1 Timothy: Introduction

Posted on 07/15/2014 by Paul Pavao

I don’t know if God is going to let me write that post on counterfeit churches. I’m not sure what attitude of mine he wants me to change, but when I find out, I’ll write it for you.

Until then, a number of friends have asked me to return to my Through the Bible series. I was in the hospital with acute leukemia when I started it, so I had the time to go through 3-5 chapters a day.

After the marrow transplant, though, about halfway through the Scriptures, I had four weeks where, most of the time, I was too tired eat or pick up my phone and read my texts. My wife read my texts to me. Vanderbilt fed me through an IV for a while, but then my “port” (like an IV needle into your arm, but bigger and in your chest) got infected, so I just didn’t eat for over two weeks. Great weight loss program. I got down to 130 pounds before I got an appetite again.

Anyway, that threw off the through-the-Bible plan and I never got back to it.

I’d like to go through 1 Timothy this week. I am going to give some effort to writing the whole book in advance, then putting up a chapter a day. I will then go to another book a week or two later.

Well, that’s the plan. I’m not the greatest at carrying out my plans. That’s too kind. I’m terrible at carrying out my plans. I have several employees now tasked with the unenviable and arduous task of keeping me moving in one direction.

The Pastoral Epistles

I would like to begin 1 Timothy by once again voicing my complaint about its title as a “pastoral epistle.” Timothy was not a pastor! He was an apostle.

My reference is 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 2:6. The first verse of that letter tells us that it is from “Paul, Silas, and Timothy.” Then 2:6 says:

Nor did we seek glory, not from you nor others, when we might have been a burden as ambassadors of the Anointed King.

The Greek word behind “ambassadors” in my rendering here, is apostelloi, apostles. Paul referred to himself, Silas, and Timothy as apostles. He was in the habit of doing this with all those who traveled with him. They were ambassadors of God’s Anointed King. They were sent as his representatives.

The Service of an Ambassador/Apostle

I really need to do a thorough teaching on spiritual gifts again. I wish I had kept the hours of research I did almost thirty years ago. It was so edifying, however, that I remember most of it, including the verses for the gifts requiring the most explanation.

For now, though, I’m hoping you’ll take my word for it and look in the Scriptures for yourself to “see if these things be so.”

One of them is the gift of apostleship.

Paul, at least a couple of times, describes himself as both a preacher and a teacher. I spent hours, back in the days before computers, looking up every occurrence of every Greek word that is rendered “preach” or “teach” in the New Testament.

Preaching (Kerusso and euangelion) is always done to the lost, and teaching (didasko and catechismo) is always done with disciples. Spiritual gifts include preaching, which is a gift of evangelists (who should be preaching to the lost, not the church), and teaching, which is a gift had by both shepherds and teachers. Shepherds don’t need the gift of proclamation because they are supposed to be tending sheep, not goats. Evangelists have the gift of “preaching” (or proclamation or evangelism), and they are the ones that should, primarily, be talking to the goats.

Apostles, however, have to be both preachers and teachers, and the reason is obvious.

Apostles are church planters. They have to evangelize and shepherd. In fact, they have to administrate, too. They have to do pretty much everything until disciples are raised up to take over those giftings and positions that the church needs to grow up into the full stature of the King (Eph. 4:11-16).

Timothy and Titus

Timothy and Titus both traveled with Paul, and so he considered them, as he did his whole team, apostles/ambassadors of the King. They had to learn all the things he did.

When Paul went into a town, he would go to the synagogue, and when time came for the men (only the Jewish men) to speak, he would proclaim the Kingdom of God and the risen King. This never got him any applause from the Jews. In fact, it sometimes got him beaten or stoned, but usually he came away with a few believers.

His job was to disciple them well enough that they could begin to function on their own. On the first “missionary journey” of Paul and Barnabas, they went to only about four places, then returned on the second “missionary journey” and appointed elders in each of the churches (Acts 14).

This is clearly what was happening with Timothy and Titus. They were not pastors (shepherds). They were ambassadors planting churches, Timothy in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3) and Titus (Tit. 1:5) in Crete. Rather than Paul staying and discipling the new believers, he left Timothy and Titus (and probably others that are not recorded) to do that.

The letters themselves are clear enough. Both Titus and Timothy are given the qualifications for the two offices that Paul established in his churches: overseers and deacons. Titus is specifically told that he should ordain elders in “every city” of Crete (which is an island).

The overseers were often referred to as elders as well. They were the shepherds of the churches. Timothy and Titus were appointing shepherds. Until then, like all apostles, even if they were apprentices, they had to do the shepherding until they could appoint shepherds.

Timothy as Evangelist

In 2 Timothy 4:5 Paul tells Timothy, “Be calm and collected in everything; endure afflictions; do the work of an evangelist. Fully prove your service.”

Timothy, like Paul, had to be both shepherd and evangelist. Even though most of the advice in the letters have to do with the shepherding of the church, he could not neglect his apostolic calling. He had to proclaim God’s new King and his Kingdom to the lost as well. He was both building and expanding the church.

A fully functioning church will expand on its own, as we have seen in previous posts, though members with the gift of preaching—to the lost—are a big help.

I love the letters to Timothy and Titus. They are so foundational, so simple, so applicable to this era in the United States. I hope I can communicate at least some of my delight and passion for these letters in the next few posts.

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Words Are What Matters?

Posted on 07/12/2014 by Paul Pavao

I am agog, I am aghast, have Protestants confessed at last?

I really am agog and aghast. I am just beginning to read The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther, written in the 1930’s (I think). In the translator’s preface, he writes:

As Dr. Gerhard Forde put it … “The search for the proper distinction between law and gospel is, in essence nothing other than a search for an understanding and use of theological language that gives life beyond the death always administered by legal talk or law. It is a search for a use of language in church discourse, in proclamation, which does not merely talk about life or describe life but actually gives it.” (emphasis added)

Around my parts, we occasionally mock the idea that the Kingdom of God is about words by referring to much of Protestantism as “the kingdom of words.”

By that, we do not mean that all Protestants have nothing but words, but we are saying that the foundation of Protestantism, at least today, is nothing but words.

I do not want to contrast words with works. I want to contrast words with the power of God.

You cannot get your words right enough to please God. As we looked at in “The Kingdom Gospel” and “Our Response to the Kingdom Gospel”, when the Gospel is preached and a person believes it, the response is to surrender to Jesus the King, not learn “thelogical language” that imparts eternal life by “legal talk or law.”

I was so shocked by the paragraph I quoted above that “agog” and “aghast” are appropriate words.

Here is what the apostle Paul thinks of such a theory.

My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 2:4-5)

I will come to you shortly, if the Lord allows, and I want to know, not the [theological] speech of those who are puffed up, but the power, for the Kingdom of God does not consist of words, but of power. (1 Cor. 4:19-20, brackets added)

My blog is on the internet. As such I cannot give you a demonstration of our teaching. I can tell you, however, that it is being demonstrated and has been for over 20 years by over 200 people who have maintained a unity and love that has had effect all over the world.

Especially in Africa, where physical needs are much greater, Africans flock to the message that God has called them into a family that belongs to him. The poorest of the poor learn to share and take care of each other, drunk and drug-addicted husbands repent when they see the change in their wives’ lives, and others risk their lives to go to Muslim families with the Gospel that has given them hope, joy, and a new family.

Yes, famous evangelists do large crusades in Africa to seeming great success. Then they leave their hearers just where they were, struggling to survive in a world more dangerous and unhealthy than their ancient jungles. They hope that the message of prosperity given by men like Creflo Dollar and T.D. Jakes is going to work as well in Gulu as it does in Atlanta.

It works poorly in Atlanta, but it doesn’t work at all in Uganda.

Jesus’ way works awesome. Go into a town, find a man of peace, stay at his house, reach the village through the Gospel of the Kingdom, baptize the believers and teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded them. They give up their wicked ways, share their possessions with one another, watch over one another, and soon they are the ones going other tribes to share the Gospel as well.

If you’ve never been to a “third-world” country, which hold the majority of people in this world, then you don’t have a good picture of what I’m talking about. I’m talking about people who die of starvation in their own homes either because they are too broke to feed themselves or because they got sick and couldn’t get out to buy food. I am talking about thousands or millions of households where AIDS was contracted by one spouse, passed to the other(s), and the children grow up on the streets or with grandparents who are too old to farm or work for food.

Are we going to tell them, “Here is theological language that gives life beyond the death always administered by legal talk or law”?

Paul complains about people who “profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disqualified for every good work” (Ti. 1:16).

