FAITH

All Christians believe in Jesus Christ, but what is the real faith? In Hebrews 11:1 a definition of faith is given "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It does not refer here to a simple matter of faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was crucified and resurrected for our sins, nor to a supernatural ability to move mountains or have prayers answered. The true Christian has faith and hope in things not seen.

They are the things of God that I have repeatedly mentioned in the essay. The true believer asks for something more than material blessings and I quote illustratively in verses "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6) ”But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33) “ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matthew 6:20). Paul in Philippians 1:9-11 prays for believers that God's love will increase in them in awareness and all understanding adding "that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:10,11).

This is what’s required in the life of the believer, the things that his eyes do not see and these are what give meaning to his faith and make it alive and genuine. On the contrary, the wicked loves only the things that his eyes see, and when he is a Christian, his faith is empty of content. He is Christian in name only. James 2:14-26 says that faith without works is dead. I have already analyzed that the works are to love God and your neighbor. 1 Corinthians 13 says that faith without love is dead. What Paul says, is easily interpreted when one considers that love is God (1 John 4:8). If a person believes in God and doesn’t allow love to be inside him, then he is cancelling his faith since love is God. It is the particular love that when man has in him, he fulfills the commandments of the Lord, to love God and to love his neighbor. It is not a kind of human love that exists separately from the love of God, it is the love of God. If the believer hates his brother, it means that he hates God according to 1 John 4:20. How can someone believe in God and hate God? They are two opposite things and one negates the other. If one hates his brother, then his faith in God is dead. James 2:14-26 and 1 Corinthians 13 say the same thing in different words.

There is no doubt that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ has eternal life. This is what many passages in the gospel of John say. But the faith in those verses includes the love of God. There is no faith without love, and in 1 Corinthians 13, faith and love are separated for educational reasons only. What applies to love also applies to the truth. If someone believes in God and resists the truth, loving lies and hypocrisy, a real scenario according to 2 Timothy 3:7,8, 4:3,4 and John 8;4, then his faith is cancelled since God is the truth (John 14:6). If you know Jesus then you know the Father (John 8:19, 14:7). The way, the truth, and the life is the Father as well. Jesus repeatedly told the Pharisees that they did not believe in what he said (John 5:38,46,47, 8:45,46, 10:25,26) Their unbelief does not mean that they thought what Jesus said was wrong, but that they hated what he said. Jesus did not preach that he was the Christ, the Son of God, but his sermons had roughly the content of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6,7).

The Pharisees hated the idea of ​​doing what you want to be done to you, or casting out the beam out of your own eye before casting the mote out of the eye of their brother, or praying in the inner room and not in public, or giving charity and fasting without anyone knowing. This is the meaning they “for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not”, they hated what he said even when they discerned the truth of the sayings. They were not crazy and irrational, they knew that Jesus really healed the man born blind and raised Lazarus from the dead. They never claimed that the resurrection of Lazarus was a trick and that he had never died. They said, "What do we? for this man doeth many miracles" (John 11:47). Their unbelief was hatred of his words and works, while theoretically they believed in God and Abraham and Moses.

In John 10:25,26 it is confirmed that the sheep and not the goats have the privilege of faith, whether they are Christians or not. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul tells the Corinthians to separate themselves from the unbelievers who love darkness and hate light and righteousness, and not to atheists and people who are not converted to Christianity. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” Unrighteousness in the original Greek is “anomia” translated as lawlessness.

Conversion is mentioned only once in the Bible in a tone of contempt for the word. The same applies for the word religion in other passages, in Matthew 23:15, Acts 26:5, Galatians 1:13 and James 1:26,27. The reason for the omission of the words convert and conversion from the New Testament, is that the salvation of the soul and the essence of the gospel are not identified with a specific moment when man passes from unbelief to the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior. Belief in Jesus has a much deeper meaning and here it is manifested how misguided Protestantism is, preaching another gospel. In John 6:60-71 Jesus had disciples who didn’t believe in him and left him. On the surface it seems like a contradiction, an oxymoron, but the explanation is given in John 6:63,65 and in Peter's response in John 6:68. Those who abandoned Jesus, believed in Him (they were his disciples), but loved the flesh and were indifferent to the things of God.

