment and willingness to share your understanding. You never know where your words land.❤️🕯️🙏
Thank you! ❤️
You are so right about this topic. Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words. If my actions don't tell you I'm a Christian, then I'm doing it wrong and something needs to change. Glad I've been following your enneagram series on CFA. Always knew I was a 9 from the first time I was introduced to the enneagram, but finally figured out I'm an SP-9w1 this week. I can use this knowledge to correct my bad habits that can turn others away from Christianity. Also, even at my healthiest in my type, I know not everyone is going to like me and I'm ok with that.
Love this! One my kids is SP9 as well :)
Nice!
Everything Christians believe about God and his will has come to us filtered through fallible humans, clearly influenced by the specific times, places, gender, and societal norms in which they lived. For that reason I take them with a block of salt, subject to whether they feel right to me personally (a practice rejected by my former religious leaders). Next, I believe that the term "Christian" has been polluted by the disconnect you've explained here.
So for those like me who are focusing on the teachings of Jesus and Jesus alone (to the extent we actually have them, and salt block included), I think we should call ourselves "Yeshuans." A fellowship of Yeshuans. It sounds like the name of a cool church. But it seems that once belief is institutionalized it inevitably becomes corrupted. So maybe just followers of Yeshua. Yeah.
People reveal their true beliefs with their actions. What we say we believe may not mean much.
I always loved the quote by St Francis of Assi. Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words.
Actions matter. Even Paul said faith without deeds was like a sounding gong or something like that.
Would love to see you write about the holy spirit and the stories of the early church in Acts.
Keep up the good work! Look forward to reading your substack everyday!
Righteousness comes by faith, not belief in the magic words, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” like a pagan incantation, but faith in God, emunah faith, a Hebrew term that means faithfulness, not just intellectual assent. “Because you did not believe (Heb. emunah) in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel” (Num 20:12 ESV). No one would claim that Moses did not believe in God! The opposite of emunah faith is not unbelief, but rather disobedience, sinfulness.
The Greek concept of faith, pistis, meaning intellectual assent replaced the Hebrew emunah, meaning belief, loyalty, and faithfulness. “Abram believed (emunah) the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). We have misunderstood this faith; emunah is not just about pistis intellectual belief; emunah also means steadfast faithfulness (Grk. Pisteos, Lat. fides), reliable trust, and truthfulness. “The righteous will live by his faith (emunah)” (Hab 2:4), is rendered in Greek as pistis throughout the New Testament (Acts 3:16, Gal 5:6). Pistis does not mean what emunah means. The righteous will live by faithful reliance on the Holy Spirit of God being holy within them, regardless of what they intellectually believe about Jesus.
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile” (Rom 3:22) This verse is always mistranslated in our Bibles. The Greek is “Dikaiosynē de Theou dia pisteos Iēsou Christou” which literally translates “The righteousness of God comes by faithfulness from Jesus Christ” which should be understood, “Emunah steadfast faithfulness we receive from Jesus Christ.” We received that faithfulness from Jesus, and indirectly, from Judaism. It is far more than mere intellectual assent.
In Greek, John says: “Whoever believes (pistis) in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects (apeithon disobeys) the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36). But the Aramaic text reads: “Whoever believes (emunah, is loyal to) in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects (lo mestipis, disobeys) the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36 AENT Aramaic-English NT). Apeithon, to disobey, is not the opposite of pistis, intellectual assent, but it is the opposite of pisteos, emunah, faithfulness. God’s salvation, rescue from His wrath does not go to the one who merely believes, even the demons do that, but to the one who is steadfast, obedient. Pistis only requires agreement and confession of a postulate where pisteos, emunah demands trustworthy obedience to a Person. Parroting magic words is not enough. Confining God’s salvation only to those who pronounce the evangelical profession of faith is the worst form of “works-righteousness,” substituting the evangelical law, our Christian identity markers, for the “works of the law,” Jewish identity markers.
And by “saved” we meant not genuine righteousness before God, but a kind of bribery. God would find us innocent even though we were guilty as the blackest mire because we had a connection, we knew the Boss’s son; he would pull strings for us and get us off. But we were speaking Greek; the converse of emunah faith is not unbelief, but rather defiant sinfulness.
Thank you, Joe!
Yes, totally agree.
I've always hung my hat on what Jesus said about loving God and loving others. He was pretty clear and didn't stutter. That's the whole thing. Not easy, but pretty simple.
I am beginning to differentiate faith and belief. I associate faith with trust; it is relational. I associate belief with knowledge; it is intellectual. Faith (trusting in God) without works (expressions of truths I embrace that reflect my faith) is dead (empty; useless).
Phil
Reimagine.Network
In my history of western philosophy course in a Christian university we encountered the topic of belief itself. It messed with a lot of strong believers who had never thought about belief itself. Often the object (content) of belief is expressed & considered but rarely do we unpack what a belief is regardless of the content.
What exactly is a belief? There’s not an agreed upon definition. Surprisingly!
Belief is generally different from knowledge. To have knowledge you must believe, but also be justified in holding the belief to be true. So a belief can be knowledge or it can just be a belief. Kierkegaard would put religious beliefs in the category of mental things we accept epistemically but they’re not knowledge in that they are not justified by evidence.
Knowing this, what do you think is the main reason there is such a disconnect in much of American evangelicalism and the gospel accounts of Jesus' teachings? I see how it happened, particularly politically, but I still sometimes don't see how so many Christians seem to completely ignore the teachings of Jesus. What story are they believing to get there? Is it really just all fear?
Joe, have you read Mark Noll’s book entitled the Scandal of the Evangelical Mind? It’s old but a good read.
I’d probably agree with him that’s it anti-intellectualism. It’s a component definitely.
Trumpism reflects an anti-intellectualism and a hatred of critical thought. His punishment of Harvard University is reflective of this.
Fear is definitely there. Thinking creates liberals.
Thank you.
Oh my goodness Joe- thank you. This is so beautiful, helpful and healing for me!!