Romans 3 Does Not Mean What You Think It Means (Part 2 of 2)

 

We left off last week promising more proofs that sanctification, and forming a day-to-day relationship with Jesus  is necessary to maintaining salvation. So let’s begin.

I must say one thing at the start.  Initial salvation can be easy; it does not require us straightening our lives out with works to become initially saved.  However, disagreeing with Calvin, our first “work” of salvation is when we figure out, from a free will that God gave us, that our sin deserves hell, but Christ died in our place, and we choose Him to “redeem” us, as the Greek suggests, out of the slave market. Yes, we were a slave—to sin. Now we are (or should be) owing our lives to Christ, who is offering the only path to heaven.  Now I will show you, clear as day, in Scripture, something no one talks about, yet necessary to avoid hell, to live in sanctification.  I mean that we must have a daily (not “foxhole”) relationship with Jesus.  Look at John 15:5-6:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

This clearly proves that, long-term, salvation requirement goes beyond belief in Jesus to forming a continual relationship (abiding) with Him.  If you do not have a relationship with the One who loves you, then you can’t truly say you love Him—and you are hell-bound.  Verse 6 says that.  Look also at I John 2:6 for some help on the word “abide”:

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

“Abiding” is not just belief.  It means action, or works, when we “walk as He walked.”  We talk with Him in prayer any time, and the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit and guides us.  We learn more and more about what we do that is good, or become convicted of what is not so good—and repent of that.  We confess to Him our sin, we study His Word, we learn what He wants, learn His commands and God’s personality by reading Scripture (Old Testament too) daily.  We strive to be like Him.  On our relationship with Him, think of a person you love.  If we don’t talk to our “beloved” (say your spouse) except one day a week, or when we want something, or when we are in trouble--that’s not love. So you are not abiding: you are still hell-bound.

So, yes, sanctification, building Christ-likeness through a relationship with Him, is also a “work” necessary for continual salvation.  Keep remembering John 15:5-6; abiding is necessary, or we are on the wrong path.  Striving to become Christ-likeness is a courageous and honorable work, which we do for Him, who redeemed us. Not because it’s “just required.”

About “striving;” kind of a “works” word, isn’t it?  Consider Paul’s testimony in Acts 24:

…there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men

Strive” here means he was always trying, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to get closer to Christ-likeness. That striving is a work.

Now let’s take a deeper dive into Paul’s mind by a little word-study.  Two verses prove the same point, using the same key word in both. NKJ version:

I Corinthians 9:27:

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified

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.

So what’s the meaning of “disqualified?” Is Paul worried about being disqualified for “some of heaven’s rewards” (as some pastors say) by “coasting through life” instead of sanctification?  No. In the Greek, the word is adokimos, which means “reprobate, rejected, not passing the test.” If you have any doubts, it means, for anyone unfortunately attached to the name, he/she is hell-bound; he didn’t pass the test for heaven. Further, the verses are telling us that Paul is avoiding that dreaded judgment by staying close to the Lord (“Jesus..is within you?”) , both internally (by an honest self-inspection) and externally (disciplining his body). If Paul is concerned, being the mighty apostle that he is, shouldn’t we? Wake up! Think about it!

Just to add proof of that, the same Greek word “adokimos” is used in Romans 1:28 (underlined).  We’ll also include v. 29-32, so you can see that these people obviously did not “pass the test” for heaven. KJV:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; ²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, ³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: ³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Do you want your “relaxed, doing nothing different from everybody else” theology to be linked with them? Well, it is there. What happened to the “new creation” you are supposed to be, per II Corinthians 5:17?