Abominable.

What is obviously necessary in Africa is not so obviously necessary in the United States. Far too often we offer people words and promises, then send them home.

Even Jesus didn’t do that!

The Lord said [to Saul/Paul], “Arise, and go into the city, and you shall be told what to do.” (Acts 9:6)

Jesus didn’t save Paul, nor give him any theological language that gives eternal life. He sent Paul to the family of God, make him wait three days, and then returned his sight, washed away his sins in baptism, and gave him the Spirit of God to guide him through the rest of his life.

The start of Paul’s ministry was with the disciples in Damascus.

Yes, Paul eventually ended up in Tarsus, learning apart from the apostles, though he would later submit his Gospel to the apostles. The point I am making is that the Gospel is not words that give eternal life. The Gospel is a proclamation that there is a King who will bring you into his Kingdom and care for you forever.

The proof is always in the pudding. No one knows what the best pudding recipe is until the recipes have been tasted. No one wins a chili cook-off by submitting the most well-worded recipe. At the end, judges taste the chili, and only after tasting is a winner declared.

Who is telling you the truth?

It is the people who produce results:

“You will know them by their fruit. … Every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces rotten fruit.” (Jn. 7:16-17)

Paul’s message came with a demonstration of Spirit and of power. What does that mean?

Do we need to commend ourselves all over again? Do we, like others, need letters of commendation to you, or commendations from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by all men. You are clearly shown to be the letter of the King served by us, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart. (2 Cor. 3:1-3, emphasis added)

That’s fruit. We saw in the last post that the church has proof to offer to the world: its love and unity. When Christianity is divided into so many denominations, and when there are so many counterfeits (hint toward the next post), then love, unity, and the life of Jesus being lived out in a people are powerful letters of commendation from God himself. It is that letter we should be looking for, not the one from a theological seminary.

Giving people supposedly magic words, then sending them home to trust in those magic words, is not the Gospel in any way, shape, or form. Until the Word of God is demonstrated it has not been preached.

The Word of God joins people to one another. This joining is it’s most apparent and important mark: unity based on divine love. The Word of God draws people into a family. It is inappropriate to confuse that with regular meetings that reinforce the magic words, then send them home again and again and again.

When, dear God, will we learn again to say, “You have come home. You need never go home alone again.”?

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Proof of the Gospel

Posted on 07/11/2014 by Paul Pavao

Two days ago we talked about the Gospel of the Kingdom. Yesterday we talked about the response that the apostles requested from those who believed that Gospel.

We have one more subject to cover. What did the apostles use as proof of the Gospel? Why should anyone believe that Jesus is God’s anointed King and begotten Son, as described in Psalm 2? You can’t just walk up to someone who knows nothing about Jesus and tell them that he is the Lord of the living and the dead and will judge them all on one dreadful day.

Well, you could, but no one would believe you.

Witnesses of the Resurrection

The apostles were not only called to be proclaimers of the Gospel. They were called to be witnesses of the resurrection.

“You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses … ” (Jesus, Acts 1:8)

Witnesses of what?

  • Acts 1:21-22: “From among these men that have accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us … must one be appointed to be a witness with us of the resurrection.”
  • Acts 2:32: “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”
  • Acts 3:15: “[You] killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”
  • Acts 4:33: “With great power the apostles testified of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
  • Acts 5:30: “God has exalted him to his right hand as Prince and Savior to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. We are his witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Getting the picture?

The apostles were commissioned as witnesses of the resurrection because the resurrection was the proof that Jesus is the Anointed King, the Son of God.

Paul, a servant of Jesus the King … separated for the Gospel of God … concerning his Son, King Jesus our Lord, who was made from the seed of David in regard to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power … by the resurrection of the dead. (Rom. 1:1-3)

Paul emphasized the fact that the apostles—the original ones who were present during Jesus’ goings in and goings out—were witnesses of the resurrection:

God raised him from the dead, and he was seen on many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people [i.e., the Jews]. (Acts 13:30-31)

The Gospel of the Apostles

The apostles had one consistent message in their preaching (to the lost).

  1. God raised Jesus from the dead.
  2. We are witnesses of this.
  3. The resurrection is proof that he is the Messiah, the eternal King who will rip apart governments with his iron rod of love, and the begotten Son of God.
  4. Therefore, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.

I have written a booklet, close to 40 pages, that goes through each one of the proclamations the apostles made to the lost in the Book of Acts to show you this little outline in Scripture. It’s called The Apostles’ Gospel, and it’s available on Amazon.

What About Today?

This is a good question because we don’t have anyone among us that accompanied Jesus in his travels in the first century.

John’s Gospel offers two strong proofs that we can offer to the lost:

Love one another. As I have loved you, so love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples. (Jn. 13:34-35)

Neither do I pray for these alone [i.e., the apostles present with Jesus], but also for those who will believe through their word, that thay may all be one, as you Father, are in me, and I am in you, that they may also be one with us so that the world will know that you sent me. (Jn. 17:20-21)

The most powerful proof we have today that he is resurrected is for him to be resurrected in us. Jesus is supposed to be literally “re-incarnated.” He is supposed to be alive in the flesh again, living where all earthly life lives: in his body.

What will make the world believe that the life in us is the life of the One sent by Almighty God?

Our unity, which will be apparent by our unearthly love for one another, says Jesus.

In the first century, the church had the apostles to testify that Jesus is the risen King. When they fell asleep, they were left only with their other witness: their love and their unity.

It was remarkably powerful:

You were examples to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia, for from you sounded the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith towards God is spread around, so that we do not need to say anything. (1 Thes. 1:8).

It doesn’t get much better than that!

The Church as Witness

The church is the alternative to the apostles’ witness of the resurrection. Jesus re-incarnated in his body, held together by the perfect bond of unity, which is love (Col. 3:14), is as powerful a testimony as the apostles’ testimony, and it is the witness of the resurrection that replaced the apostolic witness.

Jesus described it like this:

You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. … Let your [“your” is plural] light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:13-16)

“This little light of mine” just isn’t going to do it. “This huge light of ours, set on God’s holy mountain (Heb. 12:22-24), that couldn’t be hidden if we wanted to hide it” is the light that will change the world by testifying that Jesus is the Psalm 2 King, sent by God to rule eternally over all kings and all peoples.

Isaiah exhorts us to walk and rejoice in this:

Arise! Shine! Your light has come, and the glory of God has risen upon you! For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and great darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon you, and his glory will be seen on you. The Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Is. 60:1-3)

Elephant in the Room

I’d like to leave this blog with that wonderful ending. I’m not very good at crafting comfortable exits like the one I just gave you. Now that I managed to pull one off, I can’t leave yet.

Because of the elephant.

The obvious question I have not addressed is what we do when what know as the church is famous for the opposite of unity or love? Our division, disagreement, dissension, and general “dissing” of one another is renowned. We are not famous for loving one another, we are famous for the evil we say about each other. Worse, we are also famous for being hateful towards sinners.

Obviously there are exceptions. There are whole churches that are exceptions. There are many people that are exceptions.

It remains true that we are famous for division, disputes, and hateful behavior that makes sinners feel hopeless.

So what do we do if there is neither the apostles nor the church to present a witness?

I’ll leave that until tomorrow so you can enjoy today’s foray into the Scriptures and like me for one more day. Some of you aren’t going to like me much after the next post.

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Surrender, Repentance, and Baptism: Part II

Posted on 07/10/2014 by Paul Pavao

I got the phrase “Kingdom Gospel, surrender, and baptism” from Marc Carrier, a missionary to Africa. He wrote on Facebook, “Over 20 pastors in attendance. Taught kingdom gospel, surrender, repentance, and baptism.”

Yesterday we covered the Kingdom Gospel. I’m going to try to finish the whole phrase today. I should be able to do that since on the subject of baptism I’m just going to give you a link to a previous post.

The Gospel of the Kingdom and Our Response

You should read yesterday’s post before today’s. I talked about the Kingdom Gospel proclaimed by Jesus and the apostles. Today’s post is about the response to that Gospel. It is not enough to know the Gospel. When a person says, “What do I do?” you should have an answer for them. The apostles did, and despite Protestant claims to the contrary, it was almost never “just believe.”

Surrender

I am only covering this word (surrender) because Marc Carrier mentioned it. It’s not scripturally associated with the preaching of the Gospel or the response to the Gospel. However, it is a word we all understand and know is necessary (thus the hymn “I Surrender All”).

