Teachings That Should Not Be Lost: The Bible

Posted on 11/18/2013 by Paul Pavao

This post is going to sound like it is attacking the Bible. I’m hoping that my continual reference to the Bible throughout this post will make it clear that I am not attacking the Bible. Please, every time you get offended as you read this, and you want to accuse me of things, look at the way I am using the Bible. It is the way I always use it, as the authoritative Word of God that is the rule and guide of my life.

That said, I never call the Bible the Word of God, and it is not my “sole” rule and guide. In fact, it is not the primary guide for my life, and it should not be yours, either.

If you are going to be a Bible believer, then you should believe that your first and primary guide is the Spirit of God.

As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. (Rom. 8:14)

[God] has made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor. 3:6)

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. … If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal. 5:16,18)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find life. However, these are they which testify of me, and you refuse to come to me so that you may have life. (Jn. 5:39-40)

The Bible Does Not Lead, It Equips

The Scriptures are our protection. With them we can teach, admonish, rebuke, and correct (2 Tim. 3:16). They can make us wise for salvation (2 Tim. 3:14). They can equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17).

We do not, however, “follow” the Bible. We follow the Spirit.

We keep the commands of Christ. That is part of following him. Paul said that the things the apostles write to us are the commands of Christ every bit as much as the commands we read about in the Gospel (1 Cor. 14:37). If we love him, we will obey him; we will keep Jesus’ commandments.

But we are following the Spirit. He is our guide.

Why the Leading of the Spirit Is Important

There is so much we have lost. We feel comfortable and safe following the Bible, trusting our interpretations of it. But look at what it has gotten us:

  • Christians are famous for their divisions. We call them denominations. As Bible followers, we go blithely along, joining and promoting those denominations, doing little to repent for the division we’re showing to the world despite terrifying warnings issued by Jesus and Paul about division.
  • Many who leave the denominations fumble along, having no idea what they should be doing. They search the Scriptures, thinking that there will be answers for a situation that did not exist in the first century, but the answers are not there. What they build, they build on new interpretations of Scripture, every bit as unreliable and ineffective as the old interpretations of Scripture because God wants to lead them by his Spirit, not have them figure things out from the Bible.
  • People call the Bible their sole rule for faith and practice, yet the majority of evangelicals hold a doctrine of baptism that disagrees with almost every verse in the apostles writings that concerns baptism. It’s a doctrine only about 300 or 400 years old, and was never heard of in church history before that. The misinterpretation of baptism verses is so bad that I don’t have to tell you what verses to look at. Go look up any baptism verses. Go read the baptisms in Acts.

I’m going to stop there because the most important thing is already mentioned. People try to branch out from the errors of the evangelicals, and they don’t know where to go. If division is bad among evangelicals, it is much worse among those who have left. Splintering into individual families is not uncommon.

Why? Because we have based fellowship on unreliable interpretations of the Scripture rather than on the unity of the Spirit of God.

The Unity of the Spirit

Have you ever noticed that we are told to carefully maintain the unity of the Spirit, but never told to carefully maintain unity of doctrine except where that doctrine concerns behavior?

Look around the Bible. It’s so.

We are told that if we maintain the unity of the Spirit successfully, then Jesus will give us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers who will train us to do the work of ministry. Then, as we maintain the unity of the Spirit, he will bring us to unity of faith (Eph. 4:3-16). That will happen, not just as everyone reads their Bible, though they all should (2 Tim. 3:14-17), but because we exercise our gifts toward each other (“every one doing his part”).

The Bible can be and should be our protection. Too often, however, it is not the Bible that we adhere to, but our interpretation of the Bible.

Interpretations of the Bible

I hope if you read this blog that you see how much of the Scripture is misunderstood and ignored by evangelicals. I was one—I probably still qualify as one—and I missed huge portions of Scripture, too. Very little turns the apostles’ writings into as much of a hodge podge of meaningless verses and contradictions as our ubiquitous “faith alone” doctrine.

Knowing that we can get that far off on such a critically important central issue of the new covenant, then why are we not afraid of our own interpretations of the Bible? Why do we think we can search the Scriptures for what we should do when we leave the evangelical denominations and just figure it out?

We can’t, and millions of house churches and radical separatists have proven we can’t.

