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<td valign="top" ><span>Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)</span></td>
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<h1>Chapter Nine: Exceeding The Righteousness of the Shallowly Righteous, Matt. 5:20</h1>
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<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Introduction</strong></span></h3>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473810"></a>Jesus taught the Pharisees suffered from shallow teaching on the Law. (Matt. 23:23.) They taught the "less weighty matter" of tithing to the neglect of the "weightier matters of the Law." (Id.) The Pharisees replaced written commands from the Law given Moses with oral tradition "that makes of none effect" the written Law. (Matt. 15:6.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475259"></a>However, that understanding has been vigorously fought by the proponents of cheap grace. It turns out that cheap grace must use all its resources -- incessant repetition in Sunday sermons and commentaries -- to affix the label upon the Pharisees as<strong><em> legalists</em></strong>. If the truth were known, the Pharisees were shallow followers of the Law. As John Milton, author of<em> Paradise Lost</em>, correctly said, the Pharisees had a "<em><strong>shallow </strong></em>understanding of scripture." (<em>Prose Works</em> (1845) at 144.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, if this truth were commonly understood, it would destroy cheap grace's explanation of Matthew 5:20. Jesus says you can not enter heaven "except your righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees." If Jesus meant for us to do better than a shallow-performing Pharisee, then personal responsibility is at stake in Matthew 5:20. Cheap grace would be falsified once more. Thus, cheap grace had to destroy an accurate perception of the Pharisees as shallow performers. It instead depicts them as superstars in terms of obedience to the Law. (For an example, see page 213.) It was a desperate ploy that exploited people's lack of familiarity with Jesus' true teachings about the Pharisees.</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475265"></a>In other words, unless one fixes this misunderstanding about the Pharisees as legalists, Jesus' words in Matthew 5:20 fall on deaf ears. Jesus in this passage says:</span></p>
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<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475272"></a>For I say unto you, that except <strong><em>your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees</em></strong>, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matt.5:20)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475270"></a>To explain this challenging verse, we are incessantly told Jesus is pulling our leg. He does not want us to correct for any shallowness in the Pharisees' doctrines. No, they were supposedly in full obedience to the Law, and more righteous than anyone. Thus, Jesus allegedly intends by Matthew 5:20 to force us on our knees to accept grace. We can never hope to exceed the supposedly high level of obedience of those who legalistically follow all the Law given Moses.</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475300"></a>However, this view is based on a falsehood. It depends upon a misrepresentation of the Pharisees. It is intended to negate this verse and save cheap grace doctrine.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading2"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475263"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Zeal Knowing No Bounds To Mislabel Pharisees As Legalists</span></strong></span></h2>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475264"></a>With a vigor almost knowing no bounds, the Cheap Grace Gospel has altered our perception of what Jesus condemned about the Pharisees. The Pharisees are constantly portrayed as "strict legalists." (Hopkins: 444;G.M. Steele:87; Cheyne:57.) This charge of legalism is the claim that the Pharisees taught every jot and tittle of the Law, and that they thought one could be right with God by acting obedient to the Law. The cheap grace gospel adherents desire us to think that Jesus supposedly wanted us to know only faith was necessary to be right with God; and that the Pharisees' error was supposedly that they rejected faith alone, wrongly relying instead on obeying all the Law.</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473972"></a>Legalism is thus portrayed in such a way that it supposedly is the reason why Jesus excoriated the Pharisees. Hence, we learn from this alleged truism about the Pharisees that we too must avoid ever thinking we are made right in God's sight by obedience to the Law which God had given previously to Moses. We are demanded to believe this despite Deuteronomy 6:25 and many other passages teaching the opposite: if we obey the Law, God imputes righteousness.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=475313"><sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473984"></a>However, this portrayal of the Pharisees is a massive distortion of truth. It is absolutely necessary for the Cheap Grace Gospel to perpetuate this myth because the truth about the Pharisees' doctrine means Jesus is condemning key principles taught by the cheap grace gospel itself. Cheap grace would blow itself up if it had to cite Matthew 15:6,9 and Matthew 23:23 on what were indeed the flaws of the Pharisees.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading2"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475318"></a><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Truth</span></strong></span></h2>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473983"></a>The truth is that the Pharisees were <strong><em>anti-legalists</em></strong>. This was Jesus' main fault with them. By their oral traditions they made of "none effect" the written precepts of the Law. (Matt. 15:6,9; 23:23.) Jesus clearly said the Pharisees were only big on tithing -- a "less weighty matter of the Law," but otherwise "ignored the weightier matters of the Law." (Matt. 23:23.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473993"></a>Nor was Jesus ever attacking the principle that one was justified by faithful obedience. This principle was clearly taught by God in Deuteronomy 6:25, Leviticus 18:5, Ezekiel 18:5, 9, and Habakkuk 2:4 (correctly translated), as we discuss elsewhere.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=474748"><sup>2</sup></a></span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474342"></a>Moreover, Jesus Himself said the very same thing about the key role of obedience as pertains to salvation. Jesus taught the young rich man that the means for entering eternal life was obedience to the law. This is the identical principle which faith-alone Christianity derides as legalism. Jesus said one entered into eternal life by "obeying the Law."<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=473814"><sup>3</sup></a></span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474346"></a>In a similar vein, Jesus taught that anyone who would teach a kingdom member not to obey in the least a provision in the Law given Moses would be "least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19). And whoever taught kingdom members to "obey the commandments" of the Law given Moses would be the "greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:19.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473999"></a>Hence, Jesus was a legalist if one uses the definition of a legalist as used disparagingly by the Gospel of Cheap Grace.</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473841"></a>Thus, it is crucial to the cheap grace gospel to keep the truth about the Pharisees away from their bewildered flock. Otherwise, their flock will see their cheap grace teachers are, in fact, the modern Pharisees -- anti-legalist teachers who say the Law is no more except tithing. And their deceived flock will find out that their teachers erred in saying that obedience is not a pathway to enter eternal life.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473859"></a>Yet, the most important aspect of this chapter is that by studying the true error of the Pharisees, we unlock Matthew 5:20.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475211"></a>Jesus said the Pharisees were causing their proselytes to be lost. Jesus pointed at the Pharisees' doctrine as the cause. Hence, we need to learn from Jesus what was that false doctrine or doctrines. Jesus is saying that the Pharisees' heresy will cause our loss of salvation. Thus, it is imperative we find out what the Pharisees really taught and treat those doctrines like the plague. It turns out to be highly relevant today because true Pharisaism -- anti-legalism -- is rampant.</span></p>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div>
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<h3><a name="pgfId=473809"></a>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">A Shallow Righteousness Or An Impossible Standard?</span></strong></span></h3>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475232"></a>Jesus says whoever "relaxes in the least any of the commands in the Law (given Moses) and teaches others likewise shall be least in the kingdom, but whoever does them and teaches you to follow them shall be the greatest." (Matt. 5:19.)(The bracketed text is to correct a mistranslation in the KJV. The Greek verb means loosing or relaxing, not breaking. See, Joseph Rotherham, <em>The Emphasized Bible: A New Translation Designed to Set Forth The Exact Meaning</em> (1902) at 932. He provides the corrections that appear in the bracketed text. Cf. Vulg (411 A.D.) "dissolve." .) Then Jesus said: "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20.)</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476151"></a>Clarke says these two verses together prove it was the Lawless shallow doctrine of the Pharisees that imperilled them and their followers. This is what the expression "least in the kingdom" meant, proven by the outcome in Matthew 5:20. Clarke -- one who often agrees with cheap grace -- admits (contrary to his ordinary views) the following:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476156"></a><a name="40797"></a>He who, by his mode of acting, speaking, or explaining the words of God, sets the holy precept aside, or explains away its force and meaning, shall be called least -- shall have no place in the kingdom of Christ here, nor in the kingdom of glory above. That this is the meaning of these words is evident enough from the following verse [i.e., 5:20]. (Adam Clarke, <em>The Holy Bible</em> (1825) Vol. V at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=GeY8AAAAYAAJ&dq=clarke%20%20explaining%20the%20words%20of%20God%2C%20sets%20the%20holy%20precept%20aside&pg=PA56#v=onepage&q&f=false">56</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473724"></a>Jesus was equating the Pharisees with the priests whom the Prophet Hosea in Hosea 4:6 said were shallow in teaching the Law. The people were destroyed as a result:</span></p>
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<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473730"></a>My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing <strong><em>thou hast forgotten the law of thy God</em></strong>, I will also<strong><em> forget thy children</em></strong>. (Hos 4:6 ASV.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473771"></a>The "knowledge" the people lack is clearly identified by the end of this passage as knowledge of the Law. The priests had "forgotten the Law of God."</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474005"></a>Hence, the priests who Hosea excoriates were no longer teaching the true Law of God. They had devised their own traditions. The people were, as a result, being spiritually destroyed. The people lacked the knowledge of the Law to follow. This would necessarily lead to disobedience to God due to the people being taught a shallow version of the Law.</span></p>
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<div>
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<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473725"></a><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Faith Alone View Of Matthew 5:20</strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471750"></a>Jesus' words about entering heaven in Matthew 5:20 is a very blunt and difficult verse for the Fable of Cheap Grace to accept. The typical explanation, especially among faith-alone adherents, is that Jesus meant the Pharisees were doing an excellent job of keeping and teaching the Law. If you wanted to enter heaven you had to do better than the best. Jesus was allegedly upholding therefore a standard so excessive it must be supposed that Jesus implied obedience to the Law was an impossible standard. Why would Jesus do this?</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473851"></a>According to these faith-alone theologians, Jesus did so to show you the impoverished nature of works righteousness. Works are supposedly never relevant to salvation. `Faith alone' is the only path you allegedly can take that will succeed. Any other path that actually takes Jesus literally and expects us to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees is supposedly a heresy of works-righteousness. Rather than allow Jesus to test their assumption on the relevance of works, they distort Jesus' words to uphold a doctrine never spoken from the mouth of Jesus -- the doctrine of faith-alone!</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475344"></a>Is this notion of a Pharisee as a highly obedient figure justifiable? No. It is indefensible. Jesus excoriated the Pharisees, as we shall see, for several teaching errors:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473779"></a>The Pharisees teaching selectively from the Law only the lesser commands (such as tithing), leaving the more weighty matters of the Law undone (Matt. 23:23);</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473785"></a>The Pharisees teaching traditions which if followed led to the violation of the Law of Moses (Matt. 15:6,9); and</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473786"></a>The Pharisees expressly teaching that certain wrongs under the Law were acceptable behavior (e.g., adulterous lust if no adulterous act followed).(Matt. 5:27-28.)<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472909"> 4</a></span></li>
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</ul>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474380"></a>Thus, Jesus could not possibly mean the Pharisees were upholding the Law to a very high standard. Jesus was saying the very opposite of that. The Pharisees were shallow in how far the Law was to be obeyed.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474384"></a>In fact, Jesus even identifies this shallowness as precisely why their proselytes were not entering the Kingdom of God. Thus, there is a total parallel between Matthew 5:20 -- where a righteousness that matches Pharisaic righteousness will never be enough to be saved -- and the fact Jesus says in Matthew 23:13-15,23 the Pharisees' pupils were lost. Therefore, shallow teaching of the Law of God caused the Pharisees' proselytes to be lost. As Clarke said, this is also necessarily implied from Matthew 5:19-20. To enter heaven, one must do better than the shallow doctrine of the Pharisees.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472093"></a>What was Jesus' principle? It is frightening to consider because the Fable of Cheap Grace so blatantly rejects Jesus' words. Jesus' true meaning was:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472094"></a>You can never have the righteousness you need for eternal life if you are satisfied following your teachers' shallow version of the Law. Obedience to the true Laws of God is the pathway to enter into eternal life. It is a narrow way and few find it. People prefer shallow teachers of the Law than true teachers of all of God's commands. That's why the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is he who teaches obedience to the commands given Moses.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473802"></a>Or as Hosea 4:6 said, the people are perishing for lack of the knowledge of the Law because their priests are shallow teachers of the Law.</span></p>
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<h3><a name="pgfId=471744"></a>
|
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<div><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Did The Pharisees Imperil The Salvation Of Their Pupils By A False Teaching?</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470666"></a>One of the ways to know what Jesus preached about salvation is to see what Jesus said was a contrary message which condemned people to being lost. Thus, one of the clearest ways to understand the affirmative requirements of salvation is to study what Jesus negates as teachings which prevent salvation. As Arthur Pink, a Baptist thinker, says, "the simplest and most conclusive way of ascertaining of the nature of the righteousness Christ requires from all who shall have a part in His everlasting kingdom is to observe that it is placed in direct antithesis [to the teachings] from the...scribes and the Pharisees."<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470669"><sup> 5</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470670"></a>Jesus clearly said the Pharisees were zealous evangelists, even going on missionary journeys. However, they held a doctrine that once believed prevented their pupil's salvation. It also prevented the salvation of the Pharisees.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=477301"></a>But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter. (Mat 23:13) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. (Mat 23:15)(ASV)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470673"></a>Thus, we see the Pharisees were highly evangelistic. Jesus said do not mistake zealous evangelistic behavior as proof someone is from God. The Pharisees were blind guides. People wanted to enter the kingdom. The Pharisees were abroad evangelizing them. Yet, the Pharisees had a false teaching. It made their proselytes not enter the kingdom of God. Matthew Henry in his famous commentary sees this clearly: "The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the...salvation of the souls of men."</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471796"></a>What was this teaching that was a barrier to salvation for the Pharisees and their proselytes?</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
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<h3><a name="pgfId=471328"></a>
|
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Josephus And Dead Sea Scrolls Identify The Pharasaical Teaching Jesus Was Attacking</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471329"></a>The Dead Sea Scrolls (250-50 B.C.) speak comparably to what Jesus said about the flaws in the Pharisees' doctrine on the Law. The DSS say the Pharisees were "smooth interpreters" of the Law. Horsley says this means the Pharisees' rulings "were lax and liberal" on how to interpret the Law. He says this is ironic, because the DSS give "quite a different picture from the Christian traditional stereotype of [the Pharisees] as strict legalists." (Horsley: 153.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476928"></a>This notion of the Pharisees as legalists is likewise completely destroyed by Josephus -- a Jewish scholar -- in his work Antiquities of the Jews (78 A.D.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476956"></a>For Josephus in 78 A.D. will tell there were two primary parties in Judaism in Jesus' day. They were the Sadducees and Pharisees. He will explain the Sadducees taught strict obedience to the Law. The Sadducees rejected the Pharisees precisely for their opposite approach on the Law of Moses. They believed the Pharisees supplanted the Law of Moses with mere traditions of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were negating the Law of Moses by their traditions.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474017"></a>Jesus, we shall see, was siding with the Sadducees on this point. Here is Josephus, the First Century Jewish historian, identifying what divided these two parties:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471340"></a><a name="37508"></a>What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are <em><strong>not written in the Law of Moses</strong></em>; and it is for this reason that the <em><strong>Sadducees reject them</strong></em>, and say we are to esteem those <em><strong>observances that are in the written word</strong></em>, but are <strong><em>not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers</em></strong>. (Josephus Flavius, <em>Antiquities of the Jews</em> 13.10.6 (13.297)(Whiston translation (1841) at 360.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471344"></a>Thus, Jesus comes and faults the Pharisees primarily on the issue in dispute with the Sadducees. The Pharisees' oral teachings negated the Law and ignored the weightier matters of the Law. (Matt.15:6; 23:23.) Jesus never criticizes the Sadducees for their rigid position of strictly following the Law of Moses without embellishment. Instead, Jesus repeatedly confirms the validity of the Sadducees' position on the Law. Jesus' only express rejection of a Sadducee teaching was their doctrine that there was no resurrection to eternal life.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472106"> <sup>6</sup></a> Jesus says this is a terribly mistaken idea.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472110"></a>Hence, in the quote above, Josephus, unintentionally helps identify the precise reason for Jesus' rejection of the Pharisees. The Sadducees taught adherence to the written Law of Moses. The Sadducees rejected the Pharisees' teachings precisely because the Pharisees added to the Law of Moses their oral principles, elevating them above the written commands. Jesus did not fault the Sadducees on their rejection of the anti-legalism position of the Pharisees at all. Jesus only faulted the terrible doctrine of the Sadducees that there is no such thing as eternal life in a resurrection to come.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471351"></a>Chaplain and Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) said this variance in doctrine between the two sects is why Jesus in Matthew 5:20 says our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees rather than that of the Sadducees. In this verse, "Christ does not name the Sadducees, but the Scribes and the Pharisees." Jeremy traces this back to the shallow doctrine of the Pharisees, for they (not the Sadducees) would "add words of their own" to the Law, but the Sadducees "would admit of no suppletory traditions."<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=476742"> <sup>7</sup></a> This is why Jesus exhorted us to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees: it was shallow. The Sadducees alone were on the right track in terms of the Law.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476760"></a>Is this variance why the Pharisees were dangerous?</span></p>
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||||
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<h3><a name="pgfId=476729"></a>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What Pharisee Teaching Clearly Imperiled Salvation?</span></span></h3>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470675"></a>What did Jesus say the Pharisees were falsely teaching which imperiled the salvation of their proselytes (Matt. 23:13)? Ten verses later Jesus said the Pharisees were only teaching tithing from the Law, but not the rest of the Law.</span></p>
|
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470677"></a>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have<em><strong> left undone the weightier matters of the Law</strong></em> [--] justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. (Matt. 23:23)(ASV)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470678"></a>Matthew Henry again sees clearly what Jesus is reproving. "They [i.e., the Pharisees] were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but <em><strong>careless and loose in weightier matters</strong></em> [of the Law]." However, Henry never puts two-and-two together. He never realizes this anti-Law doctrine which Jesus reproved was the very doctrine keeping proselytes of the Pharisees from entering heaven.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470679"></a>What the Pharisees were doing was minimizing what portions of the Law were important to follow. They only were following the ones that could be seen outwardly. "But all their works [from the Law] they do for to be seen of men" (Matt. 23: 5). Tithing fit perfectly into that category. It could be seen by men.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470680"></a>Many Christian commentators get this right. The Daily Bible Study says:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470681"></a>The lesson from the Pharisees' example is...God's true people are to live according to all of God's Word, not just certain parts that are most convenient or to one's own liking.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470684"> 8</a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470685"></a>Others like the famous Baptist pastor, Pink, agree the Pharisees' error which Jesus exposed was "their observance of the law was a partial one: they laid far more stress on its ceremonial aspects than upon its moral requirements."<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470688"><sup> 9</sup></a></span></p>
|
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||||
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<h3><a name="pgfId=470708"></a>
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||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Pharisaic Shallowness In Law Teaching Identifies Salvation-Critical Laws</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471306"></a>Jesus in the same vein elsewhere warns about the salvation-threatening teachings of the Pharisees by their dilution of the Law of Moses. By way of introduction:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471305"></a>Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says the Pharisees ignore God's law on hate and vengeance. Despite the Bible clearly prohibiting personal vengeance and hate, the Pharisees taught it was permissible to hate your enemies and exact vengeance. They rationalized this by out-of-context proof text quotes of the `eye for an eye passage' and reliance on non-inspired texts. Jesus bluntly corrected them, and paraphrased passages of the Law of Moses against hate and vengeance which the Pharisees glazed over in their analyses.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471317"></a>Jesus also taught in the Sermon on the Mount that the Pharisees are teaching that the sin of adultery is not in the heart, but only in action. Just prior to this declaration, Jesus says that to enter heaven, the people must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. Jesus then explains what this means. He does not say the people need a faith which the Pharisees lack. Instead, the people need to follow principles from the Ten Commandments such as the command to not covet your neighbor's wife which the Pharisees negated. They taught that adulterous sins were not completed if they remained solely in the heart and not acted out.</span></p>
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<div>
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||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470710"></a><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong>The Sermon On The Mount Identifies Soul-Saving Changes To The Pharisees' Doctrine The People Must Follow</strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470711"></a>In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus touches precisely on how the Pharisees ignored the commands from the Law which focused on inward sins such as coveting a married woman. Jesus says in the same context that if the people want to "enter the kingdom of God" then their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. (Matt. 5:20.) They must do the commands of the Law which the Pharisees were ignoring.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470712"></a>Jesus begins the Sermon by saying "you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees." (Matt. 5:20.) By saying this, Jesus is harkening to His theme that the Pharisees had shallow teachings on the Law which were a barrier for salvation. (Matt. 23:13, 15.) In the Sermon, Jesus will explain what is the missing righteousness untaught by the Pharisees. Jesus will identify precisely what righteousness the Pharisees are not teaching, which if such shallow doctrine were corrected, would allow one to exceed the Pharisees' supposed righteousness. It would permit entry into the kingdom of heaven.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471271"></a>Jesus was insisting the people had to obey the parts of the Law the Pharisees were not teaching them i.e., were subtracting from the Law. Jesus was telling the people that their leaders had also misconstrued passages to contradict other passages, i.e., they were diluting the Law. Jesus taught them in the Sermon on the Mount the following specific corrections to their errors by the Pharisees regarding the Law.</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471272"></a>The Tenth Commandment prohibiting coveting a married woman was just as much against adultery as the Seventh Commandment that prohibited the act of adultery. This is discussed in detail below.</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471273"></a>Do not swear falsely at all (whether in God's name or by heaven or anything else).<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=473472"> <sup>10</sup></a></span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471277"></a>Do not use the command which allows public authorities to punish `eye for an eye' as justification for you to take personal vengeance when personal vengeance is prohibited in the Law.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471280"><sup> 11</sup></a></span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471281"></a>"You heard it said, hate your enemies" was a reference to teachings by the rabbis from the non-inspired portion of Psalms. As surprising as it may be to learn this, the book of Psalms was deemed in Jesus' day (and still today among Jews) as part of the Writings section of the Jewish Bible, and hence was not believed then or now by Jews to be 100% inspired. The Writings section meant the Holy Spirit at times was present in them but not always. However, the rabbis liked to quote from Psalms as if authoritative even when it justified hating your enemies. (Psalm 139:22, "I hate them with a perfect hatred.") Yet, Jesus said rather love your enemies. Jesus then revived the Law's command against hate of your brother and neighbor. (Lev. 19:17.) Jesus later explained in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that any stranger is a neighbor. Jesus then said hate is as wrong as murder.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471284"> 12</a>Incidentally, Christian commentators, not knowing what Jesus was saying, actually still rely upon Psalms to justify hating your enemies if you believe them to be God's enemies.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472161"> <sup>13</sup></a></span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472504"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Pink Concedes Jesus Taught Works-Righteousness For Salvation Before Pink Tries To Reaffirm His Grace Doctrine</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472429"></a>Once you make this analysis of the errors of the Pharisees, Jesus' point in Matthew 5:20 becomes self-evident. The righteousness required to enter heaven that exceeds the Pharisees' righteousness is the obedience to the principles from the Law which the Pharisees negated or ignored. As the famous Baptist commentator, Pink, put it:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472613"></a>[T]he simplest and most conclusive way of ascertaining the nature of the righteousness which Christ requires from all who shall have part in His everlasting kingdom is to observe that it is placed in <em><strong>direct antithesis from the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees</strong></em>. (Arthur Pink,<em> Sermon on the Mount</em>, ch. 8.)<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472450"> <sup>14</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472470"></a>Pink was then honest enough to recognize Jesus' obvious message in the Sermon on the Mount even though it contradicted cheap grace. Pink explains Jesus intends us to see the shallow doctrine of the Pharisees is the opposite of the elevated standard of righteousness the people must have. Pink's list is comparable to our synopsis of the Sermon in the bullet outline above. Pink says Jesus teaches in the Sermon:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472484"></a>The Pharisees failed to acknowledge the Bible does sometimes condemn internal thoughts;</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472488"></a>The Pharisees obeyed only "certain parts of the Law which suited their tastes while utterly ignoring or nullifying other vital features thereof;" and</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472489"></a>The Pharisees obeyed the parts of the Law they favored solely to please men, not God.</span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476235"></a>Then Pink gets down to the key issue: does obedience to higher principles of God's Law rather than the shallow ones of the Pharisees play a role in salvation? Pink shockingly answers yes, at odds with cheap grace.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472524"></a>This superior righteousness, then, consists of an <em><strong>obedience to the Divine Law</strong></em> which would be acceptable to a holy but gracious God. Such an obedience must necessarily spring from the <strong><em>fear of God and love to God</em></strong>: that is, from a genuine reverence for His authority, and from a true desire to please Him. It must comprise a strict conformity to the revealed will of God, <strong><em>without any self-invented and self-imposed additions thereto</em></strong>. It must give particular attention to the "weightier matters of the law," namely justice, mercy and faith. It must be a sincere and not a <strong><em>feigned obedience</em></strong>, a filial and not a slavish one, a disinterested and not a selfish one. It must be a symmetrical or complete one, having <strong><em>respect to all God's commandments.</em></strong> Such an obedience will not puff up or encourage self-righteousness, but will cause the one who sincerely aims thereat to walk softly before the Lord, and will produce humility and denying of self.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472574"> <sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472558"></a>Of course, Pink as a Baptist cannot leave this admission alone. Pink must affix a cheap grace verbiage to Jesus' words. Thus, Pink attempts to ascribe all this work to the activity of the Holy Spirit acting in you by divine grace. But slapping the word grace onto Jesus' doctrine does not change the fact Pink concedes Jesus teaches obedience to the strict letter of the Law as vital for salvation. Pink's digression into cheap grace labels is a deceptive comfort.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474398"></a>Thus, our critique here is vital to hold in mind. Without holding the line on what Jesus teaches, we would end up committing the very error that Pink admitted Jesus was excoriating the Pharisees for committing. For Pink said the Pharisees taught obedience to only</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472604"></a>certain parts of the Law which suited their tastes while<strong><em> utterly ignoring or nullifying other vital features thereof</em></strong> (Arthur Pink, <em>Sermon on the Mount</em>, chapter eight.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473103"></a>This nullification of the Law (except tithing) is precisely what the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace depends upon. As we shall discuss later, most of the modern church teaches only that tithing is still valid from the Law, but nothing else from the Law applies in the era of grace.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=473108"> <sup>16</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474402"></a>This means modern grace teaching is identical to the Pharisees' doctrine. Jesus said that the Pharisees were big on tithing, but had set aside the weightier matters of the Law, stressing the less weighty matters of the Law. (Matt. 23:23.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472477"></a><a name="38349"></a><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Deficiency Of Pharisees On Adultery Doctrine</strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471081"></a>Let's explore in detail the Pharisee error on adultery. We will learn Jesus was excoriating the Pharisees' negation of one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus' point is not self-evident unless you (a) know the Law and (b) become aware of Pharisaic teachings on lust for a married woman.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472514"></a>In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains while discussing adultery what was deficient in the Pharisees' teaching. Jesus says the Pharisees fell down by not teaching the Tenth of the Ten Commandments: thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife. The Pharisees were failing to teach it was wrong to covet your neighbor's wife (<em>i.e</em>., number ten of the Ten Commandments). Instead, they emphasized it was only important not to commit the act of adultery, which of course is also separately prohibited in the Seventh of the Ten Commandments. The Pharisees focused on only one command touching on adultery to the neglect of another command on adultery that was equally important to teach.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470714"></a>Jesus says: "You've heard it said do not commit adultery [i.e., the Seventh Commandment], but I tell you that whosoever looks on a [married]<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=477167"> <sup>17</sup></a>woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart" [i.e., the Tenth Commandment]. (Matt. 5:27-28.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470718"></a>The Pharisees taught there is no sin in thoughts of lust for a married woman if the act of adultery did not follow. They taught this despite one of the Ten Commandments expressly prohibiting coveting of a married woman. As one commentator points out regarding Jesus' meaning:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470719"></a><a name="14836"></a>People had come to believe that one could lust after a [married] woman, as long as the act of fornication [<em>i.e</em>., sex] was not committed. But Jesus showed that this understanding was foreign to the actual command by Moses.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470722"><sup> 18</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470723"></a>This is likewise understood by a commentator who nevertheless favors Cheap Grace, Deffinbaugh, Th.M.:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470724"></a>The Jewish interpretation of the seventh commandment was that one was guilty of adultery <em><strong>only if he or she had committed the physical act</strong></em>. This was a very narrow and external interpretation of the Law and<em><strong> ignored the clear teaching of the tenth commandment</strong></em>: `You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife....(Exodus 20:17).<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470727"> <sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470728"></a>The oral tradition had made of none effect the tenth of the Ten Commandments. The oral law of the Pharisees had come to tower over the written Law given to Moses by God.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475710"></a>What corroborates this was the Pharisaic oral teaching is current rabbinic thought. Without naming names, a conservative Jewish rabbi on national radio teaches Judaism does not say there is any such thing as adultery in thoughts. The only adultery is in action. This rabbi says this principle is true beyond adultery: there are no sins of the heart in Judaism. There are only sins in physical actions. (He says this is the major difference between Christianity and Judaism.) But that very teaching is contrary to the Tenth Commandment: "Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's wife." Thus, the error Jesus tried to correct within Judaism still persists. (Catholicism repeated this error in 1567, Pius V ruling "only overt action was to be considered sinful, but not mere desire." Plaut:558.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473503"></a><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong>The Pharisaical Elevation Of The So-called `Oral Law'</strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473497"></a>How can a blatant contradiction emerge that negates one of the Ten Commandments?</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472663"></a>Because by Jesus' day, the oral law became so important in Pharisaical Judaism that it was axiomatic that the oral law had more weight than the Prophets. For example, Maimonides, a great exponent of the Oral Law, explained in the Middle Ages why there is an appropriate emphasis on rabbinic oral law over the written prophets. Maimonides cites a tradition dating to Jesus' day. He cites Eliezer who was then a famous rabbi. Maimonides synopsizes a lesson from Eliezer:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472643"></a>If there are 1000 prophets, all of them of the stature of Elijah and Elisha, giving a certain interpretation, and 1001 rabbis giving the opposite interpretation, you shall `incline after the majority' (Exodus 23:2)<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472675"> <sup>20</sup></a> and the law is according to the 1001 rabbis, not according to the 1000 venerable prophets.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472659"> 2<sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472631"></a>This is the attitude Jesus was battling. The Pharisees developed doctrines that cancelled the words delivered by the prophets. The Oral Tradition tragically was being given more weight than God's true prophetic messengers.</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470739"></a>This explains how someone so intelligent as this radio rabbi (whom I mentioned above) is still stuck on oral traditions. He in good conscience affirms the difference between Christianity and Judaism is that Judaism does not recognize as sin anything that is not accompanied by action. The only reason this is so is that the oral law supposedly replaced the written law on certain issues, such as this important principle against adulterous lust in the written law.</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472735"></a>What the radio rabbi teaches is precisely what Jesus was criticizing 2000 years ago. It continues among sincere Jewish rabbis today. It has never changed. This is the power of oral tradition. Two thousand years later, and it is still with us. And somehow, the fact the Tenth Commandment is staring them in the face does not dissuade these sincere rabbis from their doctrines. They have rationalized away the fact their teaching is directly contrary to what the Law says based on the priority of the Oral Law. Even moral, fair, and sensible rabbis rely more on the oral law than the written law.</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470740"></a>Incidentally, not all of Judaism agrees with this radio rabbi. So please do not misread that the radio rabbi's views are dominant. Instead, Judaism, like Christianity, is fraught with commentators who are at odds with each other. So the <em>Encyclopedia of Judaism</em> can say "covetousness" is defined as inordinate desire for another's wife or possessions, and is condemned in Judaism based on the Tenth Commandment. <a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470743"><sup>22</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470744"></a>The radio rabbi thus represents a strain of thinking identical to what Jesus was trying to correct. It is still alive today. This helps us corroborate how to understand what Jesus was correcting. Jesus was confronting oral tradition by the Pharisees which negated the Law. This led to an inferior righteousness in practice and in teaching by the Pharisees. It did not meet God's standards. It was shallow. Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of heaven, the people must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. One of those higher standards the people needed is that they must follow the Tenth of the Ten Commandments which the Pharisees nullified by the Oral Torah.</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472751"></a>The radio rabbi then becomes a contemporary example of what Jesus was up against. No doubt ordinary Jews of Jesus' era were struggling to understand how seemingly moral and devout rabbis (just like the radio rabbi) could be wrong in a way that negated the Law. The ordinary Jew who heard there was no sin from mere thoughts unless action followed must have assumed the rabbis learned this truth due to superior study of the Bible. Yet, the people were wrong in this assumption.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472755"></a>To dislodge this assumption which prevailed 2000 years ago, Jesus gave numerous speeches on the hypocrisy and false teachings of the Pharisees. It must have shocked Jesus' audience what He was saying. Only those who truly loved God would have tried to attempt to focus on Jesus' words to see how He corrected the Pharisees' doctrines.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474062"></a>Paradoxically, today the same spiritual airs are assumed by our modern church leaders. We have to dislodge this smugness by the direct and powerful impact of Jesus' words. Thus, in this book we have spared no punches. This book has tried to lay bare the many contemporary foundational doctrines that clearly violate Jesus' words, e.g., the mocking of Jesus' doctrine of repentance and obedience as `earning salvation,' `legalism,' etc.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472762"></a>You need to escape these mantras. By dint of repetition, many have accepted a view of salvation that displaces Jesus' doctrine. Listen attentively to Jesus' teachings on this score. Jesus says your very salvation is at risk if you swallow the modern equivalent of the Pharisees' shallow doctrines.</span></p>
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|
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Corroboration Of Jesus' Intent From Jesus' Excoriation Of The Pharisees</span></strong></span></h3>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470820"></a>There is no mistaking what angers Jesus about the Pharisees' teaching which He says is a barrier to salvation. The Pharisees had a similar teaching about one of the Ten Commandments to honor your mother and father. In Jewish interpretation, including by Jesus, this meant taking care of your mother and father if they were poor. If you failed to do so, then you dishonored your mother and father. However, the Pharisees taught that if you paid a special Korban (gift) to the Temple, this "more sacred" payment excused obeying God's actual command to give support to your mother and father. [UPDATE: McDaniel in 2008 discussed this in a scholarly article, and affirms this is what Jesus reproved. See our discussion at this <a href="/component/content/article/13-background-jwos/230-korban-or-corban-jesus-criticized.html">webpage</a>. UPDATE #2: The word "honor" in Hebrew, <em>hadar</em>, "also carries the sense of providing financial support." (Bercot, <em>Will The Theologians</em>, etc., at 23.)]</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=477735"></a>In the quote below, Jesus refers to this special Korban obliquely in Matthew 15:5. Jesus was quoting what such a Korban payor was allowed to say to his parent: "That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God." (This is in Mishnah Nedarim. See Edwards, 2002:211.) Jesus teaches this negated the commandment of God. Honoring/supporting your mother and father was your sacred duty. It was not to be abandoned by paying sufficient monies to satisfy the human demands of Temple authorities. See, Matt. 15:6 ("you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.") In Matthew 15:2-9, we read:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470822"></a>(2) Why do thy disciples transgress the<em><strong> tradition of the elders</strong></em>? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. (3) And he [Jesus] answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? (4) For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death. (5) But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to God; (6) he shall not honor his father. And ye have made <em><strong>void the word of God because of your tradition</strong></em>. (7) Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, (8) This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me. (9) But in vain do they worship me, <em><strong>Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men</strong></em>. (ASV)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470823"></a>Thus, Jesus excoriates the Pharisees for replacing the commandments of God (i.e., the Law given Moses) with what is merely a tradition of men. As the English Reverend Jeremy Taylor explains, "they thought they did well enough [with the] corban, and let their father starve." (Taylor, <em>Discourses</em>, <em>supra</em>, III:13.) Jesus regarded this doctrine of the Pharisees as negating the Law of Moses by means of their own oral law. Jesus was attacking those who make an Oral Law of greater stature than the Written Law given Moses.</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473181"></a>Clarke concurs, and comments on this passage, saying: "Pretenders to zeal often prefer superstitious usages...and<strong><em> human inventions to the positive duties of [God]</em></strong>."</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474068"></a>Barnes likewise concurs that the Pharisees trained the people to trust them over the written Law: "[The commands in the oral law] are, however, regarded by the [Pharisaical] Jews as<em><strong> more important than either Moses or the prophets</strong></em>." (The bracketed text is added for the sake of accuracy.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474072"></a>Robertson's <em>Word Pictures</em> concurs too: "The [Pharisaical] rabbis placed tradition (the oral law) <strong><em>above the law of God</em></strong>."</span></p>
|
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470827"></a>Thus, we see Jesus is upset with the Pharisees once more for negating the Law. The Pharisees were giving contrary Oral Law teachings. This was comparable to what we previously noted. For example:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470828"></a>The Pharisees taught the less weighty matters of the Law (i.e., tithing) had to be followed, but they left untaught the weightier matters from the Law. (Matt. 23:23.) It was in this context that Jesus said they were preventing salvation of their proselytes. (Matt. 23:13, 15.)</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470829"></a>In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the Pharisees taught it was wrong to commit adultery, but they negated the validity of the Tenth Commandment that it was wrong in itself to covet a married woman. (Matt. 5:27-29.) Jesus told the people to "enter into the kingdom of God" they had to follow a righteousness higher than this shallow righteousness of the Pharisees. (Matt. 5:20.)</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470830"></a>Lastly, in Matthew 15:2-9, we see the Pharisees' teaching about the special Korban (or Corban) was viewed by Jesus as negating obedience to one of the Ten Commandments. Their human oral teaching had the effect of causing obedience to the Law to wither. Their teaching was a Law-less teaching. It served to negate the Law.</span></li>
|
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|
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|
