Rejoicing Over the Judgment of the Wicked

Posted on 11/23/2024 by Paul Pavao

To read Ezekiel 18 and then Psalm 98 right after one another was an astonishing revelation. My Bible reading plan had me do that because I’m reading through the Psalms one at a time as I read through multiple chapters in the prophets. I’m sure the connection of Ezekiel 18 and Psalm 98 was “coincidental.”

Ezekiel 18 is God’s defense of his way of judging, that it is just. I think we would normally be frightened by this chapter because it explains the judgment of the wicked  that is both ongoing and coming on the last day (cf. 1 Peter 1:17). When Ezekiel 18 is immediately followed by Psalm 98, though, the truth is obvious.

The judgment of the wicked sets all things right. It brings the justice that the earth and its peoples cannot provide. It is a day of rejoicing, when the wicked are punished, and the righteous are permanently set free from the troubles of this life.

Let’s be the righteous, not the wicked. Ezekiel 18 describes the actions of the righteous thoroughly–James 1:26-27 provides the short version–and describes the actions of the wicked as simply not doing what the righteous do.

What I would like to see happen is that we take note of Ezekiel 18 and Psalm 98 and, rather than rejecting them as “Old Testament principles,” seeing that the judgment of  the wicked is central to Jesus’ and the apostles’ teaching. I have pointed out 1 Peter 1:17 and James 1:26-27, but it is so important to realize that Paul’s letter to the Romans begins by laying a foundation of Ezekiel 18 principles. Romans 1 ends by saying that those who do such things are worthy of death (v. 32). Romans 2 begins by saying those who “patiently continue to do good” will be repaid with eternal life (v. 7).

Paul does not spend the rest of Romans contradicting the foundation he laid in chapters 1 and 2. Instead, he explains how to become part of the righteousness that is revealed from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), and to live as proof that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16), by the favor (grace) that moves us from ungodliness and worldly lusts to new creations who are zealous for good works (Tit. 2:11-14; cf. also Eph. 2:10).

Let’s teach these things with the authority of Jesus that he gave to Paul and Timothy, not letting anyone despise us (Tit. 2:15)

Posted in Bible, Dealing with Scripture Honestly, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Rebuilding the Foundations, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How to Become a Christian

Posted on 11/12/2024 by Paul Pavao

A friend of mine suggested that people want to know:

  1. How to become a Christian
  2. How to live as a Christian
  3. How to stay a Christian

He and I want to work towards a course, a curriculum, that addresses these questions. Today, I want to share my thoughts on becoming a Christian and list some other questions and topics that question brings up:

Let’s begin with preaching to the lost. I used to call this “preaching the Gospel,” but “Gospel” is too big a word. You may have wondered why Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, and John’s “memoirs” (term borrowed from Justin Martyr) are called “Gospels.” “Gospel” can be used to mean the entire teaching of the Christian faith, as can “faith” (cf. Jude 1:3), and “truth.”

When you meet an unbeliever, you do not want to be obligated to present the Gospel as thoroughly as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did. Eventually, you do, but how do you begin so that you can lead up to the whole Gospel? Well, we have examples from the apostles in the Book of Acts, both with Jews and Gentiles.

I wrote a booklet [“The Apostles Gospel,” 2013)  discussing and outlining the preaching of the apostles in the Book of Acts. The result of my research is that the apostles were always building to one main point: Jesus rose from the dead, and his resurrection proves that he is Christ (Messiah) and Son of God (to the Jews), and Lord and Judge of the living and dead (to the Gentiles).

We all know that Jesus said that the apostles would be his “witnesses” after the Holy Spirit came upon them, but we rarely ask, “Witnesses of what?”

Each of the first 5 chapters of Acts tell us that the apostles were witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33; 5:31). This makes sense if the initial purpose of their preaching was to convince their hearers that Jesus rose from the dead, proving that he is Messiah, Son of God, Judge of the living and the dead, and Lord.

Paul tells us that we can be saved by confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10). Again, this lines up with the preaching of the apostles that we see in Acts. Paul also said at the beginning of his letter to the Romans that he was “set apart for the Gospel of God …” and that this Gospel concerned” [God’s] Son, who … was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord …” The purpose of this Gospel was to “obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake” (Rom. 1:1-5).

Today, at least among evangelicals, our initial preaching to the lost focuses on Jesus’ death on the cross, and we want our hearers to believe that Jesus died for theirs sins so that they can be forgiven. This is a stark contrast to Paul and the other apostles whose initial preaching concerned the resurrection, and who wanted their hearers to believe Jesus rose from the dead so that they would obey the Gospel.

Hopefully, this is a good time to point out that “preaching,” in the New Testament, always, refers to proclaiming Jesus’s resurrection to the lost. Speaking to the saved, the church, was called “teaching.” Thus, when Paul said he was a preacher and a teacher, he was saying that he was both an evangelist and a shepherd. All the apostles had to be both because they were both converting the lost and forming them into churches.

So, in answer to the question, “How does a person become a Christian?,” we must respond, “By confessing with his/her mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in his/her heart that God raised him from the dead.” This, of course, means becoming obedient to that Lord and the precepts of the rest of the Gospel/faith that they will be taught after baptism.

This brings us to baptism, which is the first step of obedience once a person believes (cf. Gal. 3:27, and all the baptisms in Acts). The first step of faith is to be buried with Christ in baptism and raised again to a new life, the very life of Christ in us, so that we become servants of God rather than servants of sin. This is thoroughly and plainly explained in Romans 6. Unless you are taught in advance to misinterpret Paul’s letter to the Romans and question what Romans 6 says, you cannot misinterpret such plain teaching.

Questions and Topics Arising from This Essay

  • The resurrection and the “Lordship Gospel”: Romans 10:9-10, John 20:31, and other passages. This must include the apostles as witnesses “of the resurrection.”
  • Definition of terms: Gospel, faith, truth, preach, teach
  • Water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit, though the baptism in the Holy Spirit belongs as much in the section on how to live as a Christian as much as it does in this section.
  • Though I did not mention repentance in this initial article, repentance is included in the initial preaching of the apostles to the lost from the very first sermon to the last (Acts 2:38; 24:25). In fact, Paul describes repentance as the very heart of his preaching (Acts 26:20).
  • The final judgment of the living and the dead as it would have been understood by the Jews and by the Romans and Greeks because Paul brought it up in his initial preaching to Gentiles (Acts 17:30; 24:25). If Paul wrote Hebrews, then he also referred to eternal judgment as an elementary principle of the faith in 6:1-3.
  • The atonement, and a definition and explanation of “faith,” “grace,” and living by the Holy Spirit must be relegated to the “How do we live as Christians?” section because those things were not taught to Christians until they believed that Jesus was Messiah and Lord, were baptized, and were beginning their Christian life. A definition of “faith” is not needed to understand Romans 10:9-10 but is needed to understand Paul’s assertion that we walk by faith, not sight (2 Cor. 5:7) and his command to “continue in the faith grounded and settled” (Col. 1:23).

