Pistis — Credence That Defines Sons

Hebrews 6:1 — “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.”

Repentance received you into the new creature. Faith names the state you are in. Do not treat this chapter as a mood. Treat it as the second stone.

This is the textbook of Foundation School, Aletheia Publications, under Dr. Coach Achu Gustave. Holy Scripture is the authority. What follows opens the second principle until you can teach it.

The writer of Hebrews will not let you lay this stone again as a lifestyle. He will also not let you skip it. You leave a foundation after it is laid. You do not leave a heading you never understood.

Faith toward God is not the second feeling after the first tear. It is credence. It defines your state as a child. If you make it a temperature, you have not heard pistis.

I. PISTIS — CREDENCE THAT DEFINES SONS

Faith essentially defines our state as children of God. Greek pistis: credence. In effect it defines our acceptance — true nature — and our espousal: adoption as sons of God.

Credence is not a shiver. Credence is the mind’s agreement with what God has said and done. You credit the record. You do not wait to feel like a son before you will be named one.

Galatians 4:1-3 — “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”

The heir can be lord of all and still live like a servant while he is a child. Bondage under elements is not the last word. The father’s appointed time is.

Galatians 4:4-7 — “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Read the order as written. God sent forth His Son. The Son was made of a woman, made under the law. He redeemed them that were under the law. The purpose of that redemption, in this sentence, is that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Because ye are sons — not in order to become sons — God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The cry follows the sonship. The Spirit does not invent a child. He cries in a child.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Son is not a compliment. Heir follows son as the next name in the same breath.

Romans 8:14-16 — “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. Again. The old bondage is not the gift. The gift is the Spirit of adoption. The cry is Abba, Father. The witness is that you are the children of God — present tense.

Romans 8:17 — “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

If children, then heirs. The “if” is not a doubt about whether children exist. It is the logic of the household. Children inherit. Heirs of God. Joint-heirs with Christ. Suffering with Him is named in the same verse as glorified together. Do not cut the verse in half to keep only the inheritance and refuse the fellowship of His sufferings. Do not cut it in half the other way and keep only the pain as if there were no heir.

Ephesians 1:3-5 — “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

Adoption here is not an emergency repair God thought of after Adam fell. He predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. The will is His. The pleasure is His. The adoption is by Jesus Christ.

Pistis is not a feeling you work up in a meeting. It is credence that agrees with what God has done and who you are by that doing. Servant is not the name. Son is the name. Heir follows son.

Hold the distinction until you can teach it without a slogan. A man may tremble and still be a servant in his mind. A man may be quiet and still be a son. The state is not measured by the noise of the room.

Course 1 received Him. John 1:12 already said that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. This chapter does not invent a second reception. It names the credence of the son that reception made.

Charge of this section. Write, from Galatians 4:5-7 and Romans 8:15-17, whether you are a servant or a son. Do not write a mood. Write the names the text gives. If a son, then an heir. Say what follows.