But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel [good news] even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth [proves] our hearts.
I was sitting in session 2 of our ministry's foundational class last night, and we went to this verse. It really blesses me whenever I see the notes that I have made either in my personal study time or from teachings. One particular note that I had written from my in-depth study of faith/believing a few months ago (more on that study later) was that the phrase "to be put in trust with" in English is the one word pisteuo in the Greek. This is interesting because the definition of that word is (from Bullinger's Lexicon), "be persuaded, rely upon, to trust, to the new testament concept of faith is (i) a fully convinced acknowledgment, (ii) a self surrendering fellowship, (iii) a fully assured and unswerving confidence." The root word of pisteuo is the word pitho which means (from the same source), "to be persuaded by winning words." God loved us so much that we have the amazing privilege to have and speak the good news of the gospel.
What is this good news? When we read the context we see clearly that this gospel is the teachings of the mystery, the revelation that Paul received of God. We see detailed especially in Thessalonians the mystery in regarding our hope, Christ's return, and that as born again believers we have eternal life (along with a lot of other wonderful things).
From what we know about this now, the verse could read:
But as we have the tremendous privilege from God [to be put in trust with the gospel (good news of the mystery, especially the hope)/to be able to get fully persuaded of the good news of the mystery to the point that we are fully assured and reliant upon it because we have been won by its winning words] even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth [proves] our hearts (because He is the searcher of hearts).
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