My Purpose for this Essay

The goal of this essay–this collection of thoughts, was to think through the topic of becoming a Christian, thus allowing me to collect some additional topics to address in the curriculum being developed.

Posted in Bible, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Rebuilding the Foundations, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What the Bible Says about Baptism

Posted on 10/12/2024 by Paul Pavao

The following are verses about water baptism in the New Testament followed by excuses I have personally heard in an attempt to justify the tradition that baptism is a symbolic public testimony.

Mark 16:16 – He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
Excuse: This verse only condemns those who don’t believe, not those who are not baptized. (This excuse would not be a problem if this were the only verse we explain away.)

John 3:5 – Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.”
Excuse: The water here is not baptism, but our fleshly birth. We’re born in a sack of water. (I like David Bercot’s response: “If Jesus did not mean water here, then he was a terrible communicator, because everyone thought he did for about 1700 years.”)

Acts 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”
Excuse: The word “for” (Gr. eis) can be translated as “because of.” (Yes, it can in the rare occasions when context calls for it.)

Acts in general – All baptisms are immediate, the Philippian jailer’s baptism (Acts 16) was not in public nor before the church, and there is no “sinner’s prayer” anywhere.
Excuse – Really? (No one seems to know this, so they’re surprised. Then they go away and apparently never think about it again.)

Acts 22:16 – Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Excuse: Some scholars say “Be baptized” goes with “arise,” and “wash away your sins” goes with “calling on the name of the Lord.” (Isn’t it funny that the act that involves water doesn’t go with “wash away”?)

Romans 6:3-4 – Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
Excuse: this is all symbolic, not actual

Galatians 3:27 – For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Excuse: this is Spirit baptism

Colossians 2:12 – … having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Excuse: same as Galatians 3:27

Titus 3:5 – Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit …
Excuse: “the washing of regeneration” is something other than water baptism.

1 Peter 3:21 – … in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Excuse: The words after “baptism … now saves you” mean that Peter said, “Baptism now saves you (but not really).”

I’m sure I missed a verse or two, but these should be sufficient to display the problem. From my earliest days as a Christian, back in Florida in 1982 and 1983, the barrage of excuses Christians use to avoid things the Bible at least seems to say plainly, has bothered me.

I have found that those “difficult verses” that we are forced to talk about mostly disappear when we stop making excuses for disbelieving the primary meaning of verses. In fact, once we stop making excuses we wind up believing the same things the apostles’ churches believed and wrote about after the apostles had died, rather than having to refer to those apostolically taught churches as a bunch of legalists.

The road there can be confusing–how can Romans 2:6 and Ephesians 2:8-9 both be true?–but the arrival is peaceful and satisfying.

Posted in Bible, Dealing with Scripture Honestly, Early Christianity, Evangelicals, Gospel, Modern Doctrines, Verses Evangelicals Ignore | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rebooting Redemption, Part IV: Jesus Paid the Price for What?

Posted on 09/24/2024 by Paul Pavao

Warning: my links to Greek definitions are at StudyBible.info, which can be slow to load. I don’t know why, but the site is so useful I bear with it.

Link to Part 1. I have a link there to all the other parts.

I frequently cringe when I hear “Jesus paid the price.” I “frequently” cringe because singers and preachers frequently say Jesus paid the price. They almost never, however, mention what he paid for. 

If they did, they would probably get it wrong because most of us have never studied the subject in the Bible. Just as they repeat “Jesus paid the price” like a mantra, so they have been given a preset understanding of what Jesus paid the price for before they ever open a Bible or a Bible school textbook.

Let’s begin this post by pointing out that the average church-attender has no idea what “redemption” actually means because pastors never talk about it. In my World English Bible, Ephesians 1:7 reads:

… in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses …

Here is what Ephesians 1:7 really says:

… in whom we have the release by ransom through his blood, the [Jubilee] release of trespasses … (Apostolic Bible Polyglot)

The Greek word translated “redemption” in several places in our Bibles actually means release by ransom. So one thing Jesus paid the price for was our ransom. The Greek word for “forgiveness” throughout Paul’s letters actually means “release.” Thus, Ephesians 1:7 actually tells us Jesus paid a ransom to release us from trespasses.

A ransom from trespasses?? Does that make any sense? And who would receive a ransom paid to release us from trespasses.

Let’s track this idea in the Scriptures:

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

So we were “all” living in the lust of our flesh and dead in our transgressions and sins, doing what “the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience” wanted us to do. This strongly implies that we really were slaves and captives to “trespasses.” (Transgressions and trespasses are the same word in Greek.)

Romans says it more clearly:

… our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7)

But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

In Romans, Paul says we were in bondage to “sin” rather than specifically using “trespasses,” but we all agree Paul is referring to the same thing. Ephesians 2, he combines them, saying that we were dead in “trespasses and sins.”

Note: The Gospels also show that the words “sins,” “trespasses,” and “debts” refer to the same thing. For example, when Jesus gives the Lord’s Prayer in Luke, he tells us to ask for release of “sins” (Luke 11:4), but Matthew reports that he told us to ask for the release of “debts” (Matt. 6:12), then warns that if we do not release the “trespasses” of men, our trespasses will not be released, either.

We were in bondage to and were dead in our trespasses and sins, but Jesus paid a ransom to release us from that bondage. So … the awkward question that arises is “to whom did Jesus pay a ransom.”

To Whom Did Jesus Pay a Ransom?

Let’s take the awkwardness out of the question. Jesus paid the ransom to “the rulers of this age,” but keep in mind that the ransom was himself. We were in bondage to the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). It is the god of this world, the devil, who uses his demons to enforce our slavery to sin and trespasses. Jesus gave himself by dying and entering directly into their hands in return for the release of mankind.

Let’s look at this surprising passage, also written to the Corinthians:

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor. 2:7-8)

Why was God’s wisdom spoken in a mystery, in hidden wisdom? Because if the devil and his cronies had figured it out, they would never have crucified “THE LORD OF GLORY.”