The Gospel is the proclamation of a new King and his Kingdom. That is why it is most often called the Gospel of Christ (=God’s Anointed King) or the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The obvious response to such a proclamation, if it is true, is to bow the knee to the new ruler.

When a new king or queen is announced in England, everyone shouts “God save the king/queen.” At the end of the Lord of Rings, Aaragorn is coronated King of Gondor, and everyone immediately bows. When Elsa appears in Frozen, everyone bows to her majesty. [Name of the queen from “Frozen” changed by edit thanks to the attentiveness and concern of my friend Eric Henderson the wise(cracker).)

We know how to respond to the Gospel of the Kingdom. We bow. One day every knee will bow, so it is wise to do so now, not later when the King is angry that you have rejected the proclamation of his ascent to the throne. Jesus is the rightful King of the living and the dead, appointed by God, and he will judge us all.

“Long live the King!”

That is, as we all know, the only appropriate response: surrender.

Repentance

Repentance is scripturally associated with the Gospel. In fact, it is the primary response associated with hearing the Gospel.

What about faith?

Faith means you believed the proclamation that Jesus is King. No response is required or possible from those who do not believe. Faith is not really a response to the Gospel. Faith is whether you believe the Gospel or not.

The one time that we find an apostle mentioning faith as a response, it is because he had not preached the Gospel yet. The Philippian jailer, after he saw the earthquake release the prisoners after Paul and Silas were singing praises in the middle of the night, asked what he must do to be saved. He had heard no Gospel, only songs. So Paul told him that he must believe in the Lord Jesus the King, and he and his household would be saved.

It was only after this that Paul and Silas went to the jailer’s house, had their wounds treated, then preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to him. He did believe, and believing he surrendered, repented, and was baptized.

I say he repented because that is the word that Scripture uses for those who come to believe that Jesus is the King and choose to follow him, beginning by being baptized into him. Repentance is the change of mind that happens when one realizes that Jesus is the Son of God and King over every king. We yield/surrender to his kingly authority, and we are baptized into his Kingdom.

Repentance is referred to over and over again related to the preaching of the Gospel. The very first Gospel proclamation was by Peter to a Jewish crowd on the day of Pentecost. He ends the proofs he has given by the announcement of the Kingdom Gospel:

Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made the same Jesus you crucifed both Lord and Messiah.

That’s it. He ends there. They have heard the Gospel proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Psalm 2 King that will break the governments of the world in pieces by his iron rod of love and who is the Son of God.

Many believed, were cut to the heart, and asked what their response should be.

Peter gave a simple set of steps:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the King, for the forgiveness of sins, and you will received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:36)

Peter didn’t mention faith because if those Jews had not believed, they would not have asked what they needed to do.

Repentance was such an important part of the Gospel proclamation that Paul would later say he was commissioned by God to proclaim to Jews and Gentiles alike that they should “repent, turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance” (Acts 26:20).

The believers in Jerusalem spoke of the Gospel as “repentance to life” and marveled that this gift was granted to Gentiles as well (Acts 11:1-18).

Baptism

I just did a post on baptism last week. Despite being written earlier it meshes with everything written above.

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Kingdom Gospel, Surrender, Repentance and Baptism

Posted on 07/09/2014 by Paul Pavao

I got the phrase “Kingdom Gospel, surrender, and baptism” from Marc Carrier, a missionary to Africa. He wrote on Facebook, “Over 20 pastors in attendance. Taught kingdom gospel, surrender, repentance, and baptism.”

What he meant by that is desperately important. If we all taught Kingdom Gospel, surrender, repentance and baptism, we would lose well over half the Christians in our churches, but we would transform the United States, and we would be able to ask God for anything and receive it.

Thus, this post qualifies to be among my “Teachings That Must Not Be Lost.”

There is no way I can do justice to these subjects in one blog post, but I’ll do my best.

Kingdom Gospel

I have a friend who is coming out with a book on this subject. It is clear, amazing, and important. You might have to wait for his book to get a full picture that runs through all the Scriptures. (Heh, heh. I got an advance copy to review for him. It’s awesome to have writer friends, especially if they have great content!)

Until then, here’s the short version.

No Bible believer can miss the fact that Jesus preached the Gospel of the kingdom … all the way to the end. Not merely until his death, but to his last day on earth before he ascended into heaven …

To whom he also showed himself alive after his suffering … being seen of them 40 days and talking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3)

Preaching and Teaching
   In the Scriptures, assuming that your translation consistently translates kerusso and euangelizo as “preach” or “proclaim,” the word “preach” describes proclaiming a message to unbelievers, and “teach” means instructing believers.
   2. “Kingdom of Heaven” is only used in Matthew. Matthew’s Gospel was written for Jews, who regularly substituted “heaven” for “God.” No other Gospel or apostolic letter uses the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven”; it is always “Kingdom of God.”

That verse tells us that Jesus’ discussion of the Kingdom of God continued until he departed this earth. I tried to find out how many times the Gospels discuss Jesus’ preaching or teaching (see sidebar) about the Kingdom of God. “Kingdom” is used 119 times in the Gospels, 114 of them in the synoptic Gospels.

I started to count them, leaving out the ones that didn’t apply to the kingdom of God, but to some other kingdom. I got bored counting once I hit 37 in the middle of Matthew chapter 19. All of those refer to Jesus teaching or preaching about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven.

So Jesus emphasized God’s Kingdom. Did he pass it on to the apostles?

  • Acts 8:12: “When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”
  • Acts 14:22: “[Paul and Barnabas] confirmed the souls of the disciples, exhorted them to continue in the faith and that it is through many tribulations they must enter the Kingdom of God.”
  • Acts 19:8: “[Paul] went into the synagogue [in Ephesus], and spoke boldly for three months, disputing and persuading concerning the Kingdom of God.”
  • Acts 28:23: “When they appointed [Paul, on house arrest in Rome] a day, many came to his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God.”
  • Acts 28:31: “[Paul was] preaching the Kingdom God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus the King with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”

Jesus spent his last days teaching about the Kingdom of God. Paul spent his last years and his ministry preaching and teaching the Kingdom of God.

The Gospel of the Kingdom must be awful important. What is it?

What Is the Gospel of the Kingdom?

I heard reference to the Gospel of the Kingdom somewhat often as a young Christian, especially among charismatics. Amazingly, no one seemed to know what it meant! A few people made an attempt to explain it, but nothing ever stood out to me that was practical and believable.

Only in the last year, through the help of a friend, have I found out what Jesus and his apostles meant by “the Gospel of the Kingdom” or “the Gospel of Christ” (which in context means “the Gospel of the King”).

My friend’s explanation was so easy to understand and so Scriptural that I have adopted it wholeheartedly as the foundation for the Gospel the apostles preached in Acts (about which I wrote in the appropriately titled, The Gospel of the Apostles) and the response that they called for in their hearers.

So let’s begin.

Psalm 2

  • Verse 2: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord [YHWH] and his Anointed [Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek)].”
  • Verse 5-6: “Then God will speak to them in his wrath … I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.”
  • Verse 7: The Lord [YHWH] said to me, ‘You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.”
  • Verses 10-12: Be wise … oh you kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord [YHWH] with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

The word “anointed” in this Psalm, which we generally translate as Messiah, is used 66 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, but only in this Psalm, Psalm 45:7, Isaiah 61:1, and Daniel 9:24 does it refer to the coming Messiah. In all other cases it refers to the anointing of priests, prophets, and, later, kings.

There are a number of direct references to Psalm 2 in the New Testament.

The most pertinent is Simon Peter’s answer to Jesus in Matthew 16:16. There Simon tells Jesus that he is “the Anointed, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus’ response to Simon’s statement is astounding. It is there he gives Simon the name Peter (or Cephas, from the Hebrew, or “Rock,” the English translation). He then tells Peter that he will build the church on that rock. That rock may be Peter, as most people in church history have interpreted it, or it may be Peter’s confession. Either one puts great emphasis on Peter’s realization that Jesus was “the Anointed, the Son of the living God,” which Jesus told Peter could only have come by the revelation of the Father.

But it was not the Father who gave Peter the wording. Peter had read or heard the wording from Psalm 2. The Anointed would be a King reigning over all kings, and he would be the Son of God. The Father simply revealed to Peter that Jesus was the prophesied Psalm 2 Messiah, King, and the begotten Son of God.

Only Psalm 2:7 calls the Messiah the Son of God.

Peter was not the only one who knew about Psalm 2. From the Scriptures it is clear that all the Jews were expecting a Messiah who would be the Son of the living God and reign over the nations.