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<h3><a name="pgfId=470831"></a>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="33815"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Pharisaical Error Pin-Pointed Again By Jesus</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470832"></a>If the Pharisees' Lawless teaching is what prevents salvation, then we would expect to find Jesus explicitly giving us direction on this. Does Jesus ever explain that a false guide is one who relaxes in the least any command in the Law of Moses?</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470833"></a>Yes, Jesus tells us clearly what He thinks about those who teach us not to obey some provision in the Law given Moses by God.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470834"></a>In Matthew 5:18-19, Jesus explains that anyone who "shall teach" others not to follow a command of the Law of Moses (in the least) will be least in the kingdom of heaven:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470835"></a>(18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the Law [i.e., Nomos], till all things be accomplished. (19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least [relax one of these] commandments [in the least], and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (ASV)<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=476119"> <sup>23</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470836"></a>Jesus thus excoriates those (like the Pharisees) who taught commands from the Law given Moses did not necessarily have to be followed. Jesus says, by contrast, in His "Gospel of the Kingdom" that those who are "great in the kingdom of heaven" will be those who teach others to obey the Law given Moses. The antithesis Jesus uses here is borrowed from Proverbs 28:4: "To reject the Law is to praise the wicked; to obey the Law is to fight them." (NLT.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470837"></a>Thus, we see Jesus taught the Law given Moses had to be followed. The weighty and the less weighty. The moral commands from the Law (e.g., thou shalt not covet) as well as the externally-testable commands (e.g., thou shalt not commit adultery). Jesus taught us the Pharisees failed to teach both. Jesus said their teachings were causing those coming to them for salvation to not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said for us to enter the kingdom of heaven, our righteousness must exceed this half-hearted shallow effort to keep the Law. The Pharisees were lukewarm about the Law. They were not on fire to obey it: Jesus said they picked and chose what to obey.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470838"></a>We necessarily must understand therefore that Jesus is telling us that anyone who says obeying the Law is not important for salvation is bringing a false gospel.</span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475471"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Overlapping Laws For Jew & Gentile With Different Scope</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473195"></a>That said, we must realize that the Law sometimes applies differently to Jews than Gentiles. Yet, the Law is being followed even when the Law makes exceptions or has different patterns for Gentiles (also referred to as sojourners or foreigners). The Law has far less commands applicable to Gentiles than it has for Israelites. Regardless, when it does apply to a Gentile, it must be followed. Thus, we can say emphatically that anyone who teaches sojourners (Gentiles) that the Law given Moses when it expressly applies to sojourners (foreigners/Gentiles) is either unimportant or unnecessary are bringing the false teachings of the Pharisees. Jesus condemns this doctrine and warns of its soul-threatening effect.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470841"> <sup>24</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=470853"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Cheap Grace Gospel Claims Fulfilling The Law Abolished The Law</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470854"></a>However, as we all know, the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace says the Law given Moses is no longer applicable. It is nailed to a tree. Abolished. Taken away. It is a shadow of things to come. Yet, nothing from Matthew 5:17-20 says this.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475738"></a>To make Jesus fit the Cheap Grace Gospel, what proponents of this other gospel do is lift one word out of context from this passage: fulfill. The cheap grace proponents claim Jesus fulfilled all the Law for us so we no longer must obey the Law. Thus they make this word fulfilled swallow all the principles Jesus just laid down. However, the full context of Jesus' statements speaks at odds with this view:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470855"></a>(17) Think <em><strong>not that I came to destroy the law </strong></em>or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. <a name="38580"></a>(18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away,<em><strong> one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished</strong></em>. (Mat 5:17-18.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470857"></a>Now, the defenders of cheap grace concede Jesus means here primarily that He came to fulfill the prophecies in the Law about a Messiah,<em> e.g.</em>, Numbers 24 (the Star Prophecy); Gen. 3:15 (a man will crush the head of the snake); Gen. 49:10-12 (the Shiloh Prophecy of Messiah), etc.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474135"></a>However, what they fail to realize is that, as they also admit, the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 has not yet been fulfilled. This says a man will come who will crush the head of the serpent after having his own heal bruised. Satan bruised Christ's heal at the cross. But Satan is alive and well. In fact, Satan must be loosed at the end of the millennium. Then and only then will he be destroyed. (Rev. 20:10.) Thus, the death blow to the head of Satan mentioned in Genesis 3:15 has not yet happened. Upon its occurrence, a new heaven and earth will replace the current ones. Thus, literally, the prophecies of the Law will not be fulfilled until coincidentally the old heaven and earth pass away. At that point, Satan is finally destroyed in the Lake of Fire.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474430"></a>Consequently, when Jesus says the Law continues until the heavens and earth pass away, this completely fits the duration for the fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 prophecy. The Book of Genesis is part of the `Law given Moses,' and the Law, including this prophecy of Genesis 3:15, continues until Satan is destroyed. This happens to coincide with a date still off in the future -- the passing of the old heaven and the earth. And thus the Law does not pass away until all things are fulfilled, which happens when heaven and earth pass away. That has not even remotely yet happened! Hence, the Law is still valid because it is not yet entirely fulfilled!</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473240"></a>Accordingly, what Jesus said was literally true: not one jot or tittle of the Law given Moses would pass away until the Heaven and Earth pass away. This point coincides with precisely when the Law's prophecies are fulfilled in their entirety.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470858"></a>Thus, Jesus' meaning that He came to fulfill the Law did not mean that His obedience replaces any need for individuals to follow the Law prior to the passing of the heavens and earth.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474141"></a>Unfortunately, it is a fact that the Christian dogma of the last four centuries has taught the Law was done away with in 33 A.D. This interpretation does not follow from anything Jesus said about fulfilling the Law. Jesus' saying He came to fulfill a prophecy is not the same as saying He came to replace your duty to obey the Law with His perfect obedience. Such a teaching undermines everything Jesus did teach about obedience to the Law. Such a cheap grace teaching reflects a Pharasaical disrespect for the Law in contravention to the respect for the Law Jesus said was crucial for salvation. (Matt. 5:20-21.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=470860"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">The Pharisees Are The Opposite Of Legalists</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470861"></a>As we must realize by now, modern Christians are trained to incorrectly understand the Pharisees' error. We are misinformed the Pharisees caused their followers not to be saved because the Pharisees allegedly insisted upon all the Law being followed rigorously. Allegedly Jesus was condemning any doctrine that insisted we obey all the Law of Moses. For example, Halley's Bible Dictionary says:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470862"></a>Pharisees were the most numerous and influential of the religious sects of Jesus' day. They were strict legalists. They stood for the rigid observance of the letter and forms of the Law, and also for the Traditions.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470863"></a>However, this is wrong in saying the Pharisees stood for the rigid observance of "the Law." The Pharisees' error was that they did not teach the entire Law, but only a very small and less weighty part -- tithing. They also replaced commandments of the Law with traditions of men. As Tyndale's <em>Bible Dictionary</em> (2001) correctly says, Jesus means the "Pharisees...are devoted to their own <strong><em>traditions</em></strong>, which they offer not as supplements but <em>as rivals to God's Word</em> [<em>i.e.</em>, the Law]." (<em>Id.</em>, at 870.) Thus, the<em> Halley Bible Dictionary</em> blurs this. It implies a different error which is exactly the opposite of what Jesus identified as the Pharisee error. The Pharisees were not legalists. Instead, they were the opposite: they worked the negation of the Law given Moses.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470864"></a>As Robert Thiel correctly points out:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470865"></a>Some claim that believing in <em><strong>following the laws of God makes one a legalist</strong></em>. However, if legalism is defined as adhering to the ten commandments, then the<strong><em> Pharisees could not have been `legalists' </em></strong>-- the Pharisees <strong><em>repeatedly violated the ten commandments and justified these violations by traditions of men</em></strong> (Mark 7:13).<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=470868"> <sup>25</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470869"></a>If a legalist is anyone who thinks the Law of Moses is valid, and therefore should be followed by a follower of Christ, then <em><strong>Jesus is a legalist</strong></em>. The doctrines we condemn as legalism today, as reflected in the Halley Bible Dictionary, make Jesus a heretic. For Jesus applauded the Pharisees' tithing efforts, and then said that the Pharisees did not go far enough in their obedience to the Law. They were really good about the less weighty matters of the Law, but they left the weightier matters of the Law undone. (Matt. 23:23.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474149"></a>As Thiel points out, if Jesus' words really had any weight with us, then the sign of the modern Pharisee is someone who "does not actually keep the ten commandments."</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475967"></a>Hence, something is fundamentally amiss in the way we understand the error of the Pharisees. It's obvious why: we have adopted the Pharisee error as normative Christianity. We did away with the Law given Moses. Gone is the Sabbath. It is ignored even though it is one of the Ten Commandments. Most Christians would say they do keep Sabbath on Sunday. However, this is not God's day. We have felt free to move it to a day of our own choosing, just like Jeroboam moved the Feast of Tabernacles by one month. This was a day "of his own invention." (1 Kings 12:33.) The Prophet Daniel pejoratively warns of the one who one day will put down three rulers, and "shall think to <strong><em>change the times and the Law.</em></strong>..." (Dan. 7:25.) Jesus likewise abhorred such Lawless teachings. Thus, to prevent us from seeing this, we have to be repetitiously indoctrinated to think the Pharisee error was exactly the opposite of what Jesus said it was.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=470870"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">How Cheap Grace Differs From Jesus</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470871"></a>The dominant dogma of modern Christianity has become identical to what Jesus condemned. To prove this to yourself, simply listen to a clear presentation of the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace at almost any supposedly evangelical church on Sunday. Here is a perfect example of what you might hear. This is from the Lectionary Series wherein it identifies what it thinks is wrong when someone teaches us to obey the Law of God:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470872"></a>Legalism, the heresy known as sanctification by obedience, can easily undermine our initial `yes' for Jesus. We begin to believe that our continued standing before God, his approval and love, and our progress in the Christian life, is gained by obedience to Christ. This way of thinking undermines "repentance and faith."</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470873"></a>So, the initial `yes' for the journey of faith, can be undermined if the believer gets into the business of law-obedience. For us today, let us beware that we haven't unknowingly said `yes,' but have then forgotten the Father's will.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470874"></a>The church today is infested with legalism. The adoption of the heresy of sanctification by obedience is widespread and so many church attenders have forgotten their `yes' and now seek a law-righteousness rather than a righteousness which is apart from the law of God. If we are to do what the Father wants, then we must live by grace through faith and not by works of the law. <a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=476004">26</a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470878"></a>What is truly amazing is how anyone can think this way if one believes Jesus was God-in-the-flesh. To believe this supposed gospel in the quote above, you must not take Jesus very seriously. For Jesus said you can go to heaven maimed or hell whole. (Matt. 5:30; Mark 9:42 et seq.) Yet, what did the Lectionary Series just say? The opposite:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470879"></a>[It is heretical to believe] our continued standing before God, his approval and love, and our progress in the Christian life, is gained by obedience to Christ.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470880"></a>Yet, what the Lectionary condemns as heretical doctrine is exactly the doctrine which Jesus taught. The Lectionary insists justification by obedience to the Law of God is a heresy. Anyone who teaches that it is necessary to obey God's moral commandments and thus avoid sin to go to heaven is supposedly a heretic. What are we to think? Are we to feel sorry for `poor Jesus' who in Mark 9:42-47 did not have the benefit of this insight of modern evangelism? Are we to think Jesus made a mistake when He said in John 15:14 that "you are my friends if you obey my commandments"? For the Lectionary insists it knows better that "God's... approval and love... is [not] gained by obedience to Christ." If we only knew who was Lord, then this would not be a difficult issue.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=470881"></a>The same kind of error about salvation occupied the Pharisees' attention. They taught salvation was by election. They were Abraham's seed. They were saved. Jesus said this misses the key necessity of repentance from sin. (Matt. 5:29-30.) Jesus required a repentance that was an active life-changing correction to obedience to the Law which they broke.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474442"></a>If one had their Master's words first and foremost in their mind, it is amazing what Christians can come to believe is a Christian teaching. Yet, here we have progressed to the point that mainstream Christianity teaches what the Teacher vigorously taught against.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476633"></a>When this conflict is exposed between Church doctrine and Jesus, cheap grace defenders will declare you are a heretic if you insist Jesus' words are still valid. You supposedly do not realize that Jesus' words belonged to a prior and different dispensation than the Christian dispensation. (See <em>Jesus' Words Only</em> (2007) at 367 ff.) Jesus' words are allegedly defunct, but the Church doctrine of today which is contrary to Jesus is supposedly valid.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=476637"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Derisive Rebuttals: Awls In Ears, Fringes On Garments & Head Coverings</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=476638"></a>One of the rebuttals I have received tries to deride me personally as a hypocrite and then deride the good sense behind the Law itself, as if God is not indirectly being attacked. Those who do this also think they are following a pattern that replicates Jesus' approach. It does not.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473339"></a>For example, I am confronted with the argument that I do not supposedly keep the Law. Therefore, I must be a hypocrite. Then I ask them: `what Law don't I keep?' Then they respond by making derisive attacks on `why don't you put awls in ears of servants?' and why `do you shave your beard?'`Why are there no fringes on your garments?'</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473356"></a>However, these are not commands in the Law I am disobeying, but my verbal pugilist does not know this due to his ignorance of the Law itself.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473364"></a>The implicit assumption behind this argument is that Jesus was so upset with hypocrisy of not keeping these supposed commandments that He abolished the entire Law. Jesus' alleged solution to the Pharisees' hypocrisy was simply to abrogate the Law. Yet, if so, the Pharisees would no longer be sinners for the many transgressions Jesus had hitherto been hurling at the Pharisees. They would now have an easy road. The entire thrust of this argument of my verbal pugilist is obvious nonsense.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473376"></a>But what is most disturbing is that this argument is laden with a derision of the Law given by God. And this is pernicious because it attacks the character of God Himself who authorized these supposedly strange commands. So what about the principles these verbal pugilists denigrate which supposedly come from the Law? They were:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471823"></a>Awls in ears of a servant.</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471846"></a>No shaving of beards.</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471830"></a>Fringes on garments; and</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471831"></a>Head coverings.</span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471839"></a>They are actually trying to take these principles, which they assume are in the Law even though they often are not present or are optional, and then use it to make fun of the Law of God! They treat God's word as foolishness! God only help them!</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474446"></a>The verbal pugilist cites these presumed principles from the Law to mock it and denigrate it. What an odd esteem they have for the words of I AM to Moses. I hate to inform them of this but they are mocking Jesus, for Jesus said He was the "I AM." Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8:58.) Thus, when I find these hurled insults at my adherence to God's Law, it is incongruous that these people can claim they love Jesus -- the very same I AM who gave these commands they find so strange and distasteful.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473289"></a>Actually, the alleged silly commands they mock are either:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471847"></a>Not in the Law at all but are a simple tradition (e.g., head coverings);<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471860"> <sup>27</sup></a> or</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471851"></a>Are voluntarily imposed (e.g., awls in ears of servants who volunteer to be a servant for life);<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471866"> <sup>28</sup></a> or</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471852"></a>Are exaggerated interpretations by means of tradition meant to put a hedge around the Law. For example, the notion of not shaving a beard is a modern tradition. The Biblical command is merely a prohibition on -- in effect -- a Fu Manchu beard. You cannot simultaneously cut below the sideburns and cut off the chin-edge of the beard which if done is a Fu Manchu;<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472009"> <sup>29</sup></a> or</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471853"></a>Limited to Israelites only and not Sojourners (Gentiles), e.g., fringes on garments. Also, the fringes command is not that hard to comply with if you happen to be wearing a four corner long garment. It is even decorative.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471888"> </a><sup><a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=471888">30</a></sup><a name="pgfId=471854"></a></span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=471917"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="31076"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">How Far Does The Law Apply To Gentiles</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474450"></a>James taught us that if the Law given Moses says the command applies to a "child of Israel," it is literal. It does not apply to Sojourners (Gentiles) who are part of the community.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474454"></a>James in Acts chapter 15 read the command on circumcision in Leviticus 12:3 to mention only an imposition on the children of Israel. James thus said as a matter of literal interpretation, it does not apply to non-Jews.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474460"></a>James' view is clear again later in Acts 21:18-26, when James confronts Paul. James reminds Paul that the decision about circumcision being unnecessary was only true for Gentile Christians. Jewish Christians must still follow the circumcision command.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471922"></a>If you apply the Israel-Sojourner distinction which James employed, then only a very limited portion of the Law of Moses applies to non-Jews.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474464"></a>Gentiles would have to obey primarily the Ten Commandments and Leviticus chapters 19 & 20 & 24:13-24 and part of 17 which Jesus alludes to many times. These are moral commands that do not introduce themselves as commands to only Israel.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474468"></a>In fact, in Chapter 20 of Leviticus, it in particular says it applies not only to Israelites but also to "foreigners" in the land. Chapter 20 had to do with sexual practices.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474472"></a>The fact the Law is sometimes broadened explicitly to include foreigners supports James' method of interpretation. If it always applies to the foreigner, then Leviticus 20:2 and 24:16, 21-22 did not need to say the highlighted portion below:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471933"></a>Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. Lev 20:2 ASV</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472051"></a>Any Israelite or any <strong><em>foreigner</em></strong> living in Israel who curses the LORD shall be stoned to death by the whole community. (Lev 24:16 GNB)</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472072"></a>Whoever kills an animal shall replace it, but whoever kills a human being shall be put to death. This law applies to all of you, to Israelites and to <em><strong>foreigners</strong></em> living among you, because I am the LORD your God. (Lev 24:21-22 GNB.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471918"></a>Thus, James is being a literalist. The Law's distinction between Israelite and foreigner/sojourner should apply even in the Christian age. The burdens vary.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471956"></a>However, if you believe there is no more distinction between Jew or Gentile, such a false teaching can lead to a heightened burden on the Gentiles beyond what the Law itself required. That distinction is what James was battling with Paul to preserve and maintain.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474476"></a>In other words, if you say a Gentile is under the same Law that only applies to Israelites, these extra burdens on them are in excess of what the Law itself requires.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474482"></a>Thus, if we erased the Jew-Gentile distinction in reading the Law, we would make it harder for Gentiles to be followers of Jesus. Such a doctrine would lead to unnecessary burdens on Gentiles. Instead, we should obey the Law in how it defines its scope on Jews versus on foreigners/sojourners.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471968"></a>In fact, the only commands in the Law specifically addressed to both Jews and foreigners/sojourners were in Leviticus 17 (viz. 17:8 et seq.), all of Leviticus 19 and 20 as well as Leviticus 24:15-22. There are other commands that are universal, such as the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and the general command against adding to/subtracting from Scripture (Deut. 4:2, 13:5). Yet, none of these commands are too hard to follow. Most of the rest of Torah is merely history, e.g., all of Genesis, most of Exodus, most of Numbers.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=471972"></a>However, despite this narrowness of application, the leading Christian authorities tell Gentiles that Torah-keeping is a pointless burdensome task.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474489"></a>This is mostly done by sneering at the Law as antiquated or as an impossible standard. These theologians make this argument relying upon false interpretations of the Law or assuming burdensome traditions are part of the Torah-Law of God. Ironically, this manner of interpreting the Law is precisely what disturbed Jesus and He fought against. Jesus was concerned people would confuse these burdensome man-made rules with Torah, and thus hesitate following the Law given Moses by God.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474496"></a>However, look how the theologians of the Modern Cheap Grace Gospel reinvigorate these exaggerations of the Law so as to pour derision on the Law. They disregard how Jesus fought against oral traditions that burdened the people. These theologians instead exaggerate the commands, citing the oral law traditions, so as to denigrate the ongoing relevance of the Law.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474500"></a>How can people read Jesus' words and commit the very same types of distortions of the Law as He was condemning, thereby undermining Jesus' own points? It is astonishing what people who claim to be followers of Jesus can do so at odds with the teachings of Jesus.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=472196"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Defenders Of The Modern Gospel Even Admit The Pharisees' Error Was Teachings Subversive Of The Law</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472197"></a>There are some commentators today who hold to the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace yet who recognize Jesus' words were not attacking legalism as the Modern Gospel typically defines it.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474504"></a>They realize Jesus was attacking those like the Pharisees who taught against keeping the whole law.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474508"></a>However, despite Jesus thereby contradicting the Cheap Grace Gospel's doctrine on the Law which should lead a Christian to repent of false doctrines about the Law, these same commentators insist things changed later.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474512"></a>They preach the Law was done away with after Jesus' resurrection. Thus, these same commentators say we are in the right if we now adopt the very outlook of the enemies of Jesus and His salvation doctrine during His ministry. These commentators' analysis is a most astounding mental giration to watch. Here below are some excellent examples of this amazing rationalization of a contradiction between Jesus and their understanding of the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472885"></a>You know a doctrine is bankrupt when its own proponents unwittingly offer self-contradictory explanations for what they are willing to believe.</span></p>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472198"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Deffinbaugh Gets It Right But Still Dismisses Jesus' Lessons as Irrelevant Today</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472199"></a>An excellent article on this issue is by Bob Deffinbaugh, Th.M. It is entitled The Fatal Failures of Religion: #2 Legalism Matthew 5:17-48. Deffinbaugh recognizes the real flaw of the Pharisees which led people from salvation was the Pharisees did not take the Law seriously enough. The Pharisees' error was not legalism as defined today by the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472200"></a>The stage is now being set for the contrast Jesus made between Himself and the scribes and Pharisees. The real culprits were the scribes and Pharisees. They did not regard the Old Testament Law highly enough. They had set it aside, preferring their own rules, regulations and traditions (Mark 7:7-9). The one who was truly great in the Kingdom was he who would both teach the Old Testament faithfully (without watering it down), and who would live in accordance with this teaching. In the remaining verses, Jesus demonstrated how it was the scribes and Pharisees who failed to take the Law far enough, thus loosening and lowering its requirements.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472203"> <sup>31</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472204"></a>Bob Deffinbaugh points out that everyone in the crowd assumed the Pharisees were obedient to the whole Law. But Jesus said they were wrong. The Pharisees had been selective. For this reason, Jesus warns the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount that they have to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. Deffinbaugh explains: "His listeners would have to do better than them if they wanted to enter into God's Kingdom." (<em>Id</em>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472205"></a>Ironically, then Bob Deffinbaugh signals that the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace properly teaches us that this later all changed. Deffinbaugh then undercuts what he just said Jesus meant. He says:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472206"></a>[I]f the best within Judaism could not merit entrance into God's heaven, neither can you or I. Legalism seeks to win God's heaven by the keeping of some code of conduct. (Id.)<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472209"> <sup>32</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472210"></a>Yet, Deffinbaugh had just said that the listeners had to do better than the Pharisees to "enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said the Pharisees were not entering because they disobeyed the Law by not teaching all of it or by nullifying parts of it through oral traditions. It logically follows that Jesus meant His listeners had to obey all the Law, and not trust the oral traditions that nullified various parts of the Law.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472211"></a>Deffinbaugh is actually contradicting Jesus by saying that obeying the Law was irrelevant to "entering the kingdom of God." (Matt. 5:20.) Jesus just told the audience this was crucial: to enter heaven, they had to exceed the Pharisees who were failing to follow all of the Law.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472220"></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Let Us Reason: Correctly Understands The Pharisee Error But Then Nullifies This Truth From Jesus Is Any Longer Relevant</span></strong></span></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472221"></a>Here is another similar example of an article that likewise correctly understands Jesus. It is from Let Us Reason Ministries entitled Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472224"> <sup>33</sup></a> However, by the end of the piece, the author will say Jesus' words no longer apply to us because we live in the era of grace, and the Law is abolished. The fact Let Us Reason understands Jesus abhorred that same teaching from the Pharisees of His era does not cause the Let Us Reason Ministries to ever hesitate. They feel free to rely upon a Pharisaical doctrine which apparently is bewitching us rather than the teachings of Jesus.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472225"></a>Regardless, what is refreshing is this article does not attempt to redefine Jesus' meaning by resort to other sources as a filter to hear Jesus. It is a Jesus'-words-only discussion. This article is absolutely profound even though it is another disturbing example of what irrationality supports the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace. This article entitled<em> Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees</em> begins totally on target:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472226"></a>If one does a study of who the Pharisees were and what they believed and practiced they would be shocked to find they are still among us today. Not just in the Judaism as in the Ultra Orthodox, but in Christianity. And you probably have seen them and been bewitched by their teachings and practices and do not even know it.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472227"></a>The Pharisees tried to correct Jesus with their own <strong><em>man-made laws</em></strong> that were not from Moses. They <em><strong>made up their own laws</strong></em> that were not from God to correct Jesus. Jesus' whole ministry was in conflict with their teachings, and more often than not he was addressing the religion that they perpetrated upon the people. They were very religious and most were in awe of how blessed they were....</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472228"></a>If there is anything we can learn from Jesus on this it is to <strong><em>not submit to man made laws</em></strong>, <em><strong>traditions of men or false Bible interpretations by famous religious me</strong></em>n who are known by all. The main point is that we are all are to be subject to the same authority and standard, the <strong><em>Word of God</em></strong>....However they have clever ways to convince you by guilt, fear and just plain spiritual manipulation just like the Pharisees.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472229"></a>Next, the author recognizes that the Pharisee teachings were destructive because they went beyond the Scriptures. They made people follow the non-Biblical oral law:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472230"></a>When someone leads people beyond the Scriptures instead of correctly explaining what is contained in them, he is being spiritually destructive to himself and others who listen to him. This is no small matter to be shirked at. The Pharisees brought almost the whole nation of Israel into their bondage by <strong><em>obedience to their non-biblical teachings</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472231"></a>Let Us Reason Ministries next clearly understands the Pharisees were not teaching obedience to the Word of God either in the person of Jesus or Yahweh's words to Moses:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472232"></a>Intentional false teaching has its source in pride. This is why Jesus warned of the leaven of the Pharisees in both their teachings and practices. Their own arrogance and pride had them reject Jesus' words. When the Pharisees disputed Jesus over His claims, He pointed them to the Word. Jesus often told them that they did not understand the word. Mark 7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders." The reason is because they were <strong><em>following their own law not Moses law</em></strong> the way it was intended; it was corrupted by the Pharisees interpretation. Jesus responded in v.13 "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472233"></a>Let Us Reason Ministries thus is unquestionably aware of what Jesus was condemning: Lawless teachings that nullified the Law given Moses. This appears even more clear in the next quote. However, a notion begins to creep in that Jesus' principles are all passé -- a suggestion that Jesus' words were solely for a different era -- supposedly the era of the Law that allegedly died at the Cross. We live allegedly in a distinct era of grace where the Law is no longer applicable.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474524"></a>This suggestion obviously is in reliance upon a teaching of a Pharisee that has somehow wormed its way into the consciousness of those who claim to follow Christ. Let Us Reason Ministries thus gives us the following mixed message of what things were like under the law not grace:</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472234"></a>"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." In Matthew 23:23 Jesus explains they "have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." These you ought to have done." Here Jesus makes it clear that living the life of faith toward God included love toward man that was just as important as what you give to God; and <strong><em>this was under the law, not grace</em></strong>. However when you see a lack of grace and mercy in a person's life is often a sign of something wrong. A lack of compassion for the poor and neglecting to help people when you are able shows whom you are serving. We see in the Pharisees the example of<strong><em> false teachers who majored in the lesser things of the law, and neglected the greater</em></strong>. As Jesus pointed out "justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (Matthew 23:23; Micah 6:8). The Pharisees became blind because they <em><strong>upheld their own laws</strong></em> and interpretations <strong><em>over Moses</em></strong>, and were stricter at enforcing them.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472235"></a>Thus, this is a brilliant piece. It is regretfully true the author is pointing to the idea that Jesus' words are all passé -- meant solely for the Era of the Law. They make this claim based upon their trust in the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474525"></a>Yet, their adherence to cheap grace is what makes the above admissions so compelling to accept. The author does not realize the entire idea that the Law is passé comes from an adoption of Pharisaical principles of Law-negation. It is as if we embraced a Pharisee into our New Testament and treated his teachings on par with or superior to Jesus' words. Yet, there is no denying the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace<strong><em> holds doctrines on the Law that are as subversive as those held by the enemies of Jesus</em></strong>. These Modern Gospel teachings are indistinguishable from what this author just admitted Jesus condemned the Pharisees for teaching.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472889"></a>Let's recapitulate this author's key admissions of what was wrong with the Pharisees. This way we can see that anyone who holds to cheap grace should acknowledge Jesus indicts the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace as false:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472236"></a>The Pharisees' "spiritually destructive" message was that they put "Israel into their bondage by obedience to their non-biblical teachings."</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472237"></a>The Pharisees' non-biblical teachings were "their own man-made laws that were not from Moses. They made up their own laws."</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472238"></a>The Pharisees' "own arrogance and pride had them reject Jesus' words." What did Jesus teach? Jesus "pointed them to the Word...[but] they were following their own law not Moses' law the way it was intended; it was corrupted by the Pharisees' interpretation. Jesus responded [they were] `making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.'"</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472239"></a>"We see in the Pharisees the example of false teachers who majored in the lesser things of the law, and neglected the greater. The Pharisees became blind because they upheld their own laws and interpretations over Moses, and were stricter at enforcing them."<a name="pgfId=472240"></a></span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472241"></a>Cannot this author see the incongruity that he holds today a doctrine which ultimately is identical to the Pharisee teaching of yesterday? It is frankly astonishing that people who profess Christ cannot see this. It is like a blindness has descended over our eyes.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474546"></a>Yet, this author correctly understands Jesus' point. No doubt about that. Yet, even then, he still accepts for today the very same teaching by the Pharisees that we can select what the church prefers the people to follow from the Law, i.e., tithing, but the rest is not important. It is as if we are rebuffing Jesus by claiming we can follow a teaching of a Pharisee among us. A Pharisee who has teachings at total odds with Jesus. This is not merely ironic but also very disturbing.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474558"></a>Before we finish and discuss Matthew 5:20, let's now take a time-out to actually consider how horrifying is our modern doctrine on the Law of Moses in light of Jesus' words. We have duplicated Pharisaical doctrines on the Law.<a name="pgfId=474551"></a></span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: x-large;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Salvation Message Of Matthew 5:20</span></strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474571"></a>Finally, we are ready to listen to Jesus in Matthew 5:20. Knowing the Pharisees were shallow in obedience to the Law (rather than faithful adherents), we no longer will misunderstand what Jesus meant about the Pharisees in this verse.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474584"></a>For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:20)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474594"></a>To help me explicate this passage, I will call upon an audio sermon that everyone should listen to. It was given by Steve Walker, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in northern California. The sermon is entitled God's Grace for the Impure Heart. It begins by talking about Matthew 5:6.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=474614"> <sup>38</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474620"></a>To understand the "hunger for righteousness" in 5:6, Pastor Walker explicates Matthew 5:20. In 5:20, Jesus uses the word "righteousness" one more time. This time, however, Jesus says "to enter heaven" our "righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees."</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474621"></a>Could Jesus actually expect real righteousness or does Jesus want us to put on His imputed righteousness? This is key for it determines whether salvation is entirely by imputed righteousness or depends, in part, upon our actual righteousness. Pastor Walker does not subtract or suppress from Jesus' words. His sermon points were:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474626"></a>If we are only sorrowful (mourn) about our sin, and are not "exhibiting" a change, we have not gone far enough.</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474633"></a>The truth of what God requires men "suppress" in their hearts or they "suppress the truth" in unrighteousness. Men do not like to hear the need to repent from sin.</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474634"></a>In Matthew 5:20, when Jesus says our "righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees," it is "pretty clear" that Jesus intends us to understand this "has to do with righteousness in acts."</span></li>
|
||||
<li class="Bulleted"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474637"></a>Walker offers as proof that Jesus gave several illustrations thereafter designed to expose defects in the Pharisees' actual behaviors. We must actually do better than the Pharisees' shallow obedience. These passages were: (1) Verses 27-30 tell us the true importance not to lust unto adultery; (2) Verses 31-32 tell us the true nature of the commands not to divorce; (3) Verses 33-37 tell us to keep our promises whether in the form of an oath or otherwise; (4) Verse 38 tells us to not retaliate, but turn the other cheek; and (5) Verses 43-48 teach us to love our enemies.</span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474682"></a>What Pastor Walker is saying is hardly remarkable in light of the true nature of Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees. Yet, in this day and age, Pastor Walker is a brave soul for teaching this so bluntly.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474709"></a>What is the opposing argument? I could read you dozens of commentaries that unabashedly say Jesus is not serious. Jesus is supposedly setting the bar so high above even the most righteous people (i.e., the Pharisees), that Jesus could never possibly be suggesting we could enter heaven by obeying the principles He then outlined. You repeatedly hear this argument such as in Willard's <em>The Great Omission</em>.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=474688"> <sup>39</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474683"></a>Yet, you see, this argument that Jesus was allegedly being facetious depends crucially on the misleading claims about the Pharisees being very righteous people. This is why we have spent over 50 pages disproving that claim. Otherwise, you cannot hear Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. They are neutralized from being taken seriously.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474717"></a>Thus, the decontamination of our collective consciousness about the Pharisees is one of the most important repairs we need in our thinking. Why? Because the preservation of what Jesus meant in His most important sermon depends upon erasing the misinformation about the Pharisees. Unless you obliterate the false indoctrination you have received about the Pharisees' errors, you never can see the meaning and point of the Sermon on the Mount.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div>
|
||||
<h3><a name="pgfId=474776"></a>
|
||||
<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><img src="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml-1.gif" /></span></div>
|
||||
<strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Conclusion</span></strong></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474781"></a>Jesus is clear. He teaches you to make sure you do not have a view of God's written law as shallow as that of the Pharisees. Otherwise, you can never exceed their righteousness and thereby "enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20.) That's it. It was always a verse with a blunt meaning.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=477001"></a>The Pharisees were not superstars of teaching and obeying strictly the Law. Instead, the "Pharisees were... shallow... interpreters of the... Scriptures." (John Gorham Palfrey, The Relation Between Judaism and Christianity (Crosby, Nichols: 1854) at 108.) Jesus said the Pharisees taught the less weighty principles from the Law, leaving the weightier matters on mercy, justice and faith untaught and undone. (Matt. 23:23.) They nullified the Law by traditions. (Matt.15:6,9.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475112"></a>The cheap grace gospel skillfully deflected this truth about the Pharisees. They indoctrinated us into thinking the Pharisees were 100% obedient to the Law. By deluding us the Pharisees were perfect morally, we were misled to think Jesus' could never demand truly that our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees to be saved (Matt. 5:20). This teaching by Jesus supposedly was therefore intended to drive us to realize fulfilling such a high moral duty is beyond our grasp; thus faith is the sole means of 110% righteousness.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475120"></a>The truth is much different. Our modern teachers are the ones who misled us about the Pharisees being supposedly great legalists. Rather, the Pharisees were shallow anti-legalists, as Jesus repeatedly exposed and denounced them for.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474967"></a>Once we correct that, Jesus' message is self-evident. The Pharisees cannot be justified because they follow a shallow version of the Law. Jesus said they were only good about tithing, but about nothing else in the Law. (Matt. 23:23.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474972"></a>Before Luther realized this, he taught us in 1525:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474975"></a>Moses is dead. His rule ended when Christ came. He is of no further service....[E]ven the Ten Commandments do not pertain to us.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475049"></a>The sectarian spirits want to saddle us with Moses and all the commandments. We will just skip that....</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475054"></a>I dismiss the commandments given to the people of Israel. They neither urge nor compel me. They are dead and gone, except insofar as I gladly and willingly accept something from Moses...<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=475053"> 40</a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=475063"></a>Yet, the mature Luther woke up and reversed his own earlier doctrine. He denounced such antinomianism (i.e., anti-Law doctrine) in the <em>Antinomian Theses</em> (1537).<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=475076"> <sup>41</sup></a> The mature Luther wrote in that work: "To abolish the Law is therefore to abolish the truth of God." (<em>Id.</em> at 33-34.) Luther also said anyone who would "discard the Law would effectively put an end to our obedience to God." (<em>Id.</em>, at 32.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=477265"></a>The dominant Protestantism of today, however, is going along in reliance on the words of the young Luther. It has still not grown up as its early leader did, to realize that it was wrong to deride legalism. For this word has been used as an arrow of derision at a teaching which is identical to what our Lord Jesus Himself taught. Luther finally saw this. Will we? Much is at stake. It changes how you hear things. What do you hear when Jesus says a few verses later: "Be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect"? (Matt. 5:48.) Do you think Jesus is merely driving you to have faith to be perfect in God's eyes? Or did Jesus literally mean you must strive to act perfectly just as God is perfect? It turns out if you are not listening to Matt. 5:20, you also cannot hear 5:48. "So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." (Lk. 8:18.)</span></p>
|
||||