The one thing very few of them try is a helpless reliance on the Holy Spirit of God who has promised, through the Scriptures, that he will lead them into EVERYTHING, and that his leading will be true and not a lie (1 Jn. 2:27).

“Oh, Paul, being led by the Spirit is not trustworthy. We will go astray. We need something concrete, like the LETTER.”

Yeah, how’s that working out for you?

Our safety is each other, united in the Spirit.

He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry and the building up of the body of the King, until we all come to the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfected man, and to the full-grown size of the King. Then we will no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of teaching, by the sleight of hand of men and the cunning craftiness with which they lie in wait to deceive. (Eph. 4:11-14)

I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to seduce you. But the Anointing which you have received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. That Anointing teaches you everything and is true and not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will remain in him. (1 Jn. 2:26-27)

I’d like to just end with those Scriptures. I apologize for how poorly this is written. I’m packing a lot into a little space, and I left a lot unexplained.

This is so important, so practical, and so potentially transforming of Christendom, that I can only pray that God can get past my meager attempt to pass on his Word and grant revelation to the reader.

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And to Knowledge, Self-Control

Posted on 11/18/2013 by Paul Pavao

2 Peter 1:3-11 has always been one of my favorite passages. I won’t quote the whole thing here. I wrote a blog on a portion of that passage that is one of my favorites.

Today, I want to address an even smaller portion:

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowlege, self-control …

In fact, I just want to focus on one step, adding self-control to knowledge.

Knowledge

What sort of knowledge do you picture adding to your faith and virtue?

For a lot of my younger Christian life, I added knowledge about doctrines that the “cults” disputed. I added knowledge about the Trinity to dispute with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and United Pentecostals. I added knowledge about spiritual gifts and the plan of salvation to dispute with the Way International. I added knowledge about salvation by faith alone to dispute with the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Churches of Christ.

I also added a lot of knowledge about the “cults” themselves.

Then, when I found out about all the disputes among evangelical denominations, I added more knowledge. I added knowledge about eternal security and losing one’s salvation. I added knowledge about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and the use of spiritual gifts.

I spent two years building a model for the tribulation, the wrath to come, the rapture, and completely outlined Daniel’s seventieth week.

Then I got into the “deeper” Christian life, and I added knowledge about the church, unity, mysticism. Then I found The Ante-Nicene Fathers, and I even wrote a book that was accepted for publication by Scroll Publishing.

The book, which was never published, argues for a more honest approach to the Bible using four topics: baptism, church government, salvation by faith, and something else I forget. (Hey, that was 20 years ago.)

The book was well researched. The arguments were powerful. The book was passed around in manuscript form among friends and a couple small churches.

I would never recommend anyone read it now.

I couldn’t see it at the time, but the only real purpose for all that knowledge was disputation.

I am not saying that disputation is a bad thing. The apostles did it, and I still dispute a lot. There is a place for disputation.

However, I want to suggest a new way of looking at our goal of gaining knowledge. (Gaining knowledge is commanded in the passage we are looking at.)

Add to Your … Knowledge, Self-Control

Does an understanding of the timing of the rapture require self-control from me? How about a better explanation of the Trinity?

Does the knowledge I’m gaining require me to add self-control?

The knowledge Jesus passed on requires immense self-control. “Don’t hate your brother, or you’re a murderer.” “Forgive, or your heavenly Father won’t forgive you.” “Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth.” “Take no thought for tomorrow.” “Do not return evil for evil, but bless those who curse you.” “Do not look at a woman in lust, or you’ve already committed adultery with her.”

Let’s get out of the Sermon on the Mount, where all those came from. “Whichever of you does not forsake all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” “If you love your father or mother more than me, you are not worthy of me.” “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, become the servant of everyone.”

When Jesus adds knowledge, I not only need self-control, I need a breathing treatment to get over the terror of what I’m facing as a Christian.

Is all that even possible?

Well, if I’ll quit adding knowledge I’ve chosen for myself, I might be able to find out if the fact that God has made me “a partaker of the divine nature” and given us “great and precious promises” are really enough for us to “escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I might be forced to walk in the Spirit and find out if that really causes me to “not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” I might be forced to cry out to God and find out whether “sin will have no power over you because you are … under grace.”