  • The high priest commanded Jesus to tell them whether he was “the Anointed, the Son of God” (Matt. 26:63; Mark 14:61).
  • Mark begins his Gospel telling us that it is “the Gospel of Jesus the Anointed, the Son of God” (1:1).
  • When Jesus cast out demons, they said they knew he was “the Anointed, the Son of God” (Luke 4:41).
  • The apostles in general tell Jesus they know he is “the Anointed, the Son of the living God” (Jn. 6:69)
  • John wrote his Gospel so that we would believe that Jesus is “the Anointed, the Son of God” (20:31).
  • Martha told Jesus that she believed that he was “the Anointed, the Son of God” (Jn. 11:27).
  • As soon as Paul was converted, he began to “preach the Anointed in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

I could go on and on, but let’s focus on one verse:

Whoever transgresses and does not remain in the doctrine of the Anointed does not have God. (2 Jn. 9)

No doubt about how sharp and clear that is, but since we are not used to interpreting “Christ” and putting the word into the context of Scripture, we miss the point of the “teaching about the Anointed.”

The teaching about the Anointed is that he is the Son of the living God. He is the King, described in Psalm 2, who will overthrow all other kingdoms. He is the Son, who should be kissed, lest his anger be aroused even a little.

Described like this, it puts a context on the Gospel of the Kingdom that was the Gospel of Jesus and the apostles. There is a new King! God’s Anointed has arrived, and though the kings of the earth may take counsel against him, but he will break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

A Rod of Iron?

Is Jesus really going to reign with a rod of iron and break the nations in pieces like a potter’s vessel? Is that something the Jesus of the Gospels would do?

No, the Jesus of the Gospels emphasized love. It was not a syrupy form of love. He rebukes and chastens those he loves, and he doesn’t believe you love him unless you keep his commandments (Jn. 15:14; 1 Jn. 2:3-4; which is not to say that he doesn’t love you anyway).

Nonetheless, he is characterized by love.

So what about that rod of iron?

It is love!

From the beginning disciples proved that entering the kingdom of God and living out his reign of love would shatter governments like a potter’s vessel. It took them almost 300 years, but they shattered the power of the greatest empire of their time, though they unfortunately took some of that power for themselves.

We all know how the Christians multiplied until Rome could no longer ignore them and loved until pagans were flocking to the pure community of the Christians. We know little about what went on outside the Roman empire. One of the more likely “rumors” found in the writings of the early churches is that Thaddeus went to Odessa in Syria and converted the king there.

The usurpation of the power of the world through the iron rod of love was common in the early churches. Even in Acts we see the ascent of the Messiah King establishing his rule. Paul and Barnabas went through an area called Paphos and converted the chief there by healing his son (Acts 13:4-13).

Many of you know the story described in The End of the Spear, both a movie and a book by Steve Saint, whose father was killed along with four other missionaries (Jim Elliot being the most well-known) by a savage tribe. The Messiah King of Israel later established his rule in that tribe as well.

Many people, many tribes, and many nations have been overcome by rod of love and suffering wielded by Jesus. He does not wield it from heaven because his hands are on earth. They are our hands, and we will conquer in the same manner he conquered, the apostles conquered, and the early church conquered, by gladly suffering for the joy that is set before us.

(Mahatma) Mohandes Gandhi
   It would be less than honest of me not to tell you that I consider Gandhi to be one of the most excellent examples of this principle of modern times. By the power of the Truth, whom he treated as a living being, he reformed the greatest empire of his time in South Africa, then drove them out if India entirely.
   Gandhi rejected Christianity because of Christians and said so on more one occasion. He even said he would probably be a Christian if it weren’t for the Christians (one of the sources of my post He Who Fears God and Labors at Righteousness). In my eyes, though Gandhi did not know that the Truth he gave his life to was Jesus, he understood following Truth better than almost every Christian I know. He used to say that if we would do the truth, then the Truth would enforce the truth. We would not have to.
   Ancient Christians knew this. Modern Christians rarely do.

I hate to quote Napoleon Bonaparte for support, but I agree with this, and it expresses the conquering reign of the Anointed well:

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him. (ref)

There is a prophesied return of Jesus the Anointed in which everything will come to an abrupt end, but do not be mistaken, the breaking of the governments of men and the rise of the kingdom of God happens already where his people hear the Gospel of the Kingdom and act in his love.

A few poor people from tiny, conquered Palestine overthrew the Roman empire with the love of Jesus Christ. They defeated military force by dying. As Tertullian put it, “The oftener you mow us down, the more of us there are. The blood of Christians is seed.”

This is the Gospel of the Kingdom. God has sent his Anointed to the earth to begin the reign of God.

God overlooked at the former times of ignorance, but he is now calling everyone everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)

I have dwelt on Psalm 2:7, but you’ll get benefit out of reading the other Messiah passages I mentioned in the beginning of this blog.

This is plenty for one day. We will cover surrender, repentance, and baptism in the next one, two, or three posts.

Posted in Gospel, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Repentance and Forgiveness

Posted on 07/07/2014 by Paul Pavao

I spent a lot of time on this comment response, so I’m making it a post. You’ll have to figure out the comment I’m responding to. It concerns my post “He Who Fears God and Labors at Righteousness”.

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I don’t say that Cornelius “deserved” the Holy Spirit or that he had the Holy Spirit. I am saying that God accepted him for his good works. That’s not an interpretation, that’s just a quote.

What does “accept” mean? Whatever it means, I suggest that it does not and cannot mean “condemned to hell.”

You asserted that I believe “We are forgiven, but we are also justified and sanctified by the Spirit of our God. We are taught the commandments of Jesus (Matt. 28:20), and we fulfill them (1 Jn. 2:3-4) because sin does not have power over us.” True enough.

I spent a number of years questioning my own salvation because of my temper and my lust. From what I could read in Scripture, I couldn’t see how I would be able to enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21,25; Eph. 5:5). Mind you, I was not physically committing adultery, but “looking on a woman to lust after her” seemed impossible for me to overcome.

Someone once said, “I will preach the Gospel truth even if that truth condemns me.”

I lived that way for years. My experience of God was very real. I had amazing experiences, amazing guidance, and I was growing in the knowledge of God and his ways, but I was easily thrown into lust and anger.

Over time, I grew desperate. The desperation was made worse by Jesus’ prayer in John 17. The world, Jesus suggested, would believe he was sent by God because of the unity of his disciples. I looked around and I saw no unity, no love between the brethren, no holiness. I used to ask Jesus in prayer why I should believe in him.

This was 1992-1995, when the situation in the US was worse, much worse, than it is now, probably because the home church movement was pretty much a failure.

The fact was, I couldn’t help it. I did believe, and I was compelled to be deadly honest with what I saw in the Scriptures—even if it condemned me.

When I got hold of the early Christian writings, it didn’t help. They were stricter than me, not less strict. They emphasized obedience more than me, though they emphasized the mercy of God as well. It did help in that they seemed to have no problem testifying that as a group, they were sexually pure in their minds as well as in their bodies.

I had long periods of success with lust, keeping my eyes where they belonged and my thoughts where they belonged, followed by a flurry of giving in to lust in my thoughts. I only had so much success with my “outbursts of wrath.” (This lasted fifteen years.)

Only finally finding the church delivered me. I confessed my struggles and failures to the men, and I talked to my kids, my wife, and my friends every time I got angry. (I wasn’t violent, just vocally inexcusable.)

The Scriptures say that the church is part of the answer.

Exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest anyone be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb. 3:13)

The problem I have with backing off on my emphasis on the Gospel you described is that what I say is not just Scripturally verifiable, but it is the Gospel as taught consistently and without exception by the early churches before the great fall during Constantine’s reign.

If you think I don’t emphasize the forgiveness of sins enough, along with the Gospel that you say (accurately) that I teach, then who knows, maybe you’re right. My emphasis on mercy is a lot stronger in person, when people come to me for counsel. It is true that you cannot repent and be set free while you think God hates you, is against you, or is constantly mad at you. Well, I won’t say “cannot.” It’s a real hindrance, though.

There is a teaching I give occasionally called AGod Is Not Disappointed with You” to get people to understand that God is trying to get you from where you are to where he wants you. He is not deceived into thinking you are somewhere else along the path than where you are. He’s not shocked by your sin, confused by it, or grossed out by it. It’s exactly what he expects from you, and he wants to work with you right where you are.