Do those verses in Corinthians prove that Paul taught “once saved, always saved?” Do you see him blissfully confident that no matter what he does, his one-time past confession of Christ is good forever?  Or, do you see him concerned about making sure that his body is fit, disciplined, and his mind driven to love His Lord and wants every behavior (or work) to be a light to the world, giving glory to Christ?  And finally:  Did Paul believe that these efforts were required to make sure he would never fail the test, or be disqualified for heaven? These verses, with the definition of “adokimos,”  clearly show the answer to the last question is “yes.” The II Corinthians verse clearly says we should do the same internal examination to make sure that we are maintaining our salvation, that we did not become disqualified because we repeatedly failed to act, or failed to think, or failed to examine ourselves well enough to know how to strategize against a sin—if not, we slide back into some prevailing sin, which was too enjoyable to give up.  Or perhaps we have extra money but have done nothing to provide financial help for the distant innocents that are poor and that need help, that we have not cast Our Lord in a poor light because of our actions—or inactions. 

In Paul’s internal examination in II Corinthians above, this might be done at the Lord’s Supper. I Corinthians 11:27-28 suggests it, using the same words:

²⁷ Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

The problem is, few pastors provide sufficient quiet time in the service for that. We need alone time, to talk with Him. It is necessary to open our hearts to have the Holy Spirit speak to us of our failures and our successes every so often. He can tell us where we fall short--sometimes it’s a blind spot with us, we didn’t even know. This self-exam, this vulnerability, is necessary to stop the tendency to slide into a serious sin, and possibly lose salvation once obtained.  (There are other clear verses that support that, but we don’t have time. Seek other blogs—or read the Gospels).

I know what you’re thinking now: “ooh, that’s insecurity.  God wouldn’t want us to be insecure about being saved.  We can’t love Him then.”  Well, show me the Bible verse that requires God to keep us feeling secure!  Maybe you’d also like to see the number of sins that would disqualify you, so you could count (as if you think you catch them all), and know that a few more sins are OK since I haven’t reached the danger number yet?  God has to give you that number?  What does the Scripture say?  Philippians 2:12: we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Yes, we must confess our sins to God, and beg His help so we can defeat them, knowing the potential ultimate terror of evil habits.  We go to the Lord with our concerns, and we develop, from our fear, a hatred for the sins in our lives, how Satan is laughing when we do them, how it discredits our Lord, and how it ruins our testimony.  By doing all this, we are led to perceive how many sins we notice that we never noticed before, in our lives.  We begin to see our wicked nature, and lean ever more on Him to enable us to do anything for Him at all. And we become more amazed and thankful for His grace.

But it’s definitely not like every time we sin, we lose our salvation.  We form habits, over time, of godliness.  Long-held bad habits have to be overcome first.  They are hard to break, and God might not kill the desire you have for that sin right away.  It takes time, and God has patience (Luke 13:6-9)—as long as you, by praying for His help, are doing your part in killing the sin.  When we get more mature like that, we do not have fear of God. For the new converts in the Lord, there are mature Christians around who will caution them, comfort their fear, showing verses that God has patience, mentor them to learn to love Him and stay close. Otherwise, it’s easy to coast, to relax in the Lord.  (Ahh, it feels so spiritual to sit and just love Him.) Well, let Paul be your mentor—moss won’t grow on you.

Now let’s look at John 15:5 again. It says we must yield “much fruit.”  What are those?  Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Developing those fruits takes work—they appear when we “crucify the flesh.” Turning our back on the world system of selfishness, greed, and deception.   We should take an honest look at each of those fruit terms—do you have each of those?  Can you ask of God to remind you of a time when you didn’t have one today?  God loves for us just to be honest; He won’t reject our honesty in confession (by the way, not speaking Catholic, but confession straight to the Lord several times a week strengthens us).  It’s good, at least, unless we tell Him, “Well, God, I can’t do those things well, so I gave up trying, if that’s all right with You.”  Well, I can guarantee you, God saves us to change us; it’s NOT all right to lay around thinking of your “ticket to heaven.” Here's proof, in Hebrews 12:

 “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
⁶ For whom the Lord loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

⁷ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? ⁸ But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Not being disciplined and feeling no urgency to change by the Spirit’s urging us, could mean our conscience is seared and we are illegitimate—not one of His.  I.e., hell-bound. Scripture also teaches us that God gets tired of chastening if we are not listening—so He leaves off for a while, until we start getting in deep trouble with our stupidity.  Story of many a man’s life. In the meantime, Satan loves you when you are relaxing in his camp, and you don’t even know it—or you don’t want to think about it. Perhaps we comforted ourselves thinking that our fabulous testimony when we were “saved” was enough.  But we could lose whatever we had, over the long haul of wrong choices, of refusal to be pruned the Lord’s way.  My point is, God saves us to have us show by our works that we are changed.  Think of Ephesians 2:10:…we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  We must be a light, separated from the world and darkness.  We will evangelize, and win family for the Lord with our testimony that we are, indeed, a “new creation”—and can walk the talk.

