Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Justification by Faith

Daniel Scarone

A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 1

Father in heaven, thank you for your salvation, and thank you, Father, for the opportunity of being together here to study and reflect on this topic.

Be with us and help us in the direction of your grace, salvation, and faith.

Let me give you a little bit of the background of the presentation that we are going to be sharing with you.

By the way, this is a copy of 1 chapter of the book.

If you want the book, you can get it in the ABC, but I am sharing that for free because it's regarding the 10 fundamental beliefs that is salvation.

And of course this is an essential, I will say, part regarding our fundamental teachings and doctrines in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Justification by faith, by the way, is not only a fundamental belief in our church, it's a fundamental belief in other communities also.

And this year, in the administration of the Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, we were talking and thinking and sharing with the workers' retreat this year, in January this year, regarding justification by faith.

So several of us were invited to share some things regarding justification by faith.

Every single person might have an angle regarding the topic.

Every single person might have an angle regarding the topic of justification, you know.

You are going, I'm not going to enter into the discussion here of comparative religions, because if you compare that, you are going to find out what is the position, for example, of Catholicism regarding justification by faith and several other movements.

My strong emphasis with you guys today and in the following days is to go into what is justification by faith in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament.

So what we are going to explore is the essence of the concept of Emunah and Pistis.

Emunah is the concept of justification in the Old Testament, that's Hebrew, and Pistis is the translation that was made before the New Testament regarding the concept of justification.

And let me tell you that is, if you like the topic, and if you like to go deep into that, it's fascinating, because you are going to discover several things.

1 is that sometimes our Bibles, I wouldn't say that are misguiding us, but they are in certain distance, conceptual distance, to give us the frame of the understanding of the topic of faith, of Emuna.

Because Emuna is a very deep meaning in...

Is a very, very deep concept in the Hebrew mind.

And you are going to search into the internet about that, and you are going to find out several things.

So, what are my introductory words regarding justification by faith?

Let me tell you that world religions, in 1 way or another, they are dealing with man looking for God and how man might be able to be saved.

However, on the contrary, the Bible gives us the opposite vision.

That is, God was in a relationship with God and in the Bible is telling us God looking for men to give him salvation.

So the signing and creating the wall and the universe and mankind and establishing men in the Garden of Eden you are going to find out in Genesis chapter 1.

And looking for man and his Creator across all the Bible is part of the concept that you are going to see coming from the Bible.

So, in the Holy Rite, the Holy Writ, God is more than a Creator of the heaven and earth and of the universe, he is also the lawgiver and the redeemer of human beings.

So when you go, Let me share with you several things that you need to keep in mind here.

Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created heavens and earth.

Genesis, Exodus 20, 1 and 6, And God is speaking all these words saying, when given them what he called my commandments.

Creation, commandments, laws are part of the things that the Lord was giving to human beings.

And 1 thing that impacted me several years ago, And sometimes in pastoral life, you are in situations that are, what I would say, critical and sometimes unexpected.

For example, a suicide, a person killing himself.

And I was asked to talk in the funeral service.

And the people are expecting that you bring hope in those critical moments.

And let me tell you that is very critical for you.

What you are going to share, what you are going to say, how you are going to present the concept of salvation and in the feeling, and welcome.

So how you are going to, what you are going to talk about that.

Let me share with you something, because I don't know if you have sometimes looking for words and kind of biblical explanations about that, and how you are going to bring relief into the heart of a person under that kind of condition.

You know, I was a Bible instructor in South Argentina, South America, And the district pastor was taking me to the funeral service and said, Daniel, I am in a critical situation because I need to speak in the following moments about this and really I don't know how I'm going to deal with this situation because family is telling me, welcome, family is telling me that this person killed himself.

Let me tell you what I told my good friend.

Open your Bibles In the book of Genesis here, let me give you the context of that because for me I guess it is important...

Let me do something here and please be kind with me because yesterday I had to do this presentation or another presentation but in Spanish so I set up my Bible to put it in Spanish so I am and I'm beginning to set up here to put it right and I am going to use by the way King Shane's version in all the presentation across all the week here.

The Bible says here that Abraham, you remember the context, Abraham was concerned regarding Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the Lord is bringing justice regarding that.

And the the Lord and Abraham keep talking and in a moment Abraham, after making a lot of questions to the Lord about what he's going to do and say, mention this in 25.

That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee.

Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?

