Homily 699 – 10APE
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Ames, Iowa
August 9, 2026
Epistle:  (131) 1 Corinthians 4:9-16 and (213) Galatians 5:22-6:2
Gospel:  (72) Matthew 17:14-23 and (24) Luke 6:17-23

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

Apistos (ἄπιστος) – faithless, unbelief.  That word comes up twice in the current passage.  First time, Christ uses the word which is translated as “faithless”.  Second time, it is unbelief.  Last week, we spent some time exploring what belief, what faith, actually was.  Last week we recognized that the greek word for faith, pistis (πίστις), was the equavilent of the Hebrew word enumah.

We explored what enumah meant in the context of the Old Testament, where the Hebrews had the experience of God that generated the enumah, or belief, or faith, however you prefer to translate it.

In Greek, when you place an alpha, the letter “a”, in front of a word, it means the opposite – the negative.  For example, the akathist Hymn is the letter alpha added to the word “Kathist”, meaning to sit.  So, akathist is “not sitting.”  Standing is how we understand it.

Now, we defined this word last week, so it should be brief to understand this word as “not that.”  “Opposite of that.  Case closed, right?

But I don’t think we can let go quite so quickly.  Faith, as we defined it last week, is the behavior that stems from trust that reveals itself as action.  So this word must be inaction from lack of trust, right?

I’m not so sure.  If we look at a few of the other places in the Bible where this word is used, we might get a different understanding.

Proverbs 17:6 – found only in the Greek, and not in the Hebrew texts – says the faithful has the whole world full of wealth, but the faithless not even a small coin.

Isaiah 17:10 – For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant plesant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.

A quick note here:  The word that is translated as “plesant” and “of a stranger” is actually the word for untrustworthy.  A literal translation from the Greek would read:

“For you forsook the God your deliverer, even you God you remembered not.  On account of this you shall plant an untrustworthy plant and an untrustworthy seed.  And in the day whenever you should plant, you shall be mislead.”

Acts 26:8 – St. Paul in his defense before King Agrippa, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”

1 Cor 6:6 – Brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

1 Cor 7:12 – if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever … if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever.

1 Cor 10:27 – if one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go …

1 Cor 14:22 – tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers.

2 Cor 4:4 – in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.

2 Cor. 6:14 – do not be equally yoked with unbelievers.

1 Tim 5:8 – if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliver.

Titus 1:15 – To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

Rev. 21:8 – perhaps the strongest statement of all, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Now, that’s a lot of references, but the pattern that emerges is clear, St. Paul especially.  If we return to the passage at hand, the Gospel of Matthew, unbelief is equated with not being a believer, which St. Paul says is one who follows Christ.

We’re back in the quandary of last week.  If we aren’t taking action to follow Christ, we are an unbeliever.  And belief has very little to do with simple intellectual assent to something.  That much we remember from last week.

The demons also believe! And tremble in awe at the thought!

If we are not active on our belief, if we only mentally assent to the understanding of Christ and the Trinity expressed in the Creed, we are of no use as believers.  It isn’t sufficient to be like the protestant faith healers, and say “I command you in the name of Jesus.”  That dear brothers and sisters is taking the Lord’s name in vain.  We don’t do anything.  God does it.  It isn’t at our command or direction, either.  It is at our request that God take action.  That is all we can do.

What we have to take from this, and I’m looking straight at myself here, is that our faith is useless unless it is lived out.  Our belief, even sincerely held belief, is not worthy unless acted upon.

For us – for me – that means to take seriously that the only thing getting in my way here is me.  Myself.  My ego, my will, my desire, my hope, my dream.  That is what Christ asks us to give up.  And if we can do that, we will be united through Christ to the Divine God, and we can ask God anything.

Like the old testament prophets who soaked their offering in water then asked God to consume it in fire.  Not to prove themselves – but to allow God to prove Himself.

Then, God will cast out demons at our request.  God will move mountains at our request.  And God will bring us healing, which is our salvation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Glory to Jesus Christ!