Notice that in the list of fruits, going to church is not anywhere in that list.  So going to church does not get you to heaven. (But Hebrews 10:25 suggests that we do). No purgatory, or second chances, in the Bible either.  On the other hand, if you seriously lack mercy, you won’t go to heaven.  James 2:13:

For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. 

Yes, giving mercy to the unloved or to the enemy is a hard work. It is easier to extend mercy to a family member or friend. David is your classic case of mercy for his enemy. He would not even say a bad word about Saul, who was determined to kill him.  Not exercising mercy is bad news: If God judges us that we have no mercy, we should tremble at our destination.

How about another one? For those unwilling to forgive, God lacks forgiveness.  You should know Matthew 6:12: …forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. If that doesn’t convince you, read Matthew 18: 21-35. At the end, the servant who would not forgive was, for our purposes, consigned to hell.  Why? we are ALL forgiven our HUGE load of sin (debt). Whatever we are challenged with in others, it is a lesser total.  Let us forgive. Yes, a work. Because without our forgiveness of others, God cannot forgive us.

There are so many in Scripture. Other blogs deal with it.

Why were men declared “righteous” or “just” in Scripture?  Look at Noah in Genesis 6:9:

Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 

He was just (justified, saved) because he “walked with God.”  The same as I John 2:6, mentioned earlier.   Walking is doing works.  Noah didn’t stop with “believing” in God.

Here’s another:  Jesus says “do,” not just “believe,” frequently, when He talks of getting to heaven. Take a look at Matthew 25: parts of 36-46. Jesus has people on His right and left for final Judgment:

³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand…³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?...  ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food…⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

There is an antichristian idea that says that since a Greek word in v.32 is frequently translated “nations,” not “people,” we, as “people,” can ignore it.  Not so! The Bible Study Tools of the Greek explains the word translated “nations”: “That is, all that have professed the Christian religion in all the nations of the world.”  That definition stresses people. Look at vv 41-46:  Those “nations,” do they actually talk?  No, nations do not talk.  PEOPLE talk.  People are individually consigned to heaven or hell.  Does a whole nation go to hell?  No!  So, these verses are for us. So let’s pay attention to what they say. Doing good for a needy neighbor (now, our neighbors are global) is connected to salvation. Note that. (PS: Since the “neighbor” could be several thousand miles away, you could help them through mission organizations. See Minstrywatch.com for help).

It’s like God has a test for Judgment Day, like a test upcoming in school.  Did you ever find someone who had the answer key?  Boy, most people latch onto him! They bother him unmercifully for the answers.  Well, here.is part of an answer key to heaven and Judgement. If I were reading Scripture for the first time, I would be holding my breath in v. 34:  Okay, God, Who makes heaven, who doesn’t make it?  Am I on the left, with goats?  Or on the right, with sheep?  Let me take notes here, of His answers.  What are the requirements to be a “sheep”? Well, there’s your answer, plain as day, in those verses!  But we say, “You’re telling me feeding the stranger, the poor, the oppressed; clothing them, even giving them shelter.” What are the chief Commandments?  Love God, and love your neighbor, right? But who is our neighbor (Luke 10:29)? Maybe our neighbors are the most despised people. Like the Samaritan in Luke.  What do most “Christians” think of people with no possessions, very poor? (I am speaking of the homeless, people who lack food and health care, anywhere  throughout the world, even including the innocents of Gaza).

I could say more, but as Clint Eastwood said in one movie, “A Man’s Got to Know His Limitations.”  This is too long already.