They had no idea what they were getting into, even though Jesus dropped hints. After the Jewish leaders accused him of casting out the devil by the power of the devil, Jesus responded:

If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end. But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house. (Mark 3:26-27)

If the “spiritual forces of wickedness” (Eph. 6:12) had been paying attention that day, rather than insulting Jesus, they might have figured out the warning. “Once I get into your domain, demon princes, I am going to bind up death and the devil and plunder your house. I am taking everything (and everyone) you have. They are all going to be mine.”

Jesus paid the ransom of himself. He entered Hades, and he preached to the dead there (1 Pet. 4:6). The Bible uses powerful military words to describe his resurrection:

Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Col. 2:15)

The Greek of this verse is extremely pictorial. Jesus “stripped” off the principalities and powers the way a person would strip off clothes that a skunk had sprayed. He stripped them off, threw them away, and had nothing more to do with them. “Wholly divested” is among the definitions given of apekdoumai.

The image of “triumphing over” the principalities and powers is ever stronger. He did what Roman generals did. He paraded them in triumph, making a spectacle of their captivity to him. Not only were they not able to keep their ransom, the incarnated Son of God, but they became his captives, completely bound and helpless before him.

Paul uses less militant words in describing the scene in Ephesians.

When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to people. Now this, “He ascended”, what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Eph. 4:8-10)

Here Paul simply tells us that Jesus went into the earth, then ascended “leading captivity captive” and giving gifts to us. Those who had held both us and him captive were now his captives. Jesus went on to ascend above the heavens, becoming “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23) for the church.

I love the way Paul describes “far above all the heavens” earlier in Ephesians:

I … don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him … what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:16-23)

I like to tell people that Paul was beginning to list off names that Jesus was above, but he just ran out of words. “Jesus’ name is above rulers, above authorities, above powers, above dominions, uh … ran out of words … He was above everything, everyone, every name. If you can think of it, he was above it, not only in this age but even in the next one Jesus is just ABOVE!”

I want to argue that the PPP version, the Paul Pavao Paraphrase would be an exciting read, LOL!

Jesus Paid the Price for … US!

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. (1 Pet. 1:17-19)

To redeem is to buy, even in English. If you redeem something it is now yours. In Greek, that purchase is specified to be by ransom, but either way a purchase has happened. If you redeem an item from the store, that item is now yours, however you redeemed it.

Clearly, the Bible teaches the same thing. Jesus bought us with his blood and suffering. He paid the price … for us. He owns us.

I want to emphasize just one thing, among many, that this does for us.

What Our New Master Does for Us

Again, this is just one thing among many.

In the modern age, you often hear that because of Jesus’ death you can relax. Your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. As you can see in the 2 passages in the previous section, being purchased by Jesus should cause you to relax, but to relax into your new lifestyle. Jesus did say he is bring rest and giving us a yoke perfectly fitted for us (Matt. 11:30), but a yoke is for working. Relax into that perfectly fitted, comfortable yoke, but don’t think the yoke does not involve effort.

Here’s your new lifestyle:

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. (Php. 2:12-13)

Here is the one thing God has done for you that I am going to focus on. There are many more things God has done for you. You, of course, could write your own article, if you are a Christian, on all the things God has done for you.

I want to focus on Romans 7. When you were a slave to sin, trespasses, and spiritual rulers of the darkness of this world, you not only had to fight the urges of your flesh, but you had to fight “sin in the flesh” (Rom. 7:8-11, 14-17, 20, 23-24). Paul talks about “sin” almost as though it were an entity. Verse 17 says, “So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.”

Weird, huh?

No matter the explanation for this, Jesus has solved it:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom. 8:2-4)

Actually, what I love most about this passage, though I highlighted something different for the purposes of this article, is “For what the law couldn’t do … God did.” Romans 7 is all about what the “holy, righteous, and good” law could not do. What it couldn’t do, however, God did.

God did what the law could not do by “sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin.” “For sin” is generally understood by scholars to mean “an offering for sin.” I can’t comment for or against that, but it seems to me to be a consensus among scholars.

Anyway, Jesus becoming flesh and offering himself for us “condemned sin in the flesh.” In other words, that “sin which dwells in me” that Paul talked about in Romans 7 is condemned, and thus removed in Romans 8. In its place is the Spirit of God, and if we walk according to God’s Spirit, we won’t do what the flesh wants, we will do what our Master wants (cf. also Galatians 5:16).

This is a critical thing. The NIV and other translations like to translate the Greek sarx an “sinful nature” rather than “flesh.” That translation is impossible in Romans 8:3. If you used it, Romans 8:3 would say, “… sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful sinful nature and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the sinful nature.” It’s just an impossible translation.

No, sarx means flesh, and the flesh is our body. We used to be plagued by sin in the flesh, but now we are only plagued by the flesh. It is different. If you are really a Christian, you have experienced this. Rather than the spiritual forces of wickedness feeding your flesh towards sin (sin in the flesh), the Holy Spirit is feeding your spirit towards overcoming the natural desires of the body.

Walking in the Spirit so as to overcome the flesh is central to the New Testament and especially to Romans and Galatians. We miss a nuance of this:

Your flesh fights for survival. It needs to eat, drink, be safe from the weather, and it needs to procreate–to have sex–in order to perpetuate the species.

There are things that need to happen for the survival of the body, and there are things that need to happen for our spiritual survival. Our Master, Jesus, calls us to subdue the needs of fleshly survival and care about the needs of spiritual survival. This is why he says:

Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

Think of the competing needs of our body and our spirit when you read this passage:

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will save it. (Mark 8:35)

Or when you read this passage:

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Rom. 8:12-13)

The flesh used to have a sting that gave it uncontrollable power over you. That is being in bondage to sin (Rom. 6:6), but we are no longer in bondage. The body of sin has been done away with (again, Rom. 6:6). Put better a few verses later:

For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace [God’s favor]. (Rom. 6:14)

Yes, we still fight the flesh, but it no longer has the sting of “sin” that has been in the flesh. In Christ, that sting has been removed, and the desires of the flesh return to their natural intensity that, as almost all Christians know, is still somewhat intense.

But we are no longer just ourselves. We have been created anew in Christ Jesus to do good works (Eph. 2:10). Grace has come to teach us to live righteously, godly, and sensibly in this present age (Tit. 2:11-12). We do not merely follow in Jesus’ footsteps, though we do that (Heb. 12:1-2), we walk by his life in us (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:1-4).

