John 3:16 - "EXERCISE faith"...??

by EdenOne 28 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  EdenOne

  The NWT often uses the expression "exercise", when it comes to the expression of faith.

  "A notable use of that is in John 3:16 - For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life."

  I started to be intrigued by the expression "exercise faith". It is true that James wrote that "faith without works is dead", meaning that faith must be more than just an inner feeling or an oral statement; It must be evidenced by works. Nevertheless, it is the faith itself, not the works of faith, that saves the person.

  Other pasages where the NWT uses "exercise faith":

  Mark 5:36- “Have no fear, only exercise faith.”

  John 12:36: " While YOU have the light, exercise faith in the light, in order to become sons of light."

  John 14:1: Do not let YOUR hearts be troubled. Exercise faith in God, exercise faith also in me."

  2 Corinthians 4:13 - " we too exercise faith and therefore we speak"

  I then turned to other bible translations to see if they used similar expressions. I consulted no less than 20 other translations and the term used is "believe" or "trust" (John 3:16);"just believe" or "just have faith" (Mark 5:36); "believe" or "put your trust on" (John 12:36); "Believe" or "trust" (John 14:1); "believe" or "have faith" (2 Corinthians 4:13). NEVER "exercise" is even suggested to accompany "faith" in 20 different other translations.

  Incidentally, the term used in greek is "pisteuomen", that has the basic meaning of "believe" and "put trust on" (Strong's # 4100)

  Why do the translators of the New Word Translation felt that it was necessary to force the text to include the notion of "exercising faith"- as if underlining a supremacy of works over pure faith, when the original text doesn't grant such liberty? Does this agree with the spirit of what Jesus taught?

  John 6:40- "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life" (American Standard Version)

  Why does it matter this difference between believe / have faith and 'exercise faith' ?

  "Because, simply put, to "exercise faith" is to put faith in the conditional sense. It's like saying: You may believe, yes, but unless you have works [exercise] to prove it, you won't be saved."

  Are works necessary, or faith alone is necessary? Jesus taught, in the parable of the sheep and the he-goats, that salvation is dependant on the positive actions done on behalf of the "brethren of Christ" and positive action in terms of doing God's will. (Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 7:21)

  James argued powerfully that good works stem from faith: "What good is, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ... now, some may argue,' Some people have faith, some have good deeds'. But I say 'How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds"... Faith without deeds is useless. You see that a person is considered righteous by works and not by faith alone... Faith without deeds is dead" - James 2:14-26

  So what is the right balance?

  Is there justification to use the expression "exercise" faith, when the notion of "exercise" isn't in the text, although is supported by the words of Jesus and of the apostles?

  Eden
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  leaving_quietly

  Interesting. You make a good point. "Exercise" seems inapproriate, as it's not even in the meaning of the Greek word. The word could mean "have faith". I was thinking about James 2:26 a couple of months back, but I was more interested in the "works" part.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/248990/1/James-2-26-faith-without-works-is-dead

  Are works necessary, or faith alone is necessary?

  Depends on what one means by "works". Bottom line, the "works" is not what JWs say it is: preaching, meetings, studying. Instead, it's the works of the spirit. (Gal 5:22,23). If one has faith, but not holy spirit, the works of the spirit will be hard to do . . . perhaps forced, or even faked for show. However, if one has faith and really does have holy spirit, then the works of the spirit will naturally follow. Eventually, the desire to do the works of the flesh will fade away.
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  Satanus

  That is an important detail. Thanks for the research.

  Balance it w the gospel of the nt, its core value. It is simply believing on (i think it says on, not in) jesus, that he is the son of god. That gospel was pushed within a different environment than pertains, today. Jesus the son of god was the new god on the block, amidst all the roman and greek ones, zerostrianism, and judaism. So, believing on jesus was quite declaration to make, somewhat rebellious and ultramodern, for the time.

