Please read my related blogs, Parts I and II, summaries of Charles Bercot’s Discs of “Paul vs. James” before reading this.
Now we finally get to Spirit-inspired Scriptures from Paul--the man that Martin Luther twisted the most to get his “faith-only gospel” started. Folks, we desperately need the truth about how to get to heaven. We've seen what Jesus said about how to get there in Part i; we've seen that Peter, John, and James' Scriptures agree with that. What do Paul's Scriptures say? They say that, unlike what Luther wants you to believe, Paul was not a “faith-only gets you to heaven” guy. Yes, it takes faith--along with repentance and believer baptism to begin the path to heaven. But he, like Jesus and like Peter, James and John, taught, same as they did, that you must form an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ to stay saved and make it to heaven. Again because of time limitations, we have a limit on his inspired verses that we can cover, but if you want ALL the verses that prove this truth about getting to heaven, buy “Paul v James” Disc 3 (from scrollpublishing .com), a Text CD, put it in your computer and read and print it. Folks, the truth about getting to heaven—from Scripture—is not being taught much nowadays. Yet it is critical to our eternal life. Let us never become one of the “believers” in Matthew 25, for example, who go to hell, finding out too late that they were deceived when some simple real Bible reading would give them the truth.
Luther insisted that obedience has nothing to do with salvation. Just have faith, and you're eternally secure. Once you're in place, predestined, strict obedience to Jesus' commands are not critical to salvation. But read Paul in Romans 2:3-11:
And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such (evil) things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
Note how many times the these words appear: "deeds," "doing good," "do not obey" "does evil," "works what is good." Five of them--and not a word about faith. God is clearly saying, doing ungodly works and not repenting, will not escape God’s judgment, no matter what your “faith” is; eternal life, or heaven, are for those who continue to do good. To maintain salvation, God “will render to each one according to his deeds.” Crystal clear, is it not?
Romans 8:1, 6:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit...6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:1a is quoted frequently by the "faith-only" crowd. But if they would only finish the sentence, they would see that how they walk in life is a condition of escaping condemnation. "Carnally minded" is not thinking about Christ or God six days a week, but thinking about the world--this results in guaranteed "death"--hell.
Romans 11:20-23:
Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Yes, you begin in faith--but you need to fear God Who sees your behavior. God, unlike what you hear from the pulpits, is also severe, and can remove your salvation, or leave you "cut off." We must endure against sin, we must continue in His goodness, to stay heaven bound.
I Corinthians 6:9-10:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Some sins are more serious, and by themselves will throw you off salvation and on the way to hell—unless you repent (repentance is not here, but it’s covered in other verses). There are no escapes: it bluntly says, you lose salvation by participating in these acts. Do everything you can to avoid these sins.
I Corinthians 7:19:
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.
Paul is saying, we’re not bound to Mosaic law (such as on circumcision). We’re bound to Jesus’ commands. Study those. Maybe begin with the Sermon on the Mount. Whenever He says, or implies, "do this," that's a command. An example there is to love your enemies, a tough one for sure.
II Corinthians 5:15&6:1:
…and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 6 We, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
His purpose for giving us a new life? So we don't live for ourselves (how many of us have ruminated on that one, how to avoid living for ourselves?) We are to live for Him; that necessarily involves obedience to Him. How do you “receive the grace of God in vain”? By losing the grace you once had. The only way we receive the grace of God is by getting saved. Then if it becomes "in vain," that means you lost salvation. Thus, this says, that at some point, living for ourselves and not thinking about transferring our behavior to living for Him, sets us back on the way to hell.
II Corinthians 13:5:
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
The eternal security person doesn’t like this verse. The truth is, we have to examine ourselves, to see if our behaviors are more godly or more corrupt (i.e., are we still "in the faith"). The "faith only crowd" preaches that the "believer" must feel certain that he is saved, no matter what. But isn’t that complacent thinking? But the Truth, as seen in this verse, says that you should examine yourself for sin that threatens to eventually take you out of the faith. Doesn’t sound like much eternal security in this verse. If you're looking for proof that "behavior" is in this verse, look simply at one word: disqualify. there are some behaviors that can disqualify us. (A bad word to the Luther crowd). If you're disqualified you're hell-bound.
For the benefit of those "predestined folks," note this: Disqualify is not the same word as unqualify. “Unqualify” means you never got saved in the first place. Disqualify means you got it, then did something that got yourself turned out. Thus, another proof, in a single word, that you can lose salvation, and sinful behaviors are involved. A big difference in a little prefix, wouldn’t you say?
Galatians 6:7-9:
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap IF we do not lose heart.
God often places conditions on ultimate salvation by including the word “if.” “Losing heart,” or giving up faith, leading to unrighteous deeds ("reaping corruption"), will put us on a slippery mindset headed for hell. (I have a blog on the importance of the word “if” in Biblical gospel.)