Pertinent Early Christian Quotes

Trypho: “Moreover, I am aware that your precepts in the so-called Gospel are so wonderful and so great, that I suspect no one can keep them; for I have carefully read them. …”

Justin: “If, therefore, God proclaimed a new covenant which was to be instituted, and this for a light of the nations, we see and are persuaded that men approach God, leaving their idols and other unrighteousness, through the name of Him who was crucified, Jesus Christ, and abide by their confession even unto death, and maintain godliness.” (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 10,11, c. AD 155)

To [humans]alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, whom He formed after His ownimage, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him. And when you have attained this knowledge, with what joy do you think you will be filled? Or, how will you love Him who has first so loved you?

And if you love Him, you will be an imitator of His kindness. And do not wonder that a man may become an imitator of God. He can, if he is willing. For it is not by ruling over his neighbours, or by seeking to hold the supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich, and showing violence towards those that are inferior, that happiness is found; nor can any one by these things become an imitator of God. But these things do not at all constitute His majesty.

On the contrary he who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbour; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]: he is an imitator of God. Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God in the heavens rules over [the universe]; then thou shall begin to speak the mysteries of God; then shalt thou both love and admire those that suffer punishment because they will not deny God; then shall thou condemn the deceit and error of the world when thou shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise
that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it. Then shalt thou admire those who for righteousness’ sake endure the fire that is but for a moment, and shalt count them happy when thou shalt know [the nature of] that fire.

I do not speak of things strange to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with right reason; but having been a disciple of the Apostles, I am become a teacher of the Gentiles. I minister the things delivered to me to those that are disciples worthy of the truth. For who that is rightly taught and begotten by the loving Word, would not seek to learn accurately the things which have been clearly shown by the Word to His disciples, to whom the Word being manifested has revealed them, speaking plainly [to them], not understood indeed by the unbelieving, but conversing with the disciples, who, being esteemed faithful by Him, acquired a knowledge of the mysteries of the Father? …

Then the fear of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults; which grace if you grieve not, you shall know those things which the Word teaches, by whom He wills, and when He pleases. For whatever things we are moved to utter by the will of the Word commanding us, we communicate to you with pains, and from a love of the things that have been revealed to us. (Anonymous, Letter to Diognetus 10-11; AD 80-130)

End Notes

No references today. You have to find all those verses yourself.

I am not saying that the things I mentioned at the start of the blog are all bad. Christians are in disagreement about those things. It would be good if you knew something about those subjects. Remember, though, that anger, division, schisms, and jealousy are works of the flesh. Do not fool yourself into thinking you’ve been chose by God for righteous indignation. There’s a 99.99% chance you haven’t. “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

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Verses Evangelicals Ignore or Explain Away: 1 John 2:27

Posted on 11/17/2013 by Paul Pavao

Verse #2:

1 John 2:27:

The Anointing which you have received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. As that same anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and not a lie, just as it has taught you, you will remain in him.

Category:

Ignored (mostly)

Ignored by Whom?

Everyone except the charismatics, who misinterpret this verse. (Church of England exempted because I don’t know much about them, and I don’t know if they are “evangelicals” anyway. Let’s leave them out as not American and outside my scope of knowledge.)

Explanation

1 John 2:27 has been abused by people who have applied it to themselves individually, thinking that they do not need to be taught. Every “you” in 1 John 2:27 is plural; none are singular. 1 John 2:27 is a promise to the local church, which has teachers to instruct its members, but which does not need to be taught by anyone because it is taught by the Anointing.

That’s why the church can be the pillar and support of the truth, because it is led by the Anointing that is “true and not a lie.”

In overreaction to the charismatics, everyone else ignores this verse, not having any idea what to do with it after its abuse in so many circles. The Roman Catholics, of course, apply this verse to their “magisterium,” or teaching authority. We Protestants are called that because we protest the Roman Catholic claim to teaching authority because what they have been led to is obviously not, at least in our eyes, “the truth and not a lie.”

 

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The Pastoral Epistles: Were Timothy and Titus Pastors?

Posted on 11/16/2013 by Paul Pavao

I guess this must be controversial. Years ago, I was talking to a customer in my Christian bookstore, and I began to point out the obvious, which is that Timothy and Titus were not pastors. It took the man a second to believe that I was suggesting this. When he realized I was serious, he said, “We’re done here.”

He put down the books he was going to buy, walked out, and he never came back again.

Really, though, there’s not any question scripturally.