  Based on that, today, every christian, no matter what flavor, catholic, protestant or even some cults, all meet the nt gospel standard of believing on jesus. The 'true christian' 'false christian' concept is the brother of the 'exercised faith' idea. Baptism was the only additional act required.

  S
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  Terry

  The greek language was the first language suited to science and philosophy because it was so flexible and specific.

  The NT from the Septuigint was Greek.

  The Greek word, which is translated as faith, is pistis (noun) and believe, is translated from pistevo (verb). The word believe (Greek verb "pistevo" ), according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, means: to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication.

  Now it soon becomes obvious how a translation of the word could be worded in order to promote a particular agenda.

  Instead of believing you could say "exercising belief".

  Where did that word "exercising" come from? A works-minded translator. That's where.
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  heathen

  I believe christianity to be a works based religion . Jesus himself worked very hard to show that he was sent from GOD , he preached and performed miracles and instructed his followers Go out in the world and preach the good news to all the earth converting a baptizing .I don't have a problem with term ,exicersizing faith . Jesus and the apostles never instructed anyone to stand idly by and wait but to actually jump in and share in the church activities .
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  kurtbethel

  The New World Rendering (with no translators it is unqualified to be called a translation) is based on the premise of why use one syllable when four will do? Thus 'grace' becomes 'undeserved kindness' and 'believe' gets rendered as 'exercise faith'.

  Perhaps the writers thought being wordy makes them seem scholarly.
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  Bobcat

  Here is the WT explanation for the rendering "exercising faith""

  *** w90 12/1 p. 30 Questions From Readers ***?

  Why does the New World Translation at times render the Greek word pi·steu′o as "believe" (like most translations) and at other times as "exercise [or put] faith in"?

  This is done to reflect different shades of meaning that are expressed by the Greek word pi·steu′o. For example, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, by James Moulton, notes that early Christians clearly recognized "the importance of the difference between mere belief . . . and personal trust." Both these thoughts can be expressed using the Greek word pi·steu′o. Often, the different shades of meaning of pi·steu′o must be discerned from the context. At times, though, different grammatical constructions help us to see what the writer had in mind. For example, if pi·steu′o is followed merely by a noun in the dative case, the New World Translation usually renders it simply as "believe"- unless the context indicates something different. (Matthew 21:25, 32; but see Romans 4:3.) If pi·steu′o is followed by the word e·pi′, "on," it is generally rendered "believe on." (Matthew 27:42; Acts 16:31) If it is followed by eis, "to," it is usually translated "exercise faith in."-John 12:36; 14:1. This latter rendering (which reminds us that pi·steu′o is related to the Greek word pi′stis, "faith") is in harmony with a comment in An Introductory Grammar of New Testament Greek, by Paul Kaufman. This work says: "Another construction which is common in the New Testament (especially in John's Gospel) is πιστε?ω [pi·steu′o] with ε?ς [eis] and the accusative case . . . The whole construction of ε?ς plus the accusative must be translated rather than attempting to translate the preposition ε?ς as an isolated word. Faith is thought of as an activity, as something men do, i.e. putting faith into someone."
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  The Searcher

  I appreciate the point you are making and linguistically the word "exercise" causes problems for some. (myself included at one time)

  But having searched the Scriptures, I have reached the irrefutable conclusion that having "faith" in Christ is not enough. Acting on that faith is what merits being a Christian. As a gold ring can be tested by its hallmark, Christ stated that genuine Christians (individually or in a group) would also bear a hallmark - John 13:35.

  However, the Bible gives ample evidence of what would be required of someone claiming to be a follower of Christ. Here are some examples, based on love of neighbour and Romans 10:13-15:

  (Matthew 24:14) And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

  (Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations....teaching them to observe all the things I commanded you...

  (Mark 16:15) And he said to them: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

  (Luke 9:2) And so he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God

  (1 Corinthians 9:16) If, now, I am declaring the good news, it is no reason for me to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!