<h3><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Post-Script: Greatest Irony of the Centuries</span></strong></h3>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In what I call the Greatest Irony of the Centuries, the Modern Gospel of Christianity teaches precisely what Jesus condemned 2,000 years ago.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=473010"></a>A large percentage of Protestant churches today teach there is only one command from the Law of Moses which needs be followed: the Law of Tithing. However, all the other commands from the Law of Moses need not be followed. They are mere shadows, and have passed away.</span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472963"></a>Allegedly we now have a Christian morality that only avoids what is "obvious" as wrong. This obviousness is measured by expediency: "All things are lawful but not all things are necessarily expedient." <a name="marker=472964"></a>Thus, even though the Sabbath command is one of the Ten Commandments, you will hear instead "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" whether to follow it at all or on a day of our choosing.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472965"></a>However, these same teachers in the modern Protestant church will tell us we are not free from every part of the Law. There is one provision we need still to follow: tithing. This is explained by the highly popular pastor Randy Alcorn, in his mainstream Christian book <em>Money, Possessions & Eternity</em> (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale, 2003) at 174-75, 181.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472968"> <sup>34</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474562"></a>Larry Burkett, another mainstream Christian author on financial issues, shares this view,<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472971"> <sup>35</sup></a> and expressly finds that the command on tithing from the `Old Testament' clearly remains valid for Christians.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=472974"> <sup>36</sup></a></span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472975"></a>However, both Alcorn and Burkett are embarrassed to admit they insist this one principle from the Law still applies. They do not want to be accused of being legalistic. Yet, they both concur there is one command from the Law given Moses to follow: tithing. Other than that, Alcorn says the Old Testament is passé. No other command than tithing from the Law given Moses supposedly need concern us in the modern Christian church.</span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472976"></a>Moreover, any of us who regularly attend church in America also know when it comes to offering time, the sermonette is often straight from the Law with little or no hedging on its applicability.</span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=474566"></a>Yet, tithing can never be argued to be a principle that is obvious. There is nothing obviously immoral for not paying a tithe. It is simply a principle from the Law given Moses. Hence, this is why the tithing principle must be quoted from the Mosaic Law to get people to even think about it.</span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472977"></a>Thus, mainstream Christian teaching today is identical to the Pharisaical teaching that Jesus condemned. Jesus specifically said this lukewarm teaching about the Law was keeping people from salvation. Jesus specifically condemned stressing only tithing from the Law. (Matt. 23:23.) This Pharisaical teaching was causing the prevention of salvation both for the Pharisees as well as their proselytes.</span></p>
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||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472978"></a>How could we possibly have fallen into the very same error that Jesus condemned? I have to repeat over and over that it is as if some Pharisee's words have been incorporated into Scripture, and we swallowed him hook, line and sinker. It is as if a Pharisee who preaches against keeping the Law has crept into the New Testament.<a class="footnote" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.html#pgfId=473468"> <sup>37</sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472979"></a>In light of our doctrines being so identical to what Jesus condemned, don't you think on Judgment Day that Jesus as Judge is going to ask some tough questions. Won't He ask us if we were listening even ever so barely to Him? He will ask you point blank why you followed anyone who came with precisely the teaching that Jesus condemned! Judgment Day is going to be a disappointing day for many.</span></p>
|
||||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472980"></a>In fact, Jesus says this tithe-only doctrine is certainly a perilous teaching for the one who teaches the Law is otherwise not to be followed. Jesus warns the Pharisees in very stern terms only ten verses later about the consequence of a doctrine that stressed only tithing:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a name="pgfId=472981"></a>Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? (Mat 23:33)(ASV)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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||||
<div class="footnotes">
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||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber" style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber" style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">3.</span> <a name="pgfId=473814"></a>This was Jesus' lesson to the young rich man in Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-26. For discussion, see <a class="XRef" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Jesus%20Answer%20to%20Direct%20Question.#16552"></a>Index.</span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">4.</span> <a name="pgfId=472909"></a>"People had come to believe that one could lust after a [married] woman, as long as the act of fornication was not committed. But Jesus showed that this understanding was foreign to the actual command by Moses." R.A. Hawkins, "Covenant Relations of the Sermon on the Mount," <em>Restoration Quarterly</em> Vol. 12, #1 (explaining Matt. 5:27-28).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">5.</span> <a name="pgfId=470669"></a>Arthur W. Pink, <em>Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount</em> (Grand Rapids: 1959) chapter eight at http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_08.htm (Providence Baptist Ministries) (last accessed 6/16/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">6.</span> <a name="pgfId=472106"></a><a name="41233"></a>Jesus spoke harshly about the Sadducees. "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." (Matt. 16:6.) Matthew explains the leaven meant the "teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matt. 16:12.) The Sadducees taught "there is no resurrection." (Matt. 22:23.) Jesus did not address other issues that separated the parties. The Pharisees believed in Fate (which means a partial predestination), while the Sadducees believed in free will. (Antiquities: 351.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">7.</span> <a name="pgfId=476742"></a>Jeremy Taylor, D.D., "Sermon 1: Righteousness Evangelical,"<em> Discourses on Various Subjects</em> (Boston: 1816) at III:10.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">8.</span> <a name="pgfId=470684"></a>http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/pharisee.htm (last accessed 6/16/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">9.</span> <a name="pgfId=470688"></a>"Sermon on the Mount," supra, http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_08.htm (last accessed 6/16/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">10.</span> <a name="pgfId=473472"></a><a name="31994"></a>The Greek translation of Matthew inadvertently dropped the word falsely from the Hebrew Matthew. This erroneously made it appear Jesus said one is never to take an oath. (Nehemiah Gordon, <em>Hebrew Yeshua v. Greek Jesus</em> (Hilkia Press, 2006) at 59, 65-66, 68.) But God commands people to take oaths in God's name. "Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God;... and by his name shalt thou swear." (Deu 10:20 ASV.) Gordon, a Jewish scholar, notes the Pharisees taught you could violate an oath as long as not sworn in Yahweh's name. The Bible prohibited any false swearing in God's name. (Lev. 19:12.) By examining Jesus' criticisms, one can deduce how the Pharisees twisted this verse. The Pharisees obviously said this passage implied you could falsely swear even if you invoked objects closely associated with God, like the Temple. You supposedly would transgress the command only when God's name is used. However, Jesus was invoking the broader principle in Zechariah 8:17 which said "love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith Jehovah." Thus, you were not allowed to dupe others if you worded your oath carefully. Thus, the Pharisees diminished the Law once more. Gordon detected the difference in the Hebrew version of Matthew where Jesus corrected them, saying `do not swear falsely at all,' whether by the temple or anything else. The Greek translation dropped the word falsely. Then Gordon explains the instruction ending `anything beyond this is evil' was an Hebraism used in the Original Testament, meaning anything beyond (added to) the Torah was evil.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">11.</span> <a name="pgfId=471280"></a>The people were being told they could take vengeance because the Bible says `an eye for an eye.' (Lev. 24:17-21.) Yet, implicit in that authorization was that it was the public authorities who would examine and decide the case. An individual could not unilaterally punish malefactors. Jesus was re-invoking this principle: "Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah." (Lev. 19:18, ASV.) Jesus was not saying legal authorities should no longer exact proportionate punishment to the crime committed. Jesus was saying vengeance cannot be personally exacted. It belongs to God through the lawful authorities to do so. You personally must turn the other cheek.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">12.</span> <a name="pgfId=471284"></a>Leviticus 19:17, the verse prior to prohibiting vengeance (see prior footnote), prohibited hatred. Lev 19:17 states: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him." This equates `brother' with a `neighbor.' The rule is that you do not harbor a grudge against your neighbor and hence hate a brother. It was implying you had to treat your neighbor like a brother. (Keil & Deilitzch.) This is why Jesus then says in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that a neighbor is any stranger. Christians, unfortunately, were given a misimpression that Psalms is 100% inspired by dropping the Jewish division of the canon. The Jewish canon in Jesus' day (which Josephus confirms) was divided as Law (the five books of Moses), the Prophets (the recognized prophets) and the Writings. The latter section was not regarded as 100% inspired. Rather, the Holy Spirit's presence was detectable at points. (This is why Daniel was then still in the Writings section, not the Prophets.) This explains why Jesus carefully worded His statement that He fulfilled prophecies "written about me...in Psalms" (Luke 24:44). Jesus did not say the prophecies were "as spoken by the Psalmist" which would have implied every word of the Psalmist, even on hating your enemies (which Jesus contradicts), was inspired.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">13.</span> <a name="pgfId=472161"></a>Christian pastors, not understanding this, insist it is permissible to hate God's enemies. They argue it is only wrong to hate your own enemies. Unfortunately, this implies it is permissible to hate your own enemies if you can rationalize they are also God's enemies. These pastors thus teach you to violate Jesus' command. Andrew Sandlin in the Forerunner commentary, for example, quotes Psalm 139 as if inspired, and says: "This statement by David, as well as scores of others in Scripture... no doubt sounds strange -- perhaps even offensive to the ears of many modern believers....The idea of a Christian's hating...wicked people is largely incompatible with the religious sentimentalism pervasive in modern Western Christianity...." (A. Sandlin,<em> The Attitude of the Godly Towards God's Enemies</em>, http://forerunner.com/forerunner/X0508_Sandlin_-_Gods_Enemi.html (last accessed 11-30-2006).) You can hate the "works" of evildoers. Rev.2:6.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">14.</span> <a name="pgfId=472450"></a>Pink, <em>Sermon on the Mount</em>, Chapter Eight (Providence Baptist Ministries), http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_08.htm (last accessed 11/30/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">15.</span> <a name="pgfId=472574"></a>Pink, Sermon on the Mount Chapter Eight, excerpted in full at http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_08.htm.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">16.</span> <a name="pgfId=473108"></a>See <a class="XRef" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Pharisees%20Errorhtml.#10839">See In what I call the Greatest Irony of the Centuries, the Modern Gospel of Christianity teaches precisely what Jesus condemned 2,000 years ago.</a> et seq.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">17.</span> <a name="pgfId=477167"></a>The Greek word only means a married woman. See <a class="XRef" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Sermon%20on%20the%20Mount.#42138"></a>. Besides, it is the only plausible translation because the Bible never said sex with a single woman was adultery. For adultery to take place, a woman had to be already married. (Lev. 20:10.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">18.</span> <a name="pgfId=470722"></a>Robert A. Hawkins, "Covenant Relations of the Sermon on the Mount," <em>Restoration Quarterly</em> Vol. 12, No. 1 reprinted at http://www.restorationquarterly.org/Volume_012/rq01201hawkins.htm (last accessed 6/16/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">19.</span> <a name="pgfId=470727"></a>The Fatal Failures of Religion: #2 Legalism at http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=604 (last accessed 7/4/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">20.</span> <a name="pgfId=472675"></a>The Pharisees were notorious for out-of-context proof-texting. The passage Exodus 23:2 is a command not to follow the majority when you testify as a witness; instead, always tell the truth. The Oral-law advocates (i.e., the Pharisees) took it out of context, and read it as a command to adopt majority viewpoints on the meaning of the Law or Prophets even if it violates the actual words of a Prophet. As Nehemiah Gordon (a Karaite Jew and scholar) says, the rabbis read Exodus 23:2 "out of context," and "derive a completely different principle" from it than what it states. (N. Gordon, <em>Hebrew Yeshua v. Greek Jesus</em> (2006) at 18.)</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">21.</span> <a name="pgfId=472659"></a>Moses Maimonides, Introduction to the Mishnah (Jerusalem: 1992) at 27-28 [Hebrew text as translated in Nehemiah Gordon, Hebrew Yeshua v. Greek Christ (2006) at 83-84.]</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">22.</span> <a name="pgfId=470743"></a>"Covetousness," http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=838&letter=C (last accessed 7/4/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">23.</span> <a name="pgfId=476119"></a><a name="29331"></a>The bracketed text is to correct a mistranslation in the KJV. The Greek verb means loosing or relaxing, not breaking. See, Joseph Rotherham, <em>The Emphasised Bible: A New Translation Designed to Set Forth The Exact Meaning</em> (1902) at 932. He provides the corrections that appear in the bracketed text. Cf. Vulg (411 A.D.) "dissolve."</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">24.</span> <a name="pgfId=470841"></a>Obviously, Jesus' view, if taken seriously, would upset the commonly heard notion that the New Testament replaced the old. This replacement-theory is not a doctrine ever taught by Jesus. Instead, Jesus said that if you tried to make a Gentile (Sojourner) follow commands only applicable to Jews (the old), you can cause the new to spill out (be unduly squeezed out and pressured) and cause their being lost. Therefore, the correct doctrine is to put nothing on a Gentile that was not put on a sojourner/foreigner under the Law. See my prior book, <em>Jesus' Words Only</em> (2007) at 102-05.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">25.</span> <a name="pgfId=470868"></a>Robert J. Thiel, Ph.D. Were the Pharisees Condemned for Keeping the Law of God? (2001) www.cogwriter.com/pharisee.htm (6/17/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">26.</span> <a name="pgfId=476004"></a>"Matthew: The authority of Jesus. 21:23-32," at http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday26ag.html (last accessed 6/21/06).</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">27.</span> <a name="pgfId=471860"></a>Nehemiah Gordon is a Karaite Jew, which means a Jew who rejects traditions added to the Law (formerly known as Kara). He explains one such accretion of tradition is the kippah or skull-cap. See N. Gordon, <em>Hebrew Yeshua v. Greek Jesus</em> (Halkiah Press, 2006) at 19-20.</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">28.</span> <a name="pgfId=471866"></a>Deuteronomy 15:16-17 reads: "16 It shall be, if he tells you, `I will not go out from you;' because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise."</span></p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">29.</span> <a name="pgfId=472009"></a>Friedman's modern translation of the Torah as well as many others make clear that the command was (a) not to cut from your face the hair below the sideburns and (b) cut off the edge of your beard (i.e., hair on the chin). Thus, if you put two-and-two together, the Bible prohibits a Fu Manchu. Friedman translates Leviticus 19:27 "you shall not trim your head's edge, and you shall not destroy your beard's edge." First, this was not a command to have a beard. It was how to cut a beard you already had. Second, Friedman's note indicates "your head's edge" means "sideburns." Pe'ah means side. (Ex. 26:20.) It is obvious that the Bible understands the chin area as the beard. The area above the chin on the cheeks is the sideburn area, and is distinct. So the prohibition is on cutting the hair from the sideburn area, thus leaving an empty space between your sideburn area and your chin-beard. Then it says, in Friedman's translation, "you shall not destroy your beard's edge." What does that mean? You were not to cut the chin beard's edge off. If you put the two commands together, it precisely tells you not to have a Fu Manchu beard. Some commentators more loosely say it means "trimming of the corners" is forbidden. (Beard Bible Dictionary.) However, this prohibition is not against any trimming of corners. It is against shaping the beard in two simultaneous ways: cutting off the hair below the sideburns and cutting down the edge of your beard so that it was short at the chin area. The Satanic world intuitively understands this verse better than we do. Satanists like LaVey wear a Fu Manchu-styled beard. Such a beard naturally has a more sinister aspect. That's all Leviticus 19:27 prohibits. If having a beard was mandatory or shaving the sideburns was always wrong, then it makes no sense that ritual purification of a leper involved shaving all the hair on his head and his beard. (Leviticus 14:9. See also Nu 8:7.) If the modern practice among some Jews to not shave the beard was understood in earlier times, then it makes no sense why devout pilgrims from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria "having their beards shaven and clothes rent" bring meal-offerings and frankincense into the "house of Yahweh." (Jeremiah 41:5.) People closer to the time these commands were first written thought an act of being more holy and clean was to shave all of the beard off. Also, other commentators from the Jewish Karaite tradition make plausible arguments from Bible texts alone that the prohibition was against cutting a beard to show mourning. See "Shaving and Sidelocks? The Real Meaning of Leviticus 19:27-28," at http://www.karaite-korner.org/shaving.shtml (last visited 11/30/06).</span></p>
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||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">30.</span> <a name="pgfId=471888"></a>"The Lord also said to Moses: Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments, putting in them ribands of blue: that when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord" (Numbers 15:37-39). The Karaite Jewish position (i.e., strict literalist) is that this command only requires fringes on a garment that has, itself, four corners. You are not commanded to wear four-cornered clothing, but whenever you wear four-cornered clothing, you must have fringes to remind you of the Torah. See "Tzitzit," http://www.karaite-korner.org/tzitzit.shtml (last accessed 11/30/2006). This makes sense or otherwise, all underwear, bathing suits, hats, scarves, shirts, etc. would have to have tassles. Thus, in modern usage, if a child of Israel wore a poncho or toga, then tassles are necessary. Since wearing such clothing is no longer common, perhaps it would be appropriate to find other visible means to remind themselves of the Law. Yet, there is no command to do so.</span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
<div class="footnote">
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||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">31.</span> <a name="pgfId=472203"></a>http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=604 (last accessed 7/4/06).</span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">32.</span> <a name="pgfId=472209"></a>Deffinbaugh says: "The Old Testament Law was given to men as a standard of holiness. By its keeping, none of us would ever enter into eternal life, for it only condemns us." This contradicts Deuteronomy 6:25 which says obedience to the Law imputes righteousness to us -- we are no longer seen as sinners.</span></p>
|
||||
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|
||||
<div class="footnote">
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||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">33.</span> <a name="pgfId=472224"></a>http://www.letusreason.org/WF39.htm (last accessed 6/17/06).</span></p>
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||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">34.</span> <a name="pgfId=472968"></a>Randy claims he "detests legalism." He means teaching the Law applies to a Christian. (<em>Id</em>., at 181.) He then acknowledges the strongest argument against tithing is the `law versus grace' argument. Yet, he says just because we are under grace does not mean we "should stop doing all that was done under the law." (<em>Id.</em>) Randy then says "I believe there's ongoing value to certain aspects of the old covenant." (<em>Id</em>., 181.) The only such aspect he finds valid from the Mosaic Law is tithing. How can Jesus' words about the Pharisees not burn in his ears?</span></p>
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<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">35.</span> <a name="pgfId=472971"></a>Larry Burkett, the modern spokesperson on issues of Christian financial duties, similarly explains Matt. 23:23 endorses tithing this way: "Those who encourage Christians to completely ignore the Old Testament and teach that Christians don't need to observe anything that the Old Testament commands are ignoring Jesus' advice." http://www.new-life.net/faq212.htm. For Mr. Burkett, this "advice" of Jesus is limited to obeying the command to tithe. But that is the opposite of Jesus' point. That verse has Jesus saying that not only tithing should be followed, but all the commands of God given to Moses, in particular the Ten Commandments.</span></p>
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<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">36.</span> <a name="pgfId=472974"></a>Burkett writes: "The second thing that creates problems for Christians related to the tithe is that most Christians have a misunderstanding of the validity of the Old Testament for today. I think that it's clear that the Old Testament has some continuing legitimacy for Christians today." http://www.new-life.net/faq212.htm</span></p>
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<div class="footnote">
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||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">37.</span> <a name="pgfId=473468"></a>My book <em>Jesus' Words Only</em> (2007) discusses this question in depth.</span></p>
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<div class="footnote">
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||||
<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">38.</span> <a name="pgfId=474614"></a>It is available at http://www.cverc.org/update/sermons.htm (last accessed 7-1-07).</span></p>
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<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">39.</span> <a name="pgfId=474688"></a>These competing arguments are discussed and refuted in the chapter entitled <a class="XRef" href="file:///C:/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Final%20Version%20for%20March%202008/Original%20Files/Sermon%20on%20the%20Mount.#23335"></a>et seq.</span></p>
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<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">40.</span> <a name="pgfId=475053"></a>Martin Luther, "How Christians Should Regard Moses," <em>Luther's Works: Word and Sacrament </em>I (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960) Vol. 35 at 161-174.</span></p>
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<p class="Footnote"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span class="footnoteNumber">41.</span> <a name="pgfId=475076"></a>Martin Luther, <em>Don't Tell Me That! From Martin Luther's Antinomian Theses</em> (Lutheran Press: 2004). See also the Preface of <em>Jesus' Words on Salvation</em>.<a name="pgfId=472965"></a></span></p>
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<h1>Chapter 26 John 3:16 Obeying Unto Christ Saves? (Part One)</h1>
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<h2><strong>Introduction</strong></h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">When the English translations of the Greek New Testament were made in the 1526-1611 period, the “difficult Greek in which the New Testament is written...still held mysteries for” English scholars. (Nicolson: 224.) One of those mysteries was the Greek word <em>pisteuo</em> in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A16&version=ESV">John 3:16</a>. In over 200 instances of <em>pisteuo</em> in the New Testament, not once did the King James Bible render it as <em>obey</em>. (See <em>Strong’s Concordance</em>.) However, scholars now realize<em> obey</em> was a common meaning of <em>pisteuo</em> in ancient Greek. <em>Obe</em>y certainly was the meaning of <em>pisteuo</em> in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A36&version=ESV">John 3:36</a> (See Part 2, JWOS: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA448">448</a>). Yet, this obedience-salvation formula is identically repeated in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A16&version=ESV">John 3:16</a>.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Besides John 3:36 helping, one can more easily accept <em>pisteuo</em> means <em>obeys</em> in John 3:16 when one looks at Apostle John’s many quotes of Jesus about obedience. Jesus in<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A51&version=AMP"> John 8:51</a> says “whoever keeps on obeying (<em>tereo</em>) My Teaching should never ever die.”<sup><strong>1</strong></sup> In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15%3A1-10&version=AMP">John 15:1-10</a>, Jesus says a “branch in me” that does not “bear fruit” is “taken away,” “cut off from the vine,” thrown “outside and burned.”<sup><strong> 2</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John likewise quoted Jesus saying in total accord:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good [things], unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil [things], unto the resurrection of damnation. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A28-29&version=AMP">John 5:28-29</a> KJV).<sup><strong>3</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See also “John 8:51: Obedience Should Save” on page 367 et seq. See “Metaphor Of The Vine” on page 343 et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We saw again that Apostle John was told that those who obey the commandments (plural) have the right to the tree of life. (Rev. 22:14.) John writes:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Happy [are] the ones doing His commandments, so that their right will be to the tree of life, and they shall enter by the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14)(ALT)(<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+22%3A14&version=GNV"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">GSB</span></a></span>)<sup><strong>4</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We also saw Apostle John writing Jesus’ words to the Sardisian Christians. They are dead due to having “incomplete works.” They can prevent the Spirit leaving by repenting and obeying. Through John’s pen, Jesus tells them:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: ‘These [things] says the One having the seven spirits of God and the seven stars [i.e., Jesus is speaking]: I know your<em><strong> works</strong></em>, that you have a name that you live, and<strong><em> you are dead</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(2) ‘Become watching [fig., Wake up], and strengthen the rest which you were about to be throwing out, for I have <em><strong>not found your works having been completed</strong></em> before My God. (3) Therefore, be remembering how you have received, and be keeping [tereo, obey] it, and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you shall by no means know what hour I will come upon you.” (Rev 3:1-3 ALT)(<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A1-3&version=WYC"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">Wycliff "works...full"</span></a></span>)<sup><strong>5</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">John another time relays Jesus as saying that lukewarm works by Christians at Laodicea will cause Jesus to spew them out of His mouth.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I know thy <strong><em>works, that thou art neither cold nor hot</em></strong>: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, <strong><em>I will spue thee out of my mouth</em></strong>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A15-16&version=KJV">Rev 3:15-16 KJV</a>.)</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, we saw among the many verses that tied eternal life (zoe ainon) to obedience and works was the following words of Jesus recorded by Apostle John:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that<strong><em> hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal</em></strong>. (26) If any man serve me, let him <strong><em>follow me</em></strong>; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the Father honor. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+12%3A25-26&version=KJV">John 12:25-26 ASV</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These passages from the writings of John quoting Jesus are but echoes of what we find in Matthew, Luke and Mark. John is repeatedly emphasizing themes of obedience.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, besides John 3:36, these passages from John make the proposed translation of John 3:16 as about <em>obedience</em> appear far more sensible than translation tradition would suggest. This change, incidentally, will unite what scholars call the Synoptic-Jesus with the Johannine Jesus. It turns out there are no separate portrayals of Jesus in the mind of Matthew-Mark-Luke versus the mind of John. Rather, the translators have<strong><em> improperly given Jesus two doctrines and two personalities</em></strong> by erroneously translating John 3:16 in a manner which suits cheap grace doctrine to leave uncorrected.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, we shall see that the leading evangelical scholars who dared write on this question begrudgingly admit <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> means<strong><em> obey</em></strong> in John 3:16. It is only the translators who, for some inexplicable reason, continue to hesitate to make this now compellingly-obvious correction.</span></p>
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<h3><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #000080;">Three Interpretive Issues</span></strong></span></h3>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John 3:16 is the most commonly cited passage from Jesus to prove one is saved by faith alone. This faith is usually described as believing that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Or sometimes it is said that you must simply believe that Jesus died for your sins. (Stanley, Spurgeon.) Sometimes it is said you must also believe that Jesus resurrected.</span></p>
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||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Whatever is the belief one must hold to be saved, typically it is also claimed John 3:16 conveys the idea of a onetime belief. In fact, Charles Stanley in <em>Eternal Security</em> (1995) at 95 says the verb believes in the standard translation implies a one-time belief (that Christ died for your sins, <em>id</em>., at 33-34). Hence, such a one-time belief is supposedly all that you need to be saved. Therefore, it is allegedly irrelevant whether one repents from sin or not. Stanley says it is a good idea to change, but it only improves your fellowship with God. The Lord will supposedly save the disobedient believer anyway based on faith alone.</span></p>
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||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, Stanley says your salvation is such a foregone conclusion once you sincerely believe Christ died for your sins that even if you for all practical purposes were later an unbeliever in thought and deed, your salvation is never in jeopardy: “Even if a believer for all practical purposes <strong><em>becomes an unbeliever</em></strong>, his <strong><em>salvation is not in jeopardy</em></strong>.” (Stanley, <em>Eternal Security, supra</em>, at 93.) Salvation is supposedly by faith alone, from start to finish.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, there are three defects in the popular English translation of the original Greek which in turn feed these interpretations of the verse. (These defects also appear in the German Luther Bible of 1522.) The correction of these defects turn on answering these three questions:</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does the verb <em>pisteuo</em> translated in English as <em>believes</em> in the KJV mean<em> believe</em> or instead <em><strong>obey</strong></em>, comply, trust, etc.?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Is it <em>pisteuo</em> “in” Jesus or “for (unto)” Jesus” in the original Greek?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Is the verb form taken for <em>pisteousin </em>translated in the KJV as <em>believes</em> (the English simple present tense) instead in Greek a continuous tense meaning? In other words, is the meaning<em> keeps on</em> or <em>continues to </em>in front of whatever the verb means for<em> pisteuo</em>,<em> i.e</em>., <em>keeps on obeying</em>, etc., or<em> keeps on believing</em>?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Two of these three issues are readily apparent if you compare common translations of John 3:16, in particular the bolded portions below, on the left with those on the right.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><img src="/images/stories/Salvation/table1john316.jpg" /></p>
|
||||
<h3><span style="color: #000080;"><strong>Does It Matter If John 3:16 Is About Obedience Not Belief?</strong></span></h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is a huge difference theologically between obey, comply, trust on one side and belief on the other.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus discussed once this distinction. Jesus said it is incongruous to think you can say you believe in Him as Lord but feel free to disobey Him. Jesus said: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46.) Jesus therefore declares it is unfathomable that one thinks it is enough to believe in Him but not obey Him.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another proof of a large chasm of difference between mere belief and obedience comes from the gospel accounts about demons.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Demons believe Jesus is Lord and Savior. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/mark/1-24.htm">Mark 1:24</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/4-34.htm">Luke 4:34</a>. See also, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james+2:19">James 2:19</a>.) The demons, however, do not obey Jesus as Lord. They do not act in compliance with their acknowledgment of the fact of who Jesus is. They do not trust Him. They do not obey Him.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Pastor Stedman, an evangelical scholar who believes in ‘faith alone,’ unwittingly admits this distinction:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Remember that back in the Gospel accounts there were demons that acknowledged the deity of the Lord Jesus? When he appeared before them they said, ‘We know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ (cf, <a href="http://biblehub.com/mark/1-24.htm">Mark 1:24</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/4-34.htm">Luke 4:34</a>.) They acknowledged what the Jews were too blind to see, the full deity of Jesus Christ, as well as his humanity. But, though demons acknowledged this, they never confessed it. They never trusted him. <em><strong>They did not commit themselves to him</strong></em>, they did not live by this truth.<a href="http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-john/when-unbelief-is-right"><sup><strong>6</strong></sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, we are told that John 3:16 proves that if you believe Jesus is Lord, Messiah, died for your sins, etc., then you shall have eternal life. If this were true, then the<em><strong> demons should be saved</strong></em> because they believe and know these things are true. (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34.) James made a similar point in James 2:19. He says the demons believe the facts about God, but they are not saved thereby.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when we consider Jesus’ dismay that people think they can call Him Lord but that obedience is optional, we are justified questioning John 3:16 in standard translation because it licenses that doctrine for so many.</span></p>
|
||||
<h3><strong><span style="color: #000080;">Reliable Dictionary Meanings Of Pisteuo In John 3:16 As Obey</span></strong></h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The most exhaustive dictionary of ancient Greek is Liddell-Scott’s Lexicon. It is by far the most reliable.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are six meanings offered in Liddell-Scott’s Lexicon of the Greek verb <em>pisteuo</em> at issue in John 3:16.7</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One meaning in Liddell-Scott for the verb <em>pisteuo</em> is<strong><em> comply</em></strong>. A synonym is <strong><em>obey</em></strong>. (See Footnote 7, page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA423">423</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_NIV_Theological_Dictionary_of_New_Te.html?id=4msAAAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y"><em>NIV Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words</em></a> (Zondervan: 2000) has this likewise to say of <em>pisteuo</em>:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Similarly, <em>pisteuo</em> means to trust something or someone; it can refer to and confirm legendary tales and mythical ideas. With<strong><em> reference to people</em></strong>, </span><strong><em><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">pisteuo means to obey</span> (Soph. OT 625) [i.e., </em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">Sophocles, <em>Oedipus Tyrannus</em>, 625]</span></strong>; the pass[ive] Means to enjoy trust...</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">[2014 INSERT in yellow highlight: <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">See quote from this portion under NIDNTT on <a href="http://preceptaustin.org/1thessalonians_213.htm"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">Precept Austin.org</span></a></span>. The reference "pisteuo means obey" has a google hit to the 2011 edition of <em>Clavis Novi Testamenti</em>, a famous Greek to Latin Lexicon of the 1800s by the famous Joseph Thayer & others, but there is no preview page. See <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=3T6TygAACAAJ&dq=%22pisteuo+means+to+obey%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KBuHUvHyPInJiAeu24CYAw&redir_esc=y"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">our google search</span></a> of those exact words pulling up this 2011 edition. In Sophocles, <a href="http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Soph.%20OT%20616"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">Oedipus Tyrannus 625</span></a> where this classic Greek usage is referenced, Creon in the online Perseus translation asks "are you willing to <em><strong>yield</strong> </em>or believe?" (where 'yield' is pisteuo meaning <em><strong>obey = yield).</strong></em> Oedipus responds: "no, for you persuade me you are unworthy of trust." <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">Storr </span></a>agrees on the <em>yield (obey)</em> translation as the correct choice over "believe." Other translations render Creon's <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>pisteuo</em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1"> synonymously as </span></span>"listen to me," again pointing to an obedience-meaning. See <a href="https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/sophocles/oedipustheking.htm"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">Johnston</span></a>.]</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">[Similarly, the related adjective term "pistos" -- which some prefer to render as "faithful" to suit one's auditory senses - is clearly used by Jesus in Matthew 25:21 to mean "obedient." It can have a synonymous meaning of "trustworthy." However, 'faithful' is apparently chosen in translations solely to placate faith-alone doctrine because then some suggest "faithful" means "full of faith" when it simply means "trustworthy" -- a synonymn for "obedient." Rarely does it mean someone is "full of faith." This is explained in </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Murray J. Harris' </span></span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">Slave of Christ: A New Testament Metaphor for Total Devotion to Christ</em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> (Intervarsity Press, 2001) at page </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vgsLnWuRWakC&lpg=PP1&dq=Murray%20J.%20Harris%27%20Slave%20of%20Christ%3A%20A%20%20New%20Testament%20Metaphor%20for%20Total%20Devotion%20to%20Christ&pg=PA96#v=onepage&q=pistos&f=false" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1">96 </span></a><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">including footnote 16 -- "a <em><strong>perfectly obedient</strong></em> slave was a completely <em><strong>faithful slave</strong></em>", and Bultman says "in classical Greek </span><strong style="color: #001320; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><em>pistos</em></strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> had the nuance of <strong><em>obedient</em></strong> and <strong><em>pisteuin</em></strong> [</span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>i.e.</em>, the verb translated often as 'believe] had </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">the nuance <em><strong>'to obey.</strong></em>'" <em>Cf. </em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><em>Daniel J. Harrington, Ed. The Gospel of Matthew</em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"> at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=bNf13S3k2w0C&lpg=PA343&ots=8CRs2TyV_l&dq=pistos%20gospel%20matthew&pg=PA343#v=onepage&q=pistos%20gospel%20matthew&f=false"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; background-color: #ffff00;" data-mce-mark="1"> 343</span></a> ("The idea of <em>pistos </em>is more 'reliable, trustworthy' than 'believing.' See also Matthew 23:23, where Jesus says the Pharisees taught tithing but omitted justice, mercy and the noun <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><strong><em>pistin</em></strong>. Previously, this used to be rendered as "faith," but now, with scholarship, it is rendered as "faithfulness" (meaning sincere obedience).</span>]</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">This is likewise mentioned in the highly authoritative <em>Theological Dictionary of the New Testament</em> (TDNT) 6 (1968): 4-7, in an entry by Bultmann (1884-1976) — the eminent Lutheran scholar — in which he says the verb “pisteuo means” (among other things) “‘to trust’” and “also ‘to obey.’” (It is both enlightening and disturbing to watch how ‘cheap grace adherents cope with this dictionary entry despite the TDNT being one of the most authoritative and scholarly dictionary references within Protestantism.)<sup><strong>8</strong></sup></span></p>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #000080;">What If It Only Looks Like A Dictionary? It Still Is Not One</span></strong></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, do not be surprised when you go to the evangelical bookstore, and you open up a Greek word study on <em>pisteuo</em>, and you find “obey” and “comply” are not even identified as possible meanings. For example, in Spiros Zodhiates, <em>The Complete Word Study — New Testament</em> (Chatanooga, TN: AMG, 1993) at 1160-62 — on my local Christian bookstore shelf in 2007 — you will see what appears to be a comprehensive entry on<em> pisteuo</em>. Yet, not once does it mention “obey” or “comply” as a definition. It is obvious what is happening. Zodhiates never calls his word study a dictionary, and thus you cannot accuse him of misleading anyone. He called it a word study, not a dictionary. Unfortunately, the average Christian does not know the fine distinction.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The same problem holds true of the <em>Strong’s Concordance</em>. Its title — a concordance — means it is only a reference to how the King James Bible translated every Greek word listed. It does not purport to be a dictionary. However, most Christians think because it is laid out as a dictionary, that in fact it is a dictionary. However, Strong’s is not a dictionary, and never purports to be one. Yet, if you rely upon its ‘entries’ under <em>pisteuo</em>, you never once see the meaning <em>obey</em> or <em>comply</em>. Don’t be fooled. If it does not say it is a dictionary, it is not purporting to be one.</span></p>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #000080;">How Negative Prefixes Aid Translation</span></strong></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One can further confirm <em>pisteuo</em>’s meaning by adding a negative prefix in front of <em>pisteuo</em> — the letter <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">a</span></em>, and then see what are the word meanings of the Greek word formed thereby — <em>apisteo</em>. Liddell-Scott points out that <em>apisteo</em> means, among other things, “to<em><strong> disobey...refuse to comply</strong></em>.” (Liddell-Scott, <em>Greek Lexicon</em>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>Apisteo</em> is clearly used in this way in 1 Peter 2:7. See KJV-Geneva “disobey.” See also 2 Tim 2:13 (“if we are <em>apisteo</em> disobeying” is antithesis to God’s <em>pistos</em> or<em> faithfulness</em>). In the Septuagint of 247 B.C., <em>apisteo</em> “several times answers to the Hebrew [word for] rebellious.” (Parkhurst, 1829:71.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course, <em>apisteo</em> can still mean <em>disbelieve</em>, just as <em>pisteuo</em> can still mean<em> believe in a fact or truth</em>. Nevertheless, the point is that to a Greek the idea of a belief alone is not necessarily the correct meaning. A competing and valid meaning of <em>pisteuo</em> is <em>obey</em> or <em>comply</em>. This is demonstrable not only from the dictionary meaning of pisteuo, but also from the definition of its opposite — <em>apisteo</em>.</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="color: #000080;"><a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/162-chapter-26-2jwos.html"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #000080;">Continue to Part 2.</span></a></span></strong></p>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #000080;">FOOTNOTES TO PART 1.</span></strong></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. See John 8:51, Obedience Saves at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA367">367</a> et seq.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. See Metaphor of the Vine at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA343">363</a> et seq.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3. See Those who have Done Good things are Resurrected at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA395">395</a> et seq .</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4. See Right to the Tree of Life at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA373">373</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5. See Incomplete & Lukewarm Works at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA401">401</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6. Ray C. Stedman, <em>When Unbelief is Right</em> (1967), reprinted at<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"> <a href="http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-john/when-unbelief-is-right"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/1-john/when-unbelief-is-right</span></a></span> (2014)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">7. Liddel Scott defines<em> pisteuo</em> as:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"1. trust, put faith in, rely on a person, thing, or statement,</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. Pass[ive], to be trusted or believed</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3. <span style="background-color: #ff0000; color: #ffffff;">comply.</span></span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4. c. infinitive., believe that, feel confident that a thing is, will be, has been</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5. c. dat. and inf., toisi episteue sigan to whom he trusted that they would keep silence</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6. have faith II. (1) p. tini ti entrust something to another (2) Pass., pisteuesthai ti to be entrusted with a thing, have it committed to one." This is available online or in a library in the Liddell & Scott <em>Greek Lexicon</em> (Oxford: 1869) at 1273.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">8. Bing is critical of translating<em> pisteuo</em> as <em>obey</em>. Rather than deal properly with the issue, he barely mentions the authoritative sources that directly define <em>pisteuo</em> as sometimes meaning<em> obey</em>. When he discusses Bultmann's entry in the TDNT, Bing claims <em>obey</em> is merely a "suggestion." Bing then says Bultmann's theology is driving this "suggestion" rather than Greek. Bing then makes it sound like Bultmann is relying on weak lexical aids. What Bing never does is explore what Greek dictionaries (not concordances or word studies) include among the definitions of <em>pisteuo</em>. On that score, Bultmann would have been a poor scholar had he omitted <em>obey</em> as one definition. See Charles C. Bing,<em> Lordship Salvation -- A Biblical Evaluation and Response</em> (Ph.D. Dissertation) (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1991), reprinted at <a href="http://www.forerunner.org/bing/LS-chap2.htm">http://www.forerunner.org/bing/LS-chap2.htm</a> (accessed 7-21-07).</span></p>
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<h1>Chapter Twenty-Six: John 3:16 </h1>
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<h2 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 33.6363639831543px; font-size: 24px; color: #66869a; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What About Paul's Use of Pistis & Pisteuo?</h2>
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<p><strong>Introduction</strong></p>