Proof Timothy and Titus Were Not Pastors

1. Timothy and Titus were told to appoint pastors.

The word “pastor” is only used once in reference to the Christian church. They are mentioned to exist in Ephesians 4:11, and nothing specific is said about them.

“Pastor” is used as a verb in other places in the apostles’ writings. It’s translated as “shepherd” rather than “pastor,” but it’s the same word. The ones who are said to do the pastoring are the elders (Acts 20:17,28; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

Elders and pastors are interchangeable terms in the Scripture (see Bishops, Elders, Pastors).  Both Timothy and Titus are told to appoint elders (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9). They are not elders themselves.

2. Timothy is said to be an apostle, and Titus must be one, too.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 says that the letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 1 Thessalonians 2:6 references “we” as “apostles of Christ.” Since we all regard Paul as an apostle, and the Scriptures specifically say Barnabas was an apostle (Acts 14:14), it’s a simple conclusion that everyone who traveled with Paul was regarded as an apostle, even if temporarily.

There is no doubt that Timothy and Titus were functioning in that role in Ephesus and Crete. Both were there temporarily (2 Tim. 4:21; Tit. 3:12). Paul tells them the reason they were left, and in both cases it included intalling elders.

Apostles traveled; elders stayed in one place. The idea that an elder (pastor) could be raised in some faraway church, trained in seminary, then recruited by a pastor search comittee is a modern, heretical [the word, in a general sense, means “divisive”] tradition. Tertullian described something different going on in the early church:

The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honor not by purchase, but by established character (Apology 39)

3. Apostles must be pastors and evangelists.

This should be listed as a free bonus, but it’s part of the proof that Timothy and Titus were not pastors.

I don’t have the room to give the proof of that. I have to limit myself to showing you that both Timothy and Titus were doing the jobs of pastor and evangelist.

It may not be wrong to call the three letters, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, the pastoral epistles. The letters are full of pastoral instruction. Paul gives constant advice on how they should train the church. That is shepherding (cf. Eph. 4:11-12).

However, that was not the only job Timothy and Titus had. They also had to appoint people to do the shepherding on a permanent basis because they were moving on.

They were also evangelists. Apostles build churches. Unlike today, in the first century apostles couldn’t draw their members from unchurched Christians or members of other denominations. They had to win their church members from among the Jews and Gentiles (two very different crowds and methods).

Paul tells Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). We like to apply that, as we do with many verses, to all Christians, but there is no good scriptural reason to do so. Apostles are required to do the work of an evangelist and the work of a shepherd. Some of the rest of us are called to shepherd or evangelize, but that is not a general command for Christians.

Paul doesn’t seem to tell Titus to do the same, or suggest anything similar. It’s possible that Titus had his hands full with a group of converts that were “liars, evil beasts, and gluttons” (Tit. 1:12). It’s possible that Titus didn’t have the same gifts Timothy did.

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Daily Passage on Works: Philippians 3:8-20

Posted on 11/16/2013 by Paul Pavao

Day 31:

Philippians 3:8-20: I count everything a loss for the superior purpose of the knowledge of King Jesus my Lord. For him I have suffered the loss of everything, and I count all of it refuse so that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in the King, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

I want to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, so that I may shaped into the form of his death, if at the end I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. It is not as though I have already attained, or were already perfected, but I race after him so that I may grab that for which I have been grabbed by King Jesus.

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have gotten my hands on it, but I do this one thing: I forget the things which are behind me, and I stretch for the things in front of me. I race toward the finish line for the prize of the upward call of God in King Jesus.

Let us, therefore, as many of us as are perfect, think like this. If anyone has any other way of thinking, God shall reveal even this to you. Beside this, to wherever we have already arrived, let us walk by the same measure, let us think the same thing.

Brothers, be followers, together, of me, and pay attention to those who walk like you have us for an example. For there are many who walk, as I have told you often and even now tell you with weeping, who are the enemies of the cross of the King. Their end is destruction; their god is their belly, their glory is in their shame, and they pay attention to earthly things. Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and from there we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus the King.

The Purpose of This Exercise

This is passage 31 of what I hope will be 180 passages (six months worth). The point is to establish that we can exhort each other to good works without apology because Jesus and his apostles certainly don’t apologize for their exhortations or their warnings concerning good works.

This is a faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit. 3:8)

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Daily Passage on Works: Luke 9:23 & Luke 14:26-33

Posted on 11/15/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m going to add a disclaimer today. I also am going to do two passages because I missed yesterday.