Peter showed that he and the other disciples who stayed with Jesus loved and hoped in what their eyes could not see "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). It can be compared with the responses of the guests in the parable of the wedding (Matthew 22:1-14) “But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.” In the parable of the great supper in Luke 14:15-24 we read: “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”

The results of faith without works are seen in Matthew 7:23. Believers who worked iniquity are judged by Jesus with eternal damnation. Jesus follows with the parable of the two builders (Matthew 7:20-27, Luke 6:46-48). The foolish man, who built his house upon the sand is the type of believer in Jesus who does the opposite of what the Bible indicates. "He believes" in Jesus Christ but he doesn’t believe in his words, that is, he doesn’t keep his commandments.

An incident indicative of true faith with the element of love is that of the woman who shed tears at the feet of Jesus and anointed him with oil (Luke 7:36-50) "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven… And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” (Luke 7:47,48,50).

James 1:12,2:5, says that the love of God saves, without referring to the word faith. Faith without works is seen in Titus 1:16 “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” and in Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” These two verses mean that believers in Jesus Christ are guilty of works of iniquity. In practice they deny him, and their fate is seen in Matthew 7:23 “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity". When a man hates truth, justice, light, and peace, he hates his neighbor and his brother and loves darkness. He loves the deeds of the world, falsehood, injustice, strife, and revenge and exploitation, then he hates God and he denies God, even if he is a believer, even if he goes to church, prays and studies the Bible.

I stress that our faith is in the God of justice and peace, who is truth, love and light. If you don't love all of that, then not only does your faith in Jesus Christ not save you, but you are a child of the devil, an enemy of God and numbered among the wicked and workers of iniquity. Then you are a person who resists the Holy Spirit and does not allow it to be in you, because we experience God on earth through his Spirit. The Father and the Son manifest themselves in the lives of men through the Holy Spirit, and what men call human values ​​are the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:51 says "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye”. Stephen was speaking to the "men of God" who condemned him to death on charges of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God, against this holy place and the law (Acts 6:11,13). Paul said to the false prophet Elymas "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Elymas was Jewish false prophet, meaning, he presented himself to the people as a man of God, but behind the scenes he was a sorcerer. The same was true of Simon the Magus after his alleged conversion to the Christian faith. Peter said to the people of Israel "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you” (Acts 3:14).

According to these things man is judged, if he hates holy, righteous, honest and upright people, and loves murderers, rebels, disrespectful and lawless people. He is not judged by whether he is a Christian or not. John 3:20 says "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved", and 2 Thessalonians 2:10,12 says “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved… That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Timothy 3:8 says “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith”. In John 8:30-47 Jesus tells the Pharisees that they did not believe his words, meaning, they resisted the truth (John 8:40,45,46).

Abraham was justified because he believed in the truth, that the words of God are true and not because someone introduced himself to him as God. The Pharisees reacted in the opposite manner than Abraham, when they heard the truth from Jesus who was not introduced to them as the son of God (John 8:40). God watches each person how he reacts when he hears the truth, and judges accordingly. Resistance to truth, righteousness and light is resistance to Jesus Christ himself, whether one is a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or an atheist. This resistance is expressed in the parable of the nobleman in Luke 19:14. “his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us". It does not refer to people's religious or political beliefs but speaks of people who loved darkness, lies and lawlessness. This is the spirit of the antichrist mentioned in 1 John 4:3, 2:18,19. In the parable in Luke 19, Jesus tells the end of these people. “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27).

A question is, how is it possible that most people hate truth and light and love darkness? It’s beyond logic and yet this is the biblical reality. The answer was given by Jesus “They hated me without a cause" (John 15:25). He gave the same answer indirectly when they attempted to stone him to death. “Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” When the officials were smiting Jesus he said to them "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:23). Wicked people hate the truth because it is their nature, not the result of a mental process. They have the devil in them and refuse to become partakers of the divine nature. They hate every man who has the truth in him even if they do not know him and I quote some verses from the book of Psalms.

“Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.”

“They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.”

“They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (Psalm 35:19,20, 69:4, 109:3-5).

This evil nature of people who have the devil as their father, explains many incidents in the Bible culminating in Judas, who lived with the Son of God himself for over three years, and betrayed him. He was under his care, listened to him teach the words of his Father, Jesus chose him from the 12 to keep their treasury, and his gratitude was to organize the plot of his capture by his enemies to kill him.

I pointed out that true faith in Jesus Christ which gives eternal life includes the love of Jesus Christ. Faith in God is not just a simple belief that he sent his Son and saved you from sins, but it is loving God and keeping his commandments. The New Testament and especially the gospel of John, uses other expressions about the sheep of Jesus, the people who believe and truly love God. The righteous believer who has God in him, believes in Jesus, sees Jesus, confesses Jesus, knows Jesus, follows Jesus, hears his voice and knows his voice. All these phrases have the same meaning (Matthew 10:32-33, John 17:3, 6:40,44,45, 8:12, 10:3,4,27, 12:26,44,45). On the contrary, Christians who do not have God in them and do not belong to him, do not really believe in Jesus, do not know him, do not hear his voice and do not follow him (John 16:3,15:21 8:19,22, 10:25,26).

In John 6:60-66 a literal occurrence is also interpreted in the figurative sense. Those who did not really love God stopped following Jesus, and were not unbelievers but believers "From that time many of his disciples turned back and walked no more with him" (John 6:66). 2 John 1:9 says “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” 3 John 11  says that he who does evil and not good, has not seen God. 2 Thessalonians 1:7,8 says “Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

It is mentioned many times in the gospel of John that when you believe in Jesus you have eternal life (John 3:15,36, 5:24, 6:40,47, 20:31). In John 8:12 Jesus becomes more specific saying whoever follows him will have life. In John 17:3 you have eternal life when you know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. At this point he departs again from the word faith. In John 10:27,28 eternal life is given to Jesus' sheep who listen to their Shepherd and follow him. Jesus adds that he knows them (John 10:27) in contrast to the believers who work iniquity. Jesus says to them "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). He said the same thing to the five foolish virgins in the parable (Matthew 25:12). So knowing God is not related to information from biblical teachings neither to conversion to Christianity, but it means a love relationship to God and Jesus Christ, and the love is mutual. If the believer knows God, then God knows the believer, he is his child and his sheep. If the believer doesn’t know God, God doesn’t know the believer. Those who prophesied in the name of Jesus, cast out demons and performed miracles, did not know God because they walked in iniquity, and lived in a false gospel all their lives (Matthew 7:21-23). 1 John 4.7,8 says that you know God only if you love him “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God”. 1 John 2:4 says that you know God only when you keep his commandments. "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

According to 2 John 1:6, John 14:23,24 and 1 John 5:2,3, you love God when you walk in his commandments. I quote in full, 1 John 5:2,3 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

Again we see an identification of love of God, keeping the commandments and knowledge of God. The believer has all and has eternal life, or he has none and is not saved. I remind that John 8:51,52 says that whoever listens to his words (keeps his commandments) has eternal life “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death”, and John 5:24 says that whoever hears the words of Jesus and believes in him that sent him, has everlasting life. John 6:48-58 says that whoever eats the bread of life (Jesus, the Word) has eternal life. The New Testament constantly describes the same thing in different ways.

We have seen that knowing God is loving God and keeping his commandments. I will also quote Old Testament. “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!… O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart” (Psalm 36:7,10).

Knowledge has another meaning in the Bible. The man who believed in Jesus Christ must understand the gospel and apply it. He must grow in the Word of God. This kind of knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary both to keep the believer in the correct gospel, in the correct teaching of Jesus Christ, away from the traps of the devil, and to be able to fulfill his goal which is the entrance to the kingdom of God. The epistle that places great emphasis on perfecting the believer through increasing awareness of Jesus Christ is Paul's to the Ephesians. Paul conveys to them the knowledge revealed to him in the mystery of Christ, and which he also refers to as the riches of Christ (Ephesians 1:9, 3:1-13, 6:9). He makes two prayers so that the believers may increase in the knowledge of Christ (Ephesians 1:15-23, 3:14-21). In Ephesians 4:13,14 Paul emphasizes the need to be perfected in the knowledge of the Son of God “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive”. In Ephesians 4:17-22 Paul says that ignorance of man is responsible for alienation from the life of God and advises believers not to walk like those people who work iniquity adding "But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts”.  (Ephesians 4:20-22).

