Table of Contents
Parent: JesusWordsOnly
Paul's Different Message
However, if we preach Paul's message, we have only one simple fonnula to explain. Simply say with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe "in your heart" that He rose from the dead. If you do so, then you are saved. ((Rom. 10:9).) It is belief plus nothing, as some say. In fact, as Paulunists explain, Paul does not mean you exert even the effort to say Jesus is Lord. Rather, the Holy Spirit entered you first and caused the words to come forth. See 1Cor. 12:3 ("no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit"). Thus, it was the belief given by the Holy Spirit alone that saved you. Paulunists teach salvation never depends on anything you do or initiate.
It is impossible to deny Paul teaches belief-plus-nothing saves you. And Paul teaches this belief is itself supernaturally bestowed with no effort on your part to even believe. When all of Paul's teachings are cross-analyzed, Paul certainly teaches salvation is a free gift at every point. (Eph. 2:89; (Rom. 4:4).) Paul teaches that if any effort beyond changing belief is required for salvation, then salvation is by works. (Rom. 4:4-6.)
This leads to a stark contradiction of Jesus. For example, if we teach repentance from sin as a condition of salvation, as Jesus in (Mark 9:42-48) makes indispensable, then it is salvation by works. Based on Paul's teaching against works, the Rvrie Study Bible says repentance from sin is "a false addition to faith" when added as a condition of salvation. 10
Likewise, Dr. Bob Wilkin says Paul's teaching on grace and works makes "appalling" any idea that we need to obey the repentance-from-sin principle to enter heaven. Wilkin explains how contrary Paul's teachings are to that principle: "It is gibberish to speak of a free gift which costs us everything." 11 Wilkin further cements unwittingly the stark contrast between Paul's doctrines and Jesus' teaching in (Mark 9:42-48). Wilkin says a promise of heaven based on repentance from sin is a gospel "not [based upon] a free gift. It is an earned wage." (Id.) Exactly
! As Bonhoeffer explained in the Cost of Discipleship (1937), Jesus said grace is costly. Paul has a different message that grace is free
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We have reached the amazing situation where R.C.Sproul can declare that "faith alone" is all there is to justification. If you reject it, you are apostate and unsaved. (R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995).) Any church or person that adds any requirement besides faith as a condition for salvation is lost and apostate. By Sproul's definition, Jesus is lost and apostate
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Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1976) at 1950.
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Dr. Bob Wilkin, Repentance and Salvation:A Key Gospel Issue (1988) (reprinted at http://www.faithalone.org/news/yl988/88june4.html).
There is no doubt Jesus made repentance from sin an indispensable condition of salvation. Jesus said believers in Him must be careful not to be ensnared by sin. They must realize they can go to heaven maimed by repenting from sin. Or, if they refuse to do so, they will go to hell whole. ((Matt. 5:29), Matthew 18:8, and (Mark 9:42-48).) This is no doubt why Jesus warned that the road to life is "hard" and "few" find it. (Matt. 7:13, 14.) Jesus exhorts you "strive" and in Greek agonazai -use your very last ounce of strength you have-to enter the way that leads to life. (Luke 13:24.) With Paul in the mix, salvation relies on the easy step of belief alone. You never strive to enter into salvation. It does not depend on how much strength ( e.g ., your prayer-life) you have. Jesus and Paul are at total odds.