You should read my Part 1 before reading this. Here is a very brief summary of it: What Jesus taught about salvation seems to be little taught nowadays from the pulpits. Namely, true salvation from hell is in two phases: To get on the Vine, you exercise faith and repentance (and believer baptism), then you're saved. But "staying on the Vine"--keeping salvation--requires abiding in Him (John 15)--i.e., by fruit, showing obedience to your Lord. Not reading the Gospels, ignoring Christ's commands, is a ticket to hell, even if you "exercised faith" at one time in your life, and ignored Him thereafter. A mind assent is all that is. You should daily be in contact with His Spirit and His Word about obeying His commands. Please note: You are saved through His grace, and faith in what Christ has done, and His ability to make you a new creation and to avoid the power of sin in your life.
Now let's look at Part II: Did the three leaders of the early church get the gospel right—which means, is it the same as Jesus’ gospel? Let’s read and see.
PETER
Peter’s presentation of the gospel in the first ten chapters of Acts, are pleasing to God; which is why He grants Peter to open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles as well. We’ll begin with Peter’s gospel. In Acts 2:36-38, we see his clear word about “how to get on the Vine” (see Part I last week for an explanation of that term):
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
What do they do to be saved after they were told to accept the identity of Jesus as the Christ? Repent (have a change of heart and behavior), and be baptized—this is the normal way to get on the Vine. Now let’s see his gospel presentation at Acts 10:34-35:
Then Peter opened his mouth and said…35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
This seems to disagree with Peter's words in Acts 2 above. But Peter is simply giving the second phase of salvation: maintaining salvation through a life of righteous obedience to Him. In other words, fruits. This second phase doesn’t jibe with Martin Luther’s “just have faith, no works necessary"--what I call "easy believism." But Peter agrees with Jesus, not Luther. For those of you who believe mental faith is all you need, and works will "inevitably" follow salvation: You know you've seen individuals where that doesn't happen. That person was never saved, or never had the desire to produce fruits for Him. I Peter 1:13-17 says:
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear
Peter uses God's favorite word, "grace" (translated, unfortunately nowadays, as "no works necessary") included with the phase "obedient children." Does that fit Luther’s model of salvation—or Jesus’ model? But grace really means kindness or favor, and is awarded to His undeserved children. But we still must be obedient and holy. Remember what we said in Part I on Jesus' explanation of salvation,from John 15: If you don’t obey Christ, you don’t love Him—and that means you’re not saved. He extends favor to those who ABIDE while on Christ’s Vine—abiding means a relationship with Jesus, one of faithfulness and obedience. Once you had faith in His finished work, and got on the Vine, we must remember God judges according to our fruits, as the above verses show. These works are not “trying to earn merit” that some people use to get into heaven: They like to say, "I'm good more often than I'm bad." I Peter 4:17-18:
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Note that Peter uses the word "obey" as necessary to pass the Judgment seat. Note his emphasis on being "scarcely saved." (Modern evangelistic churches avoid these terms as being uncertain). II Peter 2:20-21: For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. Note that the knowledge of the Lord and Savior causes us to avoid the pollutions of the world. Thus, belief is not just mental assent, but the work of avoiding the materialism and sins of the world is involved. Note that those who are entangled with the world enough to "turn away from the holy commandment" means "the latter end is worse for them than the beginning." This is clearly interpreted as losing salvation--because this is AFTER they were originally saved, yet they are in the position of being "worse" than the unsaved. As we said in Part I, Luther didn’t like II Peter. You can see why—no two verses speak more clearly about the possibility of losing salvation—an idea that doesn't fit Luther’s “gospel.” But don't forget, we want to agree with Jesus. Jesus said if we don’t bear fruit, we’ll be cut off from the Vine and thrown into the fire (John 15: 6). So Peter agrees with Jesus, not Luther. There are many more verses, lots more proof of Peter’s gospel agreeing with our Lord, but we have space restrictions.