It is while we were yet sinners that God gave his Son to die for us. He was not thinking, “Gosh, I sure hope they see this and stop their ridiculous, icky behavior.” He was saying, “Here is a reconciliation offer. You give up the life you’re living, enter my kingdom, and I’ll give you a much better life. I’ll even give you the Holy Spirit so that you are not a servant, but a Son, having my nature.”

Our response is, “How can I when I am unworthy to enter your house?”

His response is, “Old things have passed away; all things are new. Your sins are wiped out. Come on in.”

One last response:

You see a different emphasis on mercy in the Scriptures you listed (Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18) and what I say. I don’t. Maybe I’m deceiving myself, and if someone besides you wants to back you up on that, I’ll listen, but I’m already trying to listen, so I would need some help following through if I’m wrong.

Acts 5:31 in particular seems to say exactly what I say. The requirement for forgiveness has always been repentance. Jesus didn’t have to die to obtain mercy from God for us. Ezekiel has three passages telling us that God was always merciful to the repentant, even before Jesus died.

I emphasize repentance because that is what was lacking. God’s mercy wasn’t lacking. Isaiah 55:7 tells us he had abundant pardon for the repentant even under the Old Covenant. Romans 3 tells us that repentance was beyond us. Romans 7 tells us the same thing, and Romans 8 tells us that Romans 7 is what he corrected.

I am well aware that we love him because he first loved us, but the love he showed to us in reconciling us to God requires us to repent. These two passages especially put incredible emphasis on that:

So God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. (Acts 11:18)

[I declared] that they should repent and turn to God and do works befitting repentance. (Acts 26:20)

That last one is a summation by Paul of what he was teaching. Repentance is the gift of God, and it allows forgiveness. I don’t know how to interpret the Scriptures any other way, and for centuries after the apostles, no one else in the church knew either.

Posted in Gospel | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

He Who Fears God and Labors at Righteousness

Posted on 07/05/2014 by Paul Pavao

Do you ever wake up in the night with scary revelations from God?

I do. Not real often, but it has happened several times over the last three decades. At the start, I hated it. I would wake up with this idea in my head, and I would be somewhat excited about it. Then I would compare the idea with Scripture, and pretty much every time I was astounded at how verses I had wondered about just clicked into place.

I remember one night, God—I’m pretty sure it was God—asked me, “Is there anywhere in the Bible that ‘the Word of God’ is used as a reference to the Scriptures in general.”

My memory was better then, so I started racing through the New Testament in my head. I couldn’t think of anywhere. So I got on my computer and searched every occurrence of “word” in the New Testament, nearly 300 of them, and there were no such occurrences.

You can read my conclusions, because I found some AWESOME stuff reading the New Testament all night that nighs, at >http://www.christian-history.org/the-word-of-god.html.

If you think you have a biblical reference where “the Word of God” means “Bible,” the way we use it today. Let me know.

I was so excited that night I was throwing my hands in the air because I was learning that the Word of God is in us and can be powerfully used by us. The Word of God, in any form, transmitted from one person to another gives them access to all that God has to say. It was the most awesome revelation of my life.

Then as the excitement wore off, I realized … “Oh, oh.”

I might think it was amazing; I might be delighted as things that had puzzled me were solved with pristine clarity from Scripture; but what were other people going to think?

Even though Protestants are a remarkably novel brand of Christianity, they don’t approve of novelty any more than the early churches did. I have long experience with people freaking out about my revelations no matter how clearly scriptural they might be. As Mark Twain once said (paraphrased from memory):

Laws are written on sand; customs are written on brass. Break a law, and you may well get away with it. Violate a custom, and your punishment will be swift and sure.

So here’s tonight’s middle-of-the-night revelation, another one that seems, well, pristine. I like that word because for me it indicates cleanliness. There is no mess to clean up in Scripture, no verses to explain away, just click, click, click, as verses slip into place like puzzle pieces.

There’s a big mess of tradition left to mop up. It will be a disgusting job, I’m sure.

He Who Fears God and Labors at Righteousness

Have you ever wrestled with this statement from Peter?:

In every nation, the one that fears [God] and labors at righteousness is accepted by him. (Acts 10:35)

Do you believe that?

I didn’t. I immediately rectified that once I noticed this verse on about my 20th read through the Book of Acts, but before that I did not know that God accepts those of any nation who fear God and labor at righteousness.

I used to believe that without believing in the name of Jesus, there was no way to be accepted by God. I used to believe that works had nothing whatever to do with our relationship with God unless we were in the Anointed One, in Jesus. Outside of him, we are all condemned, hopelessly lost no matter what we do.

But Peter says that’s not true.

Cornelius Accepted while a Lost Gentile

Peter was talking to Cornelius, a Gentile, when he said those words. Cornelius was not a follower of Jesus. In fact, no Gentiles at all were followers of Jesus. In a few minutes, Cornelius was going to become the first one.

Why Cornelius?

Was it a random choice by God? Was it chance? Was it the sovereign election of God?

Sure, it was the sovereign election of God, but it was not a random, unconditional election. It was entirely conditional. God himself said so. (Election is always conditional. Being elected is entirely in your control. Go do 2 Pet. 1:5-10. Verses 3-4 talk about getting the power to do verses 5-10, but verse 10 says being elected is up to you.)

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius … devout, and someone who feared God with all his household, who gave many alms to the people [i.e., the Jews], and always prayed to God. He saw in a vision … an angel of God coming to him, and saying … “Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God.” (Acts 10:2-4)

While Cornelius was separated from the commonwealth of Israel, while he was still a sinner, God paid attention to his generosity and his prayers (said an angel of God) and accepted him for his fear of God and labor of righteousness (said Peter).

Do you believe that?

Do you, or I, have a choice but to believe it?

The Whole World Makes Sense Again

It’s not just the whole context of Scripture, but the whole tenor of life on earth, which says that God rewards good and punishes evil. Consider this passage from the Old Testament Scriptures which is quoted in the New Testament Scriptures …

The one that would love life and see good days, let him restrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears attentive to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Pet. 3:10-12, quoting from Ps. 34:12-15)

Is this only true for Christians?

God … will repay everyone according to their deeds. To those who, by patiently continuing to do good, seek after glory, honor, and immortality, [he will repay] eternal life. But to those who are contentious, and who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [he will repay] indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jews first, and also of the Gentiles. … For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things that are contained in the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves. They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifies, and their thoughts all the while either accuse or excuse one another. (Rom. 2:6-9,14-15)

I have heard for years that the apostle Paul was speaking hypothetically in those verses. IF it were possible for any human to “patiently continue to do good” or obey their conscience, then God would repay them eternal life and their thoughts would excuse them.

That’s one hypothesis, but hypotheses are made to be tested. The hypothesis is “no one except Jesus can live righteously enough to please God.” The conclusion of that hypothesis is that Paul was speaking about something that cannot happen in Romans 2.

I present Cornelius as refutation of that hypothesis.

I also present Job, Noah, and Daniel.

  • “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1).
  • “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations … And the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come, you and all your house, into the ark, for you [singular] have I seen righteous before me in this generation” (Gen. 6:9; 7:1)
  • “‘Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would only deliver their own souls by their righteousness,’ says the Lord God” (Ezek. 14:14).

Unless You Are Born Again

Jesus says that we will not enter the kingdom of God unless we are born again. He says it twice! That should put some emphasis on it!

But what are we to do with Enoch, who was caught up to be with God? What are we to do with Moses and Elijah, who talked to Jesus when he was glorified before his disciples, an event Jesus described as “the kingdom of God coming with power” (Matt. 16:28-17:9; Mark 9:1-10; Luke 9:27-36)?

Jesus tells us that many shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11). We might argue that these many from the east and west are born again Christians, but what about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? They were born again?

Our typical Protestant answer is that their justification came from looking forward to the Messiah. Though they were before his time, his blood applies backward to them as followers of God.

Okay, let’s grant that as true. Then why can’t Jesus’ blood just as easily apply forward in time to those who have not heard the Gospel, but who have “feared God and labored at righteousness”?

Why only Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, and Job? Why not Cornelius?

Why not Frank, your next door neighbor, who lives more righteously than most Christians? (Note: Frank is purely hypothetical, which is apparently our word of the day.)

Why not Kakukau, whose name none of us can pronounce because he speaks in clicks like the rest of his African tribe, who has never had opportunity to hear that God has a Son he sent to earth to be King of the universe? (Kakukau is hypothetical, too, but the clicking language is not.)