This is redemption, Jesus ransoming us from the authority and power of the devil and demons, coming under the authority of the One whose name is above every rule, authority, power, and dominion, and thus receiving the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and set him above the rulers of this age. That very power is at work in us!! (Eph. 1:19-23).

Knowing what redemption is, I say to you:

ARISE, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
–Isaiah 60:1-3 (NKJV)

Posted in Dealing with Scripture Honestly, Gospel, Holiness, Modern Doctrines, Rebuilding the Foundations, Teachings that must not be lost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part 3 of Rebooting Redemption: Ezekiel 18, the Final Judgment, and Repentance

Posted on 09/18/2024 by Paul Pavao

A lot of things have happened since August 28, but I am trying to get back on track today. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t.

I am going to keep these shorter. Today I just want to talk about Ezekiel 18:20-30. Here’s verses 20b to 24. Verses 25-30 just repeat the points made in 20-24:

“The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live. But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

There are only 3 relatively complete passages on the final judgment, at least on the topic of how we humans will be judged. Ezekiel 18:20-30, Matthew 25:31-46 (“the judgment of the sheep and the goats), and Revelation 20:10-15 (the Great White Throne judgment). Tell me in the comments if you know of any other.

In all of them the judgment is simple. Some people are righteous, and they will live, and some are wicked, and the will die. Matthew 25:31-46 makes it clear that life and that death are permanent (eternal).

We like to think that Jesus changed that when he died, but he didn’t. Jesus did not change God nor the judgment. Instead, Jesus died to change us. This is why Paul talks about the final judgment in very similar words to Ezekiel:

Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who will pay back to everyone according to their works: to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Rom. 2:1-9)

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:7-9)

Romans 2:1-9 does not sound any different than Ezekiel 18:20-30. Galatians 6:7-9 only sounds different in the sense that it takes into account that Christians have been given the Spirit to help them “not be weary in doing good.” Of course, Paul goes on to explain the gifts we have obtained through Jesus death to equip us to do good, most notably the Holy Spirit, but also God’s favor (grace).

I think I’ll just end there and keep this short and simple.

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Part 2 of Rebooting Redemption: An Ancient Perspective on Jesus’ Atonement

Posted on 08/28/2024 by Paul Pavao

Yesterday, I said I would cover the other Greek words for “redeem” or “redemption” in the New Testament, but yesterday was a really long post. I can’t do that again today, so I am just going to provide something to think about.

Romans 2:6-7 says:

… [God] will pay back to everyone according to their works :to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life …

Everyone, including me, agrees that the problem with this verse is in the next chapter. God has consigned Jew and Gentile alike under sin, “For all have sinned and fall short of the kingdom of God.”

I have been told that because we have all sinned, God found a different plan for eternal life. Rather than rewarding eternal life to those who patiently continued to do good, he would pay for their sins by the blood of Jesus, and he would reward eternal life to those who believe in Jesus. In my experience, most of the time that has meant believing Jesus died for their sins.

Of course, proper faith is not believing that Jesus died for our sins, but believing that Jesus is Lord because God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10; compare also the apostles’ sermons in Acts, which I wrote about in a booklet called Apostles’ Gospel.) John 20:31, too, tells us that John’s Gospel was written so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah, King) and Son of God.

God had a better idea than scrapping the plan to reward the righteous. He would send his Son to rescue humans from the dominion of sin and the devil, equip them with the Holy Spirit, and empower them to overcome the flesh by his good favor (grace). Galatians 6:7-9 makes it clear that God has and always will reward those who live righteously. It even includes a warning not to be deceived about that.

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.

Can you see how much this is like Romans 2:5-8? He has given us his Spirit, but the flesh and Spirit (spirit?) war with each other (Gal. 5:17). If we walk by the Holy Spirit, we will overcome the flesh (Gal. 5:16). Paul calls it “putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit” in Romans 8:13.

If we sow to the Spirit, we will receive eternal life. If we sow to the flesh, we will perish (“reap corruption”). In verse 9, he adds that if you know this is true, then you should “not be weary in doing good.” That certainly means the same thing as “perseverance in doing good,” the wording Paul uses in Romans 2:7.

In Galatians 6:7-9, Paul is simply telling us that the solution to Romans 3 is to sow to the Holy Spirit, whom we received by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead. If we do sow, we will reap eternal life … and we will be able to do good without growing weary.

This is why Paul says in Romans 8:12-13, as he wraps up his discussion on how not to live out Romans 3 or Romans 7: “Brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, then you will live.”

Jesus died so that we would be righteous people, patiently continuing to do good. Lots of verses say this. The most recent addition to my list is 1 Peter 2:24:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.

The clearest, though, is Titus 2:11-14 because it covers the purpose of God’s favor (grace) as well:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

It seems important to me that the next verse says, “Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one despise you.”

Part 3 has been written. I will link all the parts at the beginning of Part 1.

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Rebooting Redemption: An Ancient Perspective on Jesus’ Atonement

Posted on 08/27/2024 by Paul Pavao

Purpose of This Series of Posts

Part 2 , Part 3 , and Part 4 are written. Honestly, I probably wrote too much and got too far into the definitions of “redeem” and “redemption” in this first post. You should skim this one, but catch the outline at the beginning. The others are shorter.

In this series of posts I hope to chat in an organized way with those who, having read the New Testament, are already aware that the doctrine of “eternal security” (or “once saved, always saved”) has serious scriptural difficulties. My goal is to show you that what you have already understood deep in your heart as you have read your Bible is what the Bible actually teaches. I cannot tell you how many people have told me, “I always knew these things were true” after listening to me teach.

If you have not read the New Testament, I have to ask you to read the passages I show you; otherwise, you will just be taking my word against someone else’s, and there will be a lot of Scripture in these posts. Take them slow.

When Paul was called before the Roman governor Felix, “he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come.” This terrified Felix (Acts 24:25). The importance of “righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come” is closely tied to a correct understanding of the main purpose of the atonement.

I don’t claim to understand God’s whole counsel and plan in sending Jesus to die on a cross and rise again, but I do understand the main purpose of the atonement. It is stated repeatedly in Scripture. (I won’t hold you hostage on what passages those are. Titus 2:11-15 is the most thorough, but verses like Acts 3:26, Romans 14:9, and 2 Corinthians 5:15 concisely state the purpose.)