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||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As mentioned above, to understand John 3:16, the Master and Sole Teacher has the privilege of interpreting His own words. We looked at the context of John 3:16. We looked at the context of other lessons of Jesus. We looked at inspired prophets like John the Baptist. We looked at the words of Apostle John — the writer of John 3:16 — who injected his own thoughts in John 12:42. There we saw Apostle John discusses the rulers who had <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> but contrary to that <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> later refuse to confess Jesus. The evidence repeatedly proves John 3:16 should have been translated as “<strong><em>obey</em></strong> unto Him” (Jesus). The verse gives no support that mere belief alone saves or mere belief is all there is to salvation.</span></p>
|
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<h2>The Problem Of Paul</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is no secret here what is the problem weighing against us from changing our perceptions to Jesus’ intentions. Many impose their views of Paul’s doctrines upon Jesus’ words. They translate Jesus to most closely follow the doctrines they perceive Paul is teaching.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, we are not free to invert the relationship between Jesus and Paul so that Paul becomes the Master used to undermine the words and clear meanings of Jesus.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Kierkegaard pointed out in 1855 in his work My Task: “It is of great importance, especially in Protestantism, to straighten out...[the] inverting [of] the relationship, and in effect <strong><em>criticizing Christ by Paul, the Master by the disciple</em></strong>.”<sup><strong>26</strong></sup></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Nevertheless, we will now demonstrate that Paul clearly often intends <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> to mean a faithfulness which is destroyed by disobedience, unto damnation of even Christians.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will also see that Paul sometimes means by <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> a faithfulness in the ‘Old Testament’ sense of faithful (obedient) living.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will also see that Paul often teaches that justification is by obedience or faithfulness, not belief alone — a truth hampered from your notice by minimizing translations of Paul’s words.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is not to deny there are just two or three problem passages where Paul affirms <em><strong>pisteuo</strong></em> or <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> in such a way that the meaning is belief alone. This is particularly the case in Romans 4:5.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will address these verses later, in particular the significance of Romans 4:5. We will see how the early church confronted this very problem of the words of Christ versus Paul. We will see clearly how the early apostolic church solved the dilemma. It will no doubt surprise many of you.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Regardless of how the early church resolved this problem, what remains unaltered is that there are abundant proofs that ordinarily — except for two or three passages — Paul means <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> (obedient living) for <strong><em>pistis</em></strong>, not faith or belief alone. This assists us once more in corroborating how Jesus was likely using the noun <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> and its verb cousin <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Romans 10:11 Translates OT “Trust” With Pisteuo</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let’s start with Romans 10:11.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul uses <em><strong>pisteuo</strong></em> in Romans 10:11 to translate a verb in an ‘Old Testament’ passage which in Hebrew only meant <em><strong>trust</strong></em>. Because of the force of the original Isaiah passage, the NIV renders <em><strong>pisteuo</strong></em> in Romans 10:11 as<strong><em> trust</em></strong> rather than<strong><em> believe</em></strong> even though <em><strong>believe</strong></em> is how the NIV everywhere else translated <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> in the New Testament.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Scripture says, ‘Anyone that<strong><em> trusts</em></strong> in him will never be put to shame.’ (NIV) (Rom. 10:11)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is quoting from Isaiah 28:16.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why did the NIV translate <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> in Romans 10:11 into <strong><em>trust</em></strong> rather than <strong><em>believe</em></strong>? Because the NIV realizes its own version of Isaiah 28:16 renders the word in the underlying OT as trust (rely upon and follow). The NIV translates Isaiah 28:16 as “the one who<strong><em> trusts</em> </strong>will never be dismayed...”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why didn’t the NIV render the Hebrew word as <strong><em>believes</em></strong> and then render Romans 10:11 as <em><strong>believes,</strong></em> so as to prevent an inconsistency in translating <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> when used by Paul elsewhere in the New Testament? Because the Hebrew word here was limited to <strong><em>trust</em></strong>. It was not faith or believing. The Hebrew word is not about intellectual assent in a fact about God or belief in a promise. But this then means that the NIV accepted that Paul here used the verb pisteuo to mean <strong><em>trust</em></strong>. The NIV left us to supposedly believe that Paul intended <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> everywhere else to mean merely believing in some fact about Jesus/the atonement, but here, and here alone, to mean trust.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Instead, it should have been a monumental fact that Paul uses in Romans 10:11<strong> <em>pisteuon</em></strong> to translate the ‘Old Testament’ word that meant <em><strong>trust.</strong></em> Because if this is true, then why should we not have used Romans 10:11 to enlighten us on translating <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> elsewhere in Paul’s writings? To make a comparison to how Jesus likely used <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong>?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Romans 10:11 is an important link back to the ‘Old Testament.’ It unlocks the normal meaning of the word <strong><em>pisteuo</em> </strong>in the New Testament. The Greek word has variable meanings. We cannot presuppose we know it means the most shallow meaning among all possible options: belief in or intellectual assent to a fact or truth. It can also mean trust, which implies obedience. Thus, how to translate <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> and <em><strong>pisteuo</strong></em> in Jesus and even in Paul’s writings is unlocked by witnessing first-hand Paul’s own rendering of the word for trust in the ‘Old Testament’ by the Greek verb <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, we know that because the OT equivalent word in Isaiah 28:16 only meant <em><strong>trust</strong></em>, and Paul rendered this ‘Old Testament’ word for trust by <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong>, we can deduce the correct usage throughout the New Testament would primarily be at least <em><strong>trust</strong></em> (which connotes <em><strong>obedience</strong></em> anyway), not faith (which connotes mere belief or intellectual assent).</span></p>
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<h2>Romans 3:3: Another Proof That Pistis Does Not Mean Faith</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We read in the American Standard translation of Romans 3:3 the following:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness [<strong><em>pistis</em></strong>] of God? (Rom 3:3 ASV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another meaning for <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> is proven here. This verse proves it sometimes certainly must mean faithfulness. It would be utter nonsense to render this the “faith of God” or even the “trust of God.” God has no faith in Himself or trust in Himself, which even hard-core Pauline scholars admit.<sup><strong>27</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here, <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> has only one meaning that fits in Romans 3:3: <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong>, which here means ‘consistent righteous behavior.’ It is comparable to the human activity of faithfulness toward God. <strong><em>Pistis</em></strong> certainly has nothing to do with belief here.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One comment on Romans 3:3 is insightful:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It seems quite clear to me that Paul does not mean by PISTIS what Luther meant by “Glaube” (faith). PISTIS can certainly mean “faith” or “trust,” but it can also mean “faithfulness” as it must in Romans 3:3.<sup><strong>28</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is more in Romans 3:3 to learn regarding<strong><em> pistis</em>.</strong> It also impacts translation of the <strong><em>apistia</em></strong> in the first part of the sentence. Ordinarily, and in the ASV quote above, it has <strong><em>apistia</em></strong> as “want of belief.” Yet, this is wrong. It mismatches the direct contrast to the <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> of God. Thus, the <strong><em>apistia</em></strong> — formed by the negative prefix a in Greek in front of pistis — should be seen as the contrast to the <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> of God. Thus, the <strong><em>pistis </em></strong>of God, which has to mean faithfulness of God, is being contrasted to<strong><em> apistia</em></strong> — obviously the <em><strong>unfaithfulness</strong></em> of men. This is translated correctly in the American Literal Translation:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For what if some were unfaithful? Their unfaithfulness [<strong><em>apistia</em></strong>] will not make the faithfulness of God useless, will it? (Rom 3:3 ALT.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, there is even one more key within this verse that makes certain <strong><em>apistia</em></strong> means <em><strong>unfaithful</strong></em> in the sense of disobedient.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Where the ALT has “if some were unfaithful” the Greek verb is <strong><em>apisteo</em></strong>. This combines the negative prefix <em><strong>a</strong></em> with <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> which latter verb we find in John 3:16. When the prefix and verb are so combined, the word means in ancient Greek either to <strong><em>disobey</em></strong> or <em><strong>disbelieve</strong></em>. In context, one can see here it means <strong><em>disobey</em></strong>. The ALT changed this into “were unfaithful;” while satisfactory, another more precise meaning that fits the context is <strong><em>disobey</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">With this background, now look at the entire passage with the underlying Greek verbs and nouns exposed. Here we see <strong><em>pistis</em>, <em>apistia</em></strong>, and <strong><em>apisteo</em></strong> are all dancing around giving us an entirely different concept about <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> and <strong><em>pisteuo </em></strong>in other contexts. Here <strong><em>pistis</em> </strong>certainly is not talking about belief as mental assent for God does not have that about Himself. This <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> of God is contrasted with the disobedient unfaithful behavior of men.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For what if some <strong><em>apisteo</em></strong>-ed [disobey-ed]? Their <strong><em>apistia</em></strong> [unfaithfulness] will not make the <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> [faithfulness] of God useless, will it? (Rom 3:3 ALT.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> of God is the <em><strong>faithful righteous behavior</strong></em> of God. Paul teaches it is not useless merely because men are disobedient and unfaithful. Hence, pistis certainly in this context meant faithfulness, with an emphasis on righteous behavior. We know this because it is contrasted against disobedient behavior. We also saw that <strong><em>a-pisteuo</em></strong> meant “not obeying” here which re-emphasizes that <em><strong>pisteuo</strong></em> should ordinarily be translated to mean <em><strong>obey</strong></em> in the New Testament.</span></p>
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<h2>Romans 3:22: More Proof Pistis Means Faithfulness</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A reputable Christian scholar, N.T. Wright (Bishop of Durham, England), in 2005 pointed out that Luther erred in translating <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> as faith in Romans 3:22. Because it is speaking of the<em> pistis</em> “of Jesus,” it can only mean once again <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong>. This is because the text has in Greek a subjective genetive (“faithfulness of Christ”) not an objective genetive (“faith in Christ”).<sup><strong>29</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wright is backed up by George Howard’s scholarly analysis of the Greek. He demonstrated that in the twenty-four times the genetive is used in Paul’s writings, it is used in the subjective genetive sense, which means <strong><em>of</em></strong>.<sup><strong>30</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In other words, because it says <strong><em>of</em></strong>, not <strong><em>in</em></strong>, within the genetive used in Greek, Wright explains Romans 3:22 must be speaking of Christ’s faithfulness, not Christ’s faith in Himself or God. The idea of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> as <strong><em>faith</em></strong> when spoken of Jesus would be totally incongruous anyway within the verse. Only <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> makes sense when we speak of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> as <strong><em>of Christ</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This notion of Jesus’ “faithfulness” here likewise totally matches how Paul speaks elsewhere of “one man’s obedience” (Rom. 5:19) as a synonym for the <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> (obedience) of Christ. Hence, Paul uses pistis in Romans 3:22 to mean <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> (obedience) of Jesus, not the faith of Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Indeed, in the Gospel accounts we learn Jesus’ <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> was an obedience unto death to the Father’s will. (Matt. 26:39, “if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Weak efforts have been offered in reply to dispute Wright’s reading of Romans 3:22, but they are sophistic.<sup><strong>31</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wright was correct. In fact, Luther could never have been translating properly because he openly defended his translation of Romans 3:22 based upon the Latin text, not the Greek text.<sup><strong>32</strong></sup> Even so, Luther actually acknowledges in the quote in Footnote 32, page 461 that the Latin too has a genetive <strong><em>of</em></strong>, not<strong><em> in</em></strong>. Then how did Luther translate<strong><em> pistis</em></strong> as meaning <strong><em>faith</em></strong> when the <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> “of Jesus” in Romans 3:22 could not possibly be translated as <strong><em>faith</em></strong> “in” Himself? If the genetive is revealed, it had to be <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> (not <strong><em>faith</em></strong>) “of Jesus.” The explanation by Luther is astonishing. In one of the most stunning glosses of a Scripture text, Luther simply suggests he is free to replace the words <strong><em>of</em></strong> with <strong><em>in</em></strong>, because he prefers an entirely different structure to the sentence. It is unabashed! See Footnote 32, page 461.<sup><strong>33</strong></sup> This is how Luther changed the<strong><em> faithfulness of Christ</em></strong> into<strong><em> faith in Christ</em></strong>. This is how an example of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> meaning <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> was erased by Luther, and made into <strong><em>faith</em></strong>. Thus, for generations, we lost one clear usage example from Paul that <strong><em>pistis</em> </strong>meant<strong><em> faithfulness</em>.</strong> Thanks to Bishop Wright in 2005, this original meaning has now been restored.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We should note that the KJV is correct grammatically, revealing the genetive construction “of Jesus Christ” in Romans 3:22. However, it mistranslates <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> as <strong><em>faith</em></strong>. It reads “faith of Jesus Christ.” Yet, again, it is incongruous to speak about the “faith of Jesus” because Jesus cannot make Himself the object of His own belief. He knows who He is.</span></p>
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<h2>‘Faithfulness Of Jesus’ Appears Seven Times In Paul’s Writings</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">By the way, Luther’s erroneous translation of Paul talking about a “faith in Christ” in Romans 3:22 is a translation error which reappears in six other passages in the English New Testament. Luther’s errors in these passages influenced English translations to follow Luther’s lead. This has misled millions on the nature of justification in certain passages. <em><strong>Pis-tis Christou</strong></em> appears not only in Romans 3:22, but also in Romans 3:26, Galatians 2:16,20, 3:22, Phil. 3:9, and Ephesians 3:12.</span></p>
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<h2>Justification Impacted</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, instead of Paul saying God “justifies him who believes in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26 KJV), it says God “justifies him who has the faithfulness of Jesus” (Romans 3:26) — a major reversal in meaning. If you have the obedience Jesus exhibited, God justifies you.<sup><strong>34</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If Paul had meant instead to say “faith in Jesus” in this verse on justification, he knew how to do it. Paul speaks elsewhere of those who have a “<em><strong>pistis en Cristos Iesous</strong></em>.” (Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4.) Similarly, others in the New Testament expressed such a thing as “<strong><em>pistis en Cristou</em></strong>.” <sup><strong>35</strong></sup> However, Paul never did that in these seven examples. He used a subjective genetive, and did so in particular in this justification verse. When rendered properly, it means you are only justified if you have the “faithfulness of Christ.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, the only somewhat correct translation of Romans 3:26 — each rendering the genitive (possessive) properly — appears in Young’s Literal, New Revised Standard (1989), Darby’s, Douay Rheims (“faith of Jesus”) and the Spanish Reina Valera (RV “justifica al que es de la fe de Jesús”).The only error is that these Bibles<strong><em> each incongruously still translate pistis as faith</em></strong> (of Jesus) as <em><strong>if Jesus could be believing in Himself or the Father rather than having a faithfulness</strong></em> (of Jesus) toward the Father.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another interesting point is that the KJV has it <strong><em>faith in Jesus</em></strong> in Romans 3:26 while in every other of the seven verses, the KJV has the possessive correct in saying faith <em><strong>of</strong> </em>Jesus. As Steven L. Chambers notes, “the King James version preserved ‘the faith <strong><em>of</em> </strong>Christ’ in every instance <em><strong>except Romans 3:26</strong></em>.”<sup>36</sup> Obviously, the KJV was concerned that any more accurate translation of 3:26 would <strong><em>upset justification doctrine</em></strong>. Because that is not at stake in the other six verses, the KJV correctly revealed the possessive “of” meaning.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<hr />
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>35.</strong>Chambers offers up the argument for consideration that twists this fact around to favor a reading of it as “faith in Christ.” This argument says Paul is entitled to have an idiosyncratic (isolated) meaning from all others who express the same thought differently. This argument says: “Paul never uses that construction; he never makes Christ (or God) the object of a preposition following pistis. Thus, pistis Cristou may well be an alternate, and uniquely Pauline, way of expressing ‘faith in Christ.’” (Steven L. Chambers, “‘Faith in Christ,’ or the ‘Faith of Christ? Pistis Cristou in Paul,” Lutheran Theological Review XII (1999-2000) at 23 (available online).) Chambers cites (and apparently realizes it is a valid point) Williams’ claim that this argument represents a fundamental logical error. Merely because “Paul does not use pistis en or eis when he seems to mean ‘faith in Christ’ does not lead to the inverse conclusion that he does mean ‘faith in Christ’ every time he speaks of pistis Cristou.” (Chambers, supra, at 25, citing Sam K. Williams, “Again Pistis Christou”, CBQ 49 (1987), 431-447, at 433-34.) Chambers appears to have a misunderstanding that Paul never says pis-tis en Cristou, which he does in Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4. What Williams is saying is that sometimes Paul appears to mean in Christ even when he only says pistis Cristou, but this does not support reading in into it every time. This is particularly true because Paul in those four cited passages does prove he knows how to say pistis en Cristou.</span></p>
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<hr />
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<h2>How Justification In the “Old Testament” Can Assist</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, the KJV’s effort to change justification into faith in Jesus is an unnecessarily strained translation in light of Hebrew scripture. The Scripture taught in Deuteronomy 6:25 that justification was by obedience to God’s law.<strong>37</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is also what Habakkuk 2:4 says in a proper translation: “the just shall live by his faithfulness.” Apparently Paul is being mistranslated whenever it is claimed he taught justification by faith in his quotes from the Habakkuk passage.<sup><strong>38</strong></sup> The underlying Hebrew word meant only<strong><em> faithfulness</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This concept of justification is also what Ezekiel taught about justification. “But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right.... [and] hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept mine ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord Jehovah.” (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2018:5-9&version=ASV">Eze 18:5,9 </a>ASV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then why translate Paul in Romans 3:26 in a highly dubious way as if Paul said one is ‘justified if one has faith in Jesus’ rather than what it truly says — God ‘<em><strong>justifies those who have the faithfulness of Jesus</strong></em>’? The ‘faith <strong><em>in</em></strong> Jesus’ construction is at<strong><em> total odds</em> </strong>with not just <em><strong>normal Greek grammar</strong></em>, but also it is <em><strong>contra-indicated by every prior clearly inspired Scripture on justification</strong></em>. This includes the parable from Jesus of the Prodigal Son (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:9-14&version=ASV">Luke 18:9-14</a>).<sup><strong>39</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This was the point of two scholars in the late 1950s on how to translate Romans 3:26: Herbert and Torrance.<sup><strong>40</strong></sup> They emphasized the Hebrew meaning of <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong> in the original word that is ambiguously translated as <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> or <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> in the New Testament. When rendered into English, they said we should opt for faithfulness rather than faith. The ambiguity inherent in <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> and <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong> was lacking in the original Hebrew which was sometimes being quoted (Hab. 2:4). In fact, the Hebrew texts which explained justification made it absolutely certain justification was by faithfulness, not faith.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">That such a choice was necessary was particularly true in Romans 3:26. As Chambers explains: “If <strong><em>pisteuo</em></strong>, they argued, actually had the preferred Greek translation of faithfulness, as distinct from faith, then Paul’s expression would mean that God was continuing” His prior lessons about justification by faithfulness.<sup><strong>41</strong></sup> It was a point well-taken, especially in light of Deuteronomy 6:25 and Habakkuk 2:4, properly translated. The King James translators claimed they were following such pass-through principles — old to new.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, more important, the only suitable meaning of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> when spoken “of Jesus” is faithfulness. That is the beginning and end of the issue. It is nonsense to say Jesus believes in Himself. It is also ridiculous to say He believes in God. Thus, instead Paul teaches in Romans 3:26 that justification is for anyone of us who has the "faithfulness (obedience) of Jesus." Paul here is expressing a doctrine of justification by obedience in imitation of Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After this digression, let’s return to our proofs that Paul frequently uses <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> to mean <strong><em>faithfulness</em></strong>, not faith.</span></p>
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<h2>2 Thessalonians 1:3-5,8,11: Pistis Must Mean Faithfulness</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul says God will punish two types with His everlasting vengeance. One type is “those who do not know him” and the second type is “those who do not obey (hupakouousin) the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (1:8) Paul prays the Thessalonians, by contrast, will be “counted worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and every work of <em><strong>pistis</strong></em>, with power.” (1:11.) Paul glories in their <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> “in all your persecutions” that “you endure.” (1:4.) He then importantly says this persecution is “a demonstration (evidence) of the just judgment (krisis) of God, to the end (eis) that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.” (1:5a ALT; 1:5b ASV.) Cf. 2 Tim.2:12 (“If we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Verse 1:5 tells you <em><strong>pistis</strong></em> means <em><strong>faithfulnes</strong></em>s in the three uses in this passage. For it ends saying God permits persecution to test them to make them “counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.” Nicholl admits Paul says afflictions “function to purify them so that they will be counted worthy of the kingdom and so [they] can inherit it.” (Nicholl-2004: 149-50.) Paul wanted them to “be worthy of their calling.” (1:11.) Jesus said He rejects the many He invites whom He “called [yet] were not worthy.” (Matt. 22:8.) Hence, you are not simply worthy by the initial blood-cleansing by Christ or His call. Salvation is not guaranteed by faith alone had no persecution come your way. Rather, Paul says God allows persecution with the “end” or “objective” that by suffering “you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God.”<sup><strong>42</strong></sup> If faith alone instead were true, no amount of the testing of your endurance in doctrinal belief is necessary to make you worthy of the kingdom. You would in theory be already worthy by faith alone before any persecution. Thus, something other than faith alone must be on Paul’s mind of what is being tested. Only faithfulness as the meaning of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> makes sense in this passage each time it appears.</span></p>
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<h2>Twelve Proofs On Paul’s Usage Of Pistis As Faithfulness</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We clearly have seen twelve total times that the only meaning of <strong><em>pistis</em></strong> in a passage from Paul is <em><strong>faithfulness</strong></em>. See, Romans 3:3 (“faithfulness of God”), Romans 10:11 (the quote of Isaiah where it means “trust”), and seven other verses talking of the “faithfulness of Jesus.” (Romans 3:22, but also in Romans 3:26, Galatians 2:16,20, 3:22, Phil. 3:9, and Ephesians 3:12.) We saw that three times Paul extols the “faithfulness” of the Thessalonians under persecution, who are tested by God so they will be “counted worthy of the kingdom of God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3-5,8,11.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These twelve examples are just more proofs of how the word pisteuo (related to its noun form pistis) should be translated in John 3:16. <strong><em>Pisteuo</em></strong> means those who “<em><strong>obey</strong> </em>for/ unto Him” should have eternal life.</span></p>
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<h2>Paul’s Doctrine On Disobedience Means He Often Understood Pistis And Pisteuo As Faithfulness/Obey, Not Belief/Believe</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Is there further confirmation that in Paul’s understanding <em>pistis</em> and <em>pisteuo</em> were negated by disobedience? If so, then we know Paul ordinarily meant these words respectively meant faithfulness (obedient living), not faith, unlessthe context dictates otherwise, as what saves. Otherwise, disobedience could never be relevant to salvation if faith alone is all there is to salvation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In other words, did Paul ever say a person who had pistis could fall by disobedience and lose their salvation/ inheritance in heaven? If so, then we would know the correct translation of pisteuo (verb) and pistis (noun) in Paul’s writings is ordinarily obey and faithfulness, not believe and faith, unless — to repeat — the context makes clear otherwise.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If so, then the impact on our conception of salvation even as sometimes taught by Paul, and certainly as taught by Jesus in John 3:16, would be monumental. If salvation is by faith, then it is simple, easy and cost-free. If it is by obeying and faithfulness, it is precarious and costly.</span></p>
|
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<h3><strong><span style="font-size: x-large; color: #000080;">Paul Teaches Disobedience Negates Pisteuo</span></strong></h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul several times expressly stated a Christian who was morally disobedient would lose his salvation. Paul, in fact, feared for himself that unless he cut off the body parts that ensnared himself in sin, he would go to hell whole.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course, Paul learned this lesson from Jesus. Our Lord told the apostles that each of them had a stark choice. You can go to heaven only if you maim yourself by the self-discipline of cutting off body parts ensnaring you in sin. Or, you can fail to take such measures to buffet your body, and you will certainly go to hell whole. (Mark 9:42-47.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul says the very same thing in 1 Corinthians 9:27. Paul states:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disapproved (adokimos). (1 Cor. 9:27.) (YLT)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>Disapproved</em> or <em>rejected</em> is the most literal Greek meaning of adokimos. Instead of “disapproved,” the KJV has it “castaway.” Regardless, it is a serious negative condition.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sometimes it is translated as “reprobate.” Every other time the Greek word adokimos is used, it is always talking about the lost. (2 Cor. 13:5,6,7, 2 Tim. 3:8, Titus 1:16.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul held the fear that he might be rejected by God and thus be lost unless he buffeted his body. Consequently, in this verse, Paul shared Jesus’ view on salvation. Jesus taught you can go to heaven-maimed or hell-whole. (Mark 9:42-47.) You can cut off the body part ensnaring you in sin, and have eternal life (heaven maimed) or you can fail to “buffet” your body in such manner, and go to hell whole. Paul in this verse had Jesus’ view that sin, unaddressed by self-discipline over fleshly desire, will cause one to go to hell whole. Even Calvin read Paul’s words in the same way. He said it matched Jesus’ doctrine that one who begins as a believer must engage in “strenuous perserverance,” and it “would be of no avail to have set out boldly on the Christian race if they did not continue to the end.” (Calvin quoted in F. Lisco, <em>The Parables of Jesus</em> (Philadelphia:1850) at 119.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Unquestionably, in this passage, Paul applied this principle of heaven-maimed or hell-whole to someone like himself who already had initial pistis. Yet, Paul also clearly implied here that his own prior pistis is not the sole determinant of salvation. Hence, Paul’s concept of <em>pistis</em> is ordinarily not faith, but faithfulness, which can be negated by disobedience — the very thing Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:27 will make him <em>adokimos</em> — <em>disapproved, rejected</em>, a <em>castaway</em>, a <em>reprobate</em>. In other words, a lost soul.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While few who sit in the pews of a cheap-grace church ever learn this truth about this passage, an Atlantic Baptist University article says its meaning is clear:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To become disqualified (adokimos) is to be disallowed from obtaining eschatological salvation because of failing to meet its condition, obedience to God (see 2 Cor 13:5-7; 2 Tim 3:8; Titus 1:16; see also Heb 6:8). Implicit in Paul’s comments about himself is his warning to the Corinthians that they will likewise become disqualified if they continue their misuse of their freedom [by sinning].<sup><strong>43</strong></sup></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Titus 1:16</strong>. In the same vein, Paul in Titus 1:16 says of those who disobey God’s commands yet confess — homologeo — God, their good works are adokimos. Paul uses this identical expression to say if you homologeo that Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. (Rom. 10:9.) But here Paul says the very same homologeo for God is negated by disobedience.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">They confess (<em>homologeo</em>) that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient [apeithos], and unto every good work reprobate [adokimos]. (Titus 1:16, KJV.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Young’s Literal has this: “Unto every good work disapproved.” In the literal Greek, it means “to every good work rejected.” Thus, you can confess God, but if your works disobey Him, you deny God and all your good works are dis-approved/rejected by God. (They become like filfthy rags.) You must be lost despite having confessed God. Paul does not say this proves you never truly “believed.” He says instead you “deny” God by disobedience.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Galatians 6:7-9</strong>. Paul speaks likewise in Galatians 6:7-9. He says that salvation depends upon not sowing to the flesh — even for a Christian. If you have pistis in the next quote, it does not satisfy the obedience requirement that Paul simultaneously insists upon. This implies that Paul here understood obedience was implied in the meaning of the word pistis. Obviously, Paul ordinarily meant faithfulness (obedient living) not faith when he used pistis. Paul says:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to his sinful nature, from that nature he will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Gal. 6:7-9 NIV).</span></p>
|
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<p> </p>
|
||||
<p> </p>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<p> </p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"><strong>Table on What you sow</strong><strong> </strong><strong>You reap.</strong></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;">If you sow to the sinful nature You reap destruction.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;">If you sow to the Spirit You reap eternal life.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;">If you do not become weary in doing good, You will reap a harvest.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;"> </span></p>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The meaning of this passage is clear if you simply notice the conditions and the outcomes. See Table above. Paul is addressing Christians. If they sow to the flesh, they will suffer “destruction.” In contrast, if they “sow to the Spirit,” which is paralleled by the phrase “not become weary in doing good,” they will reap “eternal life.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Romans 6:22</strong>. Another passage to consider is Romans 6:22. Here Paul says the benefit of becoming God’s servant is it should “lead to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”44 On this verse, the Atlantic Baptist University article says the meaning is unequivocal:</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul continues by saying that the result (“fruit”) of being enslaved to God is holiness (<em>eis hagiasmon</em>), by which he means practical righteousness or habitual obedience to God. The result (“fruit”) of holiness, moreover, is <em>eternal life</em>. In other words, in Rom 6:20-22, Paul gives expression to the familiar Jewish idea that eternal life is conditional upon practical righteousness; it is significant that Paul does not say that the condition of receiving eternal life is imputed righteousness or the “righteousness of God”....</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Please note here the purpose or object use of<em> eis</em>. This is the preposition we emphasized in John 3:16 means <em>for</em>. John 3:16 says he who is pisteuo-ing eis Christ should be saved. Here in Romans 6:22, becoming God’s servant is the first step whose purpose is to lead to an object: holiness. It is for the purpose of making you holy. This is not a one-step of belief that transforms you into a holy person. Becoming God’s servant has the eis purpose of making you holy. Then the result is eternal life.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Romans 2:13</strong>. In another passage, Paul ties justification to obedience. Paul writes:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified. (Rom 2:13.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, compare this to our prior discussion of Romans 3:26. Paul there said God justifies whoever has the faithfulness of Jesus. This means those who imitate Jesus’ obedience are thus justified. (See page 462 supra.) This is identical to what Romans 2:13 quoted here literally says in all translations.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Romans 2:6-7</strong>. In yet another passage — Romans 2:6-7 — Paul most remarkably of all says that God</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing [i.e., lit. ‘endurance in good works’] seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Greek words translated as ‘patience in well-doing’ more correctly say endurance in good works. Paul thus says ‘to those who endure patiently in doing good works, God will render eternal life.’</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here, the Atlantic Baptist University article once more comments how clearly this spells out a doctrine contrary to what most suppose Paul taught. The Atlantic Baptist University article states:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul clearly affirms that believers will be judged based on what they have done, not on what they have believed. It should be noted that the eschatological judgment to which Paul refers does not presuppose that the criterion of receiving eschatological salvation is perfection, but rather habitual obedience.<sup><strong>45</strong></sup></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, this passage adds more support to re-interpreting the word pistis in Paul’s writings to ordinarily mean faithfulness, not faith. This supports the idea that Paul spoke this way in reliance on Jesus likewise teaching these principles.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Colossians 1:22, 23</strong>. Similarly, Paul says that pistis leads to presenting you holy and blameless unless you fail to continue in pistis, and you lose your steadfastness in pistis. Paul’s aim is</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight IF INDEED YOU CONTINUE<sup><strong>46</strong></sup> IN PISTIS, grounded and steadfast, AND ARE NOT MOVED AWAY from the hopeof the gospel... Colossians 1:22,23.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One can see that again <em>pistis</em> here must mean <em>faithfulness</em>. The <em>pistis</em> can be ruined by losing steadfastness in the <em>pistis</em>. This is how one speaks of <em>faithfulness.</em> This is not how you speak about mere belief in facts about Jesus or the atonement. Moreover, this passage negates the idea that a belief one-time saved you. Instead, Paul says your salvation is tied up in an activity of<em> pistis</em> that must continue or otherwise it is in vain or for nothing. Faithfulness or trust, not faith, best fits those characteristics. Finally, the idea of a mental assent in the sense of faith in the doctrine of faith alone cannot be what Paul intended for pistis here because he just said pistis alone did not save you. Steadfastness or continuance are also necessary. To repeat, only faithfulness (obedient living) if read into<em> pistis</em> can contain a sufficiently broad meaning to make sense of this verse.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, while everyone succumbs to translating pistis as faith here, the notion of mental assent does not fit. It should be translated here as faithfulness, not faith. Paul says it is destroyed by losing steadfastness and not continuing in the hope of salvation. When you lose hope in salvation, Paul is concerned you will no longer bother being faithful anymore. Paul is telling us to remain faithful and do not give up on the hope of salvation. Be steadfast. Be faithful.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>1 Timothy 5:8</strong>. Paul likewise shows how a true Christian’s misbehavior denies pistis and makes you worse than an unbeliever in this quote:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially his household, he has denied the faith [pistis, trust, pledge] and is worse than an unbeliever. (1Ti 5:8 ALT.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, once again, we see how the better translation choice for pistis is not faith, but pledge. When a Christian does not provide for his family, he denies the pledge of faithfulness you gave to Jesus as Lord. If pistis meant faith, how would you deny your acceptance of facts (belief) by simply misbehavior? But if pistis means here pledge, you surely deny such a trusting faithful relationship or pledge by misbehavior.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>1 Timothy 5:11-15</strong>. Paul speaks again similarly about<em> pistis</em> in 1 Timothy 5:11-15. In fact, here Paul certainly uses <em>pistis </em>not to mean <em>faith</em> in the sense of belief in facts about Jesus. In fact, most translations of this passage do not render<em> pistis</em> as <em>faith</em>, but instead translate <em>pistis</em> as <em>pledge</em>. This is a reasonable rendition. Yet, if you translate <em>pistis</em> here as pledge in this next quote, then why not thoroughly revise all of Paul’s passages on <em>pistis</em> to be about salvation by a <em>pledge</em>? A firm commitment, trust or faithfulness? The word<em> pledge</em> is a synonym for a most solemn trust. When you pledge your honor to a king, it is a promise of compliance with the will of that king.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let’s now read 1 Timothy 5:11-15 where we find <em>pistis</em> is no longer translated by even the leading translations as<em> faith</em> but as <em>pledge</em>:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But younger widows refuse: for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; (12) having condemnation, because they have rejected their first <em><strong>pledge</strong></em> [<em>pistis</em>]. (13) And withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. (14) I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling: (15) for already some are turned aside after Satan. (1Ti 5:11-15 ASV.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul says that this wanton sensual desire in them makes them wax against Christ. By doing so, they have rejected their first<em> pistis</em>. Here Paul is talking identical to Jesus who says in Luke 8:13 that after the second seed hears the word, it at first accepts the word with Joy. Then the second seed keeps on <em>pisteuo</em>-sing for a while (translated typically as <em>believes</em>), but in time of temptation falls away, withers and hence dies. The noun form — <em>pistis</em> — in 1 Timothy 5:11-15 and the verb form — <em>pisteuo</em> —in Luke 8:13 must be talking of the first <em>pledge</em> to obey unto Christ which these persons initially made.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, 1 Timothy 5:11-15 is just one more proof that dictates we can no longer construe Paul’s usage of <em>pistis</em> or <em>pisteuo</em> to always mean <em>faith</em>. Rather, Paul is obviously saying in these passages that salvation turns upon nothing so shallow as mere faith. Instead, Paul in these passage must be saying salvation turns on faithfulness, trust, a pledge or promise of compliance — which are legitimate alternative Greek meanings in standard lexicons.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One can concede that Paul is not always consistent in his usage of <em>pistis</em> and<em> pisteuo</em>, as we shall discuss. That is not, however, a problem in how to interpret Jesus.<strong><em> It is a problem in how to understand Paul</em></strong>! Nevertheless, Paul clearly often states salvation is not by the shallow notion of faith alone. Hence this at minimum gives us further confirmation that our choice of how to translate <em>pisteuo</em> in John 3:16 conforms to even how Paul sometimes (or even often) spoke and taught. Jesus does not have to strictly agree with every mode of meaning of Paul. Rather, <strong><em>Paul must strictly always agree with Jesus</em></strong>. If Paul does not, this is proof that Paul is not speaking at that moment with inspiration. A conflict in Paul’s usage can <strong><em>never be used to gainsay Christ’s meaning</em></strong>. Yet, when Paul agrees with Jesus, it shows how Jesus’ meaning even penetrated into some or most of the writings of Paul.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The clearest examples are the following four inheritance warnings by Paul. They repeat the true gospel of Jesus Christ, as we previously have seen.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Paul’s Four Inheritance Warnings</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As the final proof that Paul’s concept of pistis often must mean faithfulness, not faith, is Paul’s inheritance warnings. In four passages Paul clearly said that if a Christian commits various sins (which are cognizable as moral rules from the Mosaic Law), such as covetousness, adultery, etc., this means you shall “not inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9, Ephesian 5:5-7, Galatians 5:19-21, and 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8.) Jesus said those who “inherit the kingdom” means they have “eternal life.” (Matt. 25:34,46. See page 219-20.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will discuss these four passages in a moment. The point is, if this is true, then this proves again that Paul often is not using pistis with its shallow meaning of faith. Rather, Paul often instead used it with a more strenuous meaning of faithfulness, which includes the notion of faithful obedience.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let’s take, for example, 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8, from among these four passages. It clearly is addressing Christians, and says when you act disobediently you “reject God” who has given you His Holy Spirit:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[For] each of you to know how to be acquiring his own vessel [fig., wife] in sanctification and honor, (5) not in lustful passion of desire, just as also the Gentiles, the ones not knowing God,(6) [so as] <em><strong>not to do wrong</strong></em> and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord [is the] avenger concerning all these [things], just as also we forewarned you and solemnly testified. (7) For God did not call us to impurity [or, immorality], but in sanctification.(8) Therefore,<strong><em> the one rejecting [this]</em></strong> [or, regarding [this] as nothing] does not reject a person but God, the One having also given His Holy Spirit to you. (1Th 4:4-8 ALT.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Or 1 Corinthians 6:8-10, we read similarly:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But you act unjustly, and you defraud, and these [things to] brothers [and sisters]! (9) You know that <em><strong>unrighteous [ones] will not inherit [the] kingdom of God</strong></em>, do you not? Stop being led astray [fig., being deceived]; neither sexual sinners nor idolaters nor adulterers nor passive partners in male-male sex nor active partners in male-male sex (10) nor covetous [ones] nor thieves nor drunkards nor slanderers [or, abusive persons] nor swindlers will inherit [the] kingdom of God. (1Co 6:8-10 ALT.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this 1 Corinthians passage, Paul clearly says that these Christians are acting unjustly toward brothers and sisters. Paul understands these malefactors have truly accepted Christ. He then sternly warns them that anyone misbehaving will not inherit the kingdom of God. Actually, someone was leading them astray. Some taught that they safely could act unjustly toward brothers in the faith, or commit this list of sins, and still inherit the kingdom of God. Paul is sternly warning them that the opposite is true.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The passages of Ephesian 5:5-7 and Galatians 5:19-21 are to the same effect. In these two epistles addressed to the “brethren,” Paul warns, as he says he warned them before, that anyone who practices various moral sins “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Clearly all these passages prove that Paul had an idea that whatever he thought elsewhere about pisteuo or pistis often enough he taught obedience was implied in their word meanings. Yet, the only definition of pistis that works like this is the option to translate it as faithfulness, trust, or pledge. Those translations alone connote obedience. The meaning of faith for <em>pistis</em> in these passages, while conceivable, is certainly too shallow to convey what Paul must have intended in these passages.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Even in Passages Where Paul Means Intellectual Assent.</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, even when Paul does use pistis to mean faith, in the sense of doctrine, almost every time he uses the word that way, Paul also says in the very same context that the faith (doctrine) is denied or negated by disobedience to moral rules. 2 Tim.3:6-8; 2 Cor. 13:5. Thus, Paul was even then still harkening back to a fuller more strenuous meaning about what the faith (correct doctrine) entailed.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is not to deny Paul has verses which teach salvation is by pistis without works (obedience). (Eph. 2:8-9; Romans 4:4.) But to repeat, this does not raise a problem how to interpret Jesus’s usage of pistis or pisteuo. Nor would such evidence in just two passages refute that Paul clearly ordinarily used pistis and pisteuo to mean faithfulness.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Rather, the fact Paul has a different program of salvation in these two passages merely raises a problem on how to explain the contradiction within Paul’s view of salvation. In a moment, we shall discuss the solutions employed by the early Christian church to this dilemma. See “The Problem Of Paul’s Belief-Without-Obedience Verses” on page 481.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Conclusion On Ordinary Meaning Of Pistis And Pisteuo In Paul’s Writings</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a result of the overwhelming evidence above, unbeknownst to most Christians in the pew, evangelical scholars now agree it is impossible to believe Paul consistently taught faith alone saves. Rather, Paul often taught faithfulness saves. As T. Schreiner wrote in <em>The Law and Its Fulfillment</em> (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993) at 203:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even though Paul asserts that no one can attain salvation by good works, he also insists that <strong><em>no one can be saved without them, and that they are necessary to obtain an eschatological inheritance</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As the evangelist Charles Finney similarly said: “But he [Paul] has everywhere insisted on good works springing from faith, or the righteousness of faith, as indispensable to salvation.” (Finney, <em>Justification by Faith</em> (1837).)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Consequently, the entire conception of salvation has been negatively impacted for centuries by translating<em> pisteuo</em> (the verb) and <em>pistis</em> (the noun) consistently as <em>believe</em> and <em>faith</em> respectively. The primary sense in Jesus’ teachings, let alone in other portions of the New Testament, of the word <em>pisteuo</em> was always <em>obey, trust, compliance</em>, etc. <em>Pistis</em> normally means <em>faithfulness</em>, not <em>faith</em>. This is why Paul could say <em>disobedience</em> (i) was a denial of <em>pistis</em> and (ii) was a denial of God who gave His Holy Spirit to you and (iii) causes the loss of the inheritance of the kingdom of God.</span></p>
