Do Peter, James and John Agree With Jesus on How to Escape Hell? (Part 2 of 3)

 

You should read my Part 1 last week before reading this. Here is a very brief summary of it: What Jesus taught about salvation is seldom taught nowadays from the pulpits. Namely, salvation from hell is in two phases: To get on the Vine (i.e., be initially saved)—a reference to John 15-- you exercise faith in what Christ did, dying for our sins; and repentance (and probably believer baptism), then you're saved. What you typically hear from the pulpits. But "staying on the Vine"--keeping salvation--requires abiding in Him. John 15:5-6:

 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ⁶ If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

What that means is, we must abide in Him.   By continually having a loving relationship with Him, showing obedience to Him as your Lord. Simply keeping the same doctrinal beliefs is not abiding; it requires your heart as well as your head. It is intentionally strategizing to avoid sin, and learning how to love. If you are not reading Scripture, and have no regular prayer; if you are ignoring Christ's commands, this is a ticket to hell, even if you "exercised faith" at one time in your life, and pretty much ignored Him thereafter. You were just assenting to what He did intellectually. Assenting is not abiding. You should daily be in contact with His Spirit (through prayer) and His Word. I still stress that you are saved through His grace, and faith in what Christ has done, taking the penalty for our sin. But you must have follow-through to maintain salvation.  That's what Jesus taught, as I showed in Part I.

Now let's look at today’s 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 his preaching in the first ten chapters of Acts, are pleasing to God, so He grants Peter to open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles as well. So let's study how Peter presented the gospel. In Acts 2:36-38, we see his clear words about how to get initially saved:

“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 10:22, 34-35:

And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.”...Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 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, since it stresses works and doesn’t mention faith (but it does say “fears” God. But Peter is simply giving the second phase of salvation: maintaining salvation through a life of righteous obedience to Him. In other words, fruits (see Galatians 5:22-23 for more). This idea of a “second phase” doesn’t jibe with Martin Luther’s doctrine (see last week), preached today as “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 you say that works will "inevitably" follow salvation: You know you've seen individuals where that doesn't happen. That person, despite his initial confession, was never saved, or was saved but never had the desire to produce fruits for Him—which left him finally unsaved. 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"); but then he pairs it with the phase "obedient children." Now which model of salvation does that fit--Luther’s model—or Jesus’ model? Scripture shows that Peter’s words are in line with Jesus’ model. Grace just means kindness or favor, and God gives it to His undeserved children when they trust in Jesus for heaven. But we still must, with the help of the Holy Spirit, read Scripture and work on being obedient to His commands, and become holy. He extends favor to those who ABIDE while on Christ’s Vine. Once you had faith in His finished work, and got on the Vine, you were saved; but as Peter says above, God judges according to our works. That means we must follow through. These works are not “trying to earn merit” that some people use by themselves to hopefully get into heaven; there is no way they can, just by works, get to heaven; it starts by God's love and grace. He exercises continuing grace and overlooks sins IF we abide in Him. We love Him back to be His obedient children.   I Peter 4:17:

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?

A rhetorical question; the answer is, the end of those is not heaven. This requires a new way to think, does it not?

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 must cause in us a desire to avoid the pollutions of the world. Thus, belief in Him is not just mental assent, but the work of avoiding the materialism and sins of the world. Note that those who resume being entangled with the world enough to "turn away from the holy commandment" will mean that "the latter end is worse for them than the beginning." This is clearly interpreted as losing salvation--because its end is worse than the unsaved. Why is it worse for someone previously saved, but then loses that salvation vs the one who was never saved at all? (Note: nothing was said about this guy repenting. Scripture does say we can truly repent, and get right with God again.) He is worse because he now has a hardened heart. He will not stand up to give it a second chance because that would humiliate him to his friends and family, and he has guilt for walking away from God. For most people, it’s too hard to admit to guilt or humiliation. Most people have too much pride, and cannot get through all that. (But it is never too late for God).