Rebooting our Understanding of the Atonement

I use “reboot” in the title purposely. If you try to amend, adjust, modify, or add to the idea that God punished Jesus in order to appease his wrath towards us, you won’t understand what I am writing. If you bought into the idea that “God is merciful and wants to forgive sin, but he is just and must punish sin,” then you won’t understand what I am writing because that idea, despite being popular, is false.

  1. God has always forgiven sin without sacrifice and without blood.
  2. There is a judgment to come at which Christians will be judged by their works (by what they did).
  3. At that judgment, those who “patiently continued to go good” by “sowing to the Spirit” will receive eternal life, but those who were self-seeking and did not obey the truth because they “sowed to the flesh” will reap corruption (die).
  4. The purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was to ransom us from our slavery to “the god of this world,” to free us from the dominion of the desires of our body, to purge our past sins–and even our past lives–by his blood, and thus reconcile us to God and empower us, both in desire and ability, to do good so that we can face the final judgment with confidence.

I know I have written about these things before, but I am hoping in this series to chat about these things in an organized way, hoping it will be engaging and memorable. I will be thinking about covering these main 4 points, but because I am chatting, I will be bringing up important overall points as well.

Also, because this is a chat, I am hoping for comments and questions!

Rebooting Redemption

“Redemption” is a great word, especially in the New Testament. According to my Bible app, which can only search the King James Version, “Redeem,” “redeemed,” or “redeeming” occurs 11 times in the NT.

Lutrosis (Strong’s number 3085)

In Luke 1:68, Zacharias prays over the newly born John the Baptist, saying that God has visited and redeemed his people. In this verse, the Greek word is lutrosis, which has a primary meaning of “ransom,” but carries the idea of deliverance or liberation (studybible.info). What Zacharias meant by being ransomed was …

“… salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,the oath which he swore to Abraham our father, to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear.”

This word is also used in Luke 2:38 where Anna, the very old prophetess, is talking about the newborn king with everyone “looking for lutrosis in Jerusalem.” Hebrews 9:12 says Jesus entered the “holy place” of the temple in heaven, “once for all” with his blood, because he had obtained “eternal lutrosis.”

Hebrews 9:12 is interesting because 3 verses later he says Jesus’ death (“a death”) occurred for an apolutrosis, not just a ransom, but a “release by payment of ransom” (studybible.info) for transgressions that occurred under the “first covenant.” Rather than discuss Hebrews 9:15 here, let’s look at epilutrosis, and the verses in which it occurs.

Epilutrosis (Strong’s number 629)

Hebrews 9:12-15 is a whirlwind of deep ideas. As I touch on those, remember that I am prioritizing the clear main purpose of the atonement, not the many deep truths covered in Hebrews! Nonetheless, since my research on “redemption” brings us to this passage, let’s at least address them.

Old Testament priests were mortal and sinned. They had to bring the blood of bulls and goats into the “holy place” of the earthly temple and cleanse it regularly (cf. Exodus 29:38-44, where the daily offerings are to sanctify the temple so the Lord can meet with Israel at its door). Jesus, being sinless and immortal, offered his blood to cleanse the heavenly temple “once for all,” and this “cleanses our conscience from dead works,” so we can serve the living God.

There is controversy over what “dead works” means (Heb. 9:14), but we do not have to trouble ourselves with that definition because they are being left behind no matter what they are. All my readers, whether they agree with me overall or not, will agree with me that we must go on to “living works,” which are works empowered by the life of Jesus in us, for apart from him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

Finally, we see in Hebrews 9:15 that Jesus has mediated, or we can just say, established a “new covenant” because he has “released by ransom” the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Let’s pause here and comment on “Jesus paid the price.” What price does the Bible say he paid? He can’t have paid everything because Jesus himself said we have a cost to count (Luke 14:28). The price we have to pay, in context, is renouncing everything we have (Luke 14:33).

Jesus “paid the price” for several things, but above all, he paid the purchase price for us. He bought us.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor. 6:19b-20).

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. (1 Pet. 1:17-19)

The nice thing about my stated purpose of chatting is that we can run down important rabbit trails. This one is really, really important.

Look at those two verses. Do they take your breath away like they take my breath away? That is not a rhetorical question. Maybe they don’t. Maybe you are doing so well at glorifying God in your body and spirit that you’re not convicted by 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Maybe you’re so comfortable with the idea that God will judge you impartially according to your works that your fear is not fear and trembling, but a healthy respect.

By the way, the word “reverent” in 1 Peter 1:17-19 above is added. Peter uses the word phobos, from which we get the English word “phobia.” It just means fear. It can mean any kind of fear. In fact, we have to combine the word “fear” in 1 Peter 1:17-19 with the word “trembling,” which Paul uses in Philippians 2:12, where he tells us to work out our salvation with “fear and trembling.”

Now, it is both true and vitally important that Philippians 2:13, the very next verse, says that God is at work in us so that we can both want to and do his will. I love the idea that energein, the word Paul used for “work,” is also the word we get “energy” and “energize” from. I am relatively sure most translators would not object to my saying that God is “energizing” us to desire and do his good will.

That said, Paul did not write Philippians 2:13 to contradict Philippians 2:12. We have to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling “for” or “because” we are energized by God through his Spirit. There would be no sense in telling a non-Christian to work out their salvation in any manner because God is not energizing them by the Holy Spirit. We, however, because we are saved, and thus moved by God to desire and do his will, we sure better go ahead and do it.

Never let us think that because we are saved, things are just going to happen. Paul never thought that way. He disciplined his body like an Olympic athlete to bring it under subjection because he did not want to be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:24-27). And we must not try to twist “disqualified” into anything other than being condemned on the last day because Paul contrasts disqualification with being in the faith in 2 Corinthians 13:5. In other words, to be disqualified is the opposite of being in the faith.

And 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 is not the only place where Paul describes his fight for salvation at the future resurrection. He talks about “pressing forward” so that “by any means” he might attain to the resurrection in Philippians 3:7-15.

Pay attention, too, to the connections between these verses. In Philippians 2, Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and in Philippians 3 he gives us a picture of what that looks like.

I’ve chatted my way to a long post, so let’s stop here. What we have looked at today, I think, is how we are called to live and how to think about the coming judgment, though all I was trying to do was define redemption. We have to live and think that way even though Jesus died for us, our sins have already been forgiven, we are empower by the Holy Spirit, and our past sins have been purged (cf. 1 Pet. 3:8-9).

As we go through redemption more in the next post, hopefully, covering all 3 of the words for “redeem” that we have not covered, we have worked our way back to the outline I gave in the introduction.