Day 29:

Luke 9:23-24: [Jesus] said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever will lose his soul for my sake, he will save it.”

Luke 14:26-33: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and, yes, his own soul also, he cannot be my disciple. Whichever of you does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and determine the cost so he knows whether he has enough to finish it? You don’t want to find out after you’ve laid the foundation that you don’t have enough to finish it. People will mock you, and say, ‘This man began to build, and he wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or what king goes out to make war with another king without sitting down and consulting about whether he is able, with ten thousand men, to face someone coming against him with twenty thousand? If he can’t, he will send an embassy and request conditions of peace while his enemy is still a long way off.

“So, in the same way, any of you that does not forsake everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Disclaimer

It’s okay to put things in context. We are supposed to show kindness and patience to everyone. That includes our mother, father, spouse, children, brothers, and sisters. Actually displaying hatred to our relatives would violate other commands of Christ (such as “love your neighbor as yourself”).

This verse means something, however. Jesus used the word “hate” on purpose. He wants us to not have the slightest temptation to choose the will of our earthly family over that of our heavenly Father. You can have no loyalty to your family that is anything more than the kindness God wants you to show to people upon this earth. Forsake his family for yours, and you will find God an opponent.

This does not mean that we should not be responsible for our own widowed mother or father. This does not mean that we should not work hard to support our family so that the church does not have to.

It does mean that you who have loyalty to family traditions had better get over them now.

Consider, O daughter. Listen, and incline your ear. Forget your own people, and your father’s house, for so the King will greatly desire your beauty. Worship him, for he is your Lord. (Ps. 45:10-11)

Disclaimer 2

Jesus is looking for the willing, who will face whatever he puts in front of them. That is why he mentions carrying your cross. The cross was an instrument of torture and execution. It was a cruel death.

This is the call of the King. Will you follow him to death? Will you follow him through sufferings?

If you won’t, don’t get started. You’ll just embarrass yourself.

That said, my disclaimer is that neither you nor I can do anything without Jesus (Jn. 15:5). You are coming to the Lord of all the universe not just for a lesson, but for a transformation. There is no lack to what the believing can do.

This work is a process. The call of Jesus is not to prove your perfection and fitness. The call of Jesus is to acknowledge that he is worth everything. You have to start there and consider the cost of following. It is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). The work along the way, however, is his, full of grace (the power you need to follow), and mercy (God’s forgiveness when we fail).

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Verses Evangelicals Ignore or Explain Away: 1 Timothy 3:15

Posted on 11/15/2013 by Paul Pavao

I am going to try to prove that there are at least 100 verses that a large percentage of evangelicals ignore or explain away. I’m not going to do this daily like I am doing the “good works” passages daily. Instead, I’ll just fit these into the blog on days I don’t have something else.

I’m going to start with an easy one.

Verse 1: 1 Timothy 3:15

These things I write to you … that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the household of God, which is the church of God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Applies to whom?

All evangelicals

Category

Ignored.

This is a Roman Catholic verse. Evangelicals don’t pay attention to it.

Fair Warning

One of the “applies to whom” categories will be “eternal security believers.” That will make my task much easier because it will provide at least half of the hundred verses I’m shooting for. You have to close your eyes a lot, have a very creative imagination, and be impervious to embarrassing yourself with outrageous excuses.

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John 5:24-29 – Jesus, Faith, Works, and the Judgment

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Paul Pavao

John 5:24 is used as a standalone verse in evangelism programs. It reads:

Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes in him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

It’s a great verse for the “once saved, always saved” doctrine that pervades the common evangelical habit of preaching the atonement as though it were the Gospel (see my book, The Apostles’ Gospel; it costs next to nothing on Kindle). However, this is hardly the only thing this passage says.

The next few verses are much more comprehensive than most of us realize. I had to have someone explain them to me, but once they did, the meaning was obvious, though profound.

The Voice of the Son of God … Now

Most certainly, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. (John 5:25)

Because Jesus uses the word “dead,” it’s easy to assume that he’s talking about people in their graves. He’s not. He will talk about people in their graves in verse 28.