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<h2>The Problem Of Paul’s Belief-Without-Obedience Verses</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul two times teaches salvation by belief even if one is still disobedient and has commenced no obedience whatsoever. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:4-5; cf. Romans 10:9.)<sup><strong>47</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Specifically, as evangelical scholars appear all to concur, Paul teaches in Romans 4:5 that a mental assent to a belief without repentance from sin — while you are still ungodly — saves you. (Romans 4:5.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These two instances of a usage of pistis to mean belief-only are clear as long as Paul meant by erga (works) a synonym for obedience. This appears to be Paul’s intent.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, the only way to reconcile Paul fully to Jesus is to always read pistis as faithfulness. Unfortunately for Paul (if we wish to regard him as always inspired), this has serious difficulties within these two passages. Nevertheless, there is one plausible way to read Ephesians 2:8-9 this way so as to fit Jesus. The weight of Romans 4:5 in the opposite direction may make it a Quixotic venture to solve Ephesians 2:8-9 this way. Yet, if Romans 4:5 can ever be reconciled to Christ’s teachings, here is a solution to Ephesians 2:8-9.</span></p>
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<h2>Ephesians 2:8-9: Can It Fit Jesus’ Words?</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As to Ephesians 2:8-9, it can fit Jesus’ teaching if you read<em> erga</em> in Eph. 2:8-9 to mean <em>visible works</em>. As a result, then the clause “lest any man should boast” is no longer meant to require the most shallow meaning to <em>pistis</em> to keep the risk of boasting to the smallest minimum. Instead, the boasting clause would be directed at erga as explanation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul would be saying you are saved by “faithfulness, not by works (to be seen by men) lest any man should boast.” This means you are saved by obedient living (to internal moral rules from Jesus) rather than by visible works. If salvation were by visible works, Paul means God would be tempting you to boast. Hence, God allegedly created a salvation formula that does not invite boasting because it depends on internal faithfulness that only God sees.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem is even if you read Ephesians 2:8-9 that way, there is the seemingly impossible hurdle posed by Romans 4:5 where Paul says he who “works not (<em>ergazomai</em>), but believes (<em>pisteuo epi</em>)<sup><strong>48</strong></sup> [on] the one justifying the irreverent — ungodly — is being accounted the <em>pistis</em> of Him unto [eis] righteousness.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In other words, what this verse says is the one who lacks obedience (works) but is <em>pisteuo epi</em> on the One who justifies the ungodly is being reckoned with the faithfulness (<em>pistis</em>) of Jesus for righteousness’ sake.<sup><strong>49</strong></sup></span></p>
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<h2>Pisteuo In Romans 4:5a</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here in Romans 4:5a, <em>pisteuo</em> by being contrasted with <em>ergazomai</em> is contrasting working against <em>pisteuo</em>-ing. This antithesis would support an intellectual assent-belief meaning to <em>pisteuo</em> in this verse.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Most troubling of all, Paul in Romans 4:5b says God “justifies the ungodly.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In light of the fact works are irrelevant in this verse, and most concur repentance-from-sin is a work, every commentator agrees Paul directly affirms justification without repentance from sin.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As Robertson’s <em>Word Pictures</em> says: “The man is taken as he is and pardoned.” Wesley concurs, saying God had to justify a man while he was “<strong><em>at that very time, ungodly</em></strong>.” Gill insists that Paul means Abraham (in context) was “in his<strong><em> state of unregeneracy</em></strong>...an ungodly person” when God justified him. The Geneva notes likewise say: “That makes him who is<em><strong> wicked in himself</strong></em> to be just in Christ.” Clarke concurs that Paul speaks of Abraham, and according to Paul: “Abraham...was called<strong><em> when he was ungodly</em></strong>, <em>i.e</em>. an idolater; and, on his believing, was freely justified.” Clarke says we are to understand this is the model: justification comes about <em><strong>without any interior repentance from sin</strong></em>. The only requirement Paul has in this verse is belief in the goodness and mercy of God. Clarke says:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Abraham’s state and mode in which he was justified, are the plan and rule according to which God purposes to save men; and as his state was ungodly, and the mode of his justification was by faith in the goodness and mercy of God.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, it is Romans 4:5 which is the<em> sole basis to ridicule repentance-from-sin as a requirement for salvation</em> among most evangelicals.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, the famous Ryrie Study Bible says <strong><em>repentance</em></strong> from sin is “a<em><strong> false addition to faith</strong></em>” when added as a condition of salvation.”<sup><strong>50</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Likewise, Frederick Bruner, on the faculty with the Fuller Theological Seminary, and a prolific evangelical author, insists in his book Theology of the Holy Spirit that receipt of the Holy Spirit is “<strong><em>not conditional</em></strong>.” Confession of sin and <em><strong>repentance</strong></em> from sin are “works” which supposedly only hinder simple faith. Bruner insists that <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>repentance</strong></span> is “<em><strong>not something to be done</strong></em>.” Rather, it is God’s gift which enables a person to follow Christ and decide to be baptized.<sup><strong>51</strong></sup>Again and again Bruner berates Pentecostal Christians in particular who seek more than Christ’s forgiveness at conversion. Bruner declares it is wrong to insist that a convert has some responsibility for meeting conditions such as repentance, obedience, eagerness and the like. All such arguments from Bruner hang principally on Romans 4:5.</span></p>
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<h2><strong><span style="color: #000080;"><a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/169-chapter-26-7jwo-genesis-156.html"><span style="color: #000080;">Continue to Part 7.</span></a></span></strong></h2>
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<p><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: large;"><strong>FOOTNOTES FOR PART 6</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">26. This inversion is usually done by not distinguishing Paul from Jesus, and simply labelling anything from Paul as “the Bible,” without any sense of priority for Jesus. For example: “As with any single verse or passage, we discern what it teaches by first filtering it through what we know the Bible [i.e., Paul] teaches on the subject at hand. The Bible [i.e., Paul] is clear that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of any kind....(Ephesians 2:8-9). So, any interpretation which comes to the conclusion that any... act, is necessary for salvation, is a faulty interpretation.” http://www.gotquestions.org/baptism-Acts-2-38.html.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">27.The King James prefers a rendering that makes no sense, and renders this the “faith of God.” Fortunately, this is an isolated phenomenon. See GNB (“faithful”). In fact, those who believe Paul virtually always uses pistis to mean faith, concede in Romans 3:3 pistis must mean faithfulness. “The translation ‘faithfulness’ is dictated by the parallel terms as well as the reference to God’s pistis.” (Karl P. Donfried, “Paul and the Revisions: Did Luther Really Get It All Wrong?,” Dialogue: Journal of Theology Vol. 46, No. 1 (Spring 2007) at 31, 34 (available online).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">28.Michael Palmer (April 1999) posted at http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/corpus-paul/19990403/000132.html (accessed 7-1-07).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">29.N.T. Wright, <em>Paul in Fresh Perspective</em> (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005) at 47.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">30.George Howard, “On the “Faith of Christ,” <em>Harvard Theological Review</em> Vol. 60 No. 4 (Oct. 1967) at 459, 459.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">31.One recent dissent is Karl P. Donfried, “Paul and the Revisions: Did Luther Really Get It All Wrong?,” Dialogue: Journal of Theology Vol. 46, No. 1 (Spring 2007) at 31 (available online). Donfried’s argument has numerous flaws, and no valid points. First and most important, Donfried does not deny there is a subjective genetive here — the key issue. Instead, he claims that he reads Luther as saying there is none in the quote in Footnote 32, page 461. But Luther does not say that. In fact, Luther is quoting Latin, not Greek which the scholar (Wright) is citing and whom Donfried opposes. Nor does Donfried note that Luther is confessing he is wishing the Latin read differently than it actually reads. The Latin reads exactly as Wright reads the Greek! It is a mystery how Luther came about with his translation even from the Latin! Next, Donfried quotes translations of early church ‘fathers’ who in allusions and paraphrases are translated as talking about ‘faith’ in this verse. However, these English translations of the early Greek and Latin ‘fathers’ prove nothing. The original Latin word fides in some of those texts has as much ambiguity as the Greek word pistis. One translation error does not support later error. Thus, because these ‘fathers’ were translated as talking about faith does not prove Romans 3:22 was translated as faith correctly. Finally, Donfried says Wright’s view of faithfulness as the correct translation has led to frightening theologies. He cites Bondros’ recent work as an example of where this translation must take you: “The extreme consequences of Wright’s misinterpretation of Paul can be seen in the recent volume by David Bondros, Paul on the Cross....” Id., at 35. He then explains Bondros teaches Paul did not believe Christ made atonement for sin, but Christ was merely obedient to being used as an instrument of redemption. This is the big smear by means of a fallacious non-sequitur. Yet, Donfried never actually addressed the key issue: the Greek meaning of the text.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">32.Luther unabashedly tried using the Latin version to understand the Greek, but it is incoherent because the Latin genetive is the same as the Greek. Luther wrote: “when it says the faith of Christ (fides Cristi) [the LATIN], we must understand faith in Christ (fides in Cristum).” (Luther, Works (American edition; ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut Lehmann; Philadelphia and St. Louis: Muhlenberg and Concordia, 1955ff) 25, 242 (Lectures on Romans). This makes no sense even on its face. Fides Cristi in Latin means the faith or faith-fulness of Christ. Luther apparently feels free that he can change this by a gloss of interpretation into fides in Cristum. How can you do that? Perhaps we should say that Luther is actually rewriting the verse to say what he would prefer it would have said. But neither does the Latin nor the Greek say what he wishes Romans 3:22 would say about<em> pistis</em>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">33.Interestingly, Luther was not always consistent in wiping out the of in the translation of the same expression elsewhere. In Galatians 2:20, Luther translated it “dem Glauben des Sohnes Gottes.” That is, the “faith of the Son of God.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">34.Similarly, Galatians 2:20 should read that “I live in faithfulness, the faithfulness which is of the son of God.” Had Paul not used pistis...of the Son of God,” then we would not have been sure how to translate his first use of pistis which talks of his own pistis. We would not know whether he meant faithfulness or faith. Yet, by Paul equating it to the pistis of the Son of God, we know the latter usage is faithfulness. (It is absurd to speak of Jesus having a faith in Himself.) Thus, the first pis-tis is intended the same way as the second pistis, to demonstrate the similarity between the way Paul says he is living and the way Jesus lived: obediently. Incidentally, in a bizarre argument, Chambers claims Galatians 2:20 has to be read the other way around, so it is “I live in faith, the faith which is in the son of God” (i.e., an objective genetive). He claims this avoids clashing between how pistis reads for “believers” versus how it reads for Jesus. That’s totally false. It is the opposite. His reading claims that I have the same faith that was in Jesus Christ. However, that rendering clashes with common sense. Jesus does not have a faith in Himself that I then duplicate. He KNOWS who He is. He doesn’t have to have a faith (like myself) in what is not seen. (Rom. 8:24.) Also, it is a subjective genetive, meaning “of”; it does not mean “in.” Hence, it is Chamber’s argument that causes a ridiculous clash, while faithfulness makes perfect sense in both cases. For Chambers’ argument, see Steven L. Chambers, “‘Faith in Christ,’ or the ‘Faith of Christ? Pistis Cristou in Paul,” Lutheran Theological Review XII (1999-2000) at 23-24.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">35. Chambers offers up the argument for consideration that twists this fact around to favor a reading of it as "faith in Christ." This argument says Paul is entitled to have an idiosyncratic (isolated) meaning from all others who express the same thought differently. This argument says: "Paul never uses that construction; he never makes Christ (or God) the object of a preposition following pistis. Thus, pistis Cristou may well be an alternate, and uniquely Pauline, way of expressing `faith in Christ.'" (Steven L. Chambers, "`Faith in Christ,' or the `Faith of Christ? Pistis Cristou in Paul," Lutheran Theological Review XII (1999-2000) at 23 (available online).) Chambers cites (and apparently realizes it is a valid point) Williams' claim that this argument represents a fundamental logical error. Merely because "Paul does not use pistis en or eis when he seems to mean `faith in Christ' does not lead to the inverse conclusion that he does mean `faith in Christ' every time he speaks of pistis Cristou." (Chambers, supra, at 25, citing Sam K. Williams, "Again Pistis Christou", CBQ 49 (1987), 431-447, at 433-34.) Chambers appears to have a misunderstanding that Paul never says pistis en Cristou, which he does in Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4. What Williams is saying is that sometimes Paul appears to mean in Christ even when he only says pistis Cristou, but this does not support reading in into it every time. This is particularly true because Paul in those four cited passages does prove he knows how to say pistis en Cristou.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">36.Steven L. Chambers, “‘Faith in Christ,’ or the ‘Faith of Christ? Pistis Cristou in Paul,”<em> Lutheran Theological Review</em> XII (1999-2000) at 20, 22. (available online).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">37.“And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.” Deut. 6:25 ASV.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">38.This is extensively discussed in my prior book, Jesus’ Words Only (2007) at 274-76 and 507-08. This raises the question whether Paul really meant by pistis in translating Habakkuk 2:4 faith or faithfulness. Because the underlying Hebrew exclusively meant faithfulness (obedient living), it may be simply an English translation error which misperceives Paul as saying faith not faithfulness in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 when Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4. Thus, it is conceivable Paul meant that justification is by faithfulness (obedience), not belief (faith) alone even in these two passages. If Paul meant faithfulness in both Romans1:17 and Galatians 3:11 is what justifies, we have all been misled by the erroneous translations of Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. This would mean that it was not Paul who was mistranslating the sense of Habakkuk 2:4, but it was the English translators who were mistranslating Paul. Regardless of who is mistranslating whom, even had Paul meant we were justified by belief alone (mental assent), this does not permit us to overthrow prophetic statements from Habakkuk, Ezekiel and Moses in Deuteronomy on what causes justification. This is the point exhaustively demonstrated in Jesus’ Words Only (2007).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">39.The twist on Romans 3:26 to ‘faith in Jesus’ also is contra-indicated by Jesus’ doctrine on justification by repentance in the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. See page 27 et seq. for anyone of us who has the “faithfulness (obedience) of</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">40.A. G. Herbert, “Faithfulness and ‘Faith,’” Theology 58 (1955) at 37379 and Thomas F. Torrance, “One Aspect of the Biblical Conception of Faith,” Expositary Times 68 (1957) at 111-14. Chambers claimed that their arguments were refuted by James Barr, saying Barr established that faith, not faithfulness ‘everywhere dominates in the New Testament.’ (See James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford University Press, 1961; repr. London: SCM Press, 1983) 201, viz., at 161-205.) This exaggerates Barr’s claims and the validity of his proof. What Barr said instead was that Torrance was wrong to equate pistis necessarily with all the meanings that emet had in Hebrew. For the Hebrew concept of faithfulness in emet had wider implications than faithfulness in Greek. Barr means it is improper to read into a Greek definition a wider meaning that only exists in Hebrew. Thus, nothing in Barr says it is wrong to infer that Paul meant the meaning of faithfulness which is a permissible meaning in Greek when Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4. The reason is clear: we should probably infer Paul used pistis as faithfulness because Paul should have known it meant faithfulness at minimum in the Hebrew of Habakkuk 2:4. Paul’s orientation most likely had to be to the Hebrew. (W.D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (1970).) Even if Paul thought only in Greek terms, nothing in the Septuagint Bible’s normal usage conveyed faith in the word pistis to Paul. As Bishop Robertson said: “the Septuagint... probably never uses pistis in our sense of ‘faith’... [s]o at least we can say that pistis by itself would not primarily suggest the idea of ‘faith’....” D. W. B. Robinson, “‘Faith of Jesus Christ’—a New Testament Debate,” The Reformed Theological Review Vol. 29, no.3 (Sept.-Dec. 1970) at 71, 81. For this reason, other scholars point out that Hebert and Torrance are still correct contextually on the meaning of pistis being faithfulness in Romans 3. See Richard B. Hays in The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture (Eerdmans: 2005). He explained: “Barr’s cogent criticisms of Torrance and A.G. Herbert do not however apply to the present exegetical observations about Romans 3. Barr’s basic objection is directed against the linguistically naive assumption that there is a distinctive (Hebraic) ‘fundamental meaning’ that governs the semantic range of... pistis in the NT without regard to context and usage.” Id., at 54. Hays, who agrees with my view of pistis as faithfulness in Romans 3, ends: “My observations here, rather than resting upon an alleged fundamental linguistic equivalence, proceed from the evidence of Paul’s usage of these words as functionally equivalent terms within this particular discourse.” Id. In scholarly circles, the reading of “faithfulness of Christ” has gained acceptance, following the seminal work in 1981 by Richard Hays entitled The Faith of Jesus Christ (2d Ed. 2001). Hays argues that Paul’s wording is not faith in Christ, but faithfulness of Christ.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">41.Steven L. Chambers, “‘Faith in Christ,’ or the ‘Faith of Christ? Pistis Cristou in Paul,” Lutheran Theological Review XII (1999-2000) at 22 (available online).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">42.Most faith-alone advocates explicate this passage by illogical statements. Calvin for example simply makes an ad hoc statement that “No persecutions can make us worthy of the kingdom of God.” Yet, this is a direct contradiction of what Paul just said was God’s plain purpose!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">43.This article is entitled: “The Spirit, The Necessity of Good Works and Final Judgment,” http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/pauline/Works.htm (last accessed 11/25/2006). This Atlantic Baptist University course article cites in support G. D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987) at 433-41; C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2d ed.; London: Black, 1971) at 218. However, not all agree. The Atlantic Baptist article continues:</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“According to J. Gundry Volf, Paul uses the term ‘disqualified’ (adokimos) in relation to apostleship or service, not in relation to his final salvation (Paul and Perseverance: Staying in and Falling Away (Louisville: Westminster/Knox, 1990) at 233-47). In 1 Cor 9:27a, what Paul renounces is [supposedly] his apostolic rights and Christian freedom, and this not for the sake of obtaining final salvation, but for the sake of obtaining a reward.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In response, the Atlantic Baptist University piece says: “Her argument, however, is not convincing.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">More important to us, why would Gundry Volf try to make Paul not repeat what Jesus so clearly teaches in Mark 9:42-47? Why subtract a passage where Paul is in clear agreement with Jesus by spinning it to not be about salvation? The reason is obvious: Paul does not endorse cheap grace here, as he is often read to endorse in other passages.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">44.“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (Romans 6:22 NIV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">45.“The Spirit, The Necessity of Good Works and Final Judgment,” http:/ /www.abu.nb.ca/courses/pauline/Works.htm (last accessed 11/25/ 2006).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">46. The Greek word is <em>epimeno</em>. It also means “to stay at or with, to tarry still, still to abide, remain, to persevere.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">47.These verses support salvation by a mental belief without obedience, if “works” means obedience. If you are saved by pistis, not erga (Eph. 2:8-9, ‘faith’ not ‘works’) so no one can boast, it sounds like God is so concerned boasting may happen that He has debased salvation so mere belief in facts, as distinct from obedience/faithfulness, saves you. Similarly, if you pisteuo that God raised Jesus from the dead in Romans 10:9b, then this is condition b of what saves you. This 10:9b says if you believe this fact (i.e., the resurrection) is true, you are assured salvation. The salvation statement in Romans 10:9a, however, runs counter to belief alone. It adds the requirement that if you also homologeo en stoma — confess with the mouth — that Jesus is Lord, then you are saved. Confession is often admitted by Paulinists to be a work. An action. At least it is not faith alone. So there is a quandary hanging over Romans 10:9a versus10:9b. Finally, in Romans 4:4-5, if you pisteuo, but do not have erga, Paul shockingly say God justifies you while you are still “ungodly.” (This apparently says God justified a man who was unrepentant-about-sin — at least that is how most Paulinist commentators read it, as we shall see.) See also Phil. 3:8-11. There are various solutions that argue these verses teach salvation by faith and works and not by works alone. (Stulac.) Others claim erga means works of the ceremonial law cannot save. However, Paul’s negative view about the entire law makes that an unconvincing argument. See my prior book, Jesus’ Words Only (2007), chapter five. Others try to make the case Paul does not ever have a “cheap grace” gospel, relying heavily upon Romans 3:7-8. See, Lebedev, “Paul, the Law, Grace and … ‘Cheap Grace,’” Quodlibet Journal Vol. 6 No. 3, July - September 2004 (available at http://www.quodlibet.net/lebedev-grace.shtml.) Yet, if there is no means of resolution, I offered what I regard is the correct solution about the doctrinal conflict between Jesus and Paul (and Paul with Paul) in my work Jesus’ Words Only (2007). The title is succinctly the point.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">48.Vincent sees a small nuance in the fact this says pisteuo epi. It carries the idea of “mental direction with a view to resting upon.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">49.Please note Romans 4:5 is another instance where pistis means faith fulness. Paul speaks again about the pistis of Jesus. It again must mean faithfulness. It was Jesus’ obedience unto death to which Paul is referring by pistis here. However, it is the usage of<em> pisteuo epi</em> in the first part of Romans 4:5 that poses the difficulty.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">50.Charles Ryrie, <em>The Ryrie Study Bible</em> (Chicago: Moody Press, 1976) at 1950.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">51. Frederick D. Bruner,<em> A Theology of the Holy Spirit</em> (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970) at 115, 116, 166.</span></p>
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<h1>Those Who Endure To The End</h1>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff; font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A Conditional Promise Of Salvation</span></strong></h3>
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<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Where are the two places Jesus uses the strong language of a promise that you “shall” be saved?</span><sup style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; line-height: 1.3em;"><strong>1</strong></sup><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"> One person to receive such a promise is:</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></div>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And every one that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and <em><strong>shall inherit eternal life</strong></em>. (Matthew 19:29 ASV.) Cf. Matt. 25:34,46 (“inherit the kingdom” means have “eternal life.”)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus elsewhere makes the same promise to a person whose character is quite similar:</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If you <strong><em>shall</em></strong> endure to the end, you <strong><em>shall be saved</em></strong>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> NIV.)</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Even the faith-alone oriented<em> The Expositor’s Bible Commentary</em> (Ed. Frank Gaebelein) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1989) agrees <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> discusses a condition for salvation. It says this means that the Christian must sacrifice even his life if necessary to remain true to Christ. “Otherwise there is no salvation.” (<em>Id.</em>, Vol. 8 at 250.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Gaebelein even emphasizes the necessity of the continuation of this action from the Greek tense used. “The verb ‘endure’ is in the present tense of continuous action (<em>hypomenomen</em>). It is only as we keep on enduring that we will be saved in time of persecution.” (<em>Id</em>., Vol. 11 at 401.)<sup><strong>2</strong></sup></span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></div>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> should therefore be revised to say: “If you keep on enduring, you shall be saved.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">This is confirmed by two passages that use “shall” with “endure” that promise similar results. James teaches if we endure temptation and times of trial, we “shall” receive the crown of life. (James 1:12.)<sup><strong>3</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> is merely a parallel to what we read in Revelation 2:10,11. Jesus says there if we are faithful, we receive the crown of life:</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested....Be faithful <em><strong>until death</strong></em>, and I <strong><em>will give you the crown of life</em></strong>. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who <strong><em>overcomes shall not be hurt</em></strong> by the <em><strong>second death</strong></em>.</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">Jesus tells us to be faithful until death. If we do so, then we will be given the crown of life. Jesus explains further: if we overcome the testing, then we will not be hurt by the second death.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, it follows by a logical corollary, that if we do not remain faithful and do not endure the testing, then we will not receive the crown of life and we will be hurt by the second death. This clearly threatens loss of salvation. Jesus proves this by actually expressly affirming this implied threatening corollary. In Luke 12:4-5,8-9, Jesus threatens hell on Christians who deny Christ:</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(4) And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. (5) But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to <strong><em>cast into hell</em></strong>; yea, I say unto you, Fear him....(8) And I say unto you, Every one who shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: (9) but he that <strong><em>denieth me in the presence of men shall be denied in the presence of the angels of God</em></strong>. Luke 12:4-5,8-9 (ASV). (Emphasis added.)</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, a Christian who under persecution denies Christ will himself be denied by Christ, and be sent to hell. Instead of fearing what man can do, Jesus was exhorting you to fear God and His ‘casting you into hell.’</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Counter-Arguments That Negate Heavenly Salvation Is Issue In Matthew 10:22</span></strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Cheap grace advocates cannot accept there is any threat of loss of eternal life for disobedience or denial, or that there is any promise of salvation for faithfulness. This would make salvation by faith and works, which to them is a heresy. Thus, they first try to interpret<em> saved</em> in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> to mean <em>saved from physical death</em> rather than <em>from hell</em>. So they teach Jesus’ promise of salvation for endurance is not to eternal life. They claim it is a promise you will stay alive to the end of the tribulation period. Dave Hunt’s work <em>In The Defense of the Faith</em> (Harvest House: 1996) at 330 uses some highly creative reasoning to arrive at this interpretation. Hunt like many others tries to limit the warning and the risk to only those facing persecution. They claim Jesus is promising physical salvation to those under persecution. Because physical persecution is rare in America, we are left to infer that endurance for salvation is largely irrelevant to our lives.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, this is an unreasonable construction of Matthew 10:22. First, the word<em> saved</em> does not mean normally<em> saved physically in body</em>. Eighteen of twenty times where<em> saved</em> is used in Scripture (the Greek is <em>sozo</em>) it means to spiritual salvation. When it means <em>saved physically</em>, it is clear.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, when Jesus speaks of “bringing forth fruit with endurance” in the Parable of the Sower, it is to identify the only seed that was saved. (Luke 8:15.) Thus, “enduring” to the end in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> has a striking parallel to Luke 8:15. Therefore, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> should be likewise talking of salvation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, other passages in New Testament writings refer to enduring, such as James 1:12 and Revelation 2:10-11. They both say if you endure, then it results in kingdom rewards after your physical death: you receive the crown of life. Whether salvation or rewards, this crown is received at a point past physical death. Enduring is not meant to signify merely staying alive. Thus, these two passages confirm that Jesus is speaking of endurance unto your own death and thus, even though you die in this world, you are saved in the next. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matt. 10:22</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also, the cheap grace interpretation of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> would make Jesus utter an illogical tautology (<em>i.e</em>., a conditional truth whose premise is identical to its conclusion).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> means what the cheap grace advocate says, Jesus is saying he who endures to the end of the tribulation (the premise) will be saved alive (the conclusion). Of course you would be saved alive (the conclusion) because you endured alive to the end of the tribulation (the premise). Thus, if Jesus meant those who endure alive to the end will be saved alive, Jesus would be uttering a nonsensical tautology. Tautologies are unintelligent, illogical statements, and our Lord would not talk like that.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> instead means what it says: if you keep on enduring to the end, you shall be saved. Thus, the surest promise of salvation in Scripture is for endurance, and not a one-time belief.</span></p>
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<h3><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How This Verse Applies To The Issue Of Denial Of Christ</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></span></strong></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus means in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a>, among other things, that if you deny Him, He will deny you. If you cannot withstand persecution, you will be denied being known by Jesus. Even the faith-alone pro-Scofield expositor Gaebelein (editor<em> Christianity Today</em>) concurs the warning that ‘if you deny Christ, He will deny you’ is a warning of loss of salvation.<sup><strong>4</strong></sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, many like Charles Stanley teach the opposite. A believer supposedly can deny Christ and be saved all the while. See, Charles Stanley,<em> Eternal Security, supra</em>, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=JsdOu7_i_qUC&pg=PT68&dq=stanley+a+believer+can+deny+christ+eternal+security&hl=en&sa=X&ei=z4BYUf-JEeOCiwKYoYGADw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg">93</a>. Another who says this is Chuck Swindol, President of Dallas Theological Seminary from 1994 to 2001. He says: “You may deny Him, but He will never deny you....This is called the doctrine of eternal security.” (Swindol, <em>The Problem of Defection</em>, audiotape YYP 6A.)</span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Early Church Rejected Doctrine At Odds With Matthew 10:22</span></strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tertullian, an attorney who became an early Church leader, called this message of Stanley and Swindol the <em>Scorpion’s Bite</em> (<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/works/scorpiace.htm"><em>Scorpiace</em></a>).<sup><strong>5</strong></sup> He did so in a pamphlet of the same name in 202-03 A.D. Tertullian said some were relying upon Paul’s words in <a href="http://bible.cc/2_timothy/2-13.htm">2 Tim. 2:13</a><sup><strong>6</strong></sup> to discourage potential martyrs from risking their lives if they confessed Christ. They argued Paul’s words meant a believer is free to deny Christ and yet a believer can trust God will never reject him or her later, and thus a believer remains saved. Ironically, 2 Timothy 2:13 is precisely the verse that Charles Stanley (<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><em>Eternal Security</em> at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=JsdOu7_i_qUC&pg=PT68&dq=stanley+a+believer+can+deny+christ+eternal+security&hl=en&sa=X&ei=z4BYUf-JEeOCiwKYoYGADw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg"><span style="background-color: #ffff00;">93</span></a></span>) cites as his support to insist a Christian can deny Christ and still be saved.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Tertullian was outraged because this reading of Paul contradicts Jesus. Tertullian said if this verse said what its proponents claimed, it would contradict the Lord Jesus in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> which says “If you endure to the end, you shall be saved.” Tertullian said such a reading of Paul’s words would also violate Jesus’ repeated statement that if a Christian denies Christ, the Lord threatens him or her with hell in Luke 12:4-5,8-9. (For the quote, see page 82 supra.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, the earliest Christian leaders regarded <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matthew 10:22</a> as promising salvation only if we endure. It was not a promise that we would be saved by a one time faith even if we denied Christ. Such a teaching was cowardly, anathema, accursed, and a heresy.</span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></div>
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<h3><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">What This Proves About Cheap Grace In The Early Church</span></strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This digression into history also serves to reveal that one of the earliest teachings regarded as heresy was, in fact, cheap grace, <em>i.e</em>., belief saves despite disobedience, denial, etc. Indeed, this heresy arose in 202 A.D. based on the same readings cheap grace advocates have today of 2 Tim. 2:13.</span></p>
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<div> </div>
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<h2>Conclusion</h2>
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<div> </div>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, if you hold true to Jesus’ teachings when persecuted by the “church,” friends or family as a heretic, and do not deny Him as your true Master, you shall be saved. If you fold and deny Jesus is your Master of the gospel in preference for someone else’s gospel, you lose the crown of life and you are lost. You have switched allegiances on who is the Master to your life. Consequently, only if you “endure to the end shall you be saved” (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:22&version=NIV">Matt. 10:22</a>) still has relevance today.</span></p>
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<hr />
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<p> </p>
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<h2>Footnotes to Chapter 5</h2>
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<p> </p>
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<p>1<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. The Greek in John 3:16 is not likely a promise. See “The Final Issue: Is It ‘Should’ Or ‘Shall’ Have Eternal Life?” on page 513 et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. Please note that even this faith-alone commentator recognizes the present active tense signifies continuing activity. See page 510.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3. Cf. Acts 14:21-22 (NIV): “‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they [Barnabas/Paul] said.’”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (ed. Gaebelein)(1989) says regarding 2 Timothy 2:12: “If we disown him (aorist tense, arnesometha), ‘he will also disown us.’ This is a serious warning. We cannot reject Christ without being rejected ourselves.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5. An online copy is at <a href="http://www.tertullian.org/works/scorpiace.htm">http://www.tertullian.org/works/scorpiace.htm</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6. “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (12) If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: <em><strong>if we deny him</strong></em>, he also will deny us: (13) If we believe not [<em>apisteo</em>, or unfaithful], yet he abideth faithful: <em><strong>he cannot deny himself</strong></em>.” <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+2%3A11-13&version=KJV">2Ti 2:11-13 </a>KJV.</span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I have chosen the faithful way. I have placed your ordinances before me. Psalm 119:30 (NASB)</span></p></td>
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<h1>In Whose Name Are We Supposed to Baptize?</h1>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2028:19&version=NIV"> 28:19</a> as it reads today, we read:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the<strong><em> name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,</em></strong></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, this uses the Trinitarian formula of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Is this how it originally read?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based solely upon the Greek text tradition, all evangelical scholars as well as several Catholic authorities admit this bolded portion was added to the original Matthew. This is despite the fact no Greek text omits it -- but all Greek surviving texts of this verse post-date the Trinitarian controversy that began in 325 AD and ended in 381 AD. (See below "Matthean Text Changed After 325 AD")</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are several early versions of Matthew in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin which omit this trinitarian formula. In fact, the Hebrew version of Matthew (which long predated 325 AD) was quoted without this text. The early 'fathers' such as Jerome, Origen, etc., called it the Gospel According to the Hebrews (by Matthew) which they spoke about with reverence.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>First Proof of Addition to Matthew 28 from Hebrew Matthew</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The original Hebrew Matthew does not have what we read in present-day Matthew 28:19.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What we read in the <em>Hebrew Gospel of Matthew</em> printed by Professor Howard is:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"19 Go</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">20 and teach them to carry out all things which I have commanded you forever."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This parallels the similar passage in Mark 16:15: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, if the Hebrew Matthew is the accurate original, there was no command from Jesus to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (For reason to believe many other variants in the Hebrew Matthew are more original, see our discussion of the "<a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/132-hebrew-matthew-introduction.html">Hebrew Matthew</a>.")</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>All Other Scripture Says To Baptize Only In Jesus' Name</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Everywhere else in the NT (except present-day Matthew 28:19), it says that baptism is in the name of the Lord Jesus.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when we look at our current Scripture other than Matthew 28:19, it exclusively teaches us to baptize in one name: that of the Lord Jesus. And this is a strong proof of the <em><strong>invalidity</strong></em> of the trinitarian formula in the Greek canonical Matthew 28:19.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><strong><em>Biblical Evidence</em></strong></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Acts<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2019:5&version=NIV"> 19:3-5</a> teaches: "On hearing this, they were baptized<strong><em> into the name of the Lord Jesus</em></strong>." Likewise in Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%202:38&version=NIV">2:39</a>, Peter teaches: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, <em><strong>in the name of Jesus Christ</strong></em> for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." In Acts<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%208:16&version=NIV"> 8:16</a> "because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the <strong><em>name of the Lord Jesus</em></strong>." In Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2010:48&version=NIV">10:48</a>, we read: "So he ordered that they be baptized in the <strong><em>name of Jesus Christ</em></strong>." In Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2022:16&version=KJV">22:16</a>, we read: "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the <em><strong>name of the Lord</strong></em>."</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Early Church Only Baptized In Jesus' Name</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What confirms that the Acts formula is authentic, and the post-Hebrew Greek version of Matthew 28:19 is inauthentic, is that any notion of baptism in a name in the early church was solely in the name of Jesus Christ, and not the Trinity formula.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Protestant authority <em>T</em><em>he New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge</em> (Funk & Wagnalls, 1908) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=l-oVAAAAYAAJ&dq=schaff%20religious%20knowledge&pg=PA435#v=onepage&q=must%20be%20disputed&f=false">435</a> agrees that Matthew 28:19's trinity formula is a false addition:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Jesus, however, <em><strong>cannot have given His disciples this Trinitarian order</strong></em> of baptism after His resurrection; for <em><strong>the New Testament knows only one baptism in the name of Jesus </strong></em>(Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:43; 19:5; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:13-15), which still occurs even in the second and third centuries, while the Trinitarian formula occurs only in Matt. 28:19, and then only again (in the) Didache 7:1 and Justin, Apol. 1:61...Finally, the distinctly liturgical character of the formula...is strange; it was not the way of Jesus to make such formulas...<strong><em> the formal authenticity of Matt. 28:19 must be disputed</em></strong>...."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An equally important Protestant authority agrees. In <em>The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia</em> (ed. James Orr)(1915) Vol. 4 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Tn4PAAAAYAAJ&dq=only%20canonizes%20a%20later%20ecclesiastical%20situation&pg=PA2637#v=onepage&q=only%20canonizes%20a%20later%20ecclesiastical%20situation&f=false">2637</a>, under "Baptism," it says:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Matthew 28:19 in particular only <strong><em>canonizes a later ecclesiastical situation</em></strong>, that its universalism is <strong><em>contrary to the facts of early Christian history</em></strong>, and<strong><em> its Trinitarian formula (is) foreign to the mouth of Jesus</em></strong>."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The opinion of all leading Christian scholars agree. Christian Henry Forney in<em>The Christian ordinances: being a historical inquiry into the practice of trine immersion, the washing of the saints' feet and the love-feast</em> (Board of Publication of the General Eldership of the Church of God, 1883) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=W_ErAAAAYAAJ&dq=baptismal%20formula%20was%20changed%20from%20the%20name%20of%20Jesus%20Christ&pg=PA83#v=onepage&q&f=false">83</a> explains that there was one and only one early practice: baptism into the name of Jesus Christ:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Neander, the prince of modern ecclesiastical historians, says that the<span class="gstxt_hlt">formula </span>of baptism which is regarded as the older is the "shorter one which <strong><em>refers only to </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>Christ</em></strong></span><span class="gstxt_hlt">, </span>to which there is allusion in the New Testament." Dr. Hare also says in his <em>Church History</em>: "Baptism as an initiatory rite was performed <strong><em>simply in the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>name </em></strong></span><strong><em>of </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>Jesus</em></strong></span><span class="gstxt_hlt">." </span>This sentence occurs in his chapter on the "Apostolic Church," in his " <em>History of the Christian Church</em>." Robinson, in his <em>History of Baptism</em>, says: "There is<strong><em> no mention of baptizing in the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>name </em></strong></span><strong><em>of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost</em></strong>,'' in immediately post-Apostolic times." This testimony, of a negative character, certainly becomes very strong and significant in view of the fact that Peter enjoined baptism "in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of <span class="gstxt_hlt">Jesus Christ.</span>"</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Encyclopedia Brittanica </em>(1911) Vol. 26 at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=uDQEAAAAYAAJ&dq=baptismal%20formula%20was%20changed%20from%20the%20name%20of%20Jesus%20Christ%20brittanica&pg=PA774#v=onepage&q&f=false"> </a><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=uDQEAAAAYAAJ&dq=baptismal%20formula%20was%20changed%20from%20the%20name%20of%20Jesus%20Christ%20brittanica&pg=PA774#v=onepage&q&f=false">774</a> explains that analysis of Matthew 28:19 supports that it did not originally have the Trinity formula we see today, matching how other passages in the NT read:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There are traces in the New Testament of a <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptismal </span>confession<strong><em> simply of the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>name </em></strong></span><strong><em>of </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>Christ</em></strong></span><span class="gstxt_hlt"> </span>(1 Cor. i. 13, 15; Rom. vi. 2; cf. even the late verse Acts viii. 37), not of the threefold <span class="gstxt_hlt">name. </span>Moreover, textual criticism points to an<strong><em> </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>early </em></strong></span><strong><em>type of reading in Matt, xxviii. 19 without the threefold </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>formula</em></strong></span><span class="gstxt_hlt">.</span></span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The <em>Methodist Review </em>(January 1906) Vol. 88 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=VMdWAAAAIAAJ&dq=early%20church%20always%20baptized%20in%20the%20name%20of%20the%20Lord%20Jesus&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q=early%20church%20always%20baptized%20in%20the%20name%20of%20the%20Lord%20Jesus&f=false">148</a> details the history that calls into question whether Matthew 28:19 originally read to mention Father, Son & Holy Spirit for the baptismal name to use:</span></p>