Of course, all of this misses the point. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, Elijah, and Noah were not born again. Even if you want to apply the blood of Jesus back in time to account for their righteousness, they were not born again any more than Cornelius was before Peter arrived. Yes, Cornelius was born again afterward, but it is God who said Cornelius would be rewarded for his works before he ever met Peter, and Peter said Cornelius was accepted for his fear of God and labor in righteousness before he preached to him.

God Is Not Partial

As I looked at these verses, I was amazed at the constant use of “God is not a respecter of persons.”

As a side note, whenever I write about the warnings of Jesus and the apostles against the idea that you can live in sin and enter the kingdom, I am amazed at how often they say, “Don’t be deceived about this!” Nonetheless, The deception in that area, among Protestants, is rampant.
   Nor do I want to leave the Catholic and Orthodox alone on this matter. Their doctrine on faith and works may be much better, but their warnings toward their own members are as pitiful as the Protestant’s.
   I base that not only on my own upbringing as a Roman Catholic, but on the testimony of Catholic and Orthodox friends when I ask them about these things.
   We Christian leaders, of any brand, are woefully irresponsible about presenting the claims King Jesus makes upon his disciples. In general, we fail miserably at “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20).
  • Peter told Cornelius that God’s acceptance of Cornelius made him realize God is not a respecter of persons (i.e., is not partial; Acts 10:34).
  • I quoted Romans 2 earlier. Right in the middle of that passage is “There is no respect of persons with God” (v. 11).

Perhaps the most poignant comment to Christians about God’s impartial judgment is in Ephesians 5:

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor greedy man … has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Anointed and of God. Don’t let anyone deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Do not be partakers with them. (Eph. 5:5-7)

The import of this verse is unmistakeable. Don’t be deceived. If you live like the sons of disobedience, God will judge you like the sons of disobedience, and you will inherit wrath rather than the kingdom of God and his beloved Son.

In case that’s not clear enough, Peter tells us:

If you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to everyone’s work, then pass the time of your sojourning in fear. (1 Pet. 1:17)

If God tells us to beware because he is not a respecter of persons, and he means that we will not have an easier judgment than those outside the faith, then does it not follow that he is not a respecter of persons to the lost as well? In other words, if Frank, your unsaved neighbor, does good more than you do, he will receive a better judgment than you will.

God does not distinguish between those who find the story of Jesus believable and those who do not. He distinguishes between those who do his will and those who do not.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:32)

And being made perfect, [Jesus] became the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. (Heb. 5:9)

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)

Being born Again

The purpose of being born again is to empower us to do righteousness (Rom. 6:14; 14:9; 2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 2:8-10; Tit. 2:11-14). He did not die to give unrighteous sinners the right to hide behind Jesus’ righteousness and escape judgment. That is a myth.

Little children, do not be deceived, the one who continues practicing righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. The one who continue practicing sin is of the devil. (1 Jn. 3:7-8)

The new birth is an incredible thing. When a person is born again “old things have passed away; all things have become new; now all things are of God” (2 Cor. 5:17). It is a transformation. Through his great and precious promises, we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Through his Spirit we become partakers of his divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

As those who practice righteousness, we are given the blessing of God’s righteousness (1 Jn. 3:7). As those who trust God like Abraham and David, we are given the blessing of Abraham and David (Rom. 4:1-8). We walk in the light, and God does not impute sin to us, but instead we are cleansed continually by the blood of Jesus (1 Jn. 1:7).

We enter the family of God, which exhorts one another daily (Heb. 3:13), gives thought to encouraging one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24), and takes special care of one another (Jn. 13:34-35; 1 Cor. 12; Php. 1:27-2:4; etc.).

All of this makes “patiently continuing to do good” a normal thing for the born again. As Paul puts it, if we will sow to the Spirit and not grow weary in doing good, we will reap a reward of eternal life (Gal. 6:9-10).

What a gift we have received from God!

Not Being Born Again

The Scriptures say repeatedly that God will punish those who do not obey the Gospel.

We bring danger when we bring the Gospel. Because the Gospel comes with the witness of God to the spirit of man, when someone rejects the Gospel, God feels that he has been called a liar (1 Jn. 5:10-11). Those who hear the Gospel are accountable for what they have heard.

The problem, however, is that without the Gospel and all its benefits, men are fighting a losing battle against the flesh, the devil, and the world. We all once walked according to the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, and we were dead in our sins because of it (Ephesians 2:1-3). The Gospel provides the power to triumph in that battle.

I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes … for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. (Rom. 1:16-17)

This is all true!

What is also true, both in Scripture and in what we see around us, is that some, who have not heard or accepted the Gospel, pursue righteousness with a good heart, patiently continuing to do good works, even though they have not received the incredible power of the Holy Spirit.

If it is possible for Abraham, why would it not be possible for some person in the jungles of the Philippines? Why would it not be possible for Frank, your hypothetical neighbor?

Cornelius pleased God, and so God sent Peter to him with the Gospel. He was transformed, and he would walk the rest of his life with the power of the Holy Spirit. So would his family.

But God was pleased with Cornelius and his good deeds before he became a Christian.

How many times have you experienced a person slowly coming to Jesus because of the godly life of a Christian or Christians? Such people begin to modify their life based on the example of the Christians. They see the reality and the goodness of God in their behavior. At some point that person decides they will make the same commitment to God that they are seeing in the Christian or Christians around them.

God does not miss those who choose to do good in the world. He rewards those. The best reward of all is that he sends a preacher (a poorly used term these days) to them like he sent Peter to Cornelius. Then what they are struggling to do out of a desire to please the law they find in their conscience becomes behavior powerfully changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nonetheless, he notices.

Yes, God saves people out of the most terrible sins. When the apostle Paul was still Saul, he was breathing threats against the church of God when God found him.

Did God randomly choose Paul as his vessel?

No, Paul had some qualifications. He was a good Jew in regard to what he knew, but he was an enemy of God because he didn’t believe in the Messiah. That ignorance would not have excused him eternally, but it did bring the mercy of God. Paul says God chose him because he behaved “ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13). Paul was a foolish but devoted follower of God.

God takes notice of the righteous, even the misguided righteous. This notice does not equal salvation, but seeking to be righteous will put you at the front of the line in receiving God’s proclamation of the risen King and for being taught his new law. As Jesus said, “Keep seeking, and you will find” (Matt. 7:7).

Let us not mistake the Gospel of the kingdom for the bizarre idea that God has given up on the idea of doing good or that he has stopped rewarding those who do good. Jesus did not die to make God merciful. He was already merciful. Jesus did not die to make the judgment easier. The judgment of God was already just. Jesus died for us. He did things we could not do for ourselves, reconciled us to God, and then transformed us so that we could remain in that reconciliation.

Preaching the Gospel

I would be remiss if I did not mention that much of what we call Gospel preaching is not the Gospel at all. Saying the right words is simply not enough. Paul rejected the preaching of those who only had words:

I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power, because the kingdom of God does not come in word, but in power. (1 Cor. 4:19-20)

It is not our words that matter, it is the demonstration that we provide.

My message and my preaching were not in enticing words of men’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. (1 Cor. 4:2)

In far too many cases, both our preaching and demonstration is of carnality and weakness, not Spirit and power. Can we blame US citizens for rejecting the message that they can remain in slavery to their flesh? How real does a free ticket to heaven sound where there is no demonstration of a changed life?

Jesus said the world would be convinced when they saw our love for one another (Jn. 13:34-35) and our unity (Jn. 17:20-23). Paul testified of the incredible power of such a demonstration, which rendered preaching in entire provinces unnecessary because everyone already knew the power of God through the love of the Christians! (1 Thes. 1:5-10).

When we slap a bumper sticker on our car that says, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven,” we might as well display one that says, “Jesus is powerless; we have nothing but words for you.”

We are not “just” forgiven. We are forgiven, but we are also justified and sanctified by the Spirit of our God. We are taught the commandments of Jesus (Matt. 28:20), and we fulfill them (1 Jn. 2:3-4) because sin does not have power over us. That is the difference between law and grace: grace overcomes the power of sin and of the flesh (Rom. 6:14: 8:1-4).

Posted in Gospel, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Americans Want Reliable History

Posted on 07/03/2014 by Paul Pavao

A Digital Journas article says that a “Poll Shows American Moviegoers Demand Historically Accurate Portrayal in Biblically-Themed Films.”

Honestly, I doubt that, but that’s not the point of citing the article.

The article is about a new movie being released in 2016 called Nicaea. The claim of the moviemakers: “NICAEA will present the accurate portrayal of the rise in Christianity and satisfy the obvious cry for the truth.” (Note: Nicea can also be spelled Nicaea.)