In verse 25, he is talking about now, and he is talking about us, the walking dead. Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us that we were all dead in our trespasses before coming to Christ, servants to the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. The time is coming, AND NOW IS, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

I’ve written on the saving power of Jesus’ voice, of the Word of God, numerous times, and I have never felt that I’ve done a good job. I hope, however, the link I just gave you will be clear enough to help you get a revelation that is immensely freeing.

The Gospel is not teaching people the atonement. The Gospel is the proclamation of the good news of King Jesus. We proclaim him to the dead until they can hear his voice and come to life.

The Voice of the Son of God … Then

Don’t Marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29)

Notice that here Jesus does not say, “… the hour comes, and now is …” Here he just leaves it as “the hour comes.”

The ones who hear this time are not just “the dead,” but those who are “in the tombs.” They will come forth either to the resurrection of life or to judgment.

The Voice of the Son of God … Now or Then

We will all hear the voice of the Son of God, if not now, then when we are in our graves. In both cases it gives life. One restores physical life for the judgment. The other restores spiritual life so that we can avoid condemnation.

I’m not a Greek scholar. I know a little Greek, and if I make an assertion concerning Greek, as I do now and then, I have researched real Greek scholars to make sure I’m telling you the truth. I never depend on my own knowledge of Greek, but it is minimal.

However, any of us can read Scripture and compare. Some Bible translations translate κρισισ as “judgment” and some as “condemnation.” Some, like the KJV, occasionally translate it either way. How do we choose what is meant?

We have to interpret the Scripture so it does not contradict itself. Jesus talks about judgment all over the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 12:36; 25:31-46; Mark 12:42; Luke 10:14; Jn. 5:22; 9:39). Paul says we shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Peter tells Christians that because we’ll be judged by our works, we should fear (1 Pet. 1:17).

Condemnation, however, we can avoid. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to preserve you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceptional joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever” (Jude 24-25).

There is no way to avoid the judgment. We must all appear before the judgment seat of the King, there to receive the works done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). However, we can avoid condemnation.

The way to do that is to hear his voice now. You may be dead in your trespasses and sins, but when you hear the voice of the Son of God, in this time that now is, you will live. You will rise from spiritual death into spiritual life; old things will pass away; all things will become new; you will become his workmanship, created in King Jesus to do good works, just the ones that God has prepared in advance for you to do.

No wonder the writer of Hebrews spoke of a new covenant “based on better promises” (Heb. 8:6), or that Peter referred to “great and precious promises” through which we escape the corruptions of this world (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

If we fail to hear his voice now, or even if we claim that there is no such voice now, we shall hear it eventually, after we are in our graves. It is terrible to be dead spiritually now, but it is worse to remain that way until you are dead physically.

Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Heb. 3:7-8)

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Daily Passage on Works: John 5:28-29

Posted on 11/13/2013 by Paul Pavao

Day 28:

John 5:28-29: Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

Purpose of this Exercise

“Works,” as a word, has become almost a cuss word in many Evangelical circles. Affirming constantly that we are to be careful to maintain good works, as Titus is told to do (3:8), is frowned upon. Doing so requires constant reminders that we are not saved by works.

This is not what we find in Scripture. The apostles don’t apologize for exhorting us to good works. They don’t apologize for warning us, and they certainly don’t stop to remind us that we are saved apart from works.

We are at 28 passages so far. I’m shooting for 180, six months worth.

Somehow, it seems to me, that 180 calls to good works, without apology and without reminders of our salvation by faith alone, should be sufficient to motivate us to follow those examples.

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Jesus Paid It All?

Posted on 11/13/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m back on the “Jesus Paid It All” bandwagon again.

I saw a blog I won’t reference because I really liked it. I’ll link to it some other time when I’m not using it to point out an error that infects evangelicalism.

The blogger has some good things to say, but one of them reminds her that “Jesus has paid the price for all of us.”

I wish I could believe that she means what Peter means when he speaks of Jesus purchasing us with his precious blood. Peter meant that we were purchased by him, and therefore we owe him our life and obedience:

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of the King Jesus. As obedient children, do not conform yourself to your previous lusts which you had when you were ignorant, but as he who has called you is holy, so be holy in all your behavior. … Because you know that you were not redeemed with perishable things, like silver or gold, from your empty way of life received by tradition from your fathers, but by the precious blood of the King, as of a lamb without spot and without blemish. (1 Pet. 1:13-15,18-19)

She doesn’t however. She means, I’m certain, that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have a ticket to heaven apart from works.