 

Romans 3 Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

 

Dave Bercot, whose articles I have summarized on other blogs, believes that the early Christians (who lived around 100AD-250AD), knew the Bible better than we do, because it was their language, it was their culture, and because they got answers for difficult issues from the apostles, or the disciples of the apostles. Here is another article I’m summarizing that is based on a misinterpretation that Luther made about a Scripture having to do with the role of works vs faith in salvation.  Definitely an important subject!

Our problem is in Romans 3.

To get things in context:  In the first 19 verses of Romans 3, Paul has created an “Objector,” a fictional character, with whom he carries on a dialogue.  The character is an unbelieving Jew, and the “questions” are partly about the Jews’ relationship to Moses’ Law that the Objector is “asking” that Paul “answers,” giving us a learning experience about the Jews’ thinking at the time about salvation. 

We begin with the Objector’s complaint in Romans 3:1-2:

 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ² Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

The Objector is frustrated, since Paul has said in chapter 2 that in the New Covenant established by Jesus, salvation is not connected to most of the Moses Law. The Objector thought that that Law was the gateway to salvation, the advantage the Jews had over the Gentiles. Paul states the advantage of the Jews was different—they received God’s inspired Word.

Paul had maintained in Romans 2 that in the New Covenant, Jews and Gentiles are both saved on the same basis—and that basis is NOT the Mosaic Law.  See for yourself below: deeds are necessary for heaven, but not the deeds in the Moses’ Law--and see what earns hell, in Romans 2: 5b-11:

…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 Gentile; ¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God

The Objector’s problem is, the way he sees it, the Jews and the Gentiles are not really on the same basis because, according the apostles, God is giving eternal life to the Gentiles, yet without requiring them to submit to circumcision or coming under all the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law like the Jews did, or I should say, failed at doing. (That Law has the Ten Commandments, dietary restrictions, clothing restrictions, many rules about celebrating festivals, conviction verdicts for crime, rules about. the circumcision, etc). The Jewish Objector wonders, “what was the point of all the (Mosaic) Law, if it doesn’t save us from hell?” The fact is, God wanted to show that they couldn’t do the Law’s requirements.  The Jews were an example for all of us to observe: to show that despite God’s blessing them, man (not just the Jews) cannot obey a set of rules, so therefore, obeying rules is not the way to get saved from hell.  The Mosaic Law, instead, was to show us that we are sinners. All this prelude comes to a head in 3:19-20, which confirms what I’ve just said. Paul says:

Now we know that whatever the (Mosaic) Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the (Mosaic) Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.

You can see that I’ve added a few things that I will explain. There is a problem with the word “Law” in the verses.  It is rendered uncapitalized in our English Bibles. But it should be capitalized, because Paul is speaking to the Jews. And to the Jews, it means Law, the Mosaic Law. Thus I decided to capitalize Law where he is speaking to the Jews.  The early Christians correctly understood—and commented in their notes that are still available--that Paul, in speaking to the Jews, means that attempted obedience to the Law of Moses will fall short, and not justify anyone before God.

Paul is saying, less here and more elsewhere (which I will get to), that Jews, when they became Christians, were set free from the dietary and rituals of these Laws of Moses when Christ established the New Covenant. BUT he makes it clear that they were not free from the Law’s moral commands leading to sanctified behavior (see Romans 2:6-7 above; it hints at that).  Later I will prove that we Gentiles are under the same dictum.

This point is illustrated in I Corinthians 9:21, where Paul is talking about how to explain salvation to the Gentiles—and he stresses that we are to obey Christ’s law.  Paul says (NLT makes it plainer):

When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish Law, I too live apart from that (Mosaic) Law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.

In the last phrase, we use the uncapitalized “l,” since he is speaking about the Gentiles as well as the Jews.  The Jews that were saved were still under God’s moral laws, as Paul was—same as the Gentiles, we will see shortly.  Learning that they were no longer under the extra burden of Jewish Laws regarding food, clothing, etc, the Jews sometimes had a hard time accepting this, this freedom.

Now: How do we Gentiles enter this picture? Coming up.