|
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mark and Luke have <strong><em>no baptismal command whatever</em></strong>, and the spurious ending of Mark contains no reference to baptism, but only to preaching the gospel to every creature. And there is <strong><em>reason to believe that originally</em></strong><span class="gtxt_body"><strong><em> the commandment in Matthew referred only to baptism in the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>name </em></strong></span><strong><em>of Christ</em></strong></span><span class="gtxt_body">. This reading, which can be traced down as far as the fourth century, would correspond with the</span><span class="gtxt_body"><strong><em> fact that in the apostolic age and beyond baptism was administered in the </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>name </em></strong></span><strong><em>of Christ</em></strong></span><span class="gtxt_body">. The Acts of the Apostles leaves </span><span class="gtxt_body"><strong><em>no doubt</em></strong></span><span class="gtxt_body"> on this point. Peter exhorted his hearers to repent and be <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptized </span>in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of <span class="gstxt_hlt">Jesus </span>Christ that they might receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 2. 38). ...[B]aptism in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of Christ is ...[in] Acts 8. 16, where Peter and John are represented as praying for the converts of Samaria who had been <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptized </span>in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of the <span class="gstxt_hlt">Lord Jesus </span>that they might receive the Holy Ghost;...Again in 10. 48 Peter exhorted the heathen to be <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptized </span>in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of Christ. In Ephesus (Acts 19. 5) Paul <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptized </span>the disciples of John in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of the <span class="gstxt_hlt">Lord Jesus, </span>while his language in 1 Cor. 1. 13 implies, and in Rom. 6. 3 declares, that the Christians were <span class="gstxt_hlt">baptized </span>only in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of <span class="gstxt_hlt">Jesus. </span>The <span class="gstxt_hlt">early </span>Christian book, <em>The Shepherd of Hermes</em>, speaks repeatedly of<em><strong> baptism in the </strong></em><span class="gstxt_hlt"><em><strong>name </strong></em></span><em><strong>of the Son of God</strong></em>. and a hundred years after the trinitarian formula was established in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">church </span>there was lively discussion as to whether baptism in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">name </span>of <span class="gstxt_hlt">Jesus,</span>which was still practiced by some, should be recognized as valid. When and under what circumstances the longer formula came into use we do not know; even as we do not know how Matthew's "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" took the place of the formula "God, <span class="gstxt_hlt">Jesus </span>Christ, and Holy Spirit." It is entirely probable that a formula with three numbers arose in connection with the custom of trine immersion,....</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In agreement is the additional following resource: Maurice Arthur Canney, <em>Encyclopedia of Religion</em> (Routledge, 1921) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=FRoMAAAAIAAJ&dq=early%20church%20always%20baptized%20in%20the%20name%20of%20the%20Lord%20Jesus&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q=early%20church%20always%20baptized%20in%20the%20name%20of%20the%20Lord%20Jesus&f=false">53</a> which says:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Persons were baptized at first in the "name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38, 48) or in the "name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 8:16;19:5.) <strong><em>Afterwards, with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity</em></strong>, they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Cf. Justin Martyr, <em>Apol.</em> I,61.</span></p>
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||||
<h2>The Matthean Text Changed After 325 AD</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This change in Matthew likely first took place after the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. We can infer this from the changes in Eusebius's quotation of this passage after the Council. Ross Drysdale explains why:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Eusebius lived between 264-340 A.D....He had the advantage of being much closer to the original of Matthew 28:19. Yet he <strong><em>never quoted it in the Triune formula</em></strong>, but in all his citations (which <strong>number eighteen </strong>or more) he renders it: "Go and make ye disciples of all the nations IN MY NAME, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I commanded you....Perhaps the most compelling evidence is that<em><strong> after his visit to Constantinople and his attendance at the Council of Nicea</strong></em>, he changed his references to Matthew 28:19 and began quoting it in the Triune formula. Thus <strong><em>h</em><em>e switched to the Trinitarian rendering immediately after Nicea</em></strong>, with its imperial threats of banishment to all who reject the newly officialized Trinity doctrine. He never knew or quoted any other form but the MY NAME rendition until his visit to Nicea. Discretion appears to be the better part of valor in his case. (Quoted in Oneil McQuick, <em>The Voice</em> (2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J4fZeuyXWXEC&lpg=PA459&dq=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&pg=PA459#v=onepage&q=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&f=false">459</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Scholar Edmund Schlink in<em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=sXDQPAAACAAJ">The Doctrine of Baptism</a></em> (Concordia, 1972) at 28, concluded the variance between Matthew 28:19 and the repeated reference in Acts to simply baptizing in Jesus's name points to a deliberate alteration: "[It] must be assumed that the text has been transmitted in a <em><strong>form expanded by the church</strong></em>." (Quoted in Oneil McQuick, <em>The Voice</em> (2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J4fZeuyXWXEC&lpg=PA459&dq=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&pg=PA459#v=onepage&q=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&f=false">459</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The article "Baptism, Early Church," in <em>Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics</em> (1963) at 1016 concluded: "The cumulative evidence of these three lines of criticism (textual, literary and historical) is distinctly <strong><em>against the view </em></strong>that Matthew 28:19 <strong><em>represent the exact words of Christ</em></strong>." (Quoted in Oneil McQuick, <em>The Voice</em> (2005) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J4fZeuyXWXEC&lpg=PA459&dq=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&pg=PA459#v=onepage&q=HASTINGS%20ENCYCLOPEDIA%20OF%20RELIGION%20trinitarian%20formula&f=false">459</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Catholics even appear to admit their mischevious change in Matthew 28:19. The <em>Jerusalem Bible</em> (N.Y.: 1966), a scholarly Catholic work, states at 64 note<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=O8yr3eoDyVIC&lpg=PA14&dq=so%20far%20as%20the%20fullness%20of%20its%20expression%20is%20concerned%2C%20is%20a%20reflection%20of%20the%20liturgical%20usage%20established%20later&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q=so%20far%20as%20the%20fullness%20of%20its%20expression%20is%20concerned,%20is%20a%20reflection%20of%20the%20liturgical%20usage%20established%20later&f=false"> g</a>:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"It may be that this formula, [<em>i.e.</em>, the Triune Matthew 28:19) so far as the fullness of its expression is concerned, is <strong><em>a reflection of the liturgical usage established later<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></em></strong>in the primitive community. It will be remembered that Acts speaks of baptizing "in the name of Jesus,"...."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We should not be thus surprised that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope, may have admitted four years after the Jerusalem Bible's statement -- in 1970 --- that Rome created and added the Trinity formula to the liturgy of Baptism. Talking about the baptismal formula in the apostle's creed, he wrote: "The basic form of our profession of faith took shape during the course of the second and third centuries in connection with the ceremony of baptism. So far as its place of<strong><em> origin is concerned</em></strong>, the text came <strong><em>from the city of Rome</em></strong>." (Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, <em>Introduction to Christianity</em> (1970) - <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=LJlkwvExekkC&lpg=PA84&vq=city%20of%20rome&pg=PA83#v=onepage&q=city%20of%20rome&f=false">viewable quote</a>.) He does go on to say it was based fundamentally upon Matthew 28:19, yet at the same time, he appears to speak like the Jerusalem Bible that the "profession" in Baptism -- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- had its origin at Rome in an evolution centuries after Christ.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The crack in the Catholic position began long prior to the<em> Jerusalem Bible</em>. In 1923, Bernard Henry Cuneo wrote <em><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Lord_s_command_to_baptise.html?id=motbAAAAMAAJ">The Lord's Command To Baptize: An Historical Critical Investigation</a></em> as part of the Catholic University's <em>New Testament Studies</em> (No. 5)(Washington DC) where at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=motbAAAAMAAJ&q=later+development#search_anchor">27</a> /<a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/MN41385ucmf_3/MN41385ucmf_3_djvu.txt"> archive.org</a> we read:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The passages in Acts and the Letters of St. Paul. These passages seem to point to the earliest form as baptism in the name of the Lord...Is it possible to reconcile these facts with the belief that Christ commanded his disciples to baptize in the triune form? Had Christ given such a command, it is urged, the Apostolic Church would have followed him, and we should have some trace of this obedience in the New Testament. <strong><em>No such trace can be found. </em></strong>The only explanation of this silence, according to the anti-traditional view, is this the short christological (Jesus Name) formula was original, and <strong>the longer trine formula was a later development</strong>."</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, even the Catholic scholars and leaders recognize the compelling evidence that had Matthew 28:19 included the trinity-formula for baptism as Jesus's own command, we inexplicably have abundant NT quotes that baptism was only in Jesus' name.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The truth is obvious. The Trinity baptism text of Matthew 28:19 did not originate from the original Church that started in Jerusalem around AD 33. It was <strong><em>a deliberate forgery</em></strong>, apparently added after 325 A.D. to support the emerging Trinity doctrine.<hr /></span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> STUDY NOTES</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This issue over Matthew 28:19 is discussed in S. Rives, Original Gospel of Matthew (2d Ed. 2014), in Appendix J in volume 2. We have excerpted it <a href="/component/content/article/16-hebrew-matthew/633-matthew-28-19-in-original-gospel-of-matthew.html">here</a> with authorizaiton.</span></p>
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<h1>George Major: Defender of Melancthon's View on Necessity of Good Works</h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After Luther's death in 1546, Melancthon became the head of the Lutheran Church. Since the 1530s, Melancthon had, with Luther's tacit approval, worked hard to engineer<strong><em> a correction to the sola-fidist doctrine</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As explained in the Preface to <em>Jesus's Words on Salvation</em> (see this <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/227-preface-2-jwos.html">link</a>), Melancthon with Bucer had, as appointees of Luther to an ecumenical conference, tried fixing the exaggeration they jointly realized in sola-fide doctrine. In the 1530s, Melancthon pushed<em><strong> double justification</strong></em> doctrine. This taught <strong><em>initial justification</em></strong> comes from<em><strong> faith alone</strong></em> for a non-believer at conversion. But <strong><em>thereafter</em></strong>, a Christian needed <strong><em>a secondary justification</em></strong> by <strong>repentance</strong> and <strong>good works</strong> for salvation.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This effort at an ecumenical solution collapsed shortly before Luther's death. After Luther died, Melancthon recruited George Major, a Lutheran pastor, to put forth the case for the necessity of a secondary justification by repentance and works.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here is a detailed discussion of George Major and his writings to serve Melancthon's later successful effort to make double justification official Lutheran doctrine. After Melancthon died, Major himself reversed himself in the 1570s, which in turn supported in<strong><em> 1580</em></strong> the sola-fidists taking back control over this issue within the Lutheran church. In the <em>Concord</em> that year, the Lutheran Church erased the double-justification doctrine, <strong><em>restoring the view</em></strong> that faith alone is the sole means of initial as well as continuing justification.</span></p>
|
||||
<h3>Universal Biography 1836 on George Major</h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">George Major was born in 1502 in Nuremburgh and died in 1572. He was a "celebrated Lutheran divine." ("George Major," William A. Beckett, ed. <em>A universal biography: including scriptural, classical and mytological memoirs, together with accounts of many eminent living characters : the whole newly compiled and composed from the most recent and authentic sources ; in three volumes </em>(Isaac, Tuckey, and Co., 1836) Vol. 3 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_bo5AAAAcAAJ&dq=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&f=false">23</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This biography of Christian personalities then mentions that Major was</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">one of the most strenuous defenders of <strong><em>Melancthon's doctrine concerning the necessity of good works in the attaining of salvation</em></strong>. <em>Id.</em>, Vol. 3 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_bo5AAAAcAAJ&dq=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&f=false">23</a>.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Major was for seven years the rector at Magdeburg. He finally settled in Wittenberg. There he was appointed one of the ministers of the university, and "minister of one of the churches" there in Wittenberg. <em>Id.</em></span></p>
|
||||
<h3>General Biography, 1807 on George Major</h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Another encylopedia provides more detail on the battle Major maintained against the sola fidists within the Lutheran movement. We read in John Aikin, William Enfield, Mr. Thom Nicholson, <em>General biography: or, Lives, critical and historical, of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions, arranged according to alphabetical order </em>(G. G. and J. Robinson, 1807) Volume 6 at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=XEUDAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&pg=PA485#v=onepage&q=%22john%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22&f=false">485</a> the following:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He had not been long returned to the divinity chair, before he incurred the<strong><em> odium of the more rigid disciples of Luther</em></strong>, by maintaining with great ability<strong><em> the opinion held by Melancthon</em></strong> and others, <strong>concerning the necessity of </strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong>good works </strong></span><strong>in order to the attainment of salvation</strong>. Hence arose a controversy between the <em>rigid </em>and <em>moderate </em>Lutherans, which was carried on with that keenness and animosity, which were peculiar to all debates of a religious nature at that period. In the course of this controversy, Major had reason to <strong><em>complain of the malice or ignorance of his adversaries</em></strong>, who explained his doctrine in a manner quite different from that in which he intended it should be understood; and,<strong><em> at length, he renounced it entirely</em></strong>, that he might not appear fond of wrangling, or be looked upon as a disturber of the peace of the church. He died in 1574 at the age of seventy-two. His works, consisting of " Commentaries" upon the evangelists, and the apostolical epistles, " Homilies "on the gospels and epistles for Sundays and festivals, learned " Dissertations," " Theses," have been collected together, and published in three volumes, folio. <em>Mdchior. Adam Fit. Germ. Theol. Moreri. Mosh Hist. Eccl. sac. XVI. sect. Hi. par. ii. cap. </em>I.</span></p>
|
||||
<h3>Modern Lutheran History on This Episode</h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In the "<a href="http://www.concordialutheranconf.com/cl_articles/CLO_articleERS_jan1995.html">Majoristic Controversy</a>" in the January / February 1995 issue of <strong><em>The</em></strong> <strong><em>Concordia Lutheran, </em><span style="font-weight: normal;">we read a biased account of Major's efforts to vindicate Melancthon's position but yet it is informative:</span></strong></span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Major's error may be summarized by the Latin phrase, causa sine qua non. Literally this means, a cause without which not. Idiomatically it means a necessary or essential cause. George Major taught that good works are a necessary cause to salvation! Obviously this is the same as saying that good works are necessary to justification. This false position had already arisen before Luther died. It had been expounded earlier by<strong><em> none other than Melancthon in his 1535 treatise called, Loci</em></strong>. Melancthon actually coined the phrase, causa sine qua non. However, Luther in private and others in public challenged Melancthon, whereupon Melancthon modified and somewhat backed off of his position. However, the leaven had begun to spread. Later George Major picked up on Melancthon's causa sine qua non and publicly championed this error that <strong>good works are necessary to salvation</strong>. Soon Major gained avid<strong><em> support from Menius</em></strong> who also began to teach that good works are necessary to salvation.</span></p>
|
||||
<h3>More Balanced History by Mosheim in 1867</h3>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Mosheim, a Lutheran historian, recounts this episode in great detail. In Johann Lorenz Mosheim, <em>Mosheim's institutes of ecclesiastical history, ancient and modern</em> (W. Tegg, 1867), we read:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=EIEPAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA649&ots=j6y9ZHRCmB&dq=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&pg=PA648#v=onepage&q=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&f=false">648</a>] On the </span>death of Luther, in 1546, Philip Melancthon became the head and leader of the theologians of the Lutheran church. He was undoubtedly a great and excellent man....He supposed that certain opinions maintained by Luther against the papists,—for instance, concerning <em><strong>faith as the </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>sole ground </strong></em></span><em><strong>of justification, the necessity </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>of good works </strong></em></span><em><strong>in order to salvation</strong></em>, and the inability of man to convert himself to God,—<em><strong>might be softened down a little</strong></em>, so as not to give occasion to others to mistake. ****</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The commencement of these <span class="gstxt_hlt">calami</span>ties was in the year 1548, when <span class="gstxt_hlt">Maurice, </span>the new elector of Saxony, directed Melancthon and the divines of Wittemberg and Leipsic to assemble at Leipsic, and to consider how far <span class="gstxt_hlt">the noted Interim </span>which Charles V. would <span class="gstxt_hlt">obtrude </span>upon Germany might be received. Melancthon, partly through fear of the emperor and partly from his native mildness and moderation, here decided with the concurrence of the other divines that in things indifferent (? <em>rebus adiaphoris) </em>the will of the emperor might be obeyed.'</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=EIEPAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA649&ots=j6y9ZHRCmB&dq=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&pg=PA649#v=onepage&q=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&f=false">649</a>]</span><em> Among </em></strong><span class="gstxt_hlt"><strong><em>things indif</em></strong></span><strong><em>ferent</em></strong> or <em>Adiapkora, </em><span class="gstxt_hlt">Melancthon </span>and his associates reckoned many things which Luther deemed of great importance, and which therefore his genuine followers could not account indifferent; for instance,<em><strong> the doctrine of justification before God by faith alone, the necessity of </strong></em><span class="gstxt_hlt"><em><strong>good works </strong></em></span><em><strong>in order to [receive final] salvation</strong></em>, the number of the sacraments, several ceremonies contami* nated with superstition, extreme unction, the dominion of the Roman pontiff and of bishops, certain feast days long abrogated, and other things. Hence arose the violent contest called the Adiaphoristic controversy;<span class="gstxt_sup">1</span> which was protracted many years, and in which the defenders and<strong><em> advocates of the old doctrines of Luther (at the head of whom was Matthias Flacius</em></strong> of Illyricum) <em><strong>opposed with immense fervour the </strong></em><span class="gstxt_hlt"><em><strong>Wittemberg </strong></em></span><em><strong>and Leipsic divines, especially </strong></em><span class="gstxt_hlt"><em><strong>Melancthon, </strong></em></span><em><strong>by whose counsel and influence the whole had been brought about, and accused them of apostasy from </strong></em><span class="gstxt_hlt"><em><strong>the true religion</strong></em>. </span>On the other hand, <span class="gstxt_hlt">Melancthon </span>and his disciples and friends defended his conduct with all their strength.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this sad and perilous controversy there were two principal points at issue. First, whether the things which <span class="gstxt_hlt">Melancthon </span>deemed indifferent actually were so, which his adversaries denied. Secondly, whether it is lawful in things indifferent and not essential to religion to succumb to the enemies of truth.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This Adiaphoristic controversy was the fruitful purent of other and equally pernicious contests. In the first <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">place, </span>it produced the contest with<strong><em> </em></strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>George Major</em></strong></span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, </span>a divine of <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wittemberg, respecting </span>the <strong><em>necessity </em></strong><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>of good works </em></strong></span><strong><em>to salvation</em></strong>. <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Me</span>lancthon had long been accustomed to concede, and in the consultation at Leipsic in 1548 respecting the Interim, he with his associates confessed, that <em><strong>it </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>might </strong></em></span><em><strong>be </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>said without </strong></em></span><em><strong>prejudice to the truth </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>that good works </strong></em></span><em><strong>are necessary to salvation</strong></em>. But the defenders of the old Lutheran theology censured this declaration, as being contrary to the doctrine of Luther and highly useful to the popish cause,<em><strong> Major in the year 1552 defended it against Nicholas Amsdorf, in a tract </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>expressly on </strong></em></span><em><strong>the subject of the necessity of </strong></em><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><strong>good works</strong></em></span><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. </span>And now broke out again a fierce and bitter contest, such as all the religious controversies of that age were, between the more rteid Lutherans and the more lax. And in the course of it, Nicholas <strong>Amsdorf</strong>, a strenuous vindicator of Luther's doctrines, was carried so far by <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">the heat of </span>controversy as to maintain that <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><em>good works </em></strong></span><strong><em>are pernicious to salvation</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">****</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=EIEPAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA649&ots=j6y9ZHRCmB&dq=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&pg=PA650#v=onepage&q=%22george%20major%22%20%22good%20works%22%20melancthon&f=false">650</a>] Major bitterly complained that his opinion was misrepresented by his opponents; and at last, that he might not appear to continue the war and disturb the church unreasonably, he gave it up. Yet the dispute was continued and was <strong><em>terminated only by the Formula of Concord</em></strong>.</span></p>
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||||
<h3>1556 Attacks on Law-Position of Major</h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ryan C. MacPherson, Ph.D, "<a href="http://www.ryancmacpherson.com/publications/26-research-papers/73-a-lutheran-view-of-the-third-use-of-the-law.html">A Lutheran View of the Third Use of the Law</a>,"<em> Systematic Theology </em>(The Means of Grace, Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, Fall 2009) at 405 explains what happened next:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Antinomian Controversy developed into a second phase in 1556 when Andrew Poach, pastor in Erfurt, issued a strong statement <strong><em>against George Major’s heretical claim that good works are necessary for salvation</em></strong>. Poach, soon joined by Pastor Anton Otto of Nordhausen, Professor Andrew Musculus of Frankfurt an der Oder, and Pastor Michael Neander of Ilfeld, <strong><em>denied that the Law had a didactic or normative function for Christians</em></strong>, with Poach even going so far as to deny the Law any function whatsoever in the assembly of believers. Poach, Otto, and Musculus later moderated their expressions, admitting that they had overreacted against Major’s legalism by slipping into antinomianism themselves. Musculus, in fact, helped to put the orthodox via media into its polished expression in the Bergic Book that became the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord. Article V rejected Major’s position, while Article VI affirmed<strong><em> the Law’s “third” function, namely, to serve as a “rule” for Christian sanctification</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||||
<h3>Resolved in 1580 Against Majoristic Position</h3>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Without admitting that Lutherans officially adopted Major's position in 1551, the Concordia Lutheran says this position was done away with in 1580 in reliance upon the words of Paul:</span></p>
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||||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Majoristic Controversy was finally and formally <strong><em>settled</em></strong> by Article IV, "Of Good Works," of the Formula of Concord 1580. We shall present what Article IV says on this matter. We shall quote from the Epitome which is the shorter version of the Formula of Concord. We shall present both the Affirmativa (the affirmed, true doctrine) and the Negativa (the rejected false doctrine). They read as follows from Pages 797-801 of the <em>Concordia Triglotta</em>:</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>AFFIRMATIVA</strong></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Pure Doctrine of the Christian Churches concerning This Controversy</strong>.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For the thorough statement and decision of this controversy our doctrine, faith, and confession is:</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. That good works certainly and without doubt follow true faith, if it is not a dead, but living faith, as fruits of a good tree.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2. We believe, teach, and confess also that<strong><em> good works should be entirely excluded</em></strong>, just as well<strong><em> in the question concerning salvation as in the article of justification before God</em></strong>, as the apostle testifies with clear words, when he writes as follows: Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, Rom. 4,6 ff. And again: By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast, Eph. 2,8.9.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">***** "<a href="http://www.concordialutheranconf.com/cl_articles/CLO_articleERS_jan1995.html">Majoristic Controversy</a>" in the January / February 1995 issue of <em>The Concordia Lutheran</em></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">One can see that unlike Major and Melancthon who quoted Jesus for the doctrine of secondary justification, the Affirmative only cited Paul. And it is from this point forward, as Bonhoeffer said, we achieved a "Christianity without Christ."</span></p>
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<h1>Preface</h1>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Have you ever wondered what Jesus taught was the means to be saved? What was Jesus’ Gospel if you summarized only Jesus’ words on salvation?</span></p>
|
||||
<h2><strong>Bonhoeffer’s Claims</strong></h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In 1937, the famous Lutheran Pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer did just that. He summarized the gospel only relying upon Jesus’ words. He ignored all other sources. Do you know what Bonhoeffer found in <em>The Cost of Discipleship</em> (1937)(reprint Simon & Schuster: 1995)?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bonhoeffer claims to have discovered Jesus taught a Gospel of Costly Grace. Bonhoeffer says we have somehow been misled to accept an opposite gospel. The message of what Bonhoeffer first coined as the gospel of <em><strong>cheap grace</strong></em>.1 Bonhoeffer threw down quite a challenge. The response? Essentially, because Bonhoeffer died as a martyr at Nazi hands, he is often spoken about with great respect. Yet, his critique of modern Christian doctrine is largely ignored.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, some believers even read Cost of Discipleship but still do not somehow realize Bonhoeffer is calling for a new reformation. It is not for lack of bluntness. Bonhoeffer in one passage said we had developed a “Christianity without Christ.” (<em>Id</em>. at 59.) He says our salvation doctrine emphasizes belief to the neglect of Jesus’ repeatedly-stated requirement of repentance and that a Christian observe all Jesus’ teachings and commands.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bonhoeffer argued that Jesus always insisted such costs were necessary for salvation-sake of a disciple. Bonhoeffer said we have shifted away from what Jesus taught. If Christ returned and preached today the same gospel He preached 2000 years ago, Bonhoeffer said most in the church would dismiss His words on doctrinal grounds. (<em>Id</em>., at 35.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Bonhoeffer says we have employed disparaging labels for what Jesus taught, making social pressure to conform to cheap grace doctrine more important than Jesus’ words. As a result, Bonhoeffer said “if Jesus Himself — alone with His word — could come in our midst at sermon time,” a significantly large group would “reject” His message. (<em>Id.</em>, at 35.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What more could Bonhoeffer do to get our attention? He was saying we had developed within the mainstream a false doctrine on salvation.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, this book charts out a course to test Bonhoeffer’s claims. He offered up proofs. He explained them in pastoral style. He set forth Jesus’ teachings, parables and similes.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Bonhoeffer unfortunately has failed so far. Bonhoeffer assumed using Jesus’ plain-speaking passages would be enough for Christians to reject the gospel of cheap grace. Bonhoeffer assumed Christians would simply recognize the Master’s voice and follow it. However, Bonhoeffer overlooked the bewitching and beguiling effort of Satan, just like Satan worked in the garden.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>A Change In Approach From Bonhoeffer’s Method</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What will be different here from Bonhoeffer’s approach?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, we will systematically identify all of Jesus’ direct statements and parabolic statements on salvation.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, it is a direct statement when Jesus says “all those who obey My Teaching should never ever die.” (John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A51&version=NIV">8:51</a>.) It is a direct teaching when Jesus says “every tree without good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire.” (Matt.<a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/7-19.htm"> 7:19</a>.) It is a direct statement when Jesus says you have two choices: you can go to “heaven-maimed” or “hell-whole.” (Mark<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+9%3A42-47&version=NIV"> 9:42-47</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason to focus on direct statements is they are all powerful tools to assist in unlocking any alleged ambiguity in a parable. For example, some misconstrue parables to wrong conclusions. We know they are wrong conclusions by comparing them to Jesus’ direct statements on salvation. Thus, we can detect and expose such error by familiarizing ourselves with Jesus’ direct statements pertinent to salvation. Hence, direct statements by Jesus have a priority, for they serve as building-blocks to understand parables.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This relationship between direct statements and parables is mentioned by Mark in his gospel. The Gospel of Mark notes Jesus gave direct statements to His disciples to clarify meanings of parables which He spoke to a general audience. At the end of a group of parables (4:33), Mark writes: “With many such parables he spoke the word to them [i.e., the crowds] as much as they could understand.” Then in verse 34 Mark adds: “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Therefore, these direct statements represent Jesus’ plain explanation of His principles to His disciples. Accordingly, we will prioritize Jesus’ direct statements as spelling out clearly the terms of salvation. These passages are clear enough on their own, and need no or little elucidation. However, they help elucidate the parables if we had any doubt about the parables.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>My Beliefs</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As you read, please remember always that I am directing you to follow Christ, and His teaching. I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray I would always be willing to do and follow anything and everything He asks. I believe in His resurrection; Jesus died for our sins; He is Lord and Messiah; divine (indwelled by the Father as Jesus says in John <a href="http://bible.cc/john/14-10.htm">14:10</a>) and one with the Father; and He will return to Judge the Living and the Dead.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The question in this book is not about the facts regarding Jesus, which I assume every reader accepts. The question is whether if you accept these facts means you now “sit back, relax and enjoy your salvation,” as J. Vernon McGee insists is true.2 Or is something else certainly required, just as William Tyndale — the great English Reformer — said?</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>A Parade of Witnesses Includes Tyndale and Shockingly The (Mature) Luther Too</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Lutheran pastor Bonhoeffer was not alone in attacking cheap grace. He had many predecessors. The earliest rebuttals to cheap grace included Apostles Matthew,<sup>3</sup> Peter,<sup>4</sup> and John,<sup>5</sup> as well as James<sup>6</sup> and Jude.<sup>7</sup> There also was Tertullian (207 A.D.)<sup>8</sup> and Augustine (413 AD).<sup>9</sup></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, as we discuss below at page vi et seq, there were many who attacked cheap grace among the leading Protestant Reformers. This included William Tyndale, Erasmus, and Melancthon (Luther’s closest confidant). To the surprise of many, we can even say Luther radically but quietly changed his salvation-doctrine by 1541. At that point, he too rejected faith alone as sufficient for believers.<sup>10</sup> (Calvin too criticized faith alone doctrine sometimes.)<sup>11</sup></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Among the many other predecessors who shared Bonhoeffer’s view were John Locke, Jeremy Taylor and Menno</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Simons of the Netherlands. There was also William Paley,<sup>12</sup> John Wesley,<sup>13</sup> and Charles Finney.<sup>14</sup> Finally, there was Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer himself. Thus, the road tread here has been covered before. Yet, this time, we hope by examining all counter-arguments and speaking clearly, the debate can finally end.</span></p>
|
||||
<h2>Encouragement From Tyndale: His Stunning Reversal On Faith Alone</h2>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The English Reformation began principally with William Tyndale (1494-1536) — a scholar in ancient Greek, trained at Oxford and Cambridge. He became proficient too in Hebrew to perform his translation work on the ‘Old Testament.’ Tyndale died a martyr, strangled and then burned at the stake. He was the first to publish the New Testament in English. At the time of his first English translation of the New Testament in 1526, Tyndale had already firmly converted to Luther’s doctrine of Faith Alone.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, in 1528, Tyndale had publicly endorsed justification by faith alone after his meeting Luther in 1524. Yet, beginning in 1530 and continuing until his death in 1536, Tyndale made a stunning reversal on faith alone doctrine. When he did so, Tyndale was at the height of his Bible translation work, and was still only age 34.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What was this change? Tyndale adopted what the first reformer — a Dutchman named Erasmus (1466-1536) of Oxford<sup>15</sup> — had christened in 1530 as <em>duplex iustitia</em>. In English, this means double justification. Tyndale’s elaboration on Erasmus’ doctrine lived on in the minds of famous men such as John Locke, Jeremy Taylor, George Horne, William Paley, and Charles Finney.</span></p>
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<h2>Recognition Of Tyndale’s Stunning Rejection Of Faith Alone</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is absolutely no disagreement among the leading scholars about Tyndale’s final views on salvation. Cross, for example, explains: “Increasingly in his last years....[Tyndale was] moving away from the doctrine of faith alone, [and] emphasized the covenant [and] works....”<sup>16</sup> Another evangelical scholar admits Tyndale “certainly did not” remain “loyal” to Luther’s “doctrine on justification.”<sup>17</sup> Tyndale’s later doctrine was “overthrowing the whole basis of the [German] Reformation: which is to say justification by faith alone.”<sup>18</sup> Tyndale’s lessons are clearly recognized as reflecting Erasmus’ doctrine of ‘double justification.’ Tyndale is described pejoratively, accordingly, as allowing “works a decisive role in salvation,” which made the “theology of Tyndale...legalistic.”<sup>19</sup> Claire Cross concludes the idea of “double justification” is “the position which Tyndale eventually reached.”<sup>20</sup></span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;">Tyndale’s Biography</span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There is no doubt of the spiritual journey that preceded Tyndale’s stunning reversal on salvation doctrine. In 1524, he went to Germany, and met with Luther. When Tyndale came back, he published in English in 1528 Luther’s sermon <em>Justification by Faith</em>. Tyndale did so by putting his own name to it, with some original embellishments. It was entitled <em>Parable of the Wicked Mammon</em>. Luther and Tyndale were obviously collaborating at this juncture.</span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;">Doctrine of Double Justification</span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Something happened to Tyndale by 1530. He had second thoughts on Luther’s doctrine. He developed ideas which ultimately led him to reject as dangerous Luther’s youthful ideas on faith alone. Tyndale endorsed in substance what Erasmus had first proposed in 1530 — the doctrine of double justification.<sup>21</sup> It was Erasmus’ solution to reconcile Paul’s Gospel of faith alone to Jesus’ Gospel. It was ingenious, to say the least. One can affirm, as Bonhoeffer does too, that “faith alone justifies,” but then append, as Bonhoeffer does, “but love perfects.” (Bonhoeffer, <em>Testament</em> (1995) at 251.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As elaborated by Tyndale, this doctrine teaches that justification begins by faith alone for the non-Christian, but thereafter further justification requires obedience, works and stern repentance for a Christian to remain justified. The way William Tyndale put it was that faith alone initiates your salvation and brings salvation, but “if thou wilt not go back again, but continue in grace, and come to that salvation and glorious resurrection of Christ thou must work and join works to faith in will and deed too....” (William Tyndale, <em>The Works of the English Reformers: William Tyndale and John Frith</em> (Ebenezer Palmer: 1831) at 8.)</span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: #0000ff;">Double Justification: Best Set Forth By John Locke</span></h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John Locke provided one of the clearest statements of Tyndale’s doctrine — an elaboration and tightening up of what Erasmus first dubbed as double justification. Locke said Paul in Romans 8:13 implies that from those who “are actually under the covenant of grace, good works are strictly required, under the penalty of the loss of eternal life.” What then of Paul’s ‘faith, not works’ (Eph. 2:8-9) doctrine? John Locke says grace initiates without works, but once in grace, works are required. “Thus, grace and works [coexist], without any difficulty.” Locke says this solves the “perplexity and seeming contradiction” within Paul’s doctrine. Locke says that without this solution, many are led to a “mistake concerning the kingdom of God.” Locke then summed up by saying what initiates by faith translates us into the kingdom, and into the “way of eternal life” but thereafter we are only “sure to attain” it if we have “persevered in that life which the Gospel required, viz., faith and obedience.”<sup>22</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>Biography of Tyndale</strong></span>. Early in his career, Tyndale endorsed with one qualification Luther’s core doctrine on Justification by Faith in a book entitled The Parable of the Wicked Mammon (1528). This book is a sermon of Luther on justification delivered in the mouth of Tyndale. However, it also contains Tyndale’s explanations and qualifications.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These gave the “matter... a perfectly original” meaning.<sup>23</sup> Thus, in <em>Parable of the Wicked Mammon</em>, Tyndale echoes all of Luther’s youthful salvation principles, such as justification by faith alone and the lack of any need to strive to do good works for salvation-sake. Tyndale added just one significant qualifier to Luther. Tyndale merely insisted repentance is a distinct means of how a Christian remains forgiven of later sin. Tyndale writes in theParable: “So that if through fragility we fall a thousand times in a day, yet if we do repent again, we have always mercy laid up for us in store in Jesus Christ our Lord.”<sup>24</sup> Luther originally had said the same thing, but without “if we do repent again.”<sup>25</sup> This was purposeful by Luther. The youthful Luther taught contrition was irrelevant to forgiveness. (Luther, <em>Sermon on Indulgences</em>, 1517.) Faith alone was all that was required to receive God’s forgiveness at all times, according to the young Luther.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, one can see at this juncture, Tyndale was drawing a very fine and single line against Luther’s doctrine. Tyndale was insisting ongoing justification, distinct from initial justification, depended on repentance from sin. As time progressed, and as Tyndale was engaged in more and more translation, this single line of difference ended in the rejection of Luther’s ideas of faith alone as dangerous for at least a believer.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After Tyndale’s first English New Testament was printed in 1526 when he was age 30, Tyndale embarked on translating the ‘Old Testament’ in 1530. Tyndale’s commentaries on Moses’ writings at this juncture put him at complete odds with the youthful Luther. (As we shall see, Tyndale was firmly on Jesus’ side. See Matt. 5:19.) Rather than any idea of the Law receding into oblivion, or of separate covenants, Tyndale’s view now was that the “Old Testament and New Testament comprised one covenant, and a covenant was understood as a contract.” In this, “God had revealed what man can and cannot do.” Thus, while “justification by faith” was the solvent for sin, still “the justice perceived by Moses set the forgiven sinner into a path of unswerving obedience.”<sup>26 </sup>The “Old and New” make “one gospel.”<sup>27</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In 1534, in Tyndale’s Preface to the New Testament, the break with Luther’s early ideas was final and irreparable. Yet, this divorce was based on reading Jesus’ words in Matthew in their superior right over anyone else’s doctrine. Tyndale, now age 38, was at his most mature in knowledge of Biblical languages, with the best training of that day — from Oxford and Cambridge. He was also at the height of his mental faculties. Yet, undoubtedly, Tyndale was also a verifiable reformer and a hero of unquestioned stature against the errors of Catholicism. But now in the Preface to the New Testament, Tyndale began bit by bit to allow Jesus’ words to demolish faith alone doctrine.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tyndale began by saying that God’s mercies only apply to those who “meek” themselves before God and “keep His Laws.”<sup>28</sup>Tyndale in the very next sentence then vigorously denounced faith alone doctrine: “Now if any man, that submitteth not himself to keep the commandments, do think that he hath faith in God, the same man’s faith is vain, worldly, damnable, devilish, and plain presumption, as is above said, and is no faith that can justify, or be accepted before God. And that is it that James meaneth in his epistle. For “how can a man believe” [and be justified without works].” (Tyndale, <em>Doctrinal Treatises, id</em>., at 470.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tyndale goes on to explain: “Now read all the scripture, and see where God sent any to preach mercy to any, save unto them only that repent, and turn to God with all their hearts, to keep his commandments. Unto the disobedient, that will not turn, is threatened wrath, vengeance and damnation, according to all the terrible acts and fearful examples of the Bible.” Tyndale then says some read the promises of salvation for faith out-of-context of the entire covenant of God. “Moreover, where thou findest a promise, and no covenant expressed therewith, there must thou understand a covenant; that we, when we be received to grace, know it to be our duty to keep the law.” <em>Id</em>.at 471. Tyndale then severly warns those guilty of reading the promises of God about grace out-of-context — without the conditions of obedience. Tyndale is alarmed at the contrary doctrine (faith alone), saying: “This have I said, most dear reader, to warn thee, lest thou shouldest be deceived, and shouldest not only read the scriptures in vain and to no profit but also unto thy greater damnation." Tyndale insisted: “For God offereth mercy upon the condition that he [the listener] will mend his living."<sup>30</sup> Tyndale then gives the same series of discussions of Jesus’ words that you will read in this book Jesus’ Words on Salvation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, Tyndale says the <em>Parable of the Unprofitable Servant</em> proves those Christians who “live [obediently] thereafter” according to the commands receive life, but servants who do not do so but are unprofitable “shall lose the graceof true knowledge, and be binded again....” Tyndale goes on: “And [in] Luke xii [:47]), the servant that knoweth his master’s will, and prepareth not himself, shall be beaten with many stripes, that is, shall have greater damnation.” Tyndale thereupon keeps beating the stick on faith alone’s head: “And Matt, vii [:26-27], all that hear the word of God, and do not thereafter, build on sand: that is, as the foundation laid on sand cannot resist violence of water, but is undermined andoverthrown, even so the faith of them that have no lust nor love to the law of God, builded upon the sand of their own imaginations, and not on the rock of God’s word, according to his covenants, turneth to desperation in time of tribulation, and when God cometh to judge.”<sup>31</sup> Tyndale goes on and on, traversing much the same ground you will be reading in this book.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Interestingly, Tyndale was even a terrible ‘legalist’ by today’s standards when he satirized those who justified moving the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday!<sup>32</sup> Tyndale for all his intellectual honesty was also spiritually honest. Tyndale’s 1530 work The Practyse of Prelates condemned King Henry’s divorce. King Henry’s bitter anger thereafter caught up with Tyndale. By liege of the authorities at Brussels, Tyndale was strangled and then burned at the stake in 1536. Yet, the lesson in all this is that a brilliant reformer — one fully cognizant of every argument of Luther and who had become a friend and collaborator of Luther’s (so much so Tyndale penned Luther’s ideas on justification as his own in 1528) — did in fact by 1530-1534 completely reject Luther’s youthful faith alone ideas.</span></p>