In Ephesians 5:5,6 Paul identifies who the people of disobedience are, who have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, adding "Let no man deceive you with vain words". Ephesians 5:17 says “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” In Ephesians 6:11 he says "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The armor includes the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:15,17). The knowledge of the Word, the gospel of truth secures these weapons, otherwise the believer's armor is imperfect, and the believer is vulnerable “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:11,12).

1 Timothy 2:4 says: (God our Savior) “who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” The knowledge of the truth is within the framework of man's journey which starts after he believed in Jesus Christ as his Savior. In 2 Timothy 3:7, Paul says about apostate Christians who "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In John 8:31,32 Jesus says "if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

I note that they had not yet known the truth even though they were disciples of Jesus. I emphasize "if ye continue in my word..." which means that the study and understanding of the Word will bring the knowledge of Jesus Christ, who is the truth. In 2 Peter 1:2,8 says that the knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ will bring the spiritual fruit in the life of the believer and multiply the grace and peace of God. In 2 Peter 3:18, Peter urges an increase in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Biblical knowledge is defined in Proverbs. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7) and “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). Job 28:28 says “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” The fear of God is defined as follows "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, And the froward mouth, do I hate” (Proverbs 8:13) and "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” (Proverbs 16:6) It is implied again that knowledge is keeping God's commandments. In Hosea 4:6 it is more clear. God condemns his people's disobedience to the law as a lack of knowledge and a denial of knowledge, saying that in the same way He will reject them and will he destroy them “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Paul in Colossians 1:9-11 prays for the believers to be “filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” It proves how important knowledge is for the right spiritual walk and salvation. The bringing forth of good works will be the decisive criterion for Jesus to accept man in heaven in everlasting life. 1 Peter 1:17 says “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear“ The unprofitable servant of Jesus Christ in his parable in Matthew 25:14-30 was cast into the uttermost darkness because he did not bear fruit in good works. I add references to Matthew 13:12 and Luke 8:18.

Another expression of the Bible is that the man who loves God and keeps his commandments, walks or dwells in the light and not in the darkness, in the day and not in the night (John 8:12, 12:35,46, 11:9,10, 1 John 2:10). In Acts 9:31 he walks in the fear of God, In 2 John 1:6 he walks in God’s commandments, and in 2 John 1:4, 3 John 1:3,4, Psalm 86:11, he walks in truth. In Galatians 5:16,25 the believer is called to walk in the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Ephesians 2:2 says that in the past we walked in wickedness “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” This spirit is called flesh and it is the influence of the devil in the soul of men and opposes the Holy Spirit.

In Galatians 5 we see the contrast between Spirit and flesh. The walking or dwelling in the Holy Spirit applies to the righteous man who is in obedience to the will of God and not in disobedience. “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” (1 John 3:24). Essentially, the obedient abides in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit abides in him, therefore Jesus and the Father abide in him. The same is repeated in 1 John 4:13,15,16, John 15:4,5,7. This description does not apply to the prodigal son and his brother in the parable, who are in disobedience but even in their disobedience they do not cease to be children of God and have God within them. The wicked ones do not abide and walk in the Holy Spirit, and they are not united to the vine, Jesus.

If the believer is not united with Jesus Christ, he cannot bear fruit and is not a light to the world. (John 15:1-11). He is not secured and there is a danger of being lost, if God is not determined to keep the soul of the lost sheep (John 15:6). John 14:23 says "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Here again it is confirmed that the love between the righteous and God is always mutual and never one-sided. If God doesn’t love a man, it is because the man doesn’t love God, loving darkness and iniquity. In John 14:23 Jesus does not speak of conversion to Christianity, but of the righteous man who loves the things of God and keeps his commandments. 1 John 4:15 says “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." I have already mentioned that you confess Jesus Christ if you love God and keep his commandments, and this verse is connected with Matthew 10:33-33. It is not a literal confession of the mouth in Romans 10:9,10. Your soul makes you a Christian and not the words of your mouth.