The judge of all the Earth is going to do right.

So there is nothing family members can do anymore.

There is nothing that we as human beings can do for that person anymore.

That person and his or her destiny is in the hands of the Lord forever.

And the Lord is going to do what is right.

So if I'm going to say like some people, oh, Don't worry, he's going to be safe, he's going to be in heaven.

Well, that is beyond my understanding and knowledge for sure.

If I'm going to say the opposite, it is the same.

That is the right answer to the condition because the destiny of that person it is in the hands of the Lord And the Lord is just, is love, and is faithful, and knows better than myself what He's going to do.

So when we discern the topic, you know, it is quite interesting because here we see God is the creator.

And look at the book of Job chapter 19, 25, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." So, he's Redeemer.

So, when you begin to think about God, God is the essence of the concept of emunah, faith.

And justification by faith cannot be justification by faith without God, because without God is going to be anthropocentric, centered into the human being.

In the other stand, justification is going to be theocentric.

It's centered into the Lord and his acts upon the human beings.

And this is quite interesting Because in the Christian scriptures distinguish Christianity of any other religious beliefs by the teaching of justification by faith.

Because justification by faith is the answer of the pagan's questions, what must I do to be saved?

How many times we need to answer that question?

Several people are asking, what do I need to do to be saved?

The point is that is a pile of questions in the Bible.

When you go to the Bibles in the book of Acts chapter 931 Book of Acts, chapter 16, 29 through 31, you are going to see the question and the answer.

And after that we are going to enter into a long topic and I am sorry to tell you you are going to be reading scriptures several times because we are going to be working today in the rest of the presentation about the concept of faith in the Old Testament.

And it's important, believe me it's important, because if at the end of the road you say I am frustrated, I probably I wouldn't have be here, Please tell me at the end, not at the beginning.

A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 2

Father in Heaven, thank you for your blessings.

And help us together to Come to your word now with an open spirit, with the tendency and abilities to learn from you and teach us from your word.

Okay, I don't know if you can turn a little bit the door to just a little bit, no more than that.

And okay, Let me rephrase something that I said yesterday from the beginning regarding the topic.

The topic is regarding justification by faith.

And in the times in which we were together in the administration devising strategies for the next years and so on, administration began to think about this topic, so justification by faith.

So this is the topic which we are going to present today.

And let me tell you that sometimes we present the topic with a tendency to be too much complex.

And of course, it belongs to the area of systematic theology, but when you go in deep, that is a doctrine of salvation.

And 1 of the things that I've been emphasizing yesterday is that justification by faith, it is a topic that distinguish Christianity from any other religious movement across the world.

Because, and yesterday I was talking and using, let me get back to the same topic that I've been mentioning and quoting yesterday, and it's the book of Acts, chapter 16, verses 29 through 31.

And here you have a very clear illustration about what I will say.

A pagan concern, a person with no Christian background idea regarding how he might be able to connect with the divine.

And when you open the Bible and check about, the Bible says, then he, the keeper of the prison, called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas.

And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?

This is telling you that in the context of that mind, how salvation can be obtained?

It is very clear from the vocabulary that Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, is using, and that is poiein, is the Greek word that he used.

Something, hey, welcome, something that must be done.

So that is the understanding, but see the answer.

And they, Paul and Silas, said, believe, pisteu on son is the word, on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house.

So when I was reflecting upon the topic, sometimes preachers, we preachers, tend to make complex something that is more simple, very much more simple.

So what I'm going to rephrase now is the main idea regarding what is emunah in the Old Testament, And what is pistis in the New Testament?

And in the essence, I don't know if I, I do have something here that is beginning to move down, but if you, let's see if it's coming.

So something in the transportation of the image into the projector is not doing well and I don't know what is coming up.

And yesterday I used a lot of explanation to reach this point.

Here you have something that I put today for you guys, that I put here in the blackboard, and that is the topic.

In the Old Testament, in Hebrew, that is Emunah, that is the word, that is faith, Emunah.

And in the New Testament for the Greek, remember something, approximately 2 centuries before the New Testament, before Christ, the Hebrew writings were translated into Greek.

And they used the word, emunah, is pistis, and pistis is the Greek word for the same thing.

And also in the Old Testament, the concept of justice, and those who are lawyers probably are very interested in that word, is sedac or sedaca.

I don't know, believe me, it's not myself.

Something going out here and it's coming.