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<h2>Tyndale Causes Luther To Quietly Abandon Faith Alone</h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Did Tyndale turn Luther around to accept double justification, and abandon faith alone as justification of a believer? Yes, he did.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let’s remember that Luther and Tyndale became associates in 1524 when Tyndale visited Luther in Germany. Tyndale could easily impress Luther as a man of greater learning in Greek and Hebrew than Luther himself. Their common bond was unique, and could provide a deep linkage few men will ever share. They were co-venturers in Bible translation, battling Catholic errors. This shared partnership of purpose and outlook would presumably have become solidified in 1524 when the two men met. In fact, one might think Luther regarded their intimacy as entirely special because he knew Tyndale was at least his equal, if not his superior, in learning. Luther would know better than anyone that Tyndale proved his friendship and solidarity. This was proven to Luther by Tyndale publishing as his own work Luther’s sermon entitled Justification by Faith. It was entitled <em>The Parable of the Wicked Mammon</em> (1528). No doubt Luther welcomed this spreading of the ‘gospel.’ Hence, the bond of respect by Luther for Tyndale must have been tremendous.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Could that tremendous respect have moved Luther to himself change his own doctrine on faith alone? It most certainly appears to be the best explanation for what happened to Luther in mid-1531 to the end of his life. The evidence can be found in four primary places: (1) the Catechisms of 1531; (2) Luther’s revolution on his view of the Mosaic Law in 1537; (3) the Lutheran agreement proposed at the Regensburg Diet of 1541; and (4) the actions of Luther’s close aid, Melancthon, in 1548 after Luther’s death, where he led the Lutheran Church to accept double justification as official doctrine from 1556 to 1580. (It was overturned in 1580.)</span></p>
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<p>i. <span style="color: #333399; font-size: large;"><strong><em>The Catechisms (1531) and the Antinomian Theses (1537)</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">If one examines carefully the change by Luther in the 1531 Catechisms (and thereafter), you can see Tyndale must have similarly influenced even Luther himself to accept double justification. The Catechisms written by Luther are all about a Christian’s duty to obey the Ten Commandments and repentance as the means for forgiveness. (This is a salvation doctrine because without forgiveness, how could a Christian otherwise be saved?) You cannot find the word justification in the Shorter Catechism. You hear no mention of salvation by faith alone for the non-believer. Hence, Luther’s Catechisms are a precise reflection of what a believer indouble justification would present as the believer’s path for forgiveness and salvation with God. It is as if Tyndale were writing theCatechisms for Luther.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Evangelicals who have discovered this change in the Catechisms condemn Luther for it. For example, Miles Stanford said in theCatechisms the “Lutheran Church” turned into “legalism” by adopting an “unscriptural application of ‘the law as the rule of life’ for the believer.”<sup>33 </sup>Likewise, Pastor Dwight Oswald regards Luther’s Catechism as having made Luther a heretic. Oswald says Luther in the Catechism is so at odds with Paul’s doctrines that even Luther must be deemed lost and responsible for having led countless numbers to perish in hell.<sup>34</sup> Similarly, Calvinists at Calvin College skewer Luther’s 1531 edition of his catechism for departing from the faith he previously taught so boldly.<sup>35</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, Luther at some point prior to his death in 1546 insisted his followers put greater stock in his Catechisms over anything he wrote previously. Luther’s biographer states: “Luther said that he would be glad to have all his works perishh except the reply to Erasmus and the Catechism.”<sup>36</sup> Why would Luther say this unless he himself felt some particular doctrines had changed for the better in the Catechisms? other than the Catechism and his reply to Erasmus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, the mature Luther likewise in his <em>Antinomian Theses</em> (1537) demonstrates he rejected his own earlier view of the Mosaic Law. In 1537, Luther favored precisely what Tyndale had come to teach about the Law from 1530 onward.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Prior to Tyndale’s 1530 revolution on the Mosaic Law still applying to a Christian, Luther in a sermon entitled How Christians Should Regard Moses given August 27, 1525 wrote this disavowal of any need to follow any part of the Mosaic Law:<sup>37</sup></span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The sectarian spirits want to saddle us with Moses and all the commandments. We will just skip that. We will regard Moses as a teacher, but <strong><em>we will not regard him as our lawgiver</em></strong> — unless he agrees with both the New Testament and the natural law.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So, then, <strong><em>we will neither observe nor accept Moses</em></strong>. Moses is dead. His rule ended when Christ came. He is of no further service....[E]ven the Ten Commandments do not pertain to us.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther even in mid-1531 still held the same view — just before Tyndale’s English treatises would arrive in German. Luther gave this speech in early 1531:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The scholastics think that the judicial and ceremonial laws of Moses were abolished by the coming of Christ, but not the moral law. They are blind. When Paul declares that we are delivered from the curse of the Law <strong><em>he means the whole Law</em></strong>, particularly the moral law which more than the other laws accuses, curses, and condemns the conscience. The Ten Commandments have no right to condemn that conscience in which Jesus dwells, for Jesus has taken from the Ten Commandments the right and power to curse us.<sup>38</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Luther experienced just as dramatic a reversal on the Law as took place for Tyndale in 1530. First, if you look at Luther’sCatechisms of late 1531-early 1532, you can see that the Longer and Shorter Catechism are both dominated by an exposition on each of the Ten Commandments.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even the Sabbath appears, albeit moved to Sunday.39 Why this emphasis on the Law for a believer? Five years later, Luther’s rationale would be clearly explained in his <em>Antinomian Theses</em> (1537).<sup>40</sup> In this and the <em>Smalcald Articles</em> (1537), Luther says a Christian can spiritually die and become like a non-Christian for violation of the Ten Commandments. (Tyndale’s Double Justification doctrine.) Luther’s new teachings startled his faithful pupils. In <em>Antinomian Theses</em>, Luther echoes Tyndale’s new ideas on the Mosaic Law as well, saying: “To abolish the Law is there fore to abolish the truth of God.”41 Leaving the young Luther’s abandonment of the Mosaic Law out-to-dry, the mature Luther said anyone who would “discard the Law [given Moses] would effectively put an end to our obedience to God.” (<em>Don’t Tell Me That</em> (<em>Antinomian Theses</em>),<em> id.</em> at 32.) Yet, as we saw above, the young Luther earlier said in 1525 that Paul “abolished the Sabbath” and declared all the Law “abolished,” even the moral law.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What can explain the mature Luther’s reversal on salvation doctrine (done without fanfare) and the Mosaic Law (done with some fanfare)? Tyndale. Only a man of that character and influence over Luther can explain the sudden and major shift made by Luther. This earthquake in Luther’s thinking followed in precise synchronization the fundamental shift in Tyndale’s thinking which preceded shortly before each of Luther’s major shifts.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">ii. <span style="color: #333399;"><strong>The Regensburg Diet of 1541 Proves Luther’s Switch</strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The story of the Regensburg (aka Regensberg) Colloquy (Diet) of 1541 proves that Luther materially changed his doctrine on salvation. To this conference Luther sent as his agents only two men: Bucer and Melancthon. What they proposed and obtained agreement on from the Roman negotiator was Tyndale’s doctrine of double justification.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Could Luther conceivably be surprised at this?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, let’s look at Martin Bucer (1491-1551). He was a Lutheran pastor and a very early supporter of Luther — starting in 1518. During the 1530s, while still a Lutheran pastor, Bucer wrote several works to defend double justification.42 He used that term, first coined by Erasmus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Let’s next look at the second agent Luther sent to Regensburg—Melancthon. He was the perpetual right-hand man of Luther at Wittenberg. Philip Melancthon (1497-1560) was a Professor of Greek and second only to Erasmus in excellence in Greek translation in all of Europe.<sup>43</sup> He was also a Latin scholar. Most important of all, Melancthon was indubitably Luther’s closest aid since the early days of the movement until Luther’s death. In 1521, with unmistakable zeal, Melancthon advanced justification by faith alone vigorously in a commentary on Romans.<sup>44</sup> This work was the first systematic commentary by the Lutheran party to defend their doctrines. Clearly, Melancthon was a knowledgeable, faithful zealous Lutheran reformer. In fact, Luther and Melancthon were inseparable partners, working side-by-side constantly at Wittenberg until Luther’s death in 1546. When Luther died, his final directions were given at his death-bed to Melancthon. “On the death of Luther, Philip Melancthon...was placed at the head of the Lutheran church.” (R. Adam,<em>The Religious World</em>: 358.) No matter what change in doctrine Melancthon went through, Luther never once criticized this man. Luther obviously knew Melancthon was of superior knowledge and intellect to himself.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet to the shock of many around Luther, in 1536, Melancthon left behind his firm hold on faith alone. He now deemed it only saved the non-believer. The believer was under the obligation of obedience and works for salvation’ssake. He had adopted double justification. This is first mentioned in a 1536 letter about pastor Cordatus of Niemeck. Melancthon writes: “New obedience is necessary by necessity of order of the cause and effect; also by necessity of duty or command; also by necessity of retaining faith, and avoiding punishments, temporal and eternal.” Then Melancthon says of Cordatus, having heard this teaching, he “stirs up against me the city, the surrounding countries, and the court itself, because, in explaining the controversy concerning justification, I said that <strong><em>renewed obedience was necessary to salvation</em></strong>.”<sup>45</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[2011 Update: Further research firmly confirms Melancthon's rejection of faith alone for a believer. See our <a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/226-george-major-and-melancthon.html">webpage</a> discussing George Major and Melancthon.]</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Words could not be clearer than that Melancthon adopted Tyndale’s and Bucer’s doctrine of double justification. This was no temporary change in heart. In 1552, Melancthon urged his pupil George Major to publish a book entitled On the Necessity of Good Works (1552). This book insisted good works are necessary for the salvation of the believer. Faith alone justification is only true for the nonbeliever. (Again, this is double justification doctrine.) Melancthon used the controversy from this book to convene a Synod to resolve the issue. Using that forum, in 1556 the Lutheran Synod resolved the point in favor of double justification which stood firm until 1580. See page xxviii infra.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, as of 1539, the double justification views of both Bucer and Melancthon were open for all to see.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What was Luther’s response to Melancthon’s change in outlook? Luther “was anxious to avoid any rupture or discord with Melancthon” and “knew also how to keep silence....”<sup>46</sup> Yet, Luther did more than that. In 1539, Luther chose Melancthon to work out a rapprochement with Catholics on a variety of doctrines, including justification. On behalf of Luther, Melancthon obtained agreement in a 1539 conference from the papal representatives on this double justification doctrine.47 Then Luther’s friend and co-pastor Martin Bucer drew up the list of agreed points in what later became known as the Regensburg Book “with its important article on justification.”<sup>48</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This Regensburg Book was to be used in preparation for a scheduled conference in April 1541 at Regensburg. This book reflected the prior oral agreements between Melancthon and the Roman party, including on double justification. As McGrath says, the double-justification wording was no surprise because Bucer must have written it. He was a strong public advocate of double justification among Lutherans.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, we move ahead two years. These negotiations from 1539 were ready to reach a final stage of approval on all points. Two months prior to the conference, on February 13, 1541, Luther had “in his hands the Regensburg Book.”<sup>49</sup> This is the same book which in material part was written by Luther’s friend Bucer. Could this idea of double justification have been written into the Regensburg Book by the Catholic side? Only the naive would think so. First, the entire idea originated with Protestants. It was never a Catholic notion. Double justification was first proposed by the anti-Catholic reformer Erasmus, then by Tyndale and then finally by Bucer — one of the drafters of the Regensburg Book — the very book we are trying to determine who originated its language on double justification.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The second proof this language originated with Bucer-Luther is that a Catholic would not have invented double justification doctrine. To Catholics, justification is solely by baptism, which for a baby neither involves faith nor works. See Footnote 53 on page xxv. To Catholics, a sacrament saves. They claim justification needs neither faith nor works as long as the Church dispensed baptism to you.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, it is obvious that Luther, Melancthon and Bucer must have thought double justification was close enough that it could be the basis for reconciliation with the Catholic church. Hence, the proposal at Regensburg on double justification was of a totally Protestant origin: it was a doctrine first formulated by the anti-Catholic reformer Erasmus in 1530, then advanced by the reformer Tyndale in 1530, and pushed by the Lutherans Bucer and Melancthon in the mid-1530s. That’s why the language appears in the Regensburg Book in the first place, before the congress was even held.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, the Regensburg Diet began on April 5, 1541. Luther’s representatives were Melancthon and Martin Bucer who, as noted already, were both open advocates of double justification.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To this conference, the Landgrave of Hesse also appointed Johannes Pistorius to represent the Protestant side. He “stood loyal to Melancthon.”<sup>50</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">After a series of negotiations, on May 2, 1541 both Melancthon on behalf of Luther and the representatives of the Pope announced an agreement on justification doctrine at Regensburg. “The participants at Regensberg Colloquy forged [agreement on] a double justification formula....”51 They agreed on “double justification,” saying a sinner is only justified by a “living and effectual faith” rather than a dead faith, i.e., one lacking works (hence requiring secondary jus tification of a Christian).52 Mere faith alone was discarded. Tyndale’s salvation doctrine had triumphed! However, it is often uncritically implied that Luther rejected on principle what Melancthon brought back from Regensburg. Typically, we read “Luther was [not] satisfied” with the article on justification, but the specifics are always sketchy. The truth is that before rejecting it, Luther in a letter defended the justification article to the Elector who was angry that it had abandoned faith alone. (Scott, 1828: 277, 281.) The Elector vented his anger particularly at Melancthon. Luther told the Elector not to be too hard on him. Luther said the justification article would only go into effect if all the other points in the conference were accepted by the Catholic church. (Scott: 281.) Luther encouraged him to let the issue alone because the conference would prove embarrassing to Catholicism, and weaken it. Luther then conceded faith alone was still an important principle, but many historians do not realize Luther was speaking of initial justification of an unbeliever, where this was still true. Luther was being coy with the Elector by not explaining how salvation for the Christian believer would be seen in a new light. (E.g., Scott: 278.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, to think Luther truly objected to secondary justification of the believer simply makes no sense.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Melancthon and Bucer were long-time confidants of Luther. They were no renegades. Second, Luther had to know in advance their open and notorious views on double justification. In fact, the only thing that makes sense is they were chosen particularly because of their shared view on that issue. Third, there was far too much preparation for this meeting to suggest Luther had not understood the Regensburg Book in advance. There had been two years of negotiation on the point of justification. Also, Luther’s friend Bucer wrote much of the Regensburg Book. Finally, and most important, the language on double justification was a Protestant idea from beginning to end, and was never a Catholic concept.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, it begs all credulity to believe that Luther had not authorized the double justification agreement reached by his agents at the 1541 conference. In fact, Luther’s agreement with that doctrine is the only explanation why Luther chose these two men in the first place. Luther knew these two men, more than any of his other allies, sincerely believed and could defend the doctrine of double justification to the Catholics. It would take a lot to convince Catholics that justification was not by means of the sacrament of baptism.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Consequently, Luther must have given Melancthon permission in 1541 to accept double justification at Regensburg. It is not shocking therefore to consider the possibility that Luther himself had changed his salvation doctrine. Unmistakably, double justification was previously endorsed by Tyndale — someone in whom Luther was reposing great trust. Thus, it would not be at all surprising that Luther too had shifted in Tyndale’s direction.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So, if it was not principle that led Luther to reject the Regensburg agreement after the fact, what other reason than principle could explain Luther’s decision?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Timing of events plays a key role in proving what forces operated upon Luther. A deputation from the conference arrived at Wittenberg on June 9th to see Luther’s reactions to the final agreements on several points. Luther acknowledged to them that he previously had seen the article on justification. (Scott: 287.) Luther said he was willing to accept it even though it used Paul’s words in Galatians in a manner that he would not utilize. (Id.) Luther said that, however, he would do nothing to interfere with the acceptance of the articles. (Scott: 288.) For this, Lutherans praised Luther for his “prudence” and “temper” on this occasion. (Scott: 288.) Then before that deputation returned to Regensburg, Cardinal Caraffa (later a pope) told his Catholic negotiator, Contarini, that he had “betrayed the cause of the church, especially on the question of justification.” (Scott: 289.) For Catholics, justification would always be by baptism.<sup>53</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">“Before the deputation [to Luther] had returned, the Roman party had destroyed all hope of union.”<sup>54</sup> Luther and everyone else had learned that the Roman higher authorities rejected the Tyndalian compromise on justification.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Only after Luther knew the Roman rejection of the justification article did Luther call back his agents’ agreement on justification and every other agreement.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Luther now knew before the deputation returned that he would be sticking his neck out unnecessarily if he himself continued to openly defend double justification. Only at this juncture did Luther then “demand... that even the articles agreed upon should be rejected.”<sup>55</sup></span></p>
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<div><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, how do those who portray Luther’s decision was based upon principle explain away the fact Luther had the Regensburg Book long before the 1541 Conference began? They disingenuously claim Luther only belatedly “had become fully acquainted with the contents” of the “Regensburg Book” after his agents reached the accord at Regensburg.<sup>56</sup> How naive!</span></div>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Justification was the key issue going into the conference. Are we to believe Luther did not read the Regensburg Book on that point ahead of time? Or that when he did so, he did not understand its two sentences on justification? And even though his friend and ally Bucer obviously is the person who drew up this language months in advance, are we to think Bucer never discussed and worked over the language with Luther? Only the gullible could ever believe such nonsense.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, what instead explains Luther pulling back if it was not on principle?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We must remember what risk Luther had of being lynched by his own troops and lose support of his Elector if the word spread of his change in such a core doctrine. As Dr. Samworth says, the agreement reached by Melancthon (Luther’s closest aid) at Regensburg on May 2, 1541 <strong><em>“rejects the Protestant concepts of sola fide or faith alone</em></strong>....” (More correctly, it rejects it as true for the believer; it maintains faith alone is true for the non-believer.) Yet, we already established, Luther must have approved this dramatic change in advance. Luther must have accepted Tyndale’s case for double justification. But when Melancthon returned, the heat from Luther’s other less-informed supporters would obviously make it difficult — nay perhaps impossible — for Luther to come out in the open. Why bother doing so when the higher-ups in the Roman party already announced their rejection on the justification clause? Thus, Luther’s decision to reject the 1541 agreement after the Roman party withdrew its concurrence must have had to do with politics, not principle.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In other words, Luther had created his own hornet’s nest where the Queen can no longer leave without the hive stinging her to death. If he backed down, he could legitimately fear that his own troops would oust their old Master, treating him as a traitor. The Elector had in fact declared those feelings to Luther about Melancthon’s acceptance of the article on justification during the Regensburg conference itself. (Scott,1828:278-279.) This is not a unique example of Luther’s coyness. Indeed, it similarly explains Luther’s obscurely placed reversal of his previously vociferous position on the alleged bondage of the human will.<sup>57</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, we have not mistaken what transformation has taken place in Luther’s mind on salvation under Tyndale’s obvious influence. Luther made strenuous efforts to escape the trap of his own devices prior to his death in 1546. Luther did so in 1541 by seeking to re-connect with Catholicism on this one key issue. It ended in frustration because the Catholics were the first to express dissatisfaction with the justification clause. Luther thereby left it to Melancthon to make the effort after Luther died to fix the justification doctrine of the Lutheran church. We shall see that double justification later triumphed for over twenty-years within the Lutheran church.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">iii. <span style="color: #333399;"><strong>Two Years After Luther Dies, Closest Aids Successfully Push Double Justification As Official Lutheran Doctrine</strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luther died in 1546. Melancthon — true to his master Luther — advanced double justification in 1548. It was an effort that met with success despite vociferous faith-alone opposition within the Lutheran church. What explains such a dramatic reversal? The highest leaders of the Lutheran church must have known Luther’s true view had come to accept double justification. That is the best explanation why for 24 years double justification became, at Melancthon’s instigation, the official Lutheran doctrine. This was from 1556 to 1580. Only the Book of Concord of 1580 finally repealed this revolutionary switch. It unraveled Melancthon’s efforts which taught faith alone does not maintain justification. The Book of Concord reversed Melancthon’s principle effectuated in 1556 despite his being the closest confidant of the deceased Luther.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This account begins in 1548. Upon Luther’s death, Melacanthon was the new head of the Lutheran church. And in Europe, his role was bigger: “After Luther’s death he became the theological leader of the German Reformation.” He was Luther’s closest aid and confidant. Melancthon led a group of Luther’s closest aids to meet in 1548 at Leipzig. They openly endorsed double justification. They chose one of their number — George Major (1502-74), a Lutheran theology professor at Wittenberg — to publish a book entitled <em>On the Necessity of Good Works</em> (1552). He clearly wrote that “no one will be saved...without good works.”<sup>58 </sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">A furious response came from a vocal minority within the Lutheran church. These were obviously less intimate with Luther’s change of heart. They were adamant on faith alone as sufficient to save even a believer. They called Major the “devil” and “godless” and his work a “mark of the Antichrist.”<sup>59</sup> Melacanthon too was called a “turncoat.” Flacius, one of his students, denounced Melancthon as a heretic.<sup>60</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[For more on the Majoristic Dispute, and Melancthon's view that works were essential for salvation, see our webpage "<a href="/component/content/article/2-jwos/226-george-major-and-melancthon.html">Major and Melancthon</a>."]</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">To resolve the dispute, the Lutheran Synod of 1556 convened. Its final decrees firmly endorsed double justification. It said in evangelism to non-believers, they would still teach justification by faith alone. But the necessity of works for believers for salvation is true as both an abstract and legal matter. (Double Justification.) Yet, the Synod ruled that when the Christian believer would be told in a sermon that “works were necessary,” the pastor should omit “for salvation” to avoid giving canon-fodder to the Catholics to criticize Lutheranism. Hence, this is precisely the doctrine of double justification, simply truncated for political, not spiritual reasons.<sup>61</sup></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This ruling stood within Lutheranism until 1580 when the Book of Concord wiped it out. The Book of Concord said faith alone was the doctrine of justification applicable to both the believer and unbeliever.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">iv. <span style="color: #333399;"><strong>The Enormous Implication About The Leading Reformers</strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Tyndale had changed Luther’s mind on the most fundamental of issues: faith alone’s salvific effect for a believer. And if Tyndale truly did so — the case that this happened is very strong — then this means the four leading minds of the early reformation — Erasmus, Tyndale, Luther, and Melancthon — had each come to conclude double justification was the correct salvation formula. It would be five if you include the father of the reformation in the Netherlands—Menno Simons.62 Double justification doctrine says a nonbeliever must believe to be saved (faith alone), but a Christian must repent of sin, do good works and obey Christ or otherwise perish everlastingly (double justification).</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Tyndale Is A Respectable Hero For Those Who Dissent From ‘Faith Alone’ As Cheap Grace</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even if we were not convinced about Luther conforming to Tyndale’s idea, then, if nothing else, we can affirm Tyndale’s ideas were accepted by the Lutheran party who represented Lutheranism at the Regensburg Diet of 1541. We can also say Tyndale’s double justification doctrine became the official doctrine on salvation of the Lutheran Church from 1556 to 1580. We can also affirm double justification was held by the highest Lutheran official next to Luther: Melancthon. That’s enough to conclude even a good Lutheran and a pre-eminent Greek scholar, like Melancthon, can recognize Tyndale’s doctrine is more correct than faith alone doctrine.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, even if we could not cite Luther as an ally, we do not need to feel we are at a great loss. Tyndale was his own man and is a great ally anyway. By himself, Tyndale can stand up to anyone, including Luther, when it comes to defending the truth of what Jesus truly taught. Tyndale was a great figure in the Reformation all by himself. He thus becomes a hero for those who believe modern salvation doctrine misses Jesus’ points. Tyndale was the Reformation in England! Tyndale for a time was Luther’s pupil, but it appears quite clearly that Luther in the end, true to Christ, let Tyndale lead him later to follow Christ’s words on salvation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why did Luther and others like Melancthon accept this input from Tyndale? Because both Luther and Melancthon knew Tyndale was an independent thinker with deep knowledge of Scripture in its original language. Both men also knew that Tyndale was honest and full of integrity. Thus, no amount of friendship would permit Tyndale to cower to any monolithic “Reformation.” His integrity instead required that he even question Luther’s doctrine. Tyndale’s only Lord was Christ. And to our dear Lord, brother Tyndale was true!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Perhaps it was also Tyndale’s single hearted devotion to the words of the Master that could influence Luther and Melancthon to both regret their prior writings. Someone with monumental influence like Tyndale was necessary to move men like Luther and Melancthon to such a stunning change of previously published doctrine.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Tyndale is a spiritual hero in every respect. He upheld Christ’s doctrine on salvation against both the pressure of German reformers and Catholic counter-reformers. He did not resist Luther’s deductions precipitously. He had fully comprehended them. In fact, Tyndale had clearly accepted them in the Parable of the Wicked Mammon (1528). Nor had Tyndale cavalierly rejected Luther’s youthful faith alone idea as sufficient to save believers. Instead, he had the fullest knowledge possible of both New and ‘Old Testaments.’ How else can 82% of the English in the King James Bible of 1611 be the words of William Tyndale from 1534? Nor was Tyndale any personal enemy of Luther. Rather, they were friends after 1524. Tyndale travelled specifically to Wittenberg to see Luther that year. This led to an intimate association with Luther’s ideas on justification. Tyndale published in 1528 Luther’s sermon on justification by faith. Tyndale even put it under his own name with minor embellishments!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, with an educational background and experience unparalleled by any Bible student before or since, and with unimpeachable evangelical credentials, Tyndale elected to hold the pure line of Jesus’ words against all comers. He rejected faith alone doctrine for the believer. In all of this mess of men mangling God’s word, Tyndale stands head and shoulders above them all.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, let’s examine Jesus’ doctrine with the same courage that Tyndale had. Let’s be willing to put all our reputation in this world at stake if that is what it costs to accept all of the teachings of Jesus Christ.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, just because the story of Tyndale and his impact is an encouraging story does not mean this book is about his or Luther’s doctrine. Instead, this book is about what Jesus taught. What obviously impelled Tyndale to submit to the doctrine of double justification had mostly to do with his belief that Jesus’ words are more important than anyone else’s words. Thus, we intend to follow his more mature realization that he had to emphasize Jesus’ words to determine doctrine. He must have realized Jesus said He was our “Sole Teacher.” (Matt. 23:10.) Jesus alone is the source of truth.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Therefore, we start with a clean slate. We are open to find whatever Jesus taught on salvation, even if it were not exactly double justification. Even if it were faith alone, we would accept that too.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> <hr /></span></p>
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<h1><strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Foot-Notes</span></strong></h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">1. For a summary of Bonhoeffer’s arguments, see page<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA234#v=onepage&q&f=false"> 234</a> et seq., and pages <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q&f=false">127</a>-132.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">2 Vernon McGee,<em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5DwzQgAACAAJ&dq=mcgee+assurance+of+salvation&hl=en&ei=AH41TsfeAdDYiALNhd3DCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA"> How You Can Have the Assurance of Salvation</a></em> (Pasadena: 1976) at 12.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">3 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA518#v=onepage&q&f=false">518</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">4 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA500#v=onepage&q&f=false">500</a> et seq., and page<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA521#v=onepage&q&f=false"> 521</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5 On Apostle John, see page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false">14</a> et seq., and page<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA417#v=onepage&q&f=false"> 417</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">6 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA492#v=onepage&q&f=false">492</a>, page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA522#v=onepage&q&f=false">522</a>-23.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">7 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA537#v=onepage&q&f=false">537</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">8 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA538#v=onepage&q&f=false">538</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">9 See page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4V8tMJ75bnwC&lpg=PP1&dq=jesus%20words%20on%20salvation&pg=PA538#v=onepage&q&f=false">538</a> et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">10.See page xiii infra.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">11.See page 232, page 236 et seq., and 470.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">12.See page 515 et seq.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">13.See page 73 et seq.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">14.See page 42 et seq.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">15.Erasmus’ work Handbook of A Christian Soldier was released in English in 1503, and found an Oxford scholar, William Tyndale, as one of its earliest avid readers. Erasmus in a series of books heroically battled errors by the Catholic Church, including its doctrine of Mary; its traditions not found in Scripture, etc. Erasmus, one of the best scholars of Europe in ancient Greek and Latin, was subjected to persecution and indictment by the Inquisition. One can still hear the unmistakable bitterness in the Catholic Encyclopedia article “Erasmus” about this very first reformer. (Luther emerged only in 1517.) In 1516, Erasmus published the New Testament for the first time in Greek with his own Latin translation. This violated Catholic prohibitions which claimed the Latin Vulgate had become the official text. The Erasmus Greek text was the one Luther used to translate the Bible into German in 1522. Erasmus also gave the English-speaking world the first quasi-translation of the New Testament entitled Paraphrases of the New Testament in 1516. The Paraphrases were amplified and revised in reprints in 1519,1522,1527, and 1535. (Tyndale’s English New Testament first appeared in 1526.) As a result, Roman Catholic officials in Spain brought articles of indictment against Erasmus to bring him before the Inquisitor but the process ended in deadlock. (Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain(MacMillan: 1907) at 414.) Upon Erasmus’ death, “his works were [placed]...on the Index of prohibited books” by the Roman Catholic Church. (Johann J. Herzog, The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1909) at 166.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">16.Claire Cross, Church and People: England, 1450-1660 (Blackwell Publishing, 1999) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=HvYKflcDbQsC&lpg=PP1&dq=Church%20and%20People%20England%20claire%20cross&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false">45</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">17.Paul D. L. Avis, Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Theological Resources in Historical Perspective (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=zUq-NYXtfUwC&lpg=PP1&dq=avis%20Anglicanism%20and%20the%20Christian%20Church&pg=PA16#v=onepage&q&f=false">16</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">18. David Broughton Knox, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=uGtAAAAAIAAJ&dq=The+Doctrine+of+Faith+in+the+Reign+of+Henry&hl=en&ei=X4A1Tqb0N-rkiAKc_PDDCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ">The Doctrine of Faith in the Reign of Henry VIII</a> (London, 1961) at 6.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">19.Carl R. Trueman, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4L-HXLt9JjMC&dq=trueman+Luther%E2%80%99s+Legacy+Salvation+and+English+Reformers&hl=en&ei=qoA1TsWsLdLViAKW9P3DCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA">Luther’s Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers, 1525-1556</a> (Oxford Univ. Press, 1994) at 55.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">20.Claire Cross, supra, at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=HvYKflcDbQsC&lpg=PP1&dq=Church%20and%20People%20England%20claire%20cross&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false">45</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">21.Erasmus’ commentaries on the Psalms were partially devoted to this theme of double justification. They were published as an ongoing series of commentaries between 1528-31. In these commentaries, Erasmus explained that there is a synergy between faith and works. The bones are faith while the flesh is good works “which are inseparable from faith and love.” This is not based on human merit, but God’s desire to save those who ask for salvation. See Erasmus, Exposition on the Psalms (Univ. Toronto Press, 2003) at 9. In his treatment of Psalm 22 (started late 1529), he calls this doctrine duplex iustitia, or double justification. There Erasmus explains the idea of duplex iustitia: “Righteousness is of two kinds, the first being the innocence to which we are restored through faith and baptism and the second the righteousness of faith working through love,” citing Galatians 5:6.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">22.The Works of John Locke (London: Thomas Tegg, 1828) Vol. VIII at 415 (emphasis added.) Calvin tried to spin double justification to mean something quite different. He claimed there is one justification before God and one before man. Thus, before God it is always faith alone. (Institutes iii.11.2.) Obviously, Calvin’s interpretation is not what Tyndale nor Erasmus was saying.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">23.F. L. Clarke, The Life of William Tyndale (W. Swan Sonnenschein, 1883) at 77-78.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">24.William Tyndale, John Frith, Thomas Russell, The Works of the English Reformers: William Tyndale and John Frith (Ebenezer Palmer 1831) at 90.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">25.Luther’s statement was “[N]o sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day.” Martin Luther, Luther Works, I Letters (American Ed.) Vol. 48 at 282.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">26.William A. Clebsch, England’s Earliest Protestants, 1520-1535 (Yale University Press, 1964) at 201,203 (paraphrasing Tyndale).</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">27.William Tyndale, Tyndale’s Old Testament (Ed. David Daniell) (Yale University Press, 1992) at xxiii (describing Tyndale’s doctrine).</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">28. After explaining the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Tyndale concludes: “The general covenant, wherein all other are comprehended and included is this: If we meek ourselves to God, to keep all his laws, after the example of Christ, then God hath bound himself to us, to keep and make good all the mercies in Christ throughout all scriptures.” (Tyndale, Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions to Different Portions of the Holy Scripture, by William Tyndale, Martyr, 1536 (Henry Walter ed., The Parker Society, Cambridge, 1848) at 470.)</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">29.Id. at 471.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">30.Id. at 472.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">31.Id. at 472-73.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">32.Tyndale responded to More’s defense of Catholic Sunday-Sabbath practice, saying “a great matter, we be lords over the Saboth; and may yet change it into the Monday, or any other day, as we see need; or may make every tenth day holy day only, if we see cause why. We may make two every week, if it were expedient, and one not enough to teach the people.” An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue... by William Tyndale, Martyr, 1536 (H. Walter ed., <em>The Parker Society</em>, Cambridge, 1850) at 97. Tyndale says the Roman Catholic change in 363 A.D. from Saturday to Sunday was solely to spite the Jews. Tyndale writes: “Neither was there any cause to change it from the Saturday, than to put difference between us and the Jews; and lest we should become servants unto the day, after their superstition.” He means this was the Catholic reasoning which Tyndale was satirizing.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">33.Quoted in Bob Nyberg’s Covenant Theology Versus Dispensationalism A Matter of Law Versus Grace, reprinted online at http://4himnet.com/bnyberg/dispensationalism01.html.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">34 See Pastor Dwight Oswald, “Martin Luther's Sacramental Gospel,” Earnestly Contending For The Faith (Nov-Dec. 1997). See also, Lutheran Heresy at http://www.jesus-is-savior.com.alvinists thereby find the 1531 Catechism defective spiritually: “It gives undue importance to the sacraments by making them co-ordinate parts with the three great divisions; and elevates private confession and absolution almost to the dignity of a third sacrament [i.e., salvific.].” (Calvin College at http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/hcc7/htm/ii.v.xiv.htm.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">36.Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: The Life of Martin Luther (Abingdon Classics, 1990) at 263.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">37. Martin Luther, “How Christians Should Regard Moses,” Luther’s Works: Word and Sacrament I (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960) Vol. 35 at 161-174.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">38.Martin Luther, Epistle on Galatians 4:25 (delivered 1531, printed 1535), reprint at http://www.biblehelpsonline.com/martinluther/galatians/galatians4.htm (last accessed 2005).</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">39.Here is the only difference between Tyndale and Luther at this point in their lives. Tyndale said it was wrong to move Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Luther implied a one-in-seven principle is all that matters.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">40.Martin Luther, Don’t Tell Me That! From Martin Luther’s Antinomian Theses (Lutheran Press: 2004).</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">41.Martin Luther, Antinomian Theses (1537), reprinted as Don’t Tell Me That From Martin Luther’s Antinomian Theses(Minneapolis: Lutheran Press, 2004) at 33-34.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">42.Martin Bucer was a personal follower of Luther in 1518, later excommunicated by Rome. In 1522, Bucer became a pastor in the Palatinate. By the 1530s, he advocated “double justification.” As McGrath explains, “The most significant exposition of justification within the early reformed church is due to Martin Bucer...Bucer develops a doctrine of double justification.” (Alister E. McGrath,Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification (Cambridge: 1998) at 221.) Bucer’s double justification was identical to Tyndale’s. McGrath summarizes it: “Although man’s primary justification takes place on the basis of faith alone (sola fide), his secondary justification takes place on the basis of works.” Id. Thus, there is “an initial justification by faith, and a subsequent justification by works.” Id., at 222.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">43.In 1518 Melancthon was offered, on Reuchlin’s recommendation, a professorship of Greek at Wittenberg. “I know of no one among the Germans who is superior to him,” wrote Reuchlin to the Elector of Saxony, “save only Erasmus Roterodamus, and he is a dutchman.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">44.Melancthon in his 1521 exposition on Romans entitled Loci communes rerum theologicarum clearly taught faith alone. This was the first systematic summary of Luther’s doctrine.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">45.John Scott, Joseph Milner, Isaac Milner, The History of the Church of Christ: Intended as a Continuation of the Work (R.B. Seely and W. Burnside, 1829) at 125, citing Epistles [of Melancthon], vi at 438: item, 403. See also this letter in John Fletcher, The Works of the Reverend John Fletcher (B. Waugh & T. Mason, 1833) at 515, quoting from Richard Baxter, Confession of Faith (London: 1655) at 330, 334.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">46. Julius Köstlin, Life of Luther (Scribner’s 1893) at 501.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">47.“In 1539, Herzog George of Saxony and his chancellor, George von Karlowitz, convened a colloquy in Leipzig to discuss the differences between Melancthon’s confession and Roman doctrine. Although they found common ground concerning justification and good works, the participants failed to achieve overall consensus.” (Michael Stephen Springer, Restoring Christ’s Church: John A Lasco and the Forma AC Ratio (Ashgate Publishing, 2007) at 21.) The meetings continued on other issues in November 1540, with Melancthon alone representing Luther, and Eck alone representing the Catholic Church. Id. The contentious issues then were the mass and sacraments. Id., at 22.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">48.Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification (Cambridge: 1998) at 222.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">49.“Conference of Regensburg,” Wikipedia.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">50.See “Johannes Pistorius,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1911), supra, at 74. This says “he stood loyal to Melancthon.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">51.Joseph A. Burgess & Jeffrey Gros, Building Unity: Ecumenical Dialogues with Roman Catholic Participation in the United States (Paulist Press, 1989) at 234.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">52.See James M. Kittelson, Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career (Fortress Press, 2003) at 278. The actual text was two sentences: “It is secure and wholesome teaching that the sinner is justified by a living [not dead] and effectual faith, for through such faith we will be acceptable to God and accepted for the sake of Christ. A living faith, therefore, appropriates the mercy in Christ and believes that the righteousness which is in Christ will be freely reckoned for nothing and also receives the promise of the Holy Spirit.” (See “Diet of Regensburg,” Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) (bracketed text: mine).</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">53.Most Protestants misapprehend Catholicism as teaching justification by works. Instead, baptism is what matters. In 1545, the Roman Catholic church convened the Council of Trent to restate Catholic positions against Protestant doctrines. Its final decree was that baptism is the sole instrument of justification. See Canones et decreta concilii Tridentini (Leipzig, 1860) at 28 (decree VI:vii). A translation appears in C. F. Allison, The Rise of Moralism: The Proclamation of the Gospel from Hooker to Baxter (London, S.P.C.K., 1966) at 213ff. Thus, in Catholicism faith plays no role in justification. Nor do works of obedience by a baby play any role. Rather, the sacrament of baptism on a faithless baby who has done no good works makes a baby supposedly justified.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">54.“Conference of Regensburg,” Wikipedia.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">55.“Conference of Regensburg,” Wikipedia. Others put it this way: “At the last minute both parties backed away from their tentative rapprochement....” Andrew Purves, Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition (Westminster: John Knox Press, 2001) at 79.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">56.“Conference of Regensburg,” Wikipedia. The Liber Ratisbonensis can be found in Melanthonis Opera, Corpus Reformatorum 4:190-238.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">57. See Thomas Yardley How, A Vindication of the Protestant Episcopal Church: In a Series of Letters (Eastburn, Kirk, & Co, 1816) at 397, quoting Erasmus, 1528, Epistolae, book xx, ep. 63. See the language of that 1527 Lutheran confession in Richard Watson & Nathan Bangs, A Biblical and Theological Dictionary: Explanatory of the History, Manners and Customs of the Jews(Carlton & Porter, 1832) at 646. Melancthon later expanded this into a doctrine of synergy of man’s free will cooperating with God’s energy. “Synergism,” New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia (1911) at 224. Before his death, Melancthon fully renounced the whole idea of bondage of the will. See Watson & Bangs, supra, at 647.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">58. Melancthon gathered trusted members of the Lutheran leadership in 1548 to meet at Leipzig where they agreed on the salvific necessity of good works for believers as a truth “conformable to the truths in the [four] gospels.” (Johann Lorenz Mosheim & George Gleig, An Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern: From the Birth of Christ to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century (London: 1811) Vol. IV at 312.) See also Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendon (1919) at 276.</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">59.Many in the Lutheran camp called Major and the others involved of the “devil.” Flacius called Major “godless.” Wigand said this idea was the “pillar of popery and a mark of Antichrist.” (See Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendon (1919) at 276.)</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">60.Patrick W. Carey, Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians (Greenwood Press, 2000) at 359.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">61. Here is Schaff’s synopsis: “A synod, held at Eisenach in 1556, decided in seven theses that Major's proposition was true only in abstracto and in foro legis, but not inforo evangelii, and should be avoided as liable to be misunderstood in a popish sense. Christ delivered us from the curse of the law, and faith alone is necessary both for justification and salvation, which are identical. The theses were subscribed by Amsdorf, Strigel, Horlin, Hugel, Stossel, and even by Menius (although the fifth was directed against him). But now there arose a controversy on the admission of the abstract and legal necessity of good works, which was defended by Flacius, Wigand, and Morlin; opposed by Amsdorf and Aurifaber as semi-popish. The former view [i.e., the abstract and legal necessity of good works for salvation] prevailed. Melanchthon felt that the necessity of good works for salvation might imply their meritoriousness, and hence proposed to drop the words for salvation, and to be contented with the assertion that good works are necessary because God commanded them, and man is bound to obey his Creator. This middle coursewas adopted by the Wittenberg Professors and by the Diet of Princes at Frankfort (1558) [i.e., the majority ruling], but was rejected by the strict Lutherans [i.e., the defeated minority].” (Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes (Harper: 1919) at 276.)</span></p>