Chats are slow … but thorough, and my favorite way to teach (and learn). You’re getting to journey through the Scriptures with me the way I do it. If my chains of verses leading to other verses don’t just fall into place easily, I’m probably off track. But when we can swing through the Scripture like a gibbon through a forest, you can know we are on track with something powerful.

I love watching gibbons. They’re so free and happy, they might be the loudest celebrators in the jungle!

Also, I have not edited this yet, so if you catch typos, please tell me in the comments. I am pretty sure I will get around to editing this, maybe when I move the group of posts to Christian-history.org or into a booklet.

I will link future posts in this series here.

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The Day of Atonement and the Goat for Azazel

Posted on 08/23/2024 by Paul Pavao

I looked up the Kyle-Delitzsch commentary on Lev. 16:8, where a lot is cast for two goats on the day of atonement, one for Yahweh and one for Azazel. Kyle-Delitzsh is, or at least used to be, a prince among commentaries. They write:

“The words, one lot for Jehovah and one for Azazel, require unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being, in opposition to Jehovah. … We have not to think, however, of any demon whatever, who seduces men to wickedness in the form of an evil spirit, as the fallen angel Azazel is represented as doing in the Jewish writings (Book of Enoch 8:1; 10:10; 13:1ff.) … but of the devil himself, the head of the fallen angels, who was afterwards called Satan; for no subordinate evil spirit could have been placed in antithesis to Jehovah as Azazel is here, but only the ruler or head of the kingdom of demons. The desert and desolate places are mentioned elsewhere as the abode of evil spirits (Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14; Matthew 12:43; Luke 11:24; Revelation 18:2). The desert, regarded as an image of death and desolation, corresponds to the nature of evil spirits, who fell away from the primary source of life, and in their hostility to God devastated the world, which was created good, and brought death and destruction in their train.” (Biblehub Commentaries on Leviticus 16:8)

My comment: In the Book of Enoch, Azazel was not the head of the Watchers who married human women (Gen. 6:4). He was, however, the leading teacher of immorality among them, and is mentioned first later in Enoch.

This may be your first encounter with the “scapegoat” actually being the “goat for Azazel,” but it definitely was “for Azazel” and not “the scapegoat,” though “goat for release” is a good translation of Azazel’s name.  Also, Azazel was described as buried in a specific place in the desert, bound in chains, alive but in darkness. A later Mishnah suggests the Israelites made an effort to throw the goat down a rocky cliff, directly to where Azazel might be buried.

You might also have heard that the Jews tied a scarlet cord around the goat’s neck. What a sweet depiction of what they actually did! They tied the cord around the goat’s neck and around a rock, and they used the weight of the rock to take the goat down the cliff to be killed by the rocks on it.

I got this information from various sources, but primarily from Gospel over Gods by Tyler Gilreath (2021, Gilreath Publications).

Early Christian References to Azazel

Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. I, ch. 15, par 6 (c. AD 185), attributed by Irenaeus to “that divine elder and preacher of the truth,” supposed by some scholars to be Pothinus:

Marcus, thou former of idols, inspector of portents, skill’d in consulting the stars, and deep in the black arts of magic, ever by tricks such as these confirming the doctrines of error, … which Satan, thy true father, enables thee still to accomplish, by means of Azazel, that fallen and yet mighty angel …

Note: Marcus was a gnostic teacher, still alive when Irenaeus wrote this. Pothinus was an elder (likely) of the church in Smyrna under Polycarp as bishop. Smyrna is where Irenaeus grew up and knew both Pothinus and Polycarp.

From Origen, Against Celsus, Bk. VI, ch. 43 (early third century):

And, further, who else could the destroying angel mentioned in the Exodus of Moses4492 be, than he who was the author of destruction to them that obeyed him, and did not withstand his wicked deeds, nor struggle against them?  Moreover (the goat), which in the book of Leviticus is sent away (into the wilderness), and which in the Hebrew language is named Azazel, was none other than this; and it was necessary to send it away into the desert, and to treat it as an expiatory sacrifice, because on it the lot fell.  For all who belong to the “worse” part, on account of their wickedness, being opposed to those who are God’s heritage, are deserted by God.

Note: Don’t take Origen’s word as gospel! He was a highly respected teacher in his day, but he loved to speculate. When he asks something like “Who else could the destroying angel be?,” he is arguing, not passing on apostolic tradition that has been preserved in the church and handed down to him. I would take the idea that Azazel was the destroying messenger of the Exodus with a few grains of salt. The point of this quote is that the early churches knew who Azazel was, knew about the Book of Enoch (which is quoted by Jude in the Bible), and knew the goat of Leviticus 16 was the goat for Azazel.

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The Danger of False Assurance: Can a Saved Person Go to Hell?

Posted on 08/16/2024 by Paul Pavao

Assurance

We like to assure a new convert that they have eternal life. We point them to verses like John 6:47 and 1 John 5:13

Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. (John 6:47)

 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)

These seem conclusive, right? If a person believes that Jesus died for their sins, then they have eternal life. Eternal life is forever, so how could someone possible lose it.

The problem is that quoting those two verses ignores most of the other things that John wrote in his Gospel and first epistle. For example, do you tell a new convert that if they don’t keep Jesus’ commandments, they don’t know God? (1 Jn. 2:3-4). Do you tell them that if they hate any other Christian, they will be a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life? (1 John 3:15). These are  two of the things among “these things” that John wrote to us in 1 John to let those who profess faith in Jesus Christ know whether they are really Christians.

Note: Let’s pause here to define “we.” For me, “we” means a lot of people I know and have fellowship with, including some pastors. There are, of course, a lot of pastors and Christians who do not pull John 6:47 and 1 John 5:13 out of context, just as there are a lot of pastors and Christians who do. “We,” then means, “If the shoe fits, wear it, quit taking Paul and John out of context, and look at what the Bible really says about assurance.”

Okay, with “we” out of the way, let’s talk about assurance. John 6:47 and 1 John 5:13 and not “assurance” verses unless you are loving the family of God, keeping Jesus’ commandments, and NOT loving the world (1 Jn. 2:15-17). There is an assurance passage in 1 John, though:

My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us. (1 Jn. 3:18-24)

There is another assurance verse in 2 Peter 1:10:

Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.

In 2 Peter 1:10, “these things” refers to virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love from verses 5-7. He had already told his readers that if  those things are in them and increasing, they would be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Pet. 1:8). In verse 10, he is telling them to be diligent to “make … sure” of their being called and chosen by “doing these things.” In fact, in verse 11, he tells them that this is the way to have an abundant entrance into Jesus’ kingdom.