John 14,15,17 and 1 John 3,4 describe that the person who loves God and keeps his commandments has God within him. 2 Timothy 1:4, and 1 Corinthians 3:166:19 state that the Holy Spirit dwells in him. In Colossians 3:16 and 1 John 2:14 the Word of God dwells in him, and in John 17:26 the love of God is in him. In 2 Corinthians 11:10 the truth of Christ is in him and in Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34, the light is in him. Everything is the same, because everything is about God being inside the righteous person. Whoever has God in him has eternal life, because Jesus Christ is eternal life. (John 11:25, 14:6) The believer is called and he is a disciple of Jesus only if he loves his neighbor (John 13:35), if he keeps His Word (John 8:31) and if he is willing to follow him all the way to the kingdom of God, without finding excuses. He has to allow God to work in his soul and reign in his life as he wills. (Luke 14:26,27,33 Matthew 19:29).

If the truth, the justice, the peace and the love of God are manifested in man, then this man is a light in the world, and shines before the eyes of men in this wicked world that is in darkness under the dominion of the devil. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The righteous man is light in the world, he is the salt of the earth that gives flavor the blunt food, and it is like a lighted candle that lights up a whole room (Matthew 5:13-16, Mark 4:21-23, 9:50, Luke 8:16-17, 11:33-36) In the same way that you light a candle and can’t hide the flame, the light in man is not hidden. This message is extended in Matthew 10:26,27 and Luke 12:2,3, that there is nothing that will not be revealed, and that will not be known. In other words, the devil cannot keep God in obscurity, even when he is prince of the world of darkness. God is the light and will surely shine in the world. The medium through which God will shine is the righteous man who keeps his commandments. Jesus had previously described in the beatitudes which people are light in the world (Matthew 5:3-9).

In other passages he says that if a person's eye is single, the body is full of light, and if the eye is evil, the body is full of darkness (Matthew 6:22,23, Luke 11:34-36). But what does it mean that the light of the body is the eye? The eye is a way of expression in the Bible and it is the eye of the soul and not of the body. If a person has a good eye, which means he loves God, and he has an evil eye which means he loves the world (Matthew 20:15, Proverbs 28:22). When it appears from the works of man that he loves God, meaning in practice from character and behavior and not in theory, then he has light in him, which is God. Jesus was not referring to the well-known expression that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, because he would not have said "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness”, but he would have started the description the other way around. It is true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul and perhaps that is why the expression good or bad eye exists. But it is not a safe way to distinguish people.

Jesus' reference to the sign of Jonah is connected with his teaching that the man of God is light in the world, therefore in Luke 11:29-36 these teachings are concentrated. On the contrary, in Matthew they are mentioned as parts in three different chapters (Matthew 5:13-16, 6:22-23, 12:39-42). The Pharisees were asking Jesus for a sign to believe that what he was saying was true (Matthew 12:38). Jesus replied that no other sign would be given than the sign of Jonah. What he meant is that no signs are needed to prove that someone is telling the truth, and each person has a personal responsibility to discern the truth with his own mind, wherever and whenever it is heard and in whatever way it manifests itself. Jesus wants to be loved by mankind as the truth and the way of righteousness and not as some almighty God who can part the Red Sea before men's eyes and stop the sun for a day.

If man does not love God as truth and righteousness and peace, and despises his love, God will be indifferent to save that man. It doesn’t matter if that man confesses daily with his mouth, Jesus Christ as his savior. That is why Jesus denied signs to the Pharisees. Since they resisted the truth he was telling them he had nothing more to prove to them. Jesus later went to heaven but continues to speak and manifest Himself on earth through people who have His Spirit. These people are light in the world because they follow Jesus who is light in the world (John 8:12). They abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in them (1 John 3:24, chapter 4, John chapter 15). Each person will not distinguish truth, justice, love and peace in nature, but in the person who has them. That man who has them inside him and inevitably manifests them in society, is light in the world.