But how do you know what’s true? There are plenty of web sites saying that The Da Vinci Code got the Council of Nicea right. Even Glenn Beck got in on the nonsense (and threw in a confusion of the Dead Sea and Nag Hammadi scrolls for good measure—ref).

I submit to you that if you want to know whether the movie Nicaea is an accurate portrayal of history, you should read my book, Decoding Nicea, before you see it.

In my book, you will find out how anyone knows what happened at Nicea. You won’t wonder who is telling you the truth, you will read the orginial sources for yourself. You will read Constantine’s letters and the council’s report to the African churches. You will find Eusebius’ the historian’s letter back to Caesarea explaining the Nicene Creed, the decisions of the council, and why he agreed with those decisions.

Eusebius was the bishop (Gr. episkopos, which mean “overseer” or “supervisor”) of the church in Caesarea, and he felt he had to explain himself for going along with the council’s decisions in their entirety. What better way to know what the council decided than to read a defense of those decisions by someone who was there?

Decoding Nicea not only gives you the firsthand accounts of the Council of Nicea—all of them—but it tells the story leading up to the council and the battles that went on for 58 years afterward. It tells you about the Church before Nicea and the intervention of Constantine and the immense changes in the churches afterward. To provide this for you, I did not pull from modern speculation but from the historians closest to the council. Four histories were written in the early 5th century covering the time period from Nicea to their present, between 80 and 120 years from the council. Three are extant, and the story I give to you in the book is culled from all three of them.

What about modern historians? Modern historians are using the same histories that you will be using when you read my book.

Don’t think, however, that you’ll be reading boring, ancient writings. You will be reading the story of one of the most amazing, exciting, and world-changing events in modern history. Nicea changed Christianity, and with the help of the eastern Roman emperors, Christianity changed the world. Whether that was for the good, you can decide.

The book is $12.95 at Amazon, which is a superb price for a 460-page book. The previous version (In the Beginning Was the Logos) cost over $20. When we changed the cover and title to better match the contents, we also switched printers, giving us a huge reduction in price. (Sorry to those of you who paid more than that. I trust you got your money’s worth anyway.)

I have no reviews for the new edition, so you’ll have to read the reviews for the first edition.

You can also get the first edition on Kindle for just $4.99. Since we only changed the title and cover and changed the order of a couple chapters, you will get all the same content in the first edition Kindle book.

Posted in Early Christianity, History | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Psalm 73: Jesus is the Light of the World

Posted on 07/02/2014 by Paul Pavao

Due to a spam comment on a May, 2010 blog post, I was reintroduced to a web page I wrote a long time ago on a web site I no longer keep up. It was so long ago that I have no memory of writing it. It was like reading something someone else had written.

It really encouraged me, and it talked about important truths. It really motivated me, so I want to say thanks to my old self and give a link to that page:

Psalm 73: Jesus is the Light of the World

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A Protestant Way of Thinking

Posted on 06/29/2014 by Paul Pavao

I found a coalition of house churches. They sounded pretty awesome, so I emailed the closest one, which is about an hour and a half away.

I like a lot of things they do, but honestly I cannot endure this part of the response I got:

I would like to let you know that we believe that Jesus Christ truly saved his people from their sins and that the gospel is indeed good news to those he has saved. … We believe in the absolute predestination of all things including the evil works of men. We do not believe God loves every human but his elect vessels are afore prepared for glory and the children of the devil are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction that no flesh will glory in His presence. (emphasis added)

He added, in an effort to be honest with me up front, which I commend …

I share this plainly because very few today in so called Christianity believe these precious truths anymore which were once believed and preached as you know in this very country.

Yes, I do know it was once believed and preached in this very country. It was invented in Germany and Switzerland and transported here. Yes, Augustine dreamed up the seminal form of it based on his own experience, but it was so against the preaching of the church that even the renowned bishop of Hippo could not get the church to hold on to it in his time. That doctrine would have to wait for an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther to revive it in the early 16th century.

As far “precious truth,” I want to state plainly and vehemently that it is not truth at all, much less precious truth. This sort of election disparages the Father of our Lord Jesus, the God of the apostles, and the God of our fathers in the faith.

The only way to come to a falsehood like double predestination (the idea that both the sheep and the goats are predestined to be so by the eternal will of God) is by a method of thinking that has plagued the church since the Reformation.

The Argument Against Double Predestination

A friend of mine recently wrote, “This is so clear only a theologian could get it wrong.”

We train our people in a bizarre method of Bible interpretation, that no sane person would ever embrace if it weren’t slipped in on them bit by bit by the traditions that are infused into our churches. It frustrates me because it is so dishonest, but it’s so widespread that it’s hard to imagine people are being that dishonest on purpose.

There are numerous verses directly contradicting the idea that God wants only some to be saved or that there is anyone that he has predestined for condemnation.

  • 2 Pet. 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise … but he is patient toward us, not wanting anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance.”
  • 1 Jn. 2:2: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
  • 1 Tim. 4:10: “We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach.”
  • 1 Tim. 2:5-6: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus the Anointed, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”
  • Rom. 5:18: “Just as through the offense of one, condemnation resulted to everyone, even so through the righteousness of one there resulted justification of life to everyone.”
  • Jn. 1:29: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
  • Jn. 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.”
  • Rom. 5:8: “But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, the Anointed One died for us.”

It’s not only as bad as this. It is worse.

On every page of the Bible we find an attitude of “find everyone, reach everyone.”

The Parables

Think of Jesus’ parables, especially of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:1-14. The king invited those who in his kingdom, but when they didn’t come, he wound up inviting every traveler he could find in his country. Yes, one of those travelers was rejected, but it was for not properly dressing for a wedding feast, not for being foreign to the kingdom.

You can be left out of the kingdom of God, but over and over Jesus and the apostles blame that choice upon us. A very similar verse to the parable of the wedding feast is Rev. 3:4, where most of the church in Sardis had defiled their garments. Only those “few” who had not were going to walk with Jesus in white.

Then there is the parable of the sower, the first and most famous of Jesus’ parables. Where was the Word sown? It was sown everywhere, including in the same places that the king wound up sending invitations in the parable of the wedding feast: the highways and byways. Yes, when the seed fell on bad ground, including the hard, indifferent, worn-down byways, it was rejected; however, that was not the result of being predestined not to believe. It is not God who stole away the seed, but the devil. It was not God who caused the shallow and the weedy to fall away, it was persecution and troubles.

The Reach of the Gospel

Who was the Gospel supposed to be preached to? According to Jesus it was to “every creature” in “all the world” (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).

Page by page by page throughout all the Scriptures, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the apostles’ writings, you will never find any sort of attitude that says, “There are some that excluded.” You will never find it being preached; you will never find anyone acting like some are hopelessly predestined for hell.

>Punishment for Those That Cannot Repent?

The God who is love predestined some of his creation to eternal torment for not believing a Gospel that it was impossible for them to believe?

If some have absolutely no hope, how can we possible call it love for Paul to say, “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that do not know God and that do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:7-8)? It is love to pour this kind of wrath upon those for whom it is absolutely impossible to obey?

The Argument for Double Predestination

With so much glaringly against the idea that anyone at all is predestined to be lost, condemned, and subject to the fiery vengeance of God, where did this idea even come from?

First and foremost, it is from taking the idea that we are too weak to enter the kingdom of God too far. We were too weak to enter the kingdom of God. We were to weak to overcome our flesh (Rom. 7). But that has changed (Rom. 8).

Indeed, God helps us to overcome, but that does not happen automatically. Perhaps the best “symbiotic” verse there is, showing that God works with us rather than overcoming our will, is Philippians 2:12-13:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have alway obeyed … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

But it is not the only one:

For this purpose I labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. (Col. 1:29)

God enables us, but the choice to obey is left in our hands.

That’s why there are commandments. If God did everything for us, then to what purpose are commandments complete with promises of rewards and threats of punishment?

And if you haven’t noticed, every New Testament letter has lots of them.

The Theological Mind and Turning Exceptions into Rules

There are some exceptions. The Bible says that Pharaoh was predestined by God to be a vessel of wrath. There are arguments that can be made that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but I think it’s very hard to deny that God intended for Pharaoh, before he was ever born, to be in his position solely for the purpose of being Israel’s enemy and being defeated.

God is the Potter; we’re the clay. He’s allowed to do that.

