Words can have a narrow or broad range of meaning. If I said, “mint,” do I mean the herb? the flavor? the color? the candy? the place that makes money? the year a coin was struck? Or the unused condition of something? We don’t get to subjectively choose or decide what someone means, you have to understand the intended meaning. The Bible is the same. We have to use sound interpretation methods (called hermeneutics) to understand what the original writer, and ultimately God, means. One important method is called the analogy of scripture. It means we let Scripture interpret itself. The Bible is all God’s Word, one unified story, and without error. So we let the clearer portions interpret the less clear. We let the whole of the Bible shed light on an individual verse. This is one reason why it’s so important to know God’s word, so we’re not led into error. And we do this with the biblical concepts of faith and belief.

The concepts faith and belief are related. Sometimes they are used interchangeably. Romans 10:9 says, “believe...and you will be saved.” Jesus says in Luke 7:50, “Your faith has saved you.” In both cases, they are talking about a faith in Jesus necessary for salvation. Sometimes belief or faith is used more generally: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that” (James 2:19). Clearly, here it’s not talking about saving faith that trusts in Jesus but an understanding and acknowledgement of truth.

Looking at what Scripture teaches us about saving faith, the Reformers helpfully spoke of three aspects:

1) Knowledge: to believe something, you need to know information, i.e. who Jesus is, what he did, how it relates to me. We get this from God’s own word—Scripture.

2) Assent: to have faith in Jesus, you also have to agree with (assent to) that truth about Jesus. But even the demons cannot deny who Jesus is and what he did, yet they are far from saved.

3) Trust: a saving faith must personally trust in Jesus and what he did and promises. A saving faith will personally receive, rest, and depend on Jesus.

Rely and rest upon Jesus for your forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.

The nature of names: Names are different than other words. They are primarily identifiers. We don’t translate them even if they carry added meaning. Scripture doesn’t say, “Now the birth of Yahweh is salvation the anointed one took place in this way” (Matt. 1:18a). We say, “...the birth of Jesus Christ.”

Names and language: Different languages have different names, different spellings, oftentimes even different letters. Sometimes the same name is found across languages but will be slightly different. In a Hispanic country, people would call me Mateo rather than Matt or Matthew; Mary would be Maria; Thomas would be Tomás; George would be Jorge. They are the same equivalent. It’s not disrespectful to call me Mateo.

The Savior’s name: In Hebrew his name would be ישוע( pronounced Yeshua), and in Aramaic it would look different. While Jesus was born into a Jewish family, the New Testament was written primarily in Greek by God’s divine wisdom. The Greek equivalent is Ιησους (ee-ey-zoose). If we printed the Hebrew or Aramaic in English bibles, we’d already translating away from the text. Secondly, most would not be able to read it, or even know to read it from right to left. Thirdly, the New Testament already has it in Greek (which most would also not know how to read). We call our Savior Jesus because that is the English equivalent of the Greek ιησους spelled out.

The power is in the person: There’s no magic in the letters. The power is in the person of Jesus Christ. Even if your conscience told you to speak it in Hebrew, which would be inconsistent with God’s own revelation in Greek, the name is just the common name for Joshua. Many people were named that and still are. In Luke 3:23, we read, “Jesus, when he began his ministry...” Six verses later in v29, we read,“...the son of Joshua...” In the Greek, they are the same name with the same spelling—Ιησους. Translators spell out Jesus instead of just giving the English equivalent, Joshua, for clarity and to honor the uniqueness of the Christ. Look to the person not to the spelling of Jesus!

What is repentance?

• Repentance as change in mind unto God (granted to us)

• Repentance of individual sins...we’ll never do this completely for we are not completely aware of all sins (commission or omission)

• Sin can slow our growth

• Sin can impede our enjoyment and effectiveness of our worship and prayer

• No sacrifice was sufficient except the sacrifice of the Son of God.

• Willful sin is a mockery of the cross work of Christ

• God’s promises are sure hope for sinners

• Jesus empathizes with our temptation

• God knows our frame and weakness

• But sin cannot separate us from the love or union with God in Christ.

• The good news is that we always have the open door to turn our face to God and freely receive his grace and mercy.

• Nothing can separate us...

• Sin is serious, and should not be treated flippantly, but if we trust in Christ Jesus, we are united with him, sons and daughters of God, and God could no sooner cast off his adopted children than he could his one and only Son. We are forever, inseparably united.

• We have direct access

The seriousness of sin: All sin is terribly serious from the often excused ‘white lie’ to murder, from deliberate rebellion (Rom. 1:32) to unknown sins (Lev. 5:17-19), from sinful actions (Exo. 20:13-16) to sinful thoughts and desires (Exo. 20:17; Matt. 5:28). In fact, it is deadly serious (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4), and God’s standard is perfection because he is holy and just (Matt. 5:48; 5:20). It is why none other than the sinless, perfect law-keeping Son of God can be our Savior (Heb. 4:15; Psa. 49:7).