Jonah went to Nineveh and said the city would be destroyed in 40 days. The inhabitants believed he was telling the truth. If they thought he was a liar, God would not give them a second chance and they would perish. God did not send Jonah to perform miracles, cast out demons, raise the dead and feed its inhabitants with five loaves of bread and two fishes so that they would believe that what he was telling them was from God. The sign of God's existence in the world after the passing of the apostles until today is not Christianity but the sign of Jonah. When you see love, justice and truth in society, these testify to the existence of God and this is the sign of Jonah. If God hypothetically withdraws his Spirit from the earth, these qualities will not exist, and there will only be evil on earth, injustice, lies, hatred and hypocrisy because the devil will be left alone.

Unfortunately it is true that human values are not in the majority of people, the wicked or disrespectful, who resist the Holy Spirit. Even if one sees some good things in the wicked, such as loving and caring for their children and family, this love is not of God because the true God they hate is not in them. It is an imitation of love from the devil who reigns in their soul. They love truth and justice only when it benefits them. Truth and justice mean nothing to them, no matter what they say. Nothing prevents the wicked from speaking before men like Jesus Christ, but he is pretending.

When Jesus was talking about Jonah that the people of Nineveh believed in his preaching, he also added the incident that the queen of the south listened to Solomon's wisdom and for that, God gave her eternal life. Solomon's wisdom was the wisdom of God who gave it to him when he asked for it. When the queen of the south loved the wisdom of Solomon and traveled to hear it personally, what she loved is all that James 3:13-18 mentions as wisdom from above. She loved all that characterize the wisdom of God, including gentleness, peace, goodness, justice (without partiality), truth (without hypocrisy), love (mercy), and good fruit. The queen loved Jesus Christ and believed in Jesus Christ even if she did not know him as a person, just like Solomon did and everyone in the Old Testament.

Jesus Christ was made known to the world when he came to earth to minister, but that does not mean that he didn’t exist before, or that he was not the truth, the way, and the life before. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:56-58). “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46).

We have seen in this chapter that God is not limited to the concept of a person and that he is truth, justice, life, love, peace and light and that he manifests himself in this way in his vessels, the children of God, the righteous men in whom abides. I quote a few verses. 1 Corinthians 3:16 : “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Corinthians 6:19 : “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” In 2 Corinthians 6:16 God says "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

With that knowledge, the reader can easily grasp the teaching of Jesus to which he has attached great importance, that whatever you do to a child of God you do to God himself, and if you receive a child of God you receive God himself. This I will describe now. “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matthew 10:40, Luke 9:48, John 13:20). Jesus is not only addressing his disciples, but every righteous person who has God in him. In Matthew 10:41 he continues "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." He says that you must see your neighbor for what he is. If he is a prophet, understand that he is a prophet and accept his words as the truth. If he is righteous, love him as a man who has righteousness and truth in him. Every human being is able to distinguish between right and wrong, even to an imperfect degree, and that is why he cannot escape God's judgment with excuses "Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” (Luke 12:56,57).

In Proverbs 17:15 and 24:24,25 the author says it so directly that no further explanation is needed.

“He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord”

“He that saith unto the wicked, Thou are righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.”

You treat the neighbor that is unknown as if he is righteous and a child of God until proven otherwise. He is the neighbor whom the good Samaritan saw wounded on the road and took care of him (Luke 10:30-37). Jesus ended the parable with the words "Go, and do thou likewise " (Luke 10:37). Do not forget to receive strangers, some received angels without knowing (Hebrews 13:2). Paul was referring to Abraham (Genesis 18) and Lot (Genesis 19) who entertained angels without knowing it. If Lot had refused the foreigners, whom God had sent to save them from the judgment of Sodom, he would have perished with the inhabitants of Sodom.