Just as a note, we like to talk about “going to heaven,” a term the New Testament never uses. Instead, it uses terms like “inheriting the kingdom” (Gal. 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5). If the writer is not John but, say, Paul or Matthew, then they might also say “be repaid with eternal life” (Rom. 2:7) or “reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8) or “enter into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).

If you really want to know about “going to heaven,” and you don’t have those important passages memorized, you should look of the context of these verses and find out what you have to do to inherit the kingdom and be rewarded with eternal life.

Of course, you can also do what a lot of Christians do and go find verses that something different than the ones I quoted, probably out of context like John 6:48 and 1 John 5:13, and stand on those verses against the ones I used. Of course, this announces to everyone around us that the Bible contradicts itself and, in the end, you won’t get eternal life because you ignored the warnings of the New Testament.

Saved But Not Yet Saved

If you think that, for the most part, American pastors are teaching “the whole counsel of God,” then you will be shocked at what I am about to write. On the other hand, since the Bible teaches it directly and clearly, you should be able to overcome your surprise.

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life. (Rom. 5:9-10)

As you can see in this passage, no matter what your pastor thinks and no matter who else you’ve listened to, there is a salvation that is in the future for a Christian. Yes, we “are now” justified and “were” reconciled to God, but we “will be” saved from wrath. The “were” part was accomplished by his death, and the “will be” part will be accomplished by his life … if we walk in it.

Paul wrote:

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. (Gal. 2:20)

When Paul said in Romans 5:10 that we will be saved by “his life,” this is surely what he is talking about, Jesus’ life at work in us. He adds in Colossians:

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. (Col. 3:2-4)

So Paul is telling us that by letting Jesus live through us we can be saved from wrath in the future. This may not be what you have been taught, but I trust that it makes sense to you. John quotes Jesus in John 15:

I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. (Jn. 15:5-6)

Here Jesus says just what Paul said. If we have been grafted into the tree that is Christ (Rom. 11:17). As long as you remain in him, you have life and bear much fruit. Separate from him, and you wither. Eventually, you will be thrown into a fire to be burned up as useless.

The assurances you have been given that people with eternal life possess it eternally is a false promise. It is the life itself that is eternal. Your possession of it is contingent upon you remaining in Christ. John tells us:

The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life. (1 Jn. 5:11-12)

As long as we remain in him, we have eternal life. If we don’t, then we no longer have the life because we are no longer attached to the vine.

It is important that we switch to different wording here. The Bible uses many different phrases for remaining in him.

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up. (Gal. 6:7-9)

Here the apostle Paul talks about sowing to the Spirit. This is the same thing as remaining in him because it is by the Holy Spirit that we will bear fruit in the same way that if we remain in him we will bear fruit. Paul discusses the fruit of the Spirit just a little earlier, in Galatians 5:22-23.

He also gives some different terminology about remaining in Jesus. In between those two passages, he tells us, “If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). This is the rough equivalent of saying, if you were attached to the vine that is Christ, remain in the vine. He says it even one more way in his letter to the Colossians:

You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him, if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard. (Col. 1:21-23)

In other words, we were separated from God (“alienated”), but through Jesus’ death we were reconciled to God, just as we read in Romans 5:9-10. Now, just as we were reconciled to God by faith in his blood, so we continue steadfastly in that faith, and the life of Christ will bring us spotless before the judgment seat of Christ on the last day.

What does walking in the Spirit, sowing to the Spirit, remaining in Christ, and continuing steadfastly in the faith look like? Paul has given us a practical clue in Galatians 6:7-9, though I did not stop to emphasize it when I quoted it:

Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.

Continuing steadfastly in the faith looks like not growing weary in doing good.

The Judgment According to Works

We are talking about continuing in the faith so that we can appear before Jesus blameless on the last day. Paul ties this idea to not growing weary in doing good in Galatians 6:8-9. He says this even more clearly in Romans 2:7:

[God] will pay back to everyone according to their works: to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life. (Rom. 2:6-7)

In Galatians 6:8-9, Paul tied sowing to the Spirit and not growing weary in doing good to reaping eternal life. Here he tells us that God rewards eternal life to those who persevere in doing good.

Just in case this is so far outside your theology that you’re having a hard time comprehending how I could even suggest these things, I do want to point out that the World English Bible translation puts “will pay back to everyone according to their works” in quotes and cites Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12 as the sources Paul is quoting.

It will also help you to look at what the Bible means by good works, just how thoroughly God has equipped us for good works, how many times the apostles warn us of a judgment by works, and finish with the most helpful question you can ask about the final judgment.

What Does the Bible Mean by Good Works?

It is easy to miss the Bible’s emphasis on those in need. James, the Lord’s brother, wrote:

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:27)

I suppose it would be possible to use just this one verse to describe what the Bible means by good works. Jesus told us about the final judgment, talking about the day he would come back in his glory, his holy messengers with him. (The Greek word for “angel” actually means messenger. Many times, but not always, the word is used of heavenly messengers, but it does not mean heavenly messenger; it just means messenger.) He is going to divide the sheep and the goats before him, reward the sheep with eternal life and an inheritance in the kingdom, and he is going to send the goats into eternal punishment (Matt. 25:31-46).

Jesus had only one criterion for separating the sheep from the goats. The sheep helped those in need (by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering strangers, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned); the goats did not. It was as simple and final as that.

That jibes with James’ statement that true religion is visiting the widows and orphans in their distress, though Jesus covered other needs in Matthew 25. God spoke in a similar way through Isaiah:

Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean.
Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil.
Learn to do well.
Seek justice.
Relieve the oppressed.
Defend the fatherless.
Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17)

This is such a big deal that the Holy Spirit says in Proverbs, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD; he will reward him.”

I think you get the point, but James did not just talk about visiting widows and orphans. He also said to remain unspotted by the world.

If I were to fully delve into this, I could fill pages with warnings. Some of that will be covered in the warnings about the judgment, but I want to address the main point James is making. There is a kingdom of darkness, and there is a kingdom belonging to God’s beloved Son, Jesus (Col. 1:13). The two are very different:

Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever? What agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them,and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1)

Once again, when Paul says we must be separate from the world in order to belong to the Lord Almighty, he is quoting the Old Testament, Isaiah 52:11 to be specific. God’s judgment did not change when Jesus died. God was merciful even before Jesus died. The problem is that God’s judgment is and always has been reserved for the righteous, the ones who are at least trying to do his will; the ones who loyally adhere to him and honor his name. Jesus did not die so that God would be more merciful to the unrighteous. No, God’s mercy was perfect in the Old Testament. Even then God “freely pardoned” the repentant (Isa. 55:7).