The sufficiency of our Savior: Thanks be to God that the life and death of Jesus are more than sufficient, “to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9; cf. Jer. 33:8; Acts 13:38-39). This means that if we are Christ’s by faith, then we are declared perfectly righteousness before God (Lev. 16; Rom. 4:22-24; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s righteousness is credited to us even though we are not actually perfectly righteous until heaven. We are assured by the God who cannot lie, that ALL sins are forgiven if we are in Christ!

Repentance: If we repent and believe we turn from our selfish pride to humble trust in Christ. We begin to see ourselves the way God sees us, as a sinner needing the Savior. By the Spirit’s power, we can also repent of individual sins, turning from them and to loving obedience. We cannot repent of all specific sins, not knowing the depth of our sin the way God does. Still, this does not change the promise that all sin is forgiven in Christ.

Sins effects: Sin cannot sever our relational access to God (Rom. 8:35, 38-39). Sin can, however, affect the Christian’s life. It can physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually harm us. It can slow spiritual growth as we walk out of step with the Spirit. Yet, the Father always welcomes us to call upon him again for forgiveness (1 Jn 1:9). We have access (Eph. 2:18; Rom. 5:2; John 16:26-27).

Profoundly different: It is common for the Christian to struggle with sin and temptation he hates (Rom. 7), daily repenting and resting in grace. It is altogether different to embrace sin and be unconcerned about it. This is not the heart of a Christian (1 Jn 1:6). Christ did not die to give free reign to sin. He died to free you from it. We do not sin that grace may abound (Rom. 6:1). If that is your heart, you are not looking to Christ as a Savior, for you are not acknowledging sin to be a problem.

Variety of Psalms: The Psalms cover the whole range of human experience, which is one reason why they have always been so precious to God’s people.

Types of Psalms: One type of psalm is the imprecatory psalm, where the writer is desiring and calling down curses on his enemies.

What do we do with these passages?

(1) Remember these are not contrary to Scripture; they are Scripture. The Bible is one book, and all parts are inspired by God and useful (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

(2) They are in the Old Testament (e.g. Psa. 7, 35, 55) and the New (Rev. 6:10).

(3) They acknowledge the wickedness of sin and the holiness of God.

(4) They long for justice and the restoration of righteousness.

(5) They anticipate the final judgment of all evil and the enemies of God.

(6) These aren’t petty disputes or disagreements. The enemies of God’s people are God’s enemies (Acts 9:4). God’s people don’t want God’s name to be blasphemed among his enemies (Psa. 74:10-11).

(7) The writers don’t take judgment into their own hands. They call for God to judge, whose judgment is always righteous (Psa. 7:11; Rom. 12:19).

(8) They are not contrary to Jesus. Jesus is the Judge (John 5:22).

(9) They point to the Gospel. The Gospel is grace for sinners because it is a curse for Christ. In our sin (apart from faith), we are all enemies of God condemned already (John 3:18). We need Christ because he took the curse for us on the cross (Gal. 3:13). For those trusting in Jesus, his suffering is our salvation; his judgment is our justification. And for those who do not put their faith in Jesus, they remain enemies of Christ and are yet awaiting the judgment of the Holy One.

(10) We should still love our enemies (Matt. 5:44) as Christ loved us (Rom. 5:8).

(11) We should also love justice and righteousness (Micah 6:8).

(12) We should want God’s name vindicated (Ezek. 36:23), be grieved by injustice, and look forward to the restoring of justice. “[The martyrs] cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:10).

Across the languages: The Bible was originally written in Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament), and Aramaic (bits of the New Testament). For the world to understand, we translate, looking for words or phrases in the desired language that have similar meaning (e.g. in Gen. 1:1, ץ ֶרֶא refers to what we call the earth in English, or la tierra in Spanish). Some special words are not translated but transliterated. Words that are transliterated take the original word and spell it in the new language. Transliterated words are often names (Yahweh), titles (Christ), and other special words (baptism and amen). Hallelujah is a Hebrew word transliterated into English (Alleluia is the same; it just first went through Greek).

What it means: Hallelujah (and alleluia) means praise Yahweh.

Why we say it: The Greek New Testament did some transliterating of the Hebrew, so we have biblical precedent to do so. Some words are so tied to the Bible that transliterating fills in the context. If we say, “baptism,” we already understand it has religious and theological meaning. We continue to say hallelujah because (1) the Bible does, (2) it is a concise exclamation of praise, (3) it identifies we are praising Yahweh, the God of the Bible, and (4) it transcends languages and culture; English, Korean, Russian, and Palestinian Christians can all shout, “Hallelujah!”

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23).

Context is key: Jesus is responding to the Samaritan woman’s faulty doctrine while also proclaiming how his coming transforms worship.

