Faith or to believe is to exhibit the highest level of resolve in the form of action to see a promise, command, or principle found in the Word of God brought to pass and fulfilled regardless of what you feel and regardless of the resistance against it. This resolve begins in the ruling of your soul-life.
Proverbs 16:32
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Rules: h4910. מָשַׁל mâšal; a primitive root; to rule: — (have, make to have) dominion, governor, x indeed, reign, (bear, cause to, have) rule(-ing, -r), have power.
Self-control: Galations 5:23) g1466. ἐγκράτεια egkrateia; from 1468; self-control (especially continence): — temperance.
AV (4) - temperance 4;
self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites)
Those who cannot exercise self-control cannot exercise faith because faith is the exercising of dominion according promise, command, or principle found in the Word of God.
Acts 3:18-21 (Wuest An Expanded Translation) 18 But the things which God announced fully beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ should suffer, He thus fulfilled. 19 Therefore repent at once, instantly changing your attitude, and perform a right-about-face in order that your sins may be obliterated, in order that there may come epoch-making periods of spiritual revival and refreshment from the presence of the Lord, 20 and in order that He may send off on a mission to you Christ Jesus who has been appointed, this appointment being in the interest of your well-being; 21 whom it is a necessity in the nature of the case for heaven indeed to receive until times when all things will be restored to their pristine glory, things regarding which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets who lived in bygone times.
Acts 3:21 (Wuest An Expanded Translation)
21 whom it is a necessity in the nature of the case for heaven indeed to receive until times when all things will be restored to their pristine glory, things regarding which God spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets who lived in bygone times.
restoring G0605 ἀποκατάστασις
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[Analytics]
restoring (3x) G0605 (1x)
[Mounce Greek Dictionary]
gk G640 | s G605 ἀποκατάστασις apokatastasis 1x
pr. a restitution or restoration of a thing to its former state; hence, the renovation of a new and better era, Acts 3:21*
Things: g3956. πᾶς pas; or πᾶσα pasa; or πᾶν pan; including all the forms of declension;
Definitions from Oxford Languages
noun: declension ARCHAIC a condition of decline or moral deterioration."the declension of the new generation"
Acts 3:22-26 (ESV)
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Acts 4:8-12 (ESV)
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
By faith we OVERCOME the declension of this world and escape its wickedness. In this way we are saved and are saving others by turning everyone from its wickedness.
Peter writes about this salvation again.
2 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
Corruption: g5356. φθορά phthora; from 5351; decay, ruin
1 John 5:3-5 (ESV)
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
A promise exists for every part of the declension, that when believed will cause you to overcome it. In this way our faith “overcomes” the world.
Spiritual maturity is the reversal of declension in your life which starts with being born of the Spirit. It is an uphill battle because you are exercising dominion over the very nature and course of this world which is “in the process of passing away”.
We’re so used to declension that our mind is stuck in the fact that we are in a state of decline. Our minds must be renewed to Christ who has overcome declension. This is what it means when He says, “take heart I have overcome the world.”
In anyone born of God, there will be the resolve to overcome. What are we overcoming? The present state of this world in its declension and wickedness.
Faith or to believe is to exhibit the highest level of resolve in the form of action to see a promise, command, or principle found in the Word of God brought to pass and fulfilled regardless of what you feel and regardless of the resistance against it. This resolve begins in the ruling of your soul-life.