God has and had no need. Jesus did not die so that God would be nicer to us. He died so that we would be nicer to God; he died to purify us and make us zealous for good works, the repentant righteous that he freely pardons (Titus 2:11-15).

By the way, the last verse of that passage tells Titus, and all who would teach the truth after him to say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority, letting no one despise us.

God Has “Thoroughly” Equipped Us for Good Works

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

God is focused on transforming us into doers of good. We talked earlier about remaining in Jesus, walking in the Spirit, sowing to the Spirit, and living by the life of Jesus. All those things equip us for doing good so that we are the ones who “persevere in doing good” and are rewarded with eternal life.

We just saw that the purpose, or at least one purpose, of the Scriptures is to thoroughly equip us for every good work. He gave us a lot more to equip us for good works, though. I like to think that the following list is what Peter was talking about when he said, “[God’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

  • Grace breaks sin’s dominion over us (Rom. 6:14), and teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit. 2:11-12)
  • By grace, which we receive and stand in by faith (Rom. 5:1-2), we have been saved, meaning we were created in Christ Jesus for good works even though we used to be dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1-10).
  • Jesus’ death purified us from all unrighteousness and bought himself his own people, zealous for good works (Tit. 2:13-14).
  • We assemble as a church in order to stir one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24-25). Not only this, but we “exhort”* one another daily so that our heart are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

*“Exhort” in the New Testament is parakaleo in Greek, a really big word that can mean everything from “plead with” to “console” to “rebuke.” This makes it difficult to translate in a context like Hebrews 10:24-25. I tell people that 1 Thessalonians 5:14 explains what the Bible means when it tells us to exhort one another: “We exhort you, brothers: Admonish the disorderly; encourage the faint-hearted; support the weak; be patient toward all.”

I think I would be remiss not to add:

  • “God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.” (Peter, Acts 3:26)
  • For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rom. 14:9)
  • He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15)
  • [Jesus] gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. (Tit. 2:14)

The above lists make it clear why God is just to judge us by our works. He has thoroughly equipped us to do them and to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3-4).

A List of Warnings About the Judgment by Works

I am going to give you two things in this section: the list the title promises and a paragraph on the “pre-judgment” of the seven churches of Revelation, chapters 2-3.

  • Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of Man’s] 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.
  • But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who will pay back to everyone according to their works: to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
  • For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. (2 Cor. 5:10-11a)
  • If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. (1 Pet. 1:17-19)
  • I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

In the context of this article, it might seem strange or ironic that I would suggest the most thorough exposition of the judgment, by God himself through Ezekiel, as a comfort.

“If the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

“”But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.”

This reminds me of 2 Peter 3:9, that God does not want anyone to perish, but rather to come to repentance.

Perhaps the best examples of the final judgment, the one we will all face on the last day, are Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3. You can see in those letters both the “severity and goodness” (Rom. 11:19-22) of Jesus, whose judgment and mercy are just like his Father God.

And finally, I gift you with John Chrysostom’s explanation of Romans 6:22-23. I am confident it will stir your heart, as it did mine, and you will thank me for this final section.

The Most Helpful Question You Can Ask About the Final Judgment

The most helpful question you can ask about the final judgment is: If we have to do good works to receive eternal life, then how is it a gift? (Rom. 6:23)

Romans 6:22-23 is an intriguing, maybe even confusing passage. It reads:

But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Verse 22 says that eternal life is the result of holiness (sanctification), which is the fruit of becoming a servant of God, which is made possible by being freed from sin. Verse 23 says that eternal life is a gift. (Adding “free” in front of “gift,” is a controversial translation that I am not qualified to comment on. My discussion is not affected by whether charismata is translated “gift” or “free gift.”)

In the past, I was puzzled by the seeming contradiction between 6:22 and 6:23. When I found out that John Chrysostom, a fourth-century preacher nicknamed “Golden Tongue” for his brilliant teaching, I went straight to these verses to find out his take. I am not going to quote him, but you can read the 1890s translation of his sermon at ccel.org.

What I was missing was that it was a gift that God freed us from sin! As Ephesians 2 teaches, we were transformed from being dead in our trespassed to being created in Christ Jesus to do good works by grace, through faith, not of ourselves, not of works, but as a gift from God.

Chrysostom beautifully explains what a relief it is to be freed from sin, what a joy it is to be in God’s service, and what pleasure the fruit of holiness brings to us in the presence of the Lord. The wages of sin may be death, but eternal life cannot be called a wage. Yes it is a reward for overcoming the world without defiling ourselves, but we accomplished this by great and precious promises that allowed us to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust and, an even greater gift, allowed us to be partakers of God’s divine nature!! (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

No, eternal life is not a wage, but a gift rewarded to us for receiving a previous gift: freedom, the Holy Spirit, Jesus as our elder brother, God as our Father and the one who favors us. We have bold access to the Throne of Favor (“grace” means “favor”), where we get mercy and favor to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Okay, I’m off to meditate on and bask in the marvelous provision of Jesus Christ and the blessed presence of both God and Son that we enjoy by the Holy Spirit. (Those are shouting words!)

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What if we were to go and obey 2 Corinthians 6:14-18?

Posted on 07/06/2024 by Paul Pavao

Paul did not write 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 in order to get the churches to pretend that worldly people are actually the children of God. He wrote that passage in order to tell us to get the people who make no effort to live the Sermon on the Mount out of the church. The church in Rome has not done that since Constantine embraced the Church and the Church embraced Constantine. Yes, they have tried to make whole cities and whole civilizations Christian, but that cannot be done. Instead, they have churches with liturgies that people go through, but their lives are no different than the world. Usually those are a large percentage of attendees, far more than half, just like in Protestant and Orthodox churches because we refuse to obey the Bible.

When I say refuse to obey the Bible, I mean getting the sons of Belial, ,unbelievers, those living in darkness, etc. out of the church (2 Cor. 6:14-18) and refusing to make a way for the saints to provoke one another to love and good works and encourage one another in the assemblies (Heb. 10:24-25). We could start with doing that. Paul said to get the wickedness out from among you (1 Cor. 5), and John said the difference between the children of the devil and the children of God is apparent because the children of God love each other but do not love the world and obey Jesus’ commands (1 John).

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