In this article I would like to go over a few words with their meaning and applications as used in the Bible.

Quite a large problem occurs in understanding the Bible comes from people who will not go beyond a single use of a word, sticking to its most common use.

We must remember in languages - and certainly the English language is no exception, most if not all words have two or more meanings to them. Most are just shades of the basic or more common use - while others have meanings that don't have any bearing at all on other meanings or uses of that word. Then of course there is slang. But I won't even bother with that use of language. We all have heard and maybe used it to some extent, we know how words are mutilated and changed from it's original meaning. So I will skip that usage. So let's start with our first word.

FAITH:  Let's go to Hebrews to find the Bible explanation of faith:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is a little hard to understand itself. We can understand faith as meaning the ability to believe the impossible can happen. At least the impossible to us. To be able to believe something when it goes against every fiber of common sense as we know it, against every experience we've ever had of what is possible and what is not in this physical realm of ours.

We would call these miracles, and must come from a higher source than the physical we are aquainted with. The faith to believe in "miracles", or things that happen outside our sphere of normal experience can come only from the source of the miracle itself - God.

We see that in:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith OF JESUS CHRIST, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith OF CHRIST, and not by the works of the Law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Verse 19-20

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Who does the faith belong to? Very plainly it says "the faith of Jesus Christ". Most people like to read this as our faith in Christ. But note it does not say anything about our faith - but rather the faith OF Christ. When I make a statement like this - "This car OF John Brown is brand new" - You understand me to mean - "This car that belongs to John Brown is brand new." That is how our language works. So when the Bible says we justified by the faith OF JESUS CHRIST we understand it to mean that it is Jesus faith He has put in us that causes us to believe in what Jesus did for us and we are justified by what Jesus did. Nothing at all about something we do. It is the faith that belongs to Jesus Christ working in us that causes us to believe and have faith. It is not a production of our own will.

In Galatians it tells us that if we try to enter heaven by the works of the law we disqualify ourselves because no one gets to heaven by any kind of work on their part only - but only by trusting in the works that Jesus did. Read:

The law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them

By trying to get to heaven by the works of the law is not of faith in God, but faith in our own efforts - but that is not what God wants - He wants us to have faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ did.

Living a life of keeping the law is a good way of living - I don't want to discourage any one from living a life as based on the law as they possibly can - just don't expect it will have any bearing on whether we get to heaven from those good works. We won't.

BELIEVE IN:  This is another very badly abused phrase. In fact Most people especially of the Arminian persuasion even change the phrase to "believe on" in stead of "believe in". They mean two far different things.

To "believe on " something merely means that you believe what your being told to be true. Of course the first thing people will say when you tell them they have to believe "on" the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved is that they do "believe on" the Lord Jesus Christ already. And they probably do "believe on" the Lord Jesus - or about Him. . How many in this world don't. Not many. Just saying you "believe on" or "about" Jesus is not good enough. Read:

The devils believe and tremble at the very word of God because they know about God very well. But they do not put their trust in him for salvation. They are not interested in that at all.

But if we were to stick to the Bible words "believe in" - that is a different story. To "believe in" someone means you put you trust in that person explicitly. You are willing to put your life in their hands. And this is what God means when He says "believe in" the Lord Jesus Christ. Put your trust for your spiritual well being in His hands. The way the scripture puts it is this way.

Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

The eunuch stated he believed in Jesus Christ. He was willing to put his eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus his Savior as Philip had just said he must do. Not just "believe about" Him but put his trust explicitly in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the works He has done for our benefit to keep us out of hell and will take us to heaven. And finally:

That whosoever believeth IN HIM should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth IN Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The qualification to have eternal life is to "believe in" Jesus Christ. "believe in" - Or - Trust with all your heart soul and mind what Jesus did for you. Those who put their trust explicitly in Jesus Christ - in other words as Jesus stated - those who believe with all their heart, and all their soul and all their mind shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Example of believe in:

Those of you that have flown on planes - do you realize what you do when you step aboard a plane? Most people step on board without even considering that they are putting their life in the hands of their pilot. You can't fly the plane so you have to leave it to the pilot who you trust enough to put your life in their hands - you trust that he has had the training, that he is qualified and has the skill to get you up in the air, fly to your destination and then get you back on the ground - safely. Since you can't fly the plane yourself you just let the pilot do the job he was trained to do. You don't leave your seat and go to the cockpit and start giving the pilot pointers on how to fly the plane. Just think of what kind of reception you would get if you did such a foolish thing - I could imagine the unceromonious escort you would get back to your seat. The pilot does not need your help to fly the plane. Neither does the Lord need your help in getting us to heaven. Just think of Him as our salvation pilot. All we need to do is sit back and enjoy the flight leaving everything in the capable hands of our Lord and pilot Jesus Christ. All this is true in getting into any moving vehicle whether it be a plane, train, boat or just a simple old car. You are still put your life in the hands of the "pilot".

Note:
The words "faith" and "believe in" - although they mean two different things are inseparable experiences. If we have faith in something or someone we also "believe in" him. In other words we would be willing to follow him even unto death. If we believe in a person to that extent then we certainly have faith in that person.

SANCTIFY:  The meaning of this word is to set apart. It has nothing to do with a second work of grace in our hearts as some religious organizations try to tell us.

Sanctify is the act of God setting us apart with the design or intention of doing something special with us. This takes place in three stages.

(1) Back in eternity before He had ever started making His plans He knew what He was going to do - He already had set us elect apart in His mind and purpose.