Another exception is Jacob and Esau, although that is not much of an exception. The Scriptures say that God hated Esau and loved Jacob before they were born, but we have to take the use of hated and loved the same way we do in Luke 14:26 (where we are told to hate our families). There are places in the prophets where Israel is told to treat Edom (the descendants of Esau) with mercy because they are Israel’s brother.

The passages about Jacob and Esau are unquestionable about God choosing Jacob as the father of his chosen people over Esau. He did that before they were born. This does not mean that Esau and all his descendants perish forever in hellfire. There are no Scriptures that indicate this, and there are lots of Scriptures that show us this is not God’s nature. For example, Ruth was from Moab, and the Law expels them from Israel for ten generations, yet Ruth, long before 10 generations since she was Rahab’s granddaughter-in-law, was admitted not only to the commonwealth of Israel, but to the lineage of the Messiah!

The Jews and Gentiles

Of course, the ultimate exception, the one that all Calvinists appeal to, is Romans 9-11. In Romans 9, Paul argues that God can make whatever choices he wants, and he appeals to the unusual situations of Pharaoh and Jacob and Esau.

But what is Paul defending? Is Paul arguing that God now chooses who is saved and who perishes randomly, by a roll of cosmic dice? Is Paul arguing that God, unlike his Son, is a respecter of persons, and that he is partial to some and against others for no reason at all?

Of course he is not. He spends three chapters explaining exactly what he means. God has rejected the Israelites—because they killed the prophets and God’s Son (Matt. 21:33-43), not because he predestined them to be rejected—and he has chosen the Gentiles … for a time. He did this specifically because he is not the God of Calvinism. He wants everyone, Gentiles and Jews, to be saved, so he has partially hardened the Jews for a time so that he can bring in the fullness of the Gentiles. This, says Paul, will provoke the Jews to jealousy, so that after the time of the Gentiles, they will be brought back to the one tree, to the Lord of All, to Jesus the Messiah.

As Paul puts it:

For as you in times past have not believed God, yet now you have obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so these also have now not believed so that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy. For God has included them all in unbelief so that he might have mercy upon them all. (Rom. 11:30-32)

How Does Anyone Miss This? Cherry-picking Verses

I mentioned a mindset that plagues Protestants. Let’s directly address it because it is not just the Calvinists who pick verses here and there.

The Calvinists do it. There are verses that mention predestination here and there, and they love to quote them.

Predestination

However, without a Protestant, theological approach to the Scriptures, you are not going to get Calvinism out of those predestination verses. Someone who has not been theologically trained to pick isolated phrases from Scripture is going to wonder why the Gospel is always presented as though it is for everyone. They are going to wonder why the Scriptures say repeatedly that the will of God is to see everyone come to repentance. Then they are going to ask what those predestination verses mean.

They’re simple enough.

A couple talk about being predestined to other things than salvation. Those of us who are being saved are predestined to be conformed to the image of King Jesus (Rom. 8:29). God has a purpose, and it is not for us to be evangelists and nothing else. It is for us to become just like Jesus. That is the primary work that God has for us on this earth. As a result, that was the utter devotion and goal of the apostle Paul (Php. 3:8-10), and the goal he wanted all the rest of us to have (Php. 3:15). He even described the route to that goal (Eph. 4:11-16).

He puts this a little differently in Ephesians 1:9-12, where he tells us that we are predestinated according to a purpose. That purpose is to gather together everything in the Anointed One.

Predestination is not predestination to be saved. It is predestination of the elect of God to be conformed to the image of Jesus, the Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many siblings.

Paul tells us that the source of this predestination is foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29). It is those whom he foreknew that he predestines to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Peter repeats this, saying we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet. 1:2).

Foreknowledge

Foreknowledge is not so easy. I have my own opinions, but foreknowledge is not explained. The Scriptures simply tell us that we are predestined according to foreknowledge.

At the very least, this tells us that God knows something in advance. Some argue that he knows what will happen to those who believe and continue in belief. Therefore, if we continue to believe, we remain among the elect and predestined.

That’s a little mystical, so others simply say that God knows the end from the beginning. Isaiah says this is true of God, and it would mean that he knows the final decision all of us will make. Those whom he foreknows will continue to the end, those are the saved, and they are predestined to a certain end based on God’s foreknowledge.

Others, arguing from a Calvinistic viewpoint, say that foreknowledge is the same as predetermination. If God knows what is going to happen, then he made it happen.

Predetermination

The trickiest verse—in fact, the only tricky verse on this subject—is Acts 13:48. There Luke talks like a Calvinist. He tells us that “as many as were appointed/ordained/assigned to eternal life believed.”

The Greek word is tasso. There is no prefix to translate into the English prefix “pre-.” The word should not be translated “predetermination” like some translations do, but it should be “assigned” or “appointed.”

This is not much different than predetermination, and I don’t want to use it as an argument against the obvious meaning of Acts 13:48. I do want to point out that Luke avoided using any Greek word that directly means predestination or predetermination.

Why are only certain ones appointed to eternal life? Why do only those believe?

If this were the only verse we had in Scripture, then it would be possible to interpret this to mean that God is a respecter of persons, partial to some and against others. It would be possible to interpret this to mean that God randomly chose some to believe and some not to believe.

It is, however, the only verse in all of Scripture that even hints at such an idea, and there are other ways to interpret this verse that fit what the rest of Scripture says.

We have direct statements that those who are predestined to be like Jesus are called, justified, and glorified as well. Thus, the most obvious interpretation of Acts 13:48 is that it means the same thing that Romans 8:29-30 means. God foreknew some, and it is those who are called, who believe, and who are justified.

Luke is saying, “As many as are in the pattern Paul described in Romans 8, which begins with God’s foreknowledge, those are the ones who believe Paul’s message. God knows the ones who would not believe, and they are not appointed for eternal life. Only the ones who are foreknown are ordained to glorification.”

The Tenor of Scripture

I have spent perhaps too much time explaining the issue with Calvinism. I’m not trying to convince you that Calvinism is wrong. I’m trying to convince you that you already know Calvinism is wrong.

We think that the teachings of God are established by picking this verse and that verse, then combining them together into an argument. I want to free you from that thought.

There are things that are obvious in Scripture. We would all see it if we weren’t trained to miss it and hold to traditions backed up by cherry-picked verses instead.

Let me pick on the Roman Catholics as an example. They pull passages from almost early church fathers to justify their overboard veneration of Mary. The passages they pull are from much later church fathers than I would give any authority to, but the point goes deeper than that.

Read through the writings of the apostles. If no one said anything to you in advance, would you have any idea that Christians ought to make statues of Mary and bow down to them? Would you get the idea from any apostolic writing that anyone anywhere prayed to Mary after she died, or to any other dead saint for that matter?

You would find the same thing in the writings of the early church fathers, the ones that were within three centuries of Jesus. None of them give us a hint that anyone prayed to saints or had some particular devotion to Mary. In fact, you will find all sorts of warnings to beware of directing worship to statues and images, no matter who those statues and images represented.

It’s no different with Calvinism. If you read through the Gospels and the letters from the apostles, you’ll find nothing that would give you the idea that the Jesus didn’t die for everyone or that the Gospel is not for everyone or that God picks out certain people to be saved. Every page of Scripture would teach you something contrary to that. God longs to see everyone come to repentance, but they refuse.

Jesus even mourned over the Jews who are said to be hardened (partially) by God. After he was forced to reject them, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem and mourned out loud, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone them who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her chickens underwing, but you would not!” (Matt. 23:37).

This was not the will of God. This was the will of man, foreknown by God, but mourned over nonetheless by Jesus.

Over and over you will find God and his Son Jesus pleading with men to repent and threatening eternal death to those who will not.

Do we really think it is sensible, much less wise, to cherry pick a couple verses and develop a doctrine that violates everything we read in Scripture?

I hope none of my readers do, but there are a lot of others who have no problem reading the Scriptures that way.

Ignoring the Utterly Blind

Some people are so in love with the traditions handed to them that they beg and plead with the rest of us to shut off our reason and accept their interpretation of Scripture. They pull out this verse and that verse, sure that we are going to see their reasoning. If you point out their error, they quickly switch to another verse, pulled out of context and disagreeing with the whole tenor of Scripture. If you keep replying, they accuse you of doing what they are doing.

Such people are not worth talking with. They will confuse you, make you wonder if they’re right, and continue poking you with Scripture until you think you are crazy and unable to reason for yourself.

Don’t let it happen. The Scriptures were written for simple folk who have the Spirit of God to rejoice in the love of God towards them. You can understand Scripture as it is written, at least the great themes of Scripture. And you can do so with just the smallest bit of training.

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