As we said in Part I, Luther didn’t like II Peter. You can see why—no two verses like the above speak more clearly about the possibility of losing salvation—an idea that doesn't fit Luther’s “gospel.” Like Calvin, he didn’t believe it possible to lose salvation, once obtained (more details on that in another blog). But don't forget, we want to agree with Jesus. Jesus said if we don’t stay in a relationship with Him, we’ll be cut off from the Vine and thrown into the fire (John 15: 5-6). 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 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 the law, if you define it as “works,” are no longer necessary. But Scripture clearly doesn’t teach that as the whole story, as we have seen last week, and with Peter (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. Requiring circumcision, for instance. But after the apostles and the early church fathers had much debate (you need to read the first 29 verses of Acts 15), after they thought about how the Gentiles had already received the Holy Spirit with no “history lesson” in the Law, they separated from what would have become a syncretic Christo-Judaism. John is saying here that it's not the law of Moses, which was works, that gets us saved. That’s initial salvation. No argument there.

In other verses, we get another side of the picture. 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.

“Knowing” is a deeper word than the intellectual. Recall that Adam “knew” his wife (Genesis 4:1). From which she became pregnant. He loved her and wanted her intimacy—that’s Scriptural “knowing.”  Not knowing Jesus (intimately: what He feels, what makes Him unhappy, etc),           is because someone does not keep His commandments or reads the Gospels. That means that person does not love Him. They ignore His commandments, and care little about knowing Him. So they are not “perfected” in the love of God. In that situation, to say that we “love” Him is a lie. Not knowing Him is not being known by Him, and not being in Him--a ticket to hell. This is way beyond initial faith, is it not?

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. Or, bound for hell. "Practicing" suggests a daily effort to be obedient--in effect, abiding in Him. We do not become sinlessly “perfect,” but the right meaning of the word means “mature.” How can you love the brethren if you avoid church? (Thinking about it, going to big churches these days does nothing to truly learn about people, so as to help them with whatever gift you have (I Corinthians 14), and learn to love them. In America, nobody gives up their secrets, sad to say.  

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.

Did you know that the word “approved” here (Greek, dokimos), is a salvation word? It is the opposite of the Greek adokimos, defined as “rejected”--as in rejected by God, “not standing the test,” and “reprobate” (that is Paul’s word for the pagans who rejected God in Romans 1:28, KJV). Salvation, in the end, is conditional on our enduring temptation. This doesn’t mean God gives us an “extra crown,” as most pastors say today, which is nice but not salvational. Enduring, carrying our cross, is a daily task to break out of the habits you learned from the world, as well as defeating any doubts that relatives or friends try to make us change our mind. Then we will be approved for heaven. We will have stood the test. Did you know that we are in a test?

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 bothering to do His Word—i.e, not practicing obedience, and loving Him. Self-deception might surprise us only when you die and wake up in hell. Reading the Scriptures daily and honest prayer definitely helps stop self-deception. We sin more than we are aware. We need to confess them to God.

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. The word “law” here is speaking of Christ’s commandments (the word "law" has more than one meaning in Scripture). How is a “law,” which suggests restraint, paired with the classic word for freedom—liberty? By looking at the phrase in a new way. Sin is a bondage of Satan.  It is possible to break free of sin—liberty from sin-- by keeping our relationship with Jesus open, by confessing and repenting after we sin. That is not suggesting perfection—just striving for holiness.  Note also that James is speaking to saved people—telling us that we will be judged—and disciplined, if necessary, or worse. 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?

The last question is rhetorical; When asked “what does it profit?” The only answer is “None.” That seems to strongly suggest that the real profit, heaven, is not present. 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.

These verses are explained away by most "evangelistic" commentators, who want to make it meaningless. Just try to read them pretzeling Scripture on these verses. But truth is, dead means dead—no life, so no heaven. Such is "faith" without the follow-up fruit, or works. These verses demand from us an ongoing intentionality to avoid sin. 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--and a dangerous complacency). No, it takes effort, it takes striving.

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, if one was saved before (note that he was “among you”), and knew the truth, and then wanders from the truth (enough to be unsaved),  someone could then correct him--and see him saved again--from eternal death. Yes, if you were on the Vine, you can wander away—to death of the soul. Thus, you can lose your salvation. But you can sincerely repent and be saved again.

Thus, we conclude: ALL THREE of these apostles—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 was especially clear on the importance of works. That’s why he was under attack later from Luther, and 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 makes it especially clear to praise the role of works--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—OR WITH JESUS?