If you believe what
you read in ‘contradiction or change’, then you should be willing to consider
the following thoughts.
1)
Read
Galatians and Ephesians with these thoughts as possibilities: Paul became an
apostle of Jesus after Jesus died-Gal 1:1.
2)
He was
educated by Jesus-Gal 1:12-2:1 and when in conference with the other
apostles, they could tell him nothing that he didn’t already know-Gal 2:6. Yet, he added to their understanding of salvation.
3)
Jesus
gave Paul the answer to the mystery that had been hidden from the beginning of
time-Eph 3:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 A.
Part of
this mystery was revealed by Jesus in Luke 8:10.
B.
This
mystery unified both Jew and Gentile into one category, unbelief-Rom 11:32
C.
This
mystery placed Jesus as savior for all mankind-Rom 10:12. This mystery revealed to everyone the concept of faith-Eph 2:7,8,9,10 - and the concept of grace-Heb 11:1- as being attainable to all mankind through a relationship
with Jesus.
D.
This
mystery fulfilled the reign of the law over mankind-Eph 2:16, Rom
8:1,2,3,4- and freed man to
worship God in love and freedom instead of fear and trembling-Eph 4:16.
E.
This
mystery revealed the new Body of Christ-Rom 16:25, Eph 2:19-22, ICor 12:12,27,- the unity of believers,
F.
And
the new temple of God-ICor
6:19,- for the Holy Spirit now
resides permanently in a believer and leads and directs his life as he is
allowed by his host.
G.
This
mystery preaches that Jesus reconciled sinful man to a perfect God through the
sacrifice of the perfect son-Eph
2:16;-
H.
That
God judges sinners on the Great white throne-Rev 20:12,-
but sees believers as sons of God and only sees the blood of Jesus that hides
their sins from him- John
5:24; -That Jesus judges
believers based on the disregard and flippant attitude they have towards the
sacrifice he gave for their freedom from hell- IICor 5:10,- and rewards those with works worth keeping I Cor 11:31-32;
I.
That
although all this is true and important, it will not grant you eternal life-Rom 10-9,10. But, all this stuff does nothing to
increase our salvation. When we understand; then, it simply adds joy and
freedom to a loving relationship with a loving God.
Only true belief, thru faith, in Jesus being the only son of God
that died and paid our debt of sinning (death) rose from death, and ascended
into heaven will assure us eternal life.
This is just the beginning of the mysteries that Jesus revealed to
Paul.
And Paul was to share those mysteries with us in his writings.
4.
No One
before Paul taught this stuff. It was a revelation given to and unique to Paul
from Christ. Just as the law was given to Moses, or that the promise was given
to Abraham. Where is the stumbling block that prevents you from accepting this
fact?
5.
Understanding
the Grace of God in greater measure expands our territory and allows us to grow
in a closer relationship with our father. The written Word of God we have
received gives us greater understanding, wisdom and knowledge in these troubled
times and we are better equipped to serve him as warriors with the sword of
truth.
6.
Jesus
Christ fulfilled the Law and in doing so he put the laws in our hearts so that
when we remain focused on Him,
7.
We are
no longer capable of transgression.
8.
It is
only when we look into our old man that sin renters our life.
9.
It’s always
been and is still, free choice; we are still free to choose minute by minute to
follow Christ
10.
He
desires us to worship him out of love, not out of fear or necessity.
Salvation by Grace through faith is profound in its simplicity, and Romans 2:16 confirms Jesus will Judge us by Paul's Gospel. Mixing gospels, and mixing grace with works only reaps anxiety, fear of failure, and a fractured doctrine and understanding of God's word.
ReplyDeleteMany would be offended to hear that Jesus' had a different (not contradictory) message than Paul. Why? Simple answer. Jesus was there in the FLESH, standing in front of them. As, such, his message varied from Pauls. Peters message differed from Pauls in that the Resurrection was common knowledge on the streets of Jerusalem at the time, as Peters preaching attested to.
Pauls Gospel is the one Christ will judge us by (Rom 2 16), and is the key to "Rightly divide" the Word of Truth to the Gentile. Great blog Jeff!
It's very hard to take what the Bible says and believe it as it is without including perceptions and preconceived ideas of life that we have accumulated. Truth is Jesus was in the flesh at 'that' time and the message did change after he died, rose, and ascended, BUT it was JESUS that changed the message. Paul was just the messenger. Read Galatians 1.
ReplyDeleteThanks country boy for your comment on how we are to understand the Truth today. - jeff
Well done, Jeff! To rightly divide the word we must understand the audience for which each verse was intended. Mostly this means differentiating Israel from the Church, and believers from nonbelievers. Preaching of "the Gospel" has become so watered down that some say it just means to "accept Jesus" or to "invite Him into your heart. The Gospel of the Kingdom, as preached first by John the Baptist, then by Jesus and the early apostles, is that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, and that believers should repent and be baptized. The Gospel of grace, as revealed to Paul by Christ Himself, is that salvation is only through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who was the perfect sacrifice for our sins, so that when God looks at a believer He sees only the righteousness of His Son.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a blog post on "Do You Know the Gospel?":
http://savedbygracebiblestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/do-you-know-gospel.html
Thanks again for this enlightening post, and may God bless you and your ministry.
Laurie