History: Samaritan beliefs were a mixture of Jewish and pagan beliefs that arose when the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes of Israel (2 Kings 17). She mentions how the Samaritans worship on Mt. Gerizim but the Jews on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (v20).

Explanation: While true worship flows from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3; 6:63), the context shows us this is not referring directly to the Holy Spirit but to spiritual and biblical worship.

Worship is spiritual: It is no longer physically centered in Jerusalem or in temple worship (v20-21). Jesus fulfills the Levitical priesthood, ceremonial laws, and physical types and shadows given through Moses (see Hebrews). It no longer distinguishes between Jew and Gentile as she did in v9. Jesus is the Savior of the all peoples (v42); there are no second-class Christians (Gal. 3:28-29). Spiritual worship fits the true nature of the Father, who is not a physical being but spirit (v24).

Worship in truth means to worship as God reveals in Scripture not from pagan doctrine (v22; 2 Kings 17). It means worshipping the true God—the Father, his Son Jesus who is the Truth (John 14:6), and the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). It means being a true worshipper, not just outwardly but inwardly. And one united to Christ. Jesus and the Apostles often pointed out that outward observance isn’t true worship (Matt. 23:25-29; Rom. 2:29).

Summary: Jesus shows how the Samaritans have a wrong starting point (v22), and that with his coming (vv21, 23, 25-26), true worshippers are not confined to the physical aspects and limitations under the Mosaic covenant. Worship is more glorious in him!

Our worship should be deeply spiritual and governed by God’s Word.

Claim: Yoga stems from Eastern religion. Its postures (asanas) are inseparable from the spiritual-religious beliefs that aim for altered states of consciousness and participation with pagan deities. As such, it is spiritually unwise at best or demonic at worst for Christians to practice yoga.

History: Yoga's history is complicated and there are many versions across different religions. Yoga in the West is posture (asana) based, tailored to Western culture, and is a fusion of Eastern religious and Western gymnastic stretches.

Response: Posture holds no power in itself. Jews, Muslims, and Christians have all bowed in prayer, faced east, fasted from food, raised hands in worship, and prostrated themselves on the ground. The posture means something only when combined with religious worship. That's why if I get on my knees to lay carpet, watch a sunrise, miss a meal, reach for a balloon, or trip and fall on my face, I'm not worshipping God or any pagan deity. If I spill water on my child or jump in a stream, it is not baptism. If I do a stretch that happens to also be one of the many yoga poses, I do not sin.

The Bible teaches that items or activities CAN be dissociated from religion---the claim above is false. Christ fulfilled the ceremonial laws such that a person is not unclean by physical proximity to what would have made the Jews previously ceremonially unclean for worship (Mark 7:15; Acts 10:15). Paul used a pagan altar as a tool to teach about God (Acts 17:23). Most clearly, the Apostle Paul teaches that even to eat food sacrificed to idols means nothing by itself; it is just food and the idols not really divine (Isa. 44:9-20; 1 Cor. 8:4, 8; 10:19, 25-27). It becomes unwise or sinful when someone tells you it is for an idol (1 Cor. 10:28), when others would clearly suspect it to be (10:20-21), or when it causes your brother or sister in Christ to stumble (1 Cor. 8:7-13). The food hasn't changed, but to knowingly let someone think you promote a pagan religion, or to let your Christian liberty be an unnecessary spiritual burden to another is wrong.

There's no sin in doing yoga stretches if you are simply exercising and stretching your body. If you are engaging in yoga as part of religious practice, incorporating eastern religion into Christianity (syncretism), or aiming at altered states of consciousness, then you are engaging in sin, not because of the angle of your body but the participation in pagan religion. If you are engaging in yoga with others who are actively worshiping through it, you are in the wrong. If you are with an Indian Christian who was formerly Hindu and cannot dissociate the posture from the religion so that it would trouble her conscience, you would be unloving to do so in front of her.

Be wise. Enjoy your Christian liberty. And love your neighbor more than your freedom.

• It’s important to remember that God does not actually have hands. He can reveal himself in different ways for our benefit, e.g. fire (Exo. 3:2), a dove (Luke 3:22), human-like form (Num. 22:22), but God is spirit (John 4:24) without flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). He cannot be seen (1 Tim. 6:16). Jesus is the exception since he took on flesh for our salvation.

• We cannot fully comprehend God, but he wants us to know him. He speaks to us in ways we can understand, like using human attributes and characteristics to explain himself. The fancy word for this is anthropomorphisms (human shapes).

• God’s “right hand” is used in several ways. Sometimes the Bible talks about sitting at his right side (Psa. 16:11). To sit at the king’s right hand is a place of honor and favor—the place a trusted son or general would sit. It was the right hand that conferred the primary blessing (Gen. 48:13-14), greeted, and made agreements (Gal. 2:9). God’s hand, and especially the right hand, often stands for power and authority. For most, the right hand wielded the sword. “Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy” (Exo. 15:6). Context will help us see which it is.