Problems with Jesus Paid the Penalty

1. The Terminology Is Unscriptural

Scripture never uses Jesus paid the penalty. In fact it never uses “Jesus paid.” It does say that we were bought with a price. That price, our purchase price, Jesus did pay, so that “we should no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14).

2. There Is No Penalty To Be Paid

The only thing God asks in order to forgive sin is repentance. This is all over the Scriptures, both under the old covenant and under the new. When David sinned, he said God didn’t want sacrifice and offering. He wanted a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He promised forgiveness for that kind of repentance not just to David, but to any wicked person who would repent (Ezek 18:21-23; 33:14-16).

3. The Doctrine that God “Must” Punish Sin Is Blasphemous

I suspect that well-meaning Christians will avoid the charge of blasphemy because they don’t think through what they are saying.

God must punish sin?

It’s in almost every tract I’ve sin. God is merciful and he “wants” to forgive sin, but he is also just and he “must” punish sin.

What kind of crazy teaching is this, that the God of all the universe must do something he doesn’t want to do? What greater God is forcing him to do this? Is it a cosmic rule of the universe, greater than God himself, that has God in an arm bar and is forcing him to submit.

The idea is unscriptural, ludicrous, and blasphemous because it puts something above the will of God.

4. The Problem Is Not God

God has always had a way out for us. It has always been true that if we would simply repent and walk in his ways, then all our wickedness would be forgotten (Ezek. 18:22).

The problem is us. According to Romans 7, because of the sin in our flesh, the lusts of our body, there is no law that we can obey.

So what solution does Paul describe? Does he describe the penalty of our sins being forgiven because of Jesus’ death?

No, Paul says that Jesus’ death cured the sin problem so that we can repent, have our sins forgiven and forgotten, and go on to live in righteousness.

The end of Romans 7 is Romans 8:

There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in King Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of Life in King Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death [i.e., from Romans 7]. What the Law could not do [described in Romans 7], God did. By sending his Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh, as sin offering, he destroyed sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (vv. 1-4)

Note here that it does not say that if we walk according to the Spirit we can set our mind on the Law and fulfill the Law. No the righteous requirement of the Law—not the Law itself, which was made for fleshly Israel, and awaited the expansion and fullness brought by Jesus’ new Law (Heb. 7:12)—will be fulfilled in us if we keep our eyes on the Spirit and on King Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father.

Paul later gives another reason, exactly similar to this one in Romans 8, why Jesus died:

For to this end the King died, rose, and lived again: that he might be Lord of both the living and the dead. (Rom. 14:9)

The Breadth of the Atonement

I cannot possibly sum up the meaning of the atonement in a one-thousand-word blog post. In fact, neither I nor any human can sum up the meaning of the atonement, period. Gene Edwards, by wisely using pictures and parables rather than mere explanation and teaching as I do here, may do the best job of all of helping us understand the cross … and to understand that the cross is way over our head. We should cherish it, embrace it, let it crucify us, and learn its depths in our spirit.

There is much more to the atonement than I describe in this post, though the “more” does not include God being forced to punish sin nor Jesus “paying the penalty.”

I can, though—I hope—save us from the crazy idea that God had to kill someone, just anyone, because we sinned and he “must” punish sin.

I can, I hope, save us from the idea that the penalty of all our sins are paid for so that if we just believe, no matter what we do, we’ll go to heaven. It’s not true. Just read on, all the way from Romans 8:1-4, which we quoted above, out to Romans 8:13. Read Galatians 5:19-21 and its corollaries, 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and Eph. 5:5. If we practice such things, we will find they are not paid for at all, no matter what we believe.

If I can get you to see those Scriptures, for they seem to be hidden from our sight and thought, then I can save you from having all your fear of God stolen by a doctrine that is at the heart of the problems I described yesterday.

For I did not speak to your fathers, in the day that I brought them out of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. This is what I commanded them, “Listen to my voice and obey all that I command you that it may go well with you.” (Jeremiah 7:21-22)

If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s deeds, then conduct yourself throughout the time of your traveling here in fear. (1 Peter 1:17)

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

Related articles

The following articles are examples of the modern idea of Jesus paying the penalty for our sins. I think we all have to look at whether or not the idea is scriptural. Does this idea fit all of Scripture, or does it leave you with many contradictory verses? If so, you need a better idea, no matter how sweet it seems.

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