|
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<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">62.“The first wave of Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther, did not come to the Netherlands.” (“History of Religion in the Netherlands,” Wikipedia.) Instead, the reformation in the Netherlands started with the Anabaptists, principally Menno Simons (1496-1561). He was the founder of the Mennonites. In 1556 he wrote a treatise in favor of double justification, entitled Van het rechte Christen geloove. He criticized the (pre-1541) Lutheran idea that “faith is alone necessary to salvation.” Instead, Menno contended the “faith that justifies is a faith that ‘worketh by love’” — taken from Erasmus. See Hardwick:281-82. In English, one can find Menno’s work A Foundation and Plain Instruction of the Saving Doctrine of Our Lord Jesus. Two snippets give the direction of his thought: “Namely, that no one can... glory in the grace of God, the forgiveness of sin, or the merits of Christ, unless he has truly repented. It is not enough to say, we are Abraham’s children, that is, that we profess to be Christians and be esteemed as the followers of Christ. But we must do the works of Abraham, that is, we must walk as all the true children of God are commanded to walk.” Id. at 23. “True faith that is acceptable to God is not dead faith....It works and wills righteousness.... ‘Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is...is accursed and consumed by fire.” (Matt. 3:21.)” Id. at 28-29.</span></p>
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<td valign="top" ><span>Thus says YHWH, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it: And you shall find rest for your souls...." </span>(Jer. 6:16)</td>
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<h1> <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">The Parable Of The Sheep And The Goats: Does Faith Alone Save?</span></strong></h1>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus tells a parable known as the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A30-46&version=NIV">Matthew 25:30-46</a>.) Jesus says that one group who calls Him Lord serves Jesus’ brothers in need with food and clothing. This group goes to heaven. Another group who calls Him Lord but who fails to do so are sent to hell.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus is commanding charity to his brothers on threat of going to hell if you do not do it. Jesus is promising eternal life to those who do it. Faith that is alone does not save. This parable reads:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">(31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (32) And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (33) And he shall set the <strong>sheep on his right hand</strong>, but the goats on the left. (34) Then shall the King say unto them <strong>on his right hand</strong>, Come, ye blessed of my Father, <strong>inherit the kingdom</strong> prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (35) For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: (36) Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (37) Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? (38) When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? (39) Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? (40) And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (41) Then shall he say also unto them <strong>on the left hand,</strong> Depart from me, ye cursed, into<strong> everlasting fire,</strong> <strong>prepared for the devil and his angels</strong>: (42) For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: (43) I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. (44) Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? (45) Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. (46) And these shall go away <strong>into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal</strong>. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-45&version=KJV">Matt. 25: 31-45, KJV</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Please note that Jesus clearly divides the sheep from the goats based on works of charity. “[H]e rebukes not because they have not believed in Him, but because they have not done <em><strong>good works</strong></em>.” (Augustine, Fide et operibus, Cornish:61.) Please also note that there is no doubt Jesus equates the sheep “inherit[ing] the kingdom” with going away “into life eternal.” (vv. 34, 46). There is also no doubt that Jesus contrasts this with the fate of the goats who call Him Lord but who failed to do charity. They go into:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li style="display: block; text-align: left; text-indent: -13.745pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41)</span></li>
|
||||
<li style="display: block; text-align: left; text-indent: -13.745pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> “everlasting punishment” (v. 45.)</span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p> </p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">As Gathercole, an evangelical scholar, concedes, Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 says “deeds of hospitality...are certainly the criterion for judgment.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-477765">1</a> Let’s examine this thoroughly so this very important point is not forgotten.</span></p>
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<div>
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<h2 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 18pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Jesus’ Criterion For Salvation: Charitable Works</span></strong></h2>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why the different ends of the sheep versus the goats? Is it because one believed and the other did not? Or rather is it because among those who accepted Him as their Lord some served Him by clothing, feeding and visiting the “brothers” of the King while others did not?</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Or another way of asking this is to inquire why do the sheep inherit the kingdom. Is it because they are believers who are saved despite failing to do works of charity? Was their faith alone enough? No.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus says:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">(35) For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, (36) I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The sheep confess they do not remember doing it for the Lord himself. The King explains: ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why are the goats<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-478015">2</a> sent to “eternal fire”? Did they lack ever having faith? No, rather Jesus says:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">(42) For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, (43) I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The goats confess the same error, not ever having seen the Lord in need. And the King replies:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. (Mat 25:45.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The answer is that one group serves the brothers of the King and the others do not, by works of charity. One has works of charity and one doesn’t. That is the dividing line in being finally saved, as told in this parable. Both the sheep and goats call him Lord, so both had faith. One was dead and one was alive.<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-477779">3</a></span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">If you instead believe only the sheep had faith, then you have the incongruous lesson that Jesus is warning people already lost (the goats) that they better do works of charity for His brothers or face hell. This would be a doctrine of works alone, which appears incompatible with any of Jesus’ teachings.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Because Jesus clearly says works of charity are the dividing line between the two groups, and we know faithless works are meaningless to God, then Jesus must be speaking to believers. Jesus insists believers must have works of charity or otherwise they are sent to hell with unbelievers.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, it follows that Jesus wants us to understand the goats who called Him Lord are sincere Christians (i.e., had accepted Him as Lord and Savior). They are goats because they failed to serve Him by works of charity to His followers. The formula is faith and works (of charity). This charitable service then becomes the dividing line in terms of who is and who is not ultimately saved among people who have faith in Jesus.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This is not surprising. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+58%3A7&version=KJV">Isaiah 58:7 et seq.</a>, God promises “salvation shall come like the dawn” if you bring the poor into your home, give him clothes, etc.</span></p>
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<h1 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 34pt; margin-right: 48.024pt; margin-bottom: 8pt; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Corroboration In The Epistle Of James</span></strong></h1>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What helps corroborate we are reading Jesus correctly is that James clearly paraphrases this parable in James chapter two. Everyone remembers that James says that “faith alone” does not justify. However, no one seems to remember James says such faith cannot save because it lacks charitable works. James is saying identically what Jesus says in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">James chapter two is an obvious paraphrase of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A30-46&version=NIV">Matthew 25:30-46</a>. The two passages are virtually <em><strong>verbatim copies</strong></em> of each other. Not a single leading commentator mentions this. The reason is obvious. If one knew how James understood and applied doctrinally Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, this would simply cement the falsity of the Fable of Cheap Grace. James writes:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">(14) What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? <strong><em>can that faith save him</em></strong>? (15) If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, (16) and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit? (17) Even so<em><strong> faith, if it have not works [ergon], is dead in itself [i.e., if alone].</strong></em> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A14-17&version=ASV">James 2:14-17, ASV</a>.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Now compare this faith that is not completed because it lacks works of charity and thus cannot save in James with Jesus’ words in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. In that parable, Jesus threatens damnation for lacking charity. The parallels are striking:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 12pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Parallelism of James 2:14-17 & Parable of the Sheep & the Goats</span></strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><em style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Garamond;">James</em></span></p>
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</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">
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<p style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><em style="font-size: 12pt; color: #ffffff; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Garamond;">Jesus</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“brother or sister without clothes...” (James 2:15.)</span></p>
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<td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“I needed clothes and you did not clothe me.”(Matt. 25:36.)</span></p>
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</tr>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“brother or sister without... daily food...” (James 2:15.)</span></strong></p>
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</td>
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<td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.” (Matt. 25:42.)</span></strong></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“faith without works....” (James 2:14.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“Lord...when did we see you hungering...or naked....?” (Matt. 25:44.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“is dead [and] can[not] save.” (James 2:14.)</span></strong></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“Be going...into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25: 41.)</span></strong></p>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, we see Matthew 25:30-46 — the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats — is identical in message and content to James 2:14-17. If James, the Lord’s brother, evidently read it this way, we should do so as well.</span></p>
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<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></div>
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<h1 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 34pt; margin-right: 48.024pt; margin-bottom: 8pt; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why Is Charity So Central In God’s Word?</span></strong></span></h1>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Why would charity toward others be so crucial to salvation, as Jesus says? We could do an entire Bible study on this. It appears that charity toward others is the most significant way you mark departure from your old life of sin. Daniel can tell the king “break off (discontinue) your sins...by showing mercy to the poor.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+4%3A27&version=ASV">Dan. 4:27</a>.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Charity in the Hebrew Scriptures was frankly one of the most elevated commands to obey. One might even say it is central to Torah. It reflects obedience to God’s command to love thy neighbor in a concrete way. Thus, the Law of Moses said if a brother of God’s people is in your midst who is “needy” then “thou shalt surely open thy hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+15%3A7-8&version=ASV">Deut. 15:7-8</a>.) Thirty-six times the Bible then commands the same charity must be shown to the “stranger” in your midst for “you were once strangers in the Land of Egypt.” (E.g., <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+10%3A19&version=ASV">Deut. 10:19</a>.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The charity-principle is one of the most characteristic ways of doing justice in God’s eyes. God desires it more than any blood sacrifice. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+21%3A3&version=ASV">Prov. 21:3</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+12%3A33&version=ASV">Mark 12:33</a>.) In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+58%3A7-9&version=ASV">Isaiah 58:7 et seq.</a>, God promises “<em><strong>salvation</strong></em> shall come like the dawn” if you bring the poor into your home, give him clothes, etc. If you are charitable, God promises if you call on Him, then “the Lord will answer.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+58%3A7-9&version=ASV">Isaiah 58:9</a>.) Thus, even the issue of whether God will speed an answer to prayer depends on how charitable you are being to the poor.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Furthermore, if you are charitable, God will guide you “continually” and make you like a watered garden. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+58%3A11&version=ASV">Isaiah 58:11</a>.) God promises special blessings to those who give charity to the poor.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, there is no end of verses that elevate charity above almost every other command except to Love the Lord thy God with your whole mind, heart and soul.</span></p>
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<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">
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<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"></span></div>
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<h1 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 34pt; margin-right: 48.024pt; margin-bottom: 8pt; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Cheap Grace Interpretation Of The Parable Of The Sheep & Goats</span></strong></h1>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Most of the time, proponents of the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace ignore this parable. One Christian expresses my own experience, and perhaps your own:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In my Baptist upbringing, and even after becoming a Christian, Matthew 25[:31 et seq.] was NEVER touched on, mentioned, taught, etc. And you’d be surprised how easy it is to gloss over it in your own studies when your own denomination, pastor, teachers, and friends don’t give it any notice, either.<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-477851">4</a></span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Whenever the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats is actually examined, because it is James 2:14-17 stated as a parable, proponents of the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace lose all semblance of reasonable interpretation.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Dillow mentions the view that the sheep are Christians who ministered with food and clothing and visited in prison Jews, Jesus’ “brothers.” However, they are not just simply any Jew of every generation, but only Jews living in the great tribulation period. (Dillow, Reign of the Servant Kings, supra, at 73.) Dillow explains that if we do not choose something like this interpretation which imposes ‘faith plus works saves’ as true for a very small future historical group, then the present standard ‘gospel’ is ruined for the rest of us. Dillow says that but for a faith-alone explanation,Matthew 25:34 means “that inheriting the kingdom is conditioned on obedience and service to the King, a condition far removed from the New Testament [i.e., the Cheap Grace Gospel] teaching of justification by <em><strong>faith alone</strong></em> for entrance into heaven.” (Id.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, this spin of the parable defers Jesus’ teaching on salvation by works to only those trapped in the tribulation who were never Christians pre-tribulation.</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">It is absurd to interpret a parable as having a distinct salvation message for only the tribulation period. Why would it change just for those in this seven year period?</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, the Modern Fable of Cheap Grace spins this passage so it ends up teaching there is a separate salvation message for a small historical group only in the future who will be required to have works of charity or suffer hell. (Incidentally, their forefathers in this fable tried a similar solution. Back in the 1800s, cheap grace taught the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats was true only from 33 to 70 A.D.)<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-478117">5</a></span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Therefore, according to the latest cheap grace views, we today are comforted that we do not have to change the cheap grace gospel message until the tribulation is upon us. In this view, reconciling the ‘faith alone’ gospel to Jesus is not necessary because Jesus’ teaching on works and salvation applies in the future when Christians ‘are gone anyway.’</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In this manner, this parable is neatly swept under the rug to be dusted off when the time is right for non-Christians to find it. (Please note this recognizes that faith-plus-works will <em><strong>one day be a non-heretical doctrine</strong></em>; it just does not fit our time, according to proponents of cheap grace.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">This tribulation-only solution can be dismissed with just one Bible verse. Christ’s ‘brethren’ does not mean ethnic Jews, let alone only Jews of a seven year future period. Jesus asked once “who are my brothers?” Jesus answered that his brothers and sisters should be those “doing the will of God.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+12%3A48-50&version=NKJV">Matthew 12:48-50</a>.) (Please note Christians are not defined as believers by Jesus, but rather as doers of God’s will.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">If one must escape this parable with such a nonsensical notion that Jesus’ brothers are non-Christian Jews of the tribulation period, the cheap grace gospel is not being held even loosely based on Jesus’ words. The modern view of salvation is being held in spite of whatever Jesus teaches.</span></p>
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<h2 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 18pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 4pt; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Bob Wilkin — President Of The Grace Evangelical Society</span></strong></h2>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Finally, others like Bob Wilkin who cannot reconcile the parable to ‘faith alone’ insist we are forced to do so regardless of the language.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">[I]t follows from the discussion above that the basis of ‘inheriting the kingdom’ ([Matt.] 25:34) is good works. Since Scripture cannot contradict itself, we know from a host of other passages that cannot mean that these people will gain entrance to the kingdom because they were faithful.<a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Html%20Conversions%20and%20Uploaded%20to%20Website/Par%20of%20Sheep%20Goats.htm#pgfId-477873">6</a></span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, the final foxhole is the ad hoc denial that Jesus can mean what He says because we know what cheap grace otherwise teaches must remain true.</span></p>
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<h1 style="text-indent: 0pt; margin-top: 34pt; margin-right: 48.024pt; margin-bottom: 8pt; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;">Conclusion</span></strong></h1>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The best advice on how to understand the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats is to follow Daniel Fuller’s guidance. He exhorts us to allow Jesus to challenge our core doctrines:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">To the objection that...Matthew 25... lead[s] us right back to Rome and salvation by works, my answer is twofold. First, we must determine, regardless of consequences, what the intended meaning of each of the biblical writers is. We must let each one speak for himself and avoid construing him by recourse to what another writer said. Otherwise there is no escape from subjectivism in biblical interpretation. (Daniel Fuller, <a href="http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/14_2_PDFs/03_Fuller_Bibl_Theo.pdf">“Biblical Theology and the Analogy of Faith,”</a> Unity and Diversity in N.T. Theology (Eerdman’s 1978) at 195-213 fn. 22.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Thus, reading Jesus through the overlay of the Modern Gospel of Cheap Grace is wrong. You cannot press Jesus’ words down so they fit your favorite fable. Such conduct is reprehensible. In fact, the duty to construe Jesus free from other writers is an imperative. The very validity of all writers for acceptance in the New Testament turns on whether they go beyond or transgress Jesus’ teaching. As <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+john+1%3A9&version=ASV">2 John 1:9</a> says:</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 0pt; margin: 6pt 18pt 6pt 30px; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: 'ZapfEllipt BT';"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Whoever goes beyond and doesn’t remain in Christ’s teaching, doesn’t have God [i.e., breaks fellowship with God]. He who remains in the teachings [of Jesus Christ], the same has both the Father and the Son.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus’ words are thus the standard whether the Gospel of Cheap Grace is valid. Even if it cites Paul, this does not resolve the issue. Balaam was once a true prophet of Christ — he gave the famous Star Prophecy of Messiah (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+24%3A17&version=NKJV">Numbers 24:17</a>). The Magi relied upon it (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+2%3A1&version=NKJV">Matt. 2:1</a>.) But Balaam still later became a false prophet. Jesus says Balaam taught doctrines subversive of the Law given Moses by “I Am.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+2%3A14&version=NKJV">Rev. 2:14</a>). <span style="background-color: #ffff00;">The Father dwelling in Jesus (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+14%3A10&version=NKJV">John 14:10</a>) spoke through</span> Jesus as “I am.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+8%3A58&version=NKJV">John 8:58.</a>) By going beyond Jesus’ principles in the Law (Matt. 5:19), Balaam went from Christ’s prophet to a false prophet. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+13%3A3&version=NKJV">Deut.13:3</a>.) Thus, Paul is not better than Balaam. His validity, just like Balaam’s, rests on consistency with Jesus.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Here, Jesus’ meaning is as plain as day in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Even advocates of cheap grace concede the meaning. Jesus tells us that those who call Him Lord and do works of charity inherit eternal life in the kingdom. Those who call Him Lord and failed to do works of charity will go to the eternal fire reserved for the Devil and his angels. All the efforts to squirm out of this parable (which refutes faith alone) were disrespectful of Jesus and tortured.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">1. Simon J. Gathercole, Where Is Boasting: Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1-5 (Eerdmans: 2002) at 113.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">2. There is no negative connotation to the label goats. “The goat was not in evil repute in the East, as contrasted with the sheep; on the contrary, the he-goat was a symbol of dignity, so the point of analogy is merely the separation between the sheep and the goats.” (The Gospel According to St. Matthew (ed. A.Carr)(Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1893) at 195.)</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">3. On the significance that both groups call Jesus Lord, fabulists of cheap grace deny it any significance. In doing so, they merely engage in ad hoc denial that the lost were at one time Christians. They cite no adequate proof for this reading. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary—an evangelical text—states: </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">“There is no significance in the fact that the goats address him as Lord... for at this point there is no exception whatever to confessing Jesus as Lord.” (Vol. 8, at 522.) </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">What does this mean? The argument appears to be that this event occurs on judgment day when according to their interpretation of Paul everyone must confess Jesus as Lord. However, Paul never said this. It is a pure myth he did so, by amalgamating two disparate verses together. The first is Philippians 2:11. Paul says God exalted Jesus so that “every tongue should confess Jesus is the Lord.” Nothing is said about this actually occurring universally, nor is there any indication this talks about the judgment seat. The second is Romans 14:11-12 where Paul says at the judgment seat “every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God. So that every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” There confession of sins, not of Jesus, is in view. Some amalgamate the two verses to mean “every tongue shall confess Jesus is Lord” when “every tongue shall confess” at the judgment seat. Yet, the two verses cannot be combined without violence to the original context of each verse. Thus, the Expositor’s is relying upon a commonly heard amalgamation of two distinct verses. There is thus no basis to suppose non-Christians will ever confess Jesus on judgment day .</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">4. http://onefortruth.blogspot.com/2005/09/sheep-and-goats-parable-or-prophecy.html (Ninjanun comment to 9-29-05 blog).</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">5. The older school of Protestant theologians had a similarly astonishing solution. They limited the parable’s validity to only the period of 33 A.D. to 70 A.D. Whittemore summarized the support for this. He canvassed all the opinions from major theologians that endorsed this idea. He was arguing that this parable was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem. Whittemore claimed it therefore had no further moral meaning for any Christian thereafter.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> “We think, then, we must have shown to the satisfaction of every individual who shall peruse those pages, that this whole parable was completely fulfilled at the time of Christ’s coming to the Jewish state [at the temple destruction in 70 A.D.].” </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">His proof is the temple destruction took place “within forty years after the crucifixion” and this is when the goats were supposedly punished. (Thomas Whittemore, Notes and Illustrations of the Parables of the New Testament (Boston: J.M. Usher, 1855) at 347.) Even though Jesus speaks of this judgment for the goats being with the same “fire” for the diabolos (devil) and his angels, </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Whittemore claims the diabolos can mean simply an “adversary...very often...human beings” and that fire can mean simply temporal affliction, not hell. (Id. at 350.) Whittemore says the diabolos is a reference by Jesus to the Jews of 70 A.D., and the fire to the temple destruction that same year. </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">There are a cascade of non-sequiturs to all of what Whittemore claims. This likely explains why what was once a popular ‘faith-alone’ solution to this parable has withered. Yet, it is worth listing off a few of the non-sequiturs to give this idea its proper burial. If nothing else, it is worth mentioning this old idea just to prove once again how much pressure this parable puts on faith alone advocates. Whittemore’s ideas prove how far into nonsense faith-alone advocates have been willing to reach to solve this particular parable. </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The first non-sequitur is: Jesus never speaks of the destruction of the temple as a coming back. Even if He did, why is the moral of this parable about charity limited to the supposed coming of Christ in 70 A.D.? </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Moreover, the parable says the verdict of eternal life or damnation is at a particular coming where one group is thrown in the “fire of eternal damnation reserved for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41.) To suggest this is temporal affliction of Jews in 70 A.D. is fantastically silly. Instead, this particular coming in final judgment of Jesus is one Jesus spoke frequently about. (See Matt. 12:42-50.) Obviously, that coming, which is in our future, is the only coming in view in Matthew 25:41. </span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Clearly, all of Whittemore’s nonsense was an extremely strained reading so as to reign in a parable directly destructive of the fable of cheap grace. After all, it is James chapter two stated as a parable.</span></p>
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<p style="text-indent: -12pt; margin-top: 3pt; margin-right: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; font-size: 10pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">6. Bob Wilkin, Has This Passage Ever Bothered You? Matthew 25:31-46 - Works Salvation? <a href="http://www.faithalone.org/news/y1988/88march1.html">http://www.faithalone.org/news/y1988/88march1.html</a> (last accessed 11/05).</span></p>
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<td valign="top" >How do you say, We are wise, and <strong><em>the law of Yahweh is with us</em></strong>? But <strong><em>the false pen</em></strong> of the <em><strong>scribes has wrought falsely</strong></em>. (Jer. 8:8.)</td>
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<p><strong><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 2em; color: #0000ff;">Incomplete Works In Revelation 3:1-3</span></strong></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In Revelation, Jesus is going to repeat almost verbatim twice what we read in the last few chapters [of Jesus' Words on Salvation]. Judgment is by works, just as Jesus said: “every tree therefore that bringeth not forth <strong><em>good fruit</em></strong> is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+3%3A10%3B+7%3A19&version=KJV">Matt. 3:10; 7:19</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">First, in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A1-3&version=KJV">Revelation 3:1-3</a>, Jesus tells the church at Sardis:</span></p>
|
||||
<p style="margin-top: 13pt; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: ‘These [things] says the One having the seven spirits of God and the seven stars [i.e., Jesus is speaking]: I know your<strong><em> works</em></strong>, that you have a name that you live, and you are <strong><em>dead.</em></strong> (2) ‘Become watching [fig., Wake up], and strengthen the rest which you were about to be throwing out, for I have not found <strong><em>your works</em></strong> having been <strong><em>completed</em></strong> before My God. (3) Therefore, be remembering how you have received, and be keeping [<em>tereo</em>, <strong><em>obey</em></strong>] it, and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you shall by no means know what hour I will come upon you.” (Rev 3:1-3 ALT. Cf. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A1-3&version=DLNT">DLNT</a>.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">It is obvious that the Spirit is present, but the Spirit is going out. What is bringing about the Sardisians’ spiritual death is their works <strong><em>were not complete in God’s sight. </em></strong>In fact, Jesus says they have a reputation for being alive, but they are “<strong>dead</strong>.”</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The Sardisians’ spiritual condition is similar in one respect to the third seed in the Parable of the Sower. This seed has thorns choke it. Jesus says the third seed did not <strong>telesphourousin</strong><em>. </em>(<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/8-14.htm">Luke 8:14</a>.) This means the third seed fails to produce to the end, or fails to bring its fruit to<strong><em> completion</em></strong>. (For more discussion, see my prior book, <em>Jesus’ Words Only</em> (2007) at 171.)</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> The picture of the Sardisians is very interesting:</span></p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">They are dead.</span></li>
|
||||
<li><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Something still flickering in them is about to be quenched.</span></li>
|
||||
<li><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Their works are not complete.</span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Let’s make a reasonable inference on what these points mean. The first point means their faith is dead. The second point means the Holy Spirit is about to be quenched and depart. The third point means they have no completed works or mature fruit to show.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The threat is implicit that damnation will follow unless they “repent” and “obey.” The spirit will be utterly gone soon, and they will be totally dead spiritually.</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">We know this explicitly from the parallel Parable of the Ten Virgins. It tells us that when the spirit departs — when the “virgins” (innocent born-again Christians) suffer the oil (Holy Spirit) in their lamps being finally quenched — then damnation results.<a href="#ftn1" id="ftnref1" style="vertical-align: super;" name="_ftnref1"><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a></span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> So Revelation 3:1-3 sounds a lot like a dead faith without completed works does not save. Where have we ever read that before?</span></p>
|
||||
<h1><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus’ Rejection Of Faith Alone In Revelation 3:15-18</span></h1>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"> Where else does Jesus say a Christian without deeds has a faith that is dead and such faith cannot save? That a tree without good fruit is sent to the fire to be burned?</span></p>
|
||||
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus says it again just a few verses later addressing believers of Laodicea on what they lack.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">I know thy <strong>works</strong>, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because <strong><em>thou art lukewarm</em></strong>, and neither cold nor hot, I will<strong><em> spue thee out of my mouth.</em></strong> (17) Because thou sayest, <strong><em>I am rich</em></strong>, and increased with <strong><em>goods</em></strong>, and have <strong><em>need of nothing</em></strong>; and knowest not that <strong><em>thou art wretched</em></strong>, and <strong><em>miserable</em></strong>, and <strong><em>poor</em></strong>, and <strong><em>blind</em></strong>, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and <strong><em>white raiment</em></strong>, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the <strong><em>shame of thy nakedness do not appear</em></strong>; and <strong><em>anoint thine eyes with eyesalve</em></strong>, that thou mayest see. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A15-18&version=KJV">Rev 3:15-18 KJV</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus unequivocally rejects faith alone here. He is talking to believers at Laodicea. He is equating them to the third seed from the Parable of the Sower. In the parable, the third seed has gone further than the second seed in growth. The second seed “believed for a while.” (<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/8-13.htm">Luke 8:13</a>.) Yet, while the third seed started similarly but grew more, it was later choked by the “cares, riches and pleasures of this life,” bringing no fruit to completion. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/luke/8-14.htm">Luke 8:14</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A15-18&version=KJV">Revelation 3:15-18</a>, Jesus identifies similarly that “riches” have led the Laodicean church to become lukewarm in works, just like happened to the third seed in the parable. Jesus tells you that He is cutting off those who have lukewarm works, <strong><em>spewing them out of His mouth</em></strong>. Unless they repent, their nakedness will be visible. This is a lost condition, because they lack the proper garment — the white raiment. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A18&version=KJV">Rev. 3:18</a>.) Jesus previously disclosed how crucial that white raiment is to salvation:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">He that overcometh, the same shall be <strong><em>clothed in white raiment</em></strong>; and I will <strong><em>not blot out his name out of the book of life</em></strong>, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A5&version=KJV">Rev 3:5 KJV</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Hence, Revelation 3:15-18 is all about the essential necessity of zealously adding works to faith. It refutes clearly that a faith which started well can suffice if alone later.</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Is There A Familiar Echo To Jesus’ Words?</span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Where else have we heard this same message that faith without works does not save? Indeed, it is familiar to all of us. It is in the often resisted <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james+2%3A14-25&version=KJV">James 2:14-25</a> passage. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james+2%3A17&version=KJV">James 2:17</a> reads: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” James asks rhetorically “can such faith save?” which calls for a negative answer. Thus, faith without works, James says, cannot save. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> <span style="font-size: 18pt;"> In Revelation 3:1-3 and 3:15-18, what must those with a faith that has become dead and who lack completed works do to awaken spiritually?</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A3&version=KJV"> Revelation 3:3</a> says they must “remember what you have received and heard; <strong><em>obey</em></strong> it and<strong><em> repent</em></strong>.” In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation+3%3A18&version=KJV">Revelation 3:18</a>, they must ‘buy eye-salve’ from Jesus </span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">so they can see. They are blind and in darkness. The latter verse says the way out of darkness is going to cost them. They will have to chew on the words of Jesus — in fact, upon these harsh words about the shallowness of their works (lack of obedience). </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p> </p>
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<h1>Melding These Passages With The Parable Of The Virgins</h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Accordingly, Jesus is teaching in the </span><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Parable of the Ten Virgins and Revelation 3:1-3 and 3:15-18 that <strong><em>faith without </em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">works is dead</span></em></strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">. You are spiritually about to have the Spirit totally quenched. Jesus gives a precisely parallel message in </span><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Revelation 3:1-3 and 3:15-18 that duplicates the Ten Virgins Parable. However, this time Jesus speaks plainly in <strong><em>declarative </em></strong>statements. While in the parable we are not sure what it means for “virgins” (born-again Christians) to have the spirit flickering out, Revelation 3:3 tells us precisely: the <strong><em>Sardisians are lacking completed works.</em></strong> Revelation 3:15-18 then tells us those with “<strong><em>lukewarm </em></strong></span><strong><em><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">works</span></em></strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">” among the Laodicean church members will be spewed out of Jesus’ mouth. Their condition is lost because they lack the proper garment — the white robe which zealous works would have given them.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Furthermore, those statements in Revelation 3:1-3 about not completing your works contain one more piece of crucial information. It says that despite the Sardisians’ reputation for being alive they are <strong><em>dead. </em></strong>They have “incomplete works.” Something is flickering out in them. These additional facts let us see a precise overlap to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james+2%3A14-17&version=KJV">James 2:14-17</a> which was written prior to the Book of Revelation. Jesus was obviously aware of His brother James’ epistle. Jesus was clearly affirming James’ position that faith without completed works is dead and cannot save. Jesus used virtually identical language. Therefore, Jesus intended in Revelation 3:1-3 and 3:15-18 to affirm the correctness of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james+2%3A14-17&version=KJV">James 2:14-17</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">So what do these three passages mean? They boil down to James’ message that <em><strong>faith alone...cannot save</strong>. </em>Jesus is endorsing James’ principles. Hence, if you do not add works of charity which James mentions, your faith is dead. The Spirit is about to leave you. Quicken what little remains. If not, you will suffer spiritual death and be left outside the New Jerusalem with the unbelievers and sinners, to be sent on judgment day to hell itself. Jesus’ warning is to be ready and watching as well as to repent and obey. Bring the works assigned to you to “completion.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Has God given you a task that is only half-completed? Then finish it!</span></p>
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<h1><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">Jesus Says The Final Judgment Is Based On Your Practices</span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In accord with these passages, Jesus in Matthew 16 states:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall <strong><em>give / reward every man according to his works / the practice </em></strong>of each. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+16%3A27&version=KJV">Matthew 16:27</a>)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">The ordinary translation is lacking in two respects. The word translated commonly as <em>reward</em> is actually “give” or “pay.” In Greek, it is <em>apodidomi</em>. Also, the word rendered as <em>works</em> is not the word for <em>works</em> used in the New Testament. Everywhere else, the word <em>works</em> in the New Testament is<em> erga </em>in Greek. Here, instead, the word is <em>praxis</em>. It means <em>practice. </em>On Judgment Day, Jesus will give to each according to “the practice of each.” <strong><em>Jesus promises to judge by your practice, not according solely to your faith</em></strong>. It is the pattern (practice) of your life that Jesus will judge.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;">In sum, Jesus judges by the practice you had for works. He will reject you for lack of fruit. You will be judged by your practices, not your faith. You are judged by your faithfulness, not your beliefs. This is the same message Jesus gave in His warning of a judgment by works on everyone in John 5:28-29. For a thorough discussion of this passage in John, see the chapter beginning at page 395.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<hr style="text-align: left;" size="1" width="33%" />
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<div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Incomplete%20and%20Lukewarm%20Works%2018pt.rtf#_ftn3" id="ftnref3" style="vertical-align: super;" name="_ftnref3"> </a></span>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/doug/Dropbox/Writings%20in%20Process/Salvation%20Redraft/Revisions%202012%20Forward/Files%20to%20Modify/Incomplete%20and%20Lukewarm%20Works%2018pt.rtf#_ftn3" id="ftnref3" style="vertical-align: super;" name="_ftnref3"></a><a href="#ftnref1" id="ftnref1" style="vertical-align: super;" name="ftn1"><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a>See “What is Outer Darkness Where There Is Weeping and Gnashing Of Teeth?” on page 280 <em>et seq.</em></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="#ftnref3" id="ftnref3" style="vertical-align: super;" name="ftn3"><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a>Scholars in ancient Greek who are Christians admit that James’ meaning is that faith without <strong><em>completed</em></strong> works cannot save, <em>i.e.</em>, works are not merely a forensic proof of your already saved condition. James means works (besides faith) are <strong><em>indispensable</em></strong> for you to be saved. See my prior work, <em>Jesus’ Words Only</em> (2007) at 250 <em>et seq. </em></span></p>
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