The quite interesting thing of this is that the Greek side is more involved in the language of the civil court, and that is more human, but in the Old Testament, is in the court, but also, also is divine.

Because emunah is 1 of the characteristics of the Lord in the Old Testament.

And that's the reason why I've been trying to read all the verses that you were reading yesterday, because that is part of the idea.

But yesterday we were reviewing the book of Exodus.

And the Kingshine version that I do have bring the expression, emunah, as a study in English.

In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 4, the Bible says, he is the rock.

His work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment and God of truth and without iniquity.

Let me see if I can keep it that way without moving.

But something, probably I need to change this device that is between the connection and the projector.

But what I'm trying to show you that the concept here is that Emunah is a characteristic of God and is a diverse reflection and shadows of meaning regarding God.

God in the Old Testament here is steady, he's truth, and he's righteous.

And also in 1 Chronicles, the concept of emunah appears as set office, is the translation for that.

So, 1 of the things yesterday in the presentation we were in the closing emphasizing in the closing, emphasizing, is that a muna is belief, is faith, is faithfulness.

And we were closing with Lamentations chapter 3, verse 23.

When the Bible says, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.

And 1 of the things that that called my attention into this topic is that a muna is practically 1 of the characteristics of the Lord.

So this is very important to take in count.

Because what I am trying to say is that when we are working English, Spanish, or whatever be the language, sometimes we are missing the original concept of the word that conveys a very deep and profound meaning.

And yesterday, I've been mentioning that when you ask to a Hebrew person background, what is emunah?

He's going to tell you, well, it's a very wide word in the meaning, and it's true, because a Munah is faith, a Munah is faithful, a Munah is truth, a Munah is steady, a Munah, it is a lot of other words connected or related with that concept.

Because I understand that sometimes we might be able to ask ourselves, can we be with those characteristics?

And the point is yes and no, in certain sense, because God is faithful.

But when we establish a living connection, a spiritual connection with him, those elements in his characters are going to be reflected in our character.

So it is important to come up here to the topic because the first time that the word appear in meaningful that is going to be transported into the New Testament is the moment of Abraham.

And the Bible mentions very, very, very clearly this topic regarding Abraham.

So let's go to the book of Genesis for a moment.

The Bible says here, and he, Abraham, believed, and here appears again the word, emunah, in the Lord, and he, the Lord, counted it to him for righteousness." So there is a lot of speculation and in theological reflections regarding that And if he just, it is the statement of the Lord that is the point here, or is the word, or is the person, you know, several things.

But remember something, who is the owner of Emunah?

Abraham only is going to reflect the Emunah that is divine.

And it's very clear for me when you read the Hebrew Bible, for example, and he believed emunah in Chasem, says the Jewish translation, and he credited Emunah faith to him as Sadaka righteousness.

Remember, yesterday I mentioned here that it is quite interesting sometimes to check, and for you guys there is a kind of...

You heard the word sometimes in the South?

Ibri-English would be maybe the word, you know.

It's a kind of Bible in which is mixing up, you know, intersecting in the English terminology and vocabulary, the Hebrew versus some Bible elements, and is going to keep you updated what is the original word regarding that.

A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 3

We thank you for the privilege of further study.

And we thank you for the Holy Spirit who is present with us today as we continue your work.

And give us wisdom, give us understanding.

We thank you for the angels that you send to us, and above all may it help us, may our faith grow, and may we be able to remember and share with others things important too, that we have to continue to send.

Yesterday I was quite nervous at the beginning with the connection, so I put an order by the way online, so the connection cable is going to arrive tomorrow, the fastest way to get it in Lansing.

So I hope that the older connection are continue giving me some kind of input for the ideas.

But okay, yesterday we were working the concept of emunah, that is faith in the Old Testament, and also the concept of sadak or tzedakah, that is, justice in the Old Testament.

And finally we were connecting the dots because probably, I will say probably, tomorrow I'm going to gather up some of the things from the perspective of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament regarding this concept, because the concept is this 1, Habakkuk 2.4, a righteous man by his faith, by his faithfulness, lives.

A righteous man by his faithfulness liveth.

When I was saying man, let me tell you that In my mind, I am not saying, well, this is only for male people.

This is very clear in my mind that the Bible here is implying humankind, is implying everybody, is implying all the people.

So the concept of emunah that is 1 of the elements of the character of the Lord is represented.