Bercot next asserts, and I think with good reason, even though it was a big claim, that Martin Luther has misapplied Romans 3.  Luther’s theology is a totally different twist that no major Christian theologian had before. For 1500 years before Luther, the orthodoxy was settled— the part of Romans 3:20 that I quoted above spoke to the Mosaic Law. Luther, however, mistakenly casts the Objector as a Christian prospect, who thinks the way to salvation is by works, by obeying rules, including God’s laws.  And, according to Luther, Paul sets the “Christian” Objector “straight” by saying, obedience to God’s laws is not necessary for salvation. A Gospel-shaking and disputable claim.  I want you to think like Luther, telling the prospect (which would be a huge mistake):

by the deeds of the law (of God) no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin

You see how he is saying we are not under God’s laws for justification, or salvation. You can see how Luther has changed the word “Law” (Laws of Moses) to “law” (including God’s laws), that he supposedly thinks are not necessary for getting saved.  So Luther ran with this twisted ball, and declared that, pursuant to how he thinks Paul clarified the “law” in 3:20, that salvation was “faith only;” works are not part of it.   This tragically distorted principle of demeaning “works” has been acceptable by almost all theologians ever since. This was a gargantuan change from before; early Christians knew that obedience to God’s laws was still a part of final salvation. (I will prove this later). But Luther had that kind of sway.  Didn’t he, after all, save us from the burden of works of Catholicism?    

Calvin doubled down on that a little later, and declared that we are all so depraved that there is no way we can even do the “work” of figuring out Jesus as salvation from sin—thus putting every one of us hell-bound.  God must, he said, if he wants any heavenly family, predestine for heaven a random group of people, and give them regeneration. That regeneration means, for those chosen, He gave them the eyes to see the wickedness of sin, and the redeeming work of Jesus, and His real love—so they are saved. But only because His regeneration started them.  All of the Calvinist belief system says that no effort on our part had any part in salvation. God did it all, after He predestined some of us at random.  We have a blog on Calvin that will open up your eyes about where this theology leads. 

But today I am picking on Luther, and pointing out to you how his “gospel” radically and sadly differs from the real Gospel as outlined many times in Scripture.  “Works,” which we must do after faith in Jesus, as we shall prove, are still a part of finally being saved. Works was never such a dirty word until Luther made it that.  His misapplication of the Objector and of the word “law” did that--and the combination is disastrous.

Here’s what happens now:  Most pastors who apply the teachings of Luther and Calvin think and (only rarely) preach what they believe; that sanctification (working toward holiness) is useful, but not necessary for salvation. Presumably, knowing the lower priority of sanctification will make us secure that our continual sinning are not a block to heaven, once we expressed faith in Christ.  Feeling secure, we can feel loved, and we are presumably motivated to love Him and do good works.  But the real truth is, because of our sin nature, probably a large number of “saved” people will get slack about sin, since they can “get to heaven upon first faith” without it.

This is easy-believism, truly bad news for pastors and congregants, and will shock many of Jesus’ “disciples” when they will be denied heaven on Judgment Day because they thought it was OK to “believe” in Jesus but not change their lives. Here’s Matthew 7: 21:

 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Note how the words “does the will” indicate works—those are works of sanctification.  Only those who follow past first faith and do those will be saved in the end. I am here to proclaim (as many have before, I might add, so this is not new), that “works” is part of salvation from hell. I will prove that here with verses you’ve already seen above (Matthew 7:21,’does the will,’ Romans 2;7, ‘doing good’, Romans 2:10 ‘who works what is good’) but I will prove it more next week. I want to start by re-emphasizing one of the main themes from the book of James—faith without works is dead.  (Luther hated the book of James, but that’s his problem). 

I want to clarify another thing also: Initial salvation, putting our faith in Jesus as the only way of salvation from hell, is our starting point. We don’t do the works, and then hope that God approves us and sends us to heaven.  We express the faith in Jesus, then we are a new creation; then working with the Holy Spirit, we abide in Christ and bring forth fruit.  Perhaps the first worth after faith is this:  works of repentance, to move away from our sin habits, and a work of baptism—for required public confession (Romans 10:9,10), are good first steps toward sanctification. Then, Scripture requires good fruit, to maintain that initial salvation. 