  (Colossians 1:25-28)...I became a minister of this [congregation] in accordance with the stewardship from God which was given me in YOUR interest to preach the word of God fully, the sacred secret that was hidden from the past systems of things and from the past generations. But now it has been made manifest to his holy ones, to whom God has been pleased to make known what are the glorious riches of this sacred secret among the nations. It is Christ in union with YOU, the hope of [his] glory. He is the one we are publicizing, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in union with Christ.

  (Titus 1:2-3) upon the basis of a hope of the everlasting life which God, who cannot lie, promised before times long lasting, whereas in his own due times he made his word manifest in the preaching.

  (Philippians 1:15) True, some are preaching the Christ through envy and rivalry, but others also through goodwill.

  (2 Timothy 4:1-2) I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is destined to judge the living and the dead, and by his manifestation and his kingdom, preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season, reprove, reprimand, exhort, with all long-suffering and [art of] teaching.

  (Acts 20:20) while I did not hold back from telling YOU any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching YOU publicly and from house to house.

  (Acts 28:30-31) . . .So he remained for an entire two years in his own hired house, and he would kindly receive all those who came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God to them and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with the greatest freeness of speech, without hindrance.

  (Romans 10:8-15) But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart"; that is, the "word" of faith, which we are preaching. For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your own mouth,’ that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation. For the Scripture says: "None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for there is the same Lord over all, who is rich to all those calling upon him. For "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved." However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent forth? Just as it is written: "How comely are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!"

  (1 Timothy 4:16) Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

  (1 Thessalonians 2:4) but, just as we have been proved by God as fit to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, as pleasing, not men, but God, who makes proof of our hearts.

  (1 Corinthians 9:22)...to the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to people of all sorts, that I might by all means save some.

  (1 Peter 3:15)...But sanctify the Christ as Lord in YOUR hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of YOU a reason for the hope in YOU, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.

  (Acts 1:8) but YOU will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon YOU, and YOU will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Ju·de´a and Sa·mar´i·a and to the most distant part of the earth."

  (Romans 10:18) Nevertheless I ask, They did not fail to hear, did they? Why, in fact, "into all the earth their sound went out, and to the extremities of the inhabited earth their utterances."

  (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) . . .If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.

  (Romans 11:13) Now I speak to YOU who are people of the nations. Forasmuch as I am, in reality, an apostle to the nations, I glorify my ministry,

  (Revelation 14:6) And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, and he had everlasting good news to declare as glad tidings to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people,

  (Romans 1:15-16) so there is eagerness on my part to declare the good news also to YOU there in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the good news; it is, in fact, God’s power for salvation to everyone having faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek;

  (1 Corinthians 9:16) If, now, I am declaring the good news, it is no reason for me to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!

  (Acts 20:24) Nevertheless, I do not make my soul of any account as dear to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received of the Lord Jesus, to bear thorough witness to the good news of the undeserved kindness of God.

  Takes great faith, courage, and knowledge to talk to others about your faith in Christ's ransom - but clearly, someone's got to do it!
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  sir82

  So what is the right balance?

  Is there justification to use the expression "exercise" faith, when the notion of "exercise" isn't in the text, although is supported by the words of Jesus and of the apostles?

  Your question implies that there is one true form of Christianity, and that all the writings in the NT work together to support that one form.

  That premise is flawed.

  Each Bible writer has a different idea of what being a Christian means.

  To Matthew, being a Christian means being an observant Jew & tacking on being a disciple of Christ. To John, it means viewing Jesus as, if not God himself, at least divine. To Paul it means dropping the Jewish Law altogether and being "indwelt" by holy spirit. To James it means doing good works toward others. Etc. etc. etc.

  Asking "what is the right balance" is like asking "who is hte greatest baseball player of all time?" It depends 100% on who you ask.
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  ssn587

  exercise for GB go out there knock on doors sell mags, recruit so that others can be entrapped in the cult.