ADAR
BET 16
Seasoning
…
“And beside this, giving all diligence, ADD TO your faith …” (2Pet 1:5 KJV, emphasis mine)
The Greek word that
has been translated as ‘giving’ in our opening verse is the word pareispherō (Strong’s
G3923), and here in 2Peter is the only place that I can find where this word
has been used. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon
defines pareispherō as “to
contribute to something, to bring along
side, to add to”, painting a picture of a concept similar to when we add
seasoning to our food, enhancing the flavor.
When combined with ‘diligence’ (spoudē,
Strong’s G4710), the two words indicate it is our responsibility to earnestly and with haste perform an act of addition, of adding to something.
In this case, it is
our faith that we are to enhance. What is faith? Most dictionaries will define faith as a trust or belief
in someone, or something.
For those of us who call the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ‘Father’, faith
is a complete trust and belief that Elohim is
who He says He is, and that He will do
what He says He will do.
The Greek word
translated as ‘faith’ is the word pistis
(Strong’s G4102), and first and foremost, it is a noun. In Hebrew, one of the words translated as ‘faith’ is emunah (Strong’s H530), and included in
the meaning of the word is the sense of firmness, steadiness, of security. Emunah
has also been used to imply faithful (Pro 28:20) and faithfulness (Ps 36:5),
and also to suggest truth (Isa 59:4). As with the Greek word pistis, emunah is a noun, and requires an action to
accompany it.
Dictionary.com
defines ‘noun’ as “any member of a class of words that can function as the main
or only element of the subject of verbs.”[1] In other words, faith demands an action of
some kind, if it is to be the subject of a verb. With this thought, we can better understand
the verse that tells us “faith by itself,
unaccompanied by actions, is dead.” (Jam 2:17)
Returning to our opening verse, there emerges the idea that we are to
focus on building upon our foundation of faith.
We are encouraged to consider that there might be key elements that we
must consider adding to the faith that we have, in order that we might enhance
it, improve it, and even season
it. And the overtone is that it is our responsibility to do so.
“Be assured and understand
that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness
and patience.” (Jam 1:3 AMPC)
©2022
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