My use of “maintain” is considered “radical;” our current evangelistic theologians and pastors disclaim it.  There are groups who still believe the same as early Christians, and the same as I do, but they don’t get much theological coverage, because their total is so small.  The pastors that everybody loves all preach the easy-believism—faith plus nothing and you’re saved—and you’re secure in that the rest of your life.  They actually believe that if you dare to include works in thinking of salvation, you are likely on the way to heresy, which could end up not saved. Scripture, as I will show, moves the charge of heresy back on themselves.

I do want to say this, too: Suppose I give a hypothetical example to a Calvinist pastor, that a guy was “saved,” that is, expressed his faith in Jesus, went awhile in the narrow path, but then strayed off into worldliness, and did not do anything the world would disapprove of the rest of his life. What about him?  The pastor might answer that “he wasn’t saved to begin with; if he was, he would have persevered and God would make sure he would have fruits.”  So you’re saying, the guy only thought he was saved, never had a serious warning at church when we went astray (or any other time), but you can’t make a call on him until he is dead. Too late then, since he didn’t pursue holiness or have fruit—but he hadn’t heard that lacking those, he was in danger of hell.  

Calvinist pastors that the seminaries turn out today hate to preach on holiness. Since they think the lack of holiness won’t block you from heaven, preaching hellfire and brimstone about holiness gets a lower priority, especially since it drives people into negative thoughts and ultimately drives people away.  And there go the offerings.  So their easy-preaching led the guy thinking he was still saved, though he slinked back into the world. He was deceived by his pastor’s lack of warning. That is a very big issue to me. It’s all a part of the Deception, the Offense, and the Apostasy that Jesus talked about in the last days, Matthew 24, a terrible grief of many unsaved.  It’s better for the pastor to give warnings of falling back into worldliness than to stay silent and let people slide into eternity with a huge ugly surprise at the end. Pastors are the shepherds; they hopefully don’t want these people’s souls robbed by Satan in the end, or God will judge the pastor for serious irresponsibility. Pastors must teach on sin, in detail, so as to reduce the natural tendency of people who deliberately don’t think of sin, they just do it, they’re living in it, thinking it’s OK.  Teach them that God is the only loving anchor in the storm of hell’s yawning vortex; that will reduce apostasy.  And then they should preach on hell as punishment, justly deserved by all without the Grace of our Almighty God.

So, you’d like some additional proofs of my radical point that sanctification is necessary to maintaining salvation. Next week, OK?

The Symbolisms of Christ in the Passover, which is the Right Time to Celebrate the Crucifixion and Resurrection

 In my recent posts on “Replacement Theology,” I was making a case for celebrating Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection at Jewish Passover time, not at Easter, a pagan holiday originally. Passover, and His Crucifixion and Resurrection were originally ce;ebrated at the same time, but became separated because of the Christian prejudice of the Jews.

My argument in those blogs was based on the following reasons: (1) The pagan holiday Easter, celebrated long before Christianity, was about fertility, involved sex, and it was where we get our symbols of eggs and rabbits from.  Nothing to do with Christianity, yet it was a date on which the precious time that our Lord should be praised, and Him alone, for His sacrifice, and glorious resurrection.  (2) The feast of Passover was developed by God for Moses and the Jews to celebrate freedom from slavery; but it also has many symbols of Jesus’ death, His shed blood, His burial and resurrection, freedom from the slavery of sin, the Incarnation, and persecution. These Passover symbols of Christ are all worthy of learning. (3) The connection of the two are an evangelistic tool to bring Jews to Christ.  The Jews don’t believe the symbols tie in to Jesus—but maybe they don’t believe because no one has shown the symbols to them. (4) Synthesizing the two (Passover and Christ) again has other benefits for Christians; its study will create more interest in the Old Testament, beyond the stories that are typical, such as David or Noah, and it is an even "specialer" story of our Lord.  Those curious will follow up for other symbols, and proceed to other prophecies of Christ--He is throughout the Old Testament, as He told the brothers of Emmaus.  See Luke 24:27:

²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The word “Scriptures” there, of course, are Old Testament, since the New Testament hadn’t been written yet.