(2) Then God puts all His plans together in what we might call a blue print form. He finalizes them at His determinate counsel, then sets them in motion. We are now set apart in plan form not just in His mind and purpose.

(3) Then in the life time of each individual elect God seeks them out and separates them from the world for His own purpose. They become Christians. He saves them according to His plan and purpose He has had since eternity past. We are now physically set aside from the world at large. We are pilgrims and strangers living in a strange and hostile environment. Lets's read a couple of scripture to see this.

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an Holy nation, a peculiar people; That ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

God has a purpose - and He has means to accomplish that purpose. The preaching of God's word plays a big part in all His means of accomplishing His goal.

ACCEPT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST: This expression is never even used in the Bible. Arminians use it because it suits their way of thinking, but it is unBiblical.

However - if used properly it could be acceptable. As all words, accept has more than one meaning to it. If we were to use the word accept in the sense of "resigning oneself" to what God is doing to us, then that would be acceptable. Don't know what I mean.

Example - death. We all know about death so we accept death as inevitable - there is nothing we can do about it. We all know that some day we will be laid out in a coffin with all our family and friends passing us boo hooing over us. But how many will say that we "accept" death in the sense that God is offering us something and we say something like - "Oh yes God - I will be so happy to accept death - thank you, thank you, thank you?" Not many would they? But we do accept death in the sense we resign ourselves to what we can do nothing about. In the same way God wants us to "accept" Christ. Resign ourselves to the work He is doing in us - don't fight that work. God will win in the end so don't fight it - ever.

Receive -is a better word. The Bible does tell us that we must receive Jesus, or the Holy Spirit into our heart etc. But these are the works of God on us - pouring out His blessings on us without us even asking for them. We are just the recipients of His grace. This entering of the Holy spirit into us is called "being quickened"- or "born again" - in Ephesians 2 we read

Man's responsibility:

Another very abused expression. This phrase is never usedin the Bible. And certainly not in the way it is most commonly used. That is that Jesus did so much for us but still has left certain responsibilities for us dead depraved humans to fulfill. This is very contradictory to say on one hand we are depraved then turn right around and say we still must fulfill certain responsibilities. Depraved means that due our sinfilled human nature we are unable to do anything pleasing for God - yet according to this meaning He turns right around and says we must fulfill these same responsibilities he just finished saying we in our depravity couldn't fulfill - or else.

Does that make sense? NO!!

But yes - we are responsible - or held accountable - for EVERY jot and title of the law. We will be held accountable for living up to the standards laid down in this book we call the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelations 22:21. Remember James 2:10 - if we fail in one jot of the law we fail our responsibilities . We are responsible to live up to these standards - or if we can't - get a substitute who can. Not only that we must also get a substitute who will suffer the pains of our punishment for where we fail. None of us are successful in keeping these responsibilities as God requires us to - so we must turn to the one who can and did keep them for us - the Lord Jesus Christ.

If there was no responsibilities then there could be no accountability. God could not punish us for not fulfilling our responsibilities if we had none to fulfill. This is what Jesus came for - to fulfill all the responsibilities bestowed on us because we can't - then imputes His right living (righteousness) to us who will trust in that fact. In other words - Jesus has taken over our responsibilities and fulfilled them for us.

Just remember that the words mentioned here are actions God does in us - they are all gifts of God working in us.

Let's close with these scriptures:

There is no law that could give these attributes mentioned - it is all the fruit (or the natural outgrowth of a seed planted, in this case the Holy spirit that has taken up residence in our heart) of the Holy Spirit that has taken up abode in us at work in our hearts.

There is another word that I would like to cover for I think it a shame that this word is so misunderstood and misused by the world today. That is:

GRACE:
I know the interpretation most people put on this word - "Unmerited favor".

But I have felt for a long time that there is more to the meaning to this word than that. After all - what does those two words tell us? We already know that nothing God does for us is merited - or deserved by us. We know that most words in our English language has more than one meaning to it. It is true that grace does mean unmerited favor. But there are other means to it as well - and I think some of the other meanings should be known about and considered as well. Let's take a look at what one of the more respected of Bible concordances says about this word taken from the original language they were written in.

The word referring to favor in the Greek is: CHEN. (pronounced khane) Even it has a number of meanings such as: Graciousness - kindness, favor, or objective (beauty) favor, gracious, pleasant, precious, and well favored.

This word is used 76 times . It is never used where salvation is referred to.

There are at least ten other meanings but only one that is really interesting to us. That is:

CHARIS (khar'-ece) Its meanings - graciousness, (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete: literal, or concrete; literal, figuratively or spiritual: ESPECIALLY THE DIVINE INFLUENCE UPON THE HEART AND ITS REFLECTION IN THE LIFE; including gratitude: acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, grace(ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank(s) thank(worthy), pardon or rescue, deliver, frankly forgive, (freely) give, grant.

This use is used 127 times - and one can understand why. Every element is there from showing favor to the influence of God in our heart. And yet this very important element is left out by most Bible teachers despite this being a very important meaning of grace. The part I have bolded above is VERY important  in understanding where our good works come from - and especially our faith which gives us the ability to believe, repent, what sanctifies us(separates us from the world) and what causes our obedience in our Christian life. Is it ourselves - our stirring up ourselves or is it the influence of God in us- as is mentioned above? Answer that question and one has taken a giant step in Bible understanding Bible truths. And the proper - full teaching of grace can help a lot in getting that understanding!!

God bless.