The other thing that we were talking is that sometimes I think that the Apostles in the New Testament, they had a fight in themselves regarding the concept of believe and obey.

And you are going to see that in the interaction with the churches in the New Testament, in the pistils.

Because in the conceptual frame of the Hebrew people, belief implies so.

And we are going to enter into another dynamic that is going to put you in the speed on the topic in a very clearly way that probably the other presentations I made before.

So and it's Paul who in the Epistle of the Romans adopts the clear conception that is reflected in the following association and also this association element that is believe implies obey, do not believe implies do not obey.

So sometimes I was thinking, well, let's open our minds to the dynamics, into dynamics of the early church.

And this is the dynamic of the synagogue.

Sometimes Jewish people with Muslim people, they share certain things in common.

And the conceptual frame of the most in the Islamic worship and style of religious practice, It is related with the synagogue.

And remember something, synagogue is first in time.

I'm not talking here hierarchically speaking, but the synagogue is first.

Synagogue was the place in which the people visit in a place when they don't have to find a lodge in the old times in the towns when you get from a trip, the synagogue was the place in which they are going to have.

Synagogue was also the functioning for a council of the local towns.

And of course, when they were far away of Jerusalem, it was the place of worship the Lord during the Sabbath hours.

When you go to the mosque, they are going to see certain kind of similarities regarding that thing.

Last year, with a liaison of Seventh-day Adventist Church and Muslims' relation, Mrs.

Gabriela Profeta, by the way, the surname of her is Profeta, no, it's nothing to do with Mohammed or something like that, you know, but she is Argentinian background.

And we enter into the mosque because we are trying to bring something for them over there, and we had a very, very good conversation.

And of course, in the dynamic of that, I began to make some questions and entertain the idea about these kind of connections, because the mosques in the Muslim country function like that.

So if a person—hello, good afternoon—if a person arrives into a town and there is no lodging, nowhere to go, go to the mosque.

They can sleep over there for 1, 2 nights, maybe take a shower, you know, use restrooms and so on, and that is the functional of that.

It's a kind of center of community during the week, worship for the Muslims on Friday, and worship for the Jewish in the setting of the synagogue during the Sabbath hour.

But the point in which I've been talking yesterday is that when you go to the book of Romans, let's open a little bit Romans chapter 10 verses 14 and 15, you are going to see that kind of dynamic Because that is quite clear for me that is coming from that.

The following text for me is clear what is the main topic here.

Because you are going to see the conceptual idea of listening or hearing the word of the message, and that is coming from the Word of God.

And the Bible says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher.

And look, the preacher is not the center here in the Bible.

And sometimes this is something in which we need to pay attention to that topic.

And I am talking maybe not only to you guys, but also for the preachers, because the essence of the preacher is not the preacher, it's the Word of God.

A preacher without the Word, it is a messenger without a message.

Because the essence of the message is the Word of God.

And how, says the next, how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things." So here we were building, So the Apostle Paul says in verse 17, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by what?

So in essence faith is coming from where?

And it's reflecting the thinking and ideas and mind of the Lord.

And here is the kind of synagogal structure connection here.

So sometimes I'm thinking it's not about the beauty of the building or how much expensive is the building and sometimes it's not who is the talker, who is the speaker.

It is not anything of that, you know, that is nonsensical here, because the search is a preacher that faithfully reads the Word of God.

And the process, the process of teaching and learning by which the members of a church are going to appropriate and get the idea it is listening and the Bible says heard, not read, because probably the audience in those days didn't have the level of education of writing and reading, and that is part of the problem of that.

The result is building up the faith of the Church by centering in that moment of worship and study of the Word and learning about that.

So sometimes when we are in the Church, I like to think that we are like in the synagogue in the former times in which there was a reader and also there were disciples that sometimes were copying the reading of the scriptures by the way that was the earliest transmittal process by which they apply and substitute the early versions of the manuscripts in the Old Testament.

And we were talking at the end yesterday, but today I am entering into another dynamic in the same topic.

It is a metaphor that is sometimes forgotten in our reflection, and it's a metaphor of walking with God.

And that for me it is where Emunah is born.

It's the where and it's the when Emunah faith is born in the Old Testament, in the process of walking with the Lord.

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Justification by Faith

A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 3

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A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 1

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A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 2

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A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 3

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A Legal Biblical View of this Core Teaching - Part 4

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