Please read my related blogs, Parts I and 2 before reading this.
Now we finally get to Spirit-inspired Scriptures
from Paul--the man that Martin Luther loved, but whose doctrine he twisted to
get his “faith-only gospel” started. We've seen what Jesus said about how
to get to heaven in Part I; we've seen that Peter, John, and James' Scriptures
agree with that. What do Paul's Scriptures say? They say that Paul
was not a “faith-only gets you to heaven” guy as well. 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 folks, this is critical to our eternal
life. Let us never become one of the “believers” in Matthew 25, for example,
who end up in hell, finding out too late that they were deceived when some
simple contextual Bible reading would give them the truth. And change their
behavior.
Luther, remember, insisted that obedience has
nothing to do with salvation. Just have faith, and you're secure for life. Once
you're initially saved, you are predestined, so attempting 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…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 the appearance pf these words in the verses:
"deeds," "doing good," "do not obey"
"does evil," "works what is good." 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 and make a practice of avoiding selfishness,
and sinful decisions. To maintain salvation, God “will render to each one
according to his deeds.”
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.
The first part of Romans 8:1 is quoted
frequently by the "faith-only" crowd. But if they would only
finish the sentence, they would see that how they later walk in life is a
condition to escape condemnation. "Carnally minded" is a
person who is “fleshly;” who is not thinking about Christ or God six days a
week (unless you get in trouble), but thinking about the world. Such a life
results in, according to the verses above, guaranteed "death,” or hell.
There is no such thing as a carnal Christian. R.C. Sproul, a great man of God,
has a great sermon on that very subject.
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 later behavior. God, unlike what you hear from the
pulpits, is also severe, and can remove your salvation, leaving you "cut
off," as it says. We must strive 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 seriously repent
(repentance is not mentioned here, but it’s covered in other verses). There are
no escapes: it bluntly says, you lose salvation by continuing to participate in
any of these acts. Do everything you can to avoid these sins. Sincere
repentance can yield His forgiveness.
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). But we are bound to God’s commands. Study those,
especially from the mouth of Jesus in the Gospels. Maybe begin with the Sermon
on the Mount. Whenever Jesus says, or implies, "do this," in
Scripture, that's a command. Obeying Christ is doing what He says—even though
you think differently. But you need to read it first. I should add,
ignorance of Christ's law is no excuse. An example from the Sermon on the
Mount is to love your enemies, a tough one to obey--but possible if we ask the
Holy Spirit for help.
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. 6:1 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 meditated on that one, how to live
for Him and actually avoid living for ourselves?) How do you “receive the grace
of God in vain”? By losing the grace you once had. We receive the grace of God
is by getting saved initially. Then, if we don't consistently improve in
godliness, with the help of prayer, reading, and responding to the Holy Spirit,
our behavior becomes "in vain."--you lost salvation.
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" instead says that the
"believer" must work his mind for another purpose: to get to a feeling
of certainty that he is saved. But isn’t that encouraging complacent thinking?
But the Truth, as seen in this verse, says that you should examine yourself for
sin that, if continued, would eventually take you out of the faith. Doesn’t
sound like eternal security. Also, look at one word: disqualify.
there are some behaviors that can disqualify us, i.e., take
away heaven. (A bad word to the Luther crowd). If you're disqualified,
you're hell-bound. (We discussed the Greek meaning of this last week).
For the benefit of those "predestined folks,” the “we feel secure” crowd, also
note this: Disqualify is not the same word as unqualify. In the context of this
verse, disqualify means you got saved, then did something that got yourself
turned out. Thus, another proof, in a single word, that you can lose salvation,
and sinful behaviors are behind it. 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.
The word "sows" hopefully means doing
good works and avoiding sin. Good works reaps good in the end times. But a man
of the world sows “fleshly,” a poor evangelism, since it defames the reputation
of Christ to people. (Being a follower of Christ means we always carry His name
of us.) This also leads to corruption--and our spirit goes into spiritual
death.
God
often places conditions on ultimate salvation by including the word “if.”
“Losing heart,” in a time of difficulty, could result in losing faith (saying, “if
God exists, how does He let His follower get persecuted like this? Maybe there
is no God”). So you could curse God and "reap corruption." (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—which may be
now. The idea that “why would God “send” strong delusion?” is outside the realm
of this paper. This “strong delusion” could be a false doctrine, perhaps like
one that lulls people into believing they can sin and not pay for it because
they are saved for all of life, no matter what they do. Such a delusion makes
us think that godliness is an option, and the Lordship of Christ simply sounds
good. I’m hinting here: is the strong delusion in the verses above the subject
we are now discussing? Is the Great Lie leading people into the self-deception
that you can live for the flesh, and still gain heaven? If that is the Lie,is
God’s judgment on this lie going to lead us into shock when Jesus counts us out
of the sheep on the right hand? The people of Matthew 7;21-23 were shocked:
“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. 22 Many will
say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in
Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
They
continue to practice lawlessness, rather than pray for a relationship with
Jesus that would lead them into being more like Him. And keep their salvation.
