Where they had previously entrusted themselves to the grace of God for the work they had accomplished

 

Where they had previously entrusted themselves to the grace of God for the work they had accomplished

 

Acts 14:25-28 『After they had preached the word (ho logos) at Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had previously entrusted themselves to the grace of God for the work they had accomplished. When they arrived, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith (dyran pisteus) to the Gentiles. And they remained a long time with the disciples.』

The word is Ho Logos, which means that the Ho Logos was delivered. Paradedomenoi means to entrust, send, and commission. In other words, it was the church (Antioch) that asked to receive the grace of God to deliver Ho Logos. So the two apostles reported the results to the church community members. They talked about all the things God did and how he opened the door to the Gentiles as a result of their earnest prayer.

The works that God had done were reported, such as the miracles and signs performed by their hands in Iconium (Chapter 14:3), the raising up of a man who had been lame from birth in Lystra (Chapter 14:10), and the fact that Paul was almost killed by Jews who threw stones at him. The purpose of showing miracles and signs was to make the Jews under the law believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Therefore, God opened the door of faith for those who saw the miracles and signs and believed.

Duran Pisteus (θύραν πίστεως) is the door of faith that the Lord opens. The door of faith is something that can only be believed when God opens it. In Galatians 3:22-23, "But the Scripture has confined all under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept until the faith which would be revealed."

Faith is a faith that comes from heaven, and this faith is the faith of Jesus Christ. The Revised Standard Version translates it as “the promise through faith in Jesus Christ,” but the Greek Bible says ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (He Epangelia E Pisteos Jesus Christou). If we translate this again, it is “the promise through faith in Jesus Christ.” Faith is Jesus Christ. It is not the belief that Jesus Christ died to atone for my sins and that I am saved by His blood, but the faith that unites with Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is the faith that becomes one with Jesus. Therefore, the subject of faith is not me, but Jesus Christ.

If I believe that I died on the cross with Jesus Christ and was resurrected with Him, then that is the faith that Jesus Christ is. Faith and Jesus Christ are equivalent. Therefore, when I am united with Jesus Christ, I receive faith that comes from heaven.

If we look at question 30 of the Shorter Catechism, it says, "How does the Holy Spirit apply to us the redemption Christ purchased? Answer: The Holy Spirit applies to us the redemption Christ purchased by working faith in us and uniting us to Christ through our effectual calling." If we look at this question and answer, it says that after working faith, we are united with Christ. However, faith comes after being united with Christ.

Before being united with Christ, it is a faith that one believes. However, when one realizes the meaning of baptism and is united with Christ, faith comes. Romans 6:5-6 "Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we too should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection."

Romans 7:4-6 Therefore, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, in order that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

This means that those who are under the law are not those who are united with Christ and are dead. Those who are not united with the dead body of Jesus Christ are under the law, and therefore do not have faith in Jesus. In the end, it is nothing more than their own faith.

The problem with the Shorter Catechism is that if you believe in Jesus, you will be saved, and that faith is a faith given by the Holy Spirit. Something is missing in the process of a sinner believing in Jesus. That is repentance. Faith without repentance is nothing more than a faith that one believes in. Repentance is realizing that one is a being that has left God and turning away from sin. In other words, since one cannot turn away from sin on one’s own, repentance means entering into the death of Jesus Christ. It means unity with the death of Jesus.

However, the Shorter Catechism says that faith comes after union with Jesus Christ, but faith comes after union with the death of Jesus Christ. The order is reversed. If you do not repent, faith from heaven is not given. Otherwise, you are under the law. Those who do not die with Jesus cannot receive faith from heaven.

That faith is Jesus Christ. It is the faith that I died with Jesus who died on the cross, and that I received the life of resurrection with Jesus who was resurrected. The door of faith that God opened to the Gentiles is the door of faith that unites with Christ.