Finally, (5) doing this could lead to not only a knowledge of the Jews (and learn a bit about the Jewish calendar), but it could lead to a spirit of evangelism rising up in someone with that gift.  If we can successfully learn the Old Testament to show the Jews how it contains Christ, we might, with God’s help, save a few.  That’s especially important given today’s anti-Semitism raising its ugly head once again. Just below is the message, as expanded, which I got from “Gotquestions.org.”  I’ll bet this festival is also demonstrated on You tube, but it’s much better if dad or mom learns it and recites it first.   

One more thing:  If you need to refresh your memory on Passover, it is covered in Exodus 12.  The Jews had been slaves to the Egyptians for 400 years, and the chapter is set at the tenth plague, the ultimate devastation God gave to Egypt.  This plague will kill every firstborn, every first child, man or woman, boy or girl, people or animals, in all of Egypt.  Then and only then will Pharoah set the Jews free.  For their last night in bondage, God gave Moses instructions on doing Passover.  As God teaches him, the only way the Jews will be protected by the oncoming death angel—it will pass over them IF they have swiped the blood on the doorposts. Similarly, I John 1:7 tells us:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin

SYMBOLISMS OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE PASSOVER MEAL

The Seder is the traditional dinner that Jews partake of as part of Passover. The annual Passover commemoration is celebrated by nearly the entire Jewish community, bonding families and communities to their Jewish roots. Each year Jewish people, religious and nonreligious, celebrate the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by gathering and experiencing the Passover Seder.

The Hebrew word Seder means “order.” The Passover meal has a specific order in which food is eaten, prayers are recited, and songs are sung. Each item on the Passover plate has a specific historical meaning related to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and their freedom from slavery. But 1 Corinthians 5:7 identifies Jesus Christ as our Passover; thus, the Seder carries a New Testament meaning related to Jesus the Messiah.

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

In the Seder, there are several strong symbols of Christ. One is the shank bone of a lamb, which reminds the participants of the feast of God’s salvation. During the tenth plague, God instructed the Israelites to daub their doorposts and lintels with the blood of a spotless lamb so that the Lord would “pass over” their homes and preserve the lives within (Exodus 12). This is a symbol of salvation in Egypt, but it is also a picture of Jesus who was and is the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29):

The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

His shed blood preserves the lives of all who believe. The instructions for the original Passover specified that the lamb’s bones could not be broken (Exodus 12:46):

In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.,

This is another foreshadowing of Christ’s death (John 19:33):

But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs

Another symbol of Christ on the Seder plate is the matzoh, or unleavened bread. As the Jewish people left Egypt, they were in great haste and therefore had no time to allow their bread to rise. From then on, Passover was followed by the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deuteronomy 16:3)

You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life

The Jews, in their haste to escape, did not have time to bake bread with leaven; they had to grab it up and eat it without leaven.  There are some more fascinating things about the matzoh that provide a remarkable picture of the Messiah:

For example, the matzoh is placed in a bag called an echad, which means “one” in Hebrew. But this one bag has three chambers. One piece of matzoh is placed into each chamber of the bag. The matzoh placed in the first chamber is never touched, never used, never seen. The second matzoh in the bag is broken in half at the beginning of the Seder; half of the broken matzoh is placed back in the echad, and the other half
, called the Afikomen, is placed in a linen cloth. The third matzoh in the bag is used to eat the elements on the Seder plate.

The word echad is used in Genesis 2:24 (the man and his wife will become “echad,” or “one” flesh). The word also appears in Numbers 13:23 when the spies returned from Canaan with an echad cluster of grapes. In both cases, the word echad refers to a complex unity of one. Many Jews consider the three matzohs to represent Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they cannot explain why they break “Isaac” in half or why they place half of the middle matzoh back in the echad and keep the other half out, wrapped in a cloth.