JOHN
Moving to John, consider a difficult verse, John 1:16-17, which seems to agree with Luther:
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
This seems to say that Jesus' grace replaces the law--and that seems to say that works are no longer necessary. But Scripture clearly doesn’t teach that, as we have just seen (there's further explanation, but that's in another blog.) So, is Scripture contradicting itself here? No, there is a clear explanation: the word "law" here is the Law of Moses. It is Christo-Judaism that John is battling against--those who believed that, to get on the Vine, it was necessary to be like a Jew and have to follow the Law of Moses; for instance, they wanted the prospective believer to be circumcised. But that's not true Scripture; as we have seen, to get on the Vine, it's not the law of Moses--one only must repent, and have faith in Jesus as our substitute, Who paid for our past sins. John wants to remove the Jewish works. Those works are not a part of salvation. I John 2:3-5:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
Not knowing Him is a sentence to hell. As we see above, not keeping His commands means we do not know Him--and are on hell's path. Also note the last sentence. We are in Him, we know Him intimately--we are still saved--by keeping His word (i.e, His commands), which perfects the love of the Spirit. I John 3:10:
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Loving your fellow believers is one of the fruits that God expects. Note also that not practicing righteousness leaves you "not of God," or not a child of God, but thus a child of the devil. "Practicing" suggests a daily effort to be obedient--in effect, abiding in Him. This is a strong hint for regularly attending a gospel church. How can you love the brethren if you avoid church, and know nothing about them? There are more, but space demands we move on.
JAMES
He is Jesus' half-brother, the third leader of the early church. Let's start with James 1:12:
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Note that “approved” (a salvation word) is not guaranteed forever by your once expressing faith—but it is conditional on our enduring temptation. This is a daily task to break out of the habits you learned from the world. James 1:22:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
How do we deceive ourselves? By thinking we’re saved when we’re not doing the word—i.e, not practicing obedience. James 2:12:
So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
The phrase “law of liberty” is not an oxymoron, not self-contradictory. Good laws give liberty to people. Lawlessness in society is scary. It restricts the freedom of those who want order. Being freed from the bondage of Satan is freedom indeed. When James speaks of the law here, he means His moral commandments (he thinks about the word "law" differently than Paul). Note also that he is speaking to saved people; we will be judged. Many folks actually believe that Christians will escape judgment. Not the case, as this verse indicates. Our judgment will be based on whether we are speaking AND DOING what His commandments are, in Scripture. This agrees perfectly with Christ in Matthew 25:40ff. James 2:14:
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
Of the two questions, the last question is rhetorical; When asked “what does it profit?” The answer is “None.” That brand of "faith" cannot save. Clearly, James is arguing that "faith" not followed by works is not real; it's just mental assent, and does not gain us heaven. This is also made clear in James 2:24-26:
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
This verse is explained away by commentators, who want to make it meaningless. Dead means dead—no life, so no heaven. Such is "faith" without the follow-up fruit, or works. Also, we need to be justified by God to be saved, and the verses are clearly saying, God’s justification expects the follow-through of works. Note that James nowhere implies that a "once-declared" faith means that God will force, or predestine, you to do proper works (that's an idea that lends itself to believing in "eternal security"--what many theologians believe). No, it takes effort, it takes striving; words that are elsewhere in Scriptures. James 5:19-20:
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Note that this says AFTER one wanders from the truth (thus, he was saved before), someone could then correct us--and see us saved--again. Yes, if you were on the Vine, you can wander away—to death of the soul (or, hellbound again). Thus, you can lose your salvation. But you can sincerely repent and be saved again. Thus, we conclude: ALL THREE of these prominent Christian leaders—who were closest to Christ—agree in total to Christ’s gospel. An obedient love-faith relationship with Him is necessary to maintain salvation. The epistle of James, under attack later from Luther, should be particularly defended here—he had a leadership role in early Christianity—as Acts 15:13 and Galatians 2:9 show. The main point is, he praises works as essential--not to be saved, initially, but to stay saved. Call on the Holy Spirit for help. James' words agree with his half-brother Jesus. NEXT WEEK: DOES PAUL REALLY DISAGREE WITH JAMES?
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