Matthew 10:41, that I mentioned earlier, gives the message that God will save or condemn man on the day of judgment by how he treated his neighbor. “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward”. This is confirmed in Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. The righteous asked "Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

It’s a different scene with the goats:

“Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

This is the ministry to Jesus, to be a righteous man and love your neighbor as yourself, and not give Christian sermons, evangelize, and fast and pray in the church, or go to the church. Jesus preferred to speak to “spirits in prison” rather than a temple or a synagogue, again sending the message that Christianity is not a religion and each person is called to allow God to dwell and work in him, so that he may walk in the path of righteousness, in the same society that he always was, and to secure eternal life. If the living conditions inside a literal prison are miserable in the 21st century, what will you do? Will you go and tell the prisoners that God is good and solves problems? Will you pray in the church with the other believers that God will help the prisoners, or will you notify the government to improve them within the capabilities of a citizen? It is certainly the latter.

False Christianity, through its false teachings and practices, has over twenty centuries led its followers away from reality by promoting the idea that there are two lives: ordinary life and life within the church of Christ. Christianity is in the character of the righteous man and believers have to understand this. God gave his people through Moses a multitude of religious ceremonies so that they would understand who their God is through the ceremonies and not continue them until the Messiah, Jesus Christ, came. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and recommended the taking of bread and wine. He did it so that they would understand God and what their place is before him, not to learn to approach God through ceremonies.

In the same way, Jesus brought a child near him to give some lessons with children. In Matthew 10:42 he continues "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” In Mark 9:41 he clarifies that the righteous to whom you give the cup of water belongs to Christ, that’s why you don’t lose your reward. In Matthew 25:31-46 he spoke of the least of his brothers. In Matthew 11:25 Jesus clarifies that when he speaks of babes, he speaks of God's children, emphasizing their simplicity of spirit and their innocence, without cunning thought. “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25). The same subject is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, that the wisdom of men is foolishness for God. Matthew 5:3 refers again to the simplicity of the righteous. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 says “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”, and also Matthew 19:14, Mark 10:14,15 and Luke 18:16,17. Only a humble person without guile will allow God to reign in his life as he wants, in the same way a little child trusts his father to care for him as he sees fit.

In Matthew 18:5 Jesus says "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” In the previous verse he spoke about a person who humbles himself before God like a little child. He is the righteous person who fears God. If such people you insult them, and offend them with words or actions, you despise them, you fight them, you take advantage of them, you cheat them, you rob them, and you treat them with malice or rudeness, then you will receive the judgment of the Lord. The transgression of God's will is so serious that he says "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.“ In other words, whoever offends the righteous, he better kill himself, because his destination does not change and is hell.

The verse also has a literal meaning, that if you offend a little child then woe to you. In Matthew 18:7 he continues “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!“ God’s reprimand is not unreasonable because the scandal is the violation of the second great commandment of the Lord "love thy neighbour as thyself.” It is a complete lack of respect for the neighbor. The first commandment is also violated because the righteous man belongs to Christ, then the first commandment is violated “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Mark 9:41 says “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” It has become clear in this chapter that man will be judged based on the second great commandment and not whether he is a Christian or not.

How will the man who offends his neighbor be saved and have eternal life, and even more, if this neighbor has God in him? God abhors him even if he thinks he believes in Jesus Christ and will send him to eternal damnation.

Obeying or breaking the second great commandment is a serious matter to such extent that Jesus adds the following: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” (Matthew 18:8). There is of course also a painless way to prevent yourself from offending others, and that is to ask to enter the kingdom of God, through sanctification and of the circumcision of the heart. Then the struggle of the flesh against the soul of the believer comes to an end and the believer obeys the law without effort and without mental pain.

Galatians 5:23,24 says about the believer who allowed for the Holy Spirit to work in him and produce fruit "against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” The last verse indicates a believer who entered his kingdom of God with the circumcision of the heart which is the work of the Holy Spirit, not himself, “have crucified the flesh". Entering the kingdom of God ensures salvation, eternal life, and there is no fall because the believer loves his neighbor as himself and loves God with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his mind. Zacchaeus offended his neighbor and stopped doing so when he was sanctified by the Word of Jesus Christ during His visit at his home.