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” is a terrible sin, but it
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 that uplift His name. 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. And note that this act of unrighteousness made him lose his salvation
(implied because it says 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 read v. 13: “if we are faithless, He remains faithful,” to mean ‘He
is faithful to save us, no matter if we are faithless.’ But it doesn’t say
that. How could He have meant that and in the same paragraph said He “will deny
us?”
Note:
Pastors get away with this falsification by “cherry picking” part of a subject,
and not quoting the other part. They know that the congregation are not awake
enough or knowledgeable enough in Scripture to catch them on it. Why don’t you
surprise them and report their manipulative lie to them personally? If they
dismiss you, then you get on the church group on Facebook and keep writing and
explaining until people pay attention. Sure, you will be seen as divisive; but
we must recognize this manipulation of the Word as sin; and, following the
model of Matthew 18:15ff, we brought it to him, but he ignored us. As Matthew
18 then says, we can go with witnesses to “call him up” on it.
Getting
back to proper doctrine of this verse, Jesus can't save us and deny us in the
same time. The answer to the conundrum is a troublesome truth, the only
one possible: Look to the phrase “He cannot deny Himself.” It’s NOT speaking of
Him promising us unconditional heaven even if we deny Him. It means He is
faithful to His
own previous commands, i.e., if we do evil, He must punish us, as in Scriptures
He has said—over and over. That’s what “cannot deny Himself” means. It does NOT
mean He cannot deny us heaven, since our selfishness put us blind to the truth.
As we learn in context, “He remains faithful” simply means He will fulfill His previous
promises to the letter. And if He promised elsewhere in Scripture that if we
continually live for the flesh (being "faithless"), it will mean
hell, then that’s His previous commandment that He will be faithful to; He is
faithful to His Word. Remember 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. True repentance
(change in behavior) will put you aright with God.
Thus, Paul and James really agree with Jesus: We
maintain salvation through faith and an obedient
relationship with Christ, which means obeying His command to work good, not ignoring
Him.
Now onto a related subject: Many of you will insist that I'm
"avoiding" the verses that disparage works. But when Paul seems
to disparage works, he is proving a different point than what you think.
He is arguing against the Judaism believers who wanted the Gentile new
believers to be circumcised and forced to follow Moses (or, Old Testament) law
regarding circumcision, the Sabbath, etc—those works are what he disparages.
So he’s saying that Moses’ laws, those works, are not essential to
Christianity.
So to prove that I’m not "cherry picking verses,”
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 (Mosaic) 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.” Paul was
talking about a different meaning of “works” than James, for instance—who wrote
about Christ’s law.
What
is the meaning of "circumcised by faith;" (or, in another verse,
“circumcision of the heart”?) The real
meaning of circumcision in the New Testament is a “cutting away and removal,” a
purification by separation from the world’s ways. The idea of separation from
the world’s cultural immorality, sadly. is dismissed by pastors nowadays—“too
negative.”. The New Testament has established a new law (based on Christ’s
commandments). But don’t toss the Old Testament aside. It has much to say about
sexual fornication, which I wish TV programs would pay attention to. There are treasures
of truth in Genesis 1 about Creation, about why God killed all but 8 people in
Genesis 6-9. There are many fabulous stories about men and women of faith.
There are many moral truths that are worth keeping.
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.
It helps greatly to know that Romans 9-11 is all
about the Jews, and their future. By disparaging “works,” he is not talking
about the works of obedience to Christ. He’s talking about the remnant of Jews
who have been saved, who did not get there by the works of the Mosaic Law, but
by faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
In many of Luther’s other “favorites,” Paul
talks more about the Jews hung up on their laws. Galatians 2:3-5 is about
circumcision. In Galatians 3:2, the works of the law there is referring to the
Law of Moses. Ephesians 2:8-17 has a couple of our favorite verses disparaging
works, but Paul is AGAIN referring to the Mosaic Law--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 downgrade our insistence on obedience to Christ, is full of blanks. We can
ignore them because they are out of context for the goal they seek. 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 of all this: getting on the Vine
requires belief, repentance, washing the water of regeneration, as we are
familiar with. But we are not familiar with the second condition for salvation
at the end: 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 when you think you’ve done enough to be saved. Examine
yourselves, readers! Read all God’s Word, especially Jesus’ words in the
Gospels, on what it takes to escape hell. The effort required in reading and
examining and praying to determine what it takes to spend eternity in heaven is
a worthwhile occupation!
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