My good friend, Ross Rohde, made this statement today and the lights went on in my heart/mind:
…because we are Westerners, we misunderstand how God himself judges. Western based cultures (that is, Greek based cultures) are focused on ideas. We “judge” somebody by what they say and “believe.” But “belief” becomes what ideas we say and/or agree to be correct. The Hebrews, on the other hand, were an action based culture. You can tell who someone is, and what someone “believes” by what they do. Because belief and action are rightly welded together in the Hebrew mindset (and the mindset of God); one’s beliefs can easily be judged by what one does. Salvation, belief and behavior are all of one single cloth. In this mindset, if one says “Jesus is my Savior.” The correct response is, “Good, show me by the way you live.” Mere statements about being in agreement with the truth of doctrine don’t count for anything (Js 2:18-19).
Check out the rest of what he said here.