The meaning of the Seder’s ritual of the matzohs is understood with clues from the New Testament. The Trinity is pictured in the matzohs. The first matzoh that remains in the bag throughout the Seder represents Ha Av, the Father whom no man sees. The third matzoh represents the Ruach Ha Kodesh, the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. And the second matzoh, the broken one, represents Ha Ben, the Son. The reason the middle matzoh is broken is to picture the broken body of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:24).

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,  “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

 (If everyone’s attention is still with you, this is a good time to mention the Communion meal, if your church celebrates that and visitors are uninformed).  The half put back in the echad represents Jesus’ divine nature; the other half, wrapped in a linen cloth and separated from the echad represents Jesus’ humanity, His Incarnation, as He remained on earth.

The linen cloth that wraps half of the second piece of matzoh suggests Jesus’ burial cloth. During the Seder, this linen cloth with the Afikomen inside is hidden, and after the dinner the children present look for it. Once the Afikomen is found, it is held as a ransom. Again, we see that these rituals point to Christ: He was fully God yet fully human; He was broken for us; He was buried, sought for, and resurrected; and His life was given a ransom for many (Mark 10:45):

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many

.Jesus is the completion of the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31, and the Passover Seder rituals bear that out.

Also, the matzoh used for the Passover Seder must be prepared a certain way. Of course, it must be unleavened—leaven is often equated with sin in the Scriptures, and Jesus is sinless. Second, the matzoh must be striped—Jesus’ “stripes” (His wounds) are what heal us spiritually (Isaiah 53:5)

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed

And, third, the matzoh must be pierced—Jesus was nailed to the cross (Psalm 22:16)

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

The other elements of the Seder plate are traditional reminders of the Israelite enslavement to the Egyptians. They are as follows:

Vegetable (Karpas) – This element, usually parsley, is dipped in salt water and eaten. The karpas pictures the hyssop that was used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to homes of the Israelites in Egypt. In the New Testament, hyssop was used to give the Lamb of God vinegar when Jesus said He thirsted (John 19:29). The salt water represents the tears shed during the bitter years of slavery and the Red Sea that God split during the exodus.

Bitter Herbs (Maror) – The eating of “bitter herbs” is commanded in Exodus 12:8. In modern times, this is usually horseradish, one of the bitterest herbs. The maror reminds the Jews that they were unable to offer sacrifice and worship to God, and that was bitterer than the slavery of Egypt.

Charoset (haroseth) – Charoset is a mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and spices. It represents the mortar the Israelites used in the constructing buildings during their slavery to the Egyptians. Of all the elements of the Seder, charoset alone is sweet, and this is a reminder of the hope of redemption.

Hard-boiled or Roasted Egg (Baytzah) – Traditionally, hard-boiled eggs were eaten by mourners, and the egg is eaten during the Seder to remind participants that they are always in mourning for the loss of their temple. The fact that the egg is roasted evokes the roasting of the sacrifice on the altar of the temple.

There are also four cups of wine used at various points during the Seder. Each of these glasses of wine has a name: the first glass is the “cup of sanctification.” The second is the “cup of judgment.” The third is the “cup of redemption.” And the fourth is the “cup of praise.” At the Last Supper, Jesus took the first cup and promised His disciples that the next time He drank the fruit of the vine with them would be in the kingdom (Luke 22:17). Later in the Seder, Jesus took the third cup—the cup of redemption—and used that cup as a symbol of the New Covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20). Thus Jesus fulfilled the Passover symbolism and infused the whole feast with a new meaning.

In Exodus 6:6, the Lord God promised His people that He would save them from slavery: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” The phrase “with an outstretched arm” is repeated throughout the Old Testament in connection with Passover remembrances: Deuteronomy 4:347:199:2926:82 Kings 17:36Psalm 136:12Jeremiah 32:21. Can it be coincidence that, in the New Testament, the Messiah had both of His arms outstretched as He freed us from sin and brought us salvation?

FOR FURTHER STUDY