The Good News of Messiah

Clearly this is one of those verses that is quoted from every pulpit as “The just shall live by faith,” which is carefully explained to mean believing only or trusting only in a promise of salvation. Christians are insistent that faith means trust or believe and nothing more. The whole so called “reformation” was built on this doctrine, believe only. And therefore the Church is at peace with the unrepentant in her midst who believe only and do as they please.

I am aware that a lot of Christians try to extend this definition by explaining that if you really trust what God says then you will act on it, and therefore “faith” produces works. However, this notion (true as it is) is merely a patch for a bad translation offered by and for those in the Church that truly believe some repentance is needed. If they speak their definition too clearly, a lot of Christians are going to tell them that repentance only means a change of mind about Chirst. They point us right back to do-nothing believing.

Which side is the majority? I would say it has always been the believe only camp! I would also say that the believe only camp really believes in believe only even when they often utter the modified definition when it is convienient not to utter exactly too clearly the no-repentance doctrine they believe in. We may sum this up as belief in belief only. And it is they who are responsible for the mistranslation of Hab. 2:4. Here are some better translations:

NIV: but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness

NLT: But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.

CJB: but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.

You will also find the same word translated “faithfulness” in Romans 3:3 in nearly every translation. Just look it up here: Romans 3:3. But a strange thing happens when Hab. 2:4 gets quoted by Paul. Those same three versions above that have faithfulness in Hab. 2:4 change the text when it is quoted by Paul:

NIV: The righteous will live by faith.

NLT: It is through faith that a righteous person has life.

CJB: But the person who is righteous will live his life by trust.

If the text is a quotation in Paul from Hab. 2:4 then why is the translation different! It should not be different. The meaning of the text should not be one thing in one place and then get changed into another meaning by the quotation. Faithfulness to God requires obedience to his commandments. But faith, as defined by the majority of the Church is believing only. Do you see the contradiction? The same translators accomodate the believe only doctrine by translating “faith,” but when you are not looking they put it down correctly as “faithfulness,” and hope you do not notice that they are two-faced. The scholars surely know the word means “faithfulness,” “fidelity,” “loyalty.” But the Church is kept in the dark.

The verse is a restatement of Lev. 18:5, “And you will have kept my statutes and my judgments. When a man will do them, then he will have lived because of them. I am Yahweh.” So you see, Scripture tells us which translation is correct.

I have colorized key parts of the text in GNM. Who is the one of the most famous Evangelical Greek Scholars? That would be Daniel B. Wallace, who was senior New Testament editor of the NET Bible. In Romans 3:22, the NET Bible says, “the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.” This translation, though still very bad, is an improvement. It is admitted by the NET Bible that the key word should be translated “faithfulness.” Yet over in Rom. 1:17, the NET Bible still translates “faith” where faithfulness makes perfect sense.

Observe that the contradictions in the English versions translated by Christians educated in Church theology demonstrate that they have erred on critical issues. The inconsistencies are evidence of deception and a false mantle of authority. I do not mean personal deception of these scholars, but deep institutional and traditional deception, a whole thinking system designed to keep them within the anti-Law, anti-Torah teaching of Christianity.

These flaws I have pointed out call for a thorough investigation of the foundations of the Church’s teaching and translations.