II Thessalonians 2:11-12:
And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
These verses are on the Last Days. The idea that God would “send” strong delusion is outside the realm of this paper. But I ask: What is “the lie?” Is it explained in verse 12? Is the Lie the self-deception into believing that you can live for the flesh, and still gain heaven? Is God’s severity in judgment part of “the truth” that we seldom hear about, enabling us to deceive ourselves?
I Timothy 5:8:
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
“Denying the faith,” a terrible sin, isn’t restricted to verbally denying Christ; it seems to have a broader, dangerous meaning that includes doing, or in this case, not doing, certain works. The man who is lazy and does not attempt to provide for his family has spoken loudly to the world that he has no Christian character. This is denying the faith just as much as verbally telling the world so. Also note: This person was once a believer, since he is contrasted to an unbeliever. And note that an act of unrighteousness made him lose his salvation (implied because he became “worse” than an unbeliever.”)
II Timothy 2:12-13:
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Lots of people, including pastors I've heard, selectively grab the phrase “if we are faithless, He remains faithful,” to mean ‘He is faithful to save us, no matter what we do.’ But it doesn’t say that. How could He have meant that and in the same paragraph said He “will…deny us?” He can't save us and deny us in the same time. Here is the answer, a troublesome truth, the only one possible: Look to the phrase “He cannot deny Himself.” It’s speaking of Him remaining faithful to His own words and to His perfect holiness. As we learn in context, “He remains faithful” simply means He will fulfill His promises to the letter. And if He promised elsewhere in Scripture that living for the flesh (being "faithless"), thus denying Him will mean hell, then that’s it; He will stick to His Scriptural promises and send us there, even though He loved and pursued us. He did of course also say elsewhere in Scripture that real repentance (change of behavior, not just sorrow) will bring grace. Note the conditional "if" again: “IF we endure, we shall reign with Him.” Denying Christ obviously means we didn’t endure. So you’ve lost your salvation by doing that.
Thus, Paul and James really agree: We maintain salvation through faith and an obedient relationship with our Savior. And it is possible to lose salvation by not performing both sides of the linkage.
Now onto a related subject: Many of you will insist that I'm "avoiding" the verses that disparage works. But when Paul disparages works, he is proving a different point than what you think. He is arguing against the Judaist believers who wanted the Gentile new believers to be circumcised and forced to follow Mosaic (or, Old Testament) law—those works are what he disparages. So he’s saying that Moses’ laws, those works, are not essential to Christianity.
So to prove that "selective verse picking" is not going on, let’s take a fresh look at these verses below, some of Luther’s favorites, in the light of what we've conclusively proven above. Let’s start with Romans 3:20-31:
Therefore by the deeds of the (Mosaic) law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the (Mosaic) law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of (Moses’) works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the (Mosaic) law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law
Note how the interpretation of these verses changes when you understand this term “law” means “Moses’ law.” To back that up, consider Romans 4:1-17, where Paul disparages the work of circumcision (a big item in Moses’ law), how Abraham was not saved by circumcision, but by faith. His circumcision came later, after God declared him righteous. So now, with this thinking, we have no problem reconciling these supposedly “work-disparaging” verses into our gospel, Jesus’ gospel. Paul was talking about a different meaning of “works” than James.
On the meaning of "we establish the law." He means, we are, through love and commitment, loyal to Christ and His family--by being "circumcised by faith." That's the real meaning of circumcision.
Romans 10:3
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God
This seems to be about disdaining people trying to earn salvation through their own righteousness, or works. But it’s about disdaining the Jews continuing Jewish practices to obtain salvation.
Romans 11: 5,6:
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
Again, by disparaging “works,” he is not talking about ignoring obedience to Christ. He’s talking about Jews who have been saved did not get there by the works of the Mosaic Law.
Paul talks a lot about the Judaistic mixup. Galatians 2:3-5 is about circumcision. In Galatians 3:2, the works of the law is referring to the Law of Moses. Ephesians 2:8-17 has a couple of our favorite verses disparaging works, but Paul is AGAIN disparaging the Mosaic Law--for proof, note the reference to circumcision in verses 11 and 15. Philippians 3:2-5 disparages “confidence in the flesh” but he’s talking about circumcision, the Mosaic Law. Colossians 2:11-17 same story.
As you can see, this “ammunition” used by some to disparage as “legalism” our insistence on obedience to Christ are clearly out of context. In those cases, he is talking about how wrong it is to try to live the Law of Moses as the basis for salvation.
In summary: getting on the Vine requires belief, repentance, washing the water of regeneration. Abiding on the Vine, as John 15:1-6 clearly points out, requires obedience, a regular relationship with our Lord. You can lose your salvation by living by the flesh. Examine yourselves, readers! Read all Jesus’ words on what it takes to escape hell. Determining what it takes to spend eternity in heaven is a worthwhile occupation!
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