Wednesday, October 29, 2014

True Gospel vs False Gospel: The Recompenxe


 But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel to you than what we
have preached to you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again,
if anyone preaches any other gospel to you
then what you have received,
let him be accursed.
Galatians 1: 8 -- 9

            How important are these two verses?  Very!  So very important that Paul reiterated that those who brought a different gospel would be accursed: two times!  It was important then, and it is important now, for there are many preachers and teachers who call themselves Christian who are teaching another gospel.  I gave a brief overview of the history of the collation people and how that views within the dispersed traveled into the lands of Galatia and set up homes and businesses and work now and do the people of that area and they carried with them the Jewish practices and festivals and began to demand Christians to abide by them.  Once again Paul's apostleship was under question, things like circumcision, and whether or not Christians should abide or observed the whole law of Moses as though this was the gospel of Jesus Christ or without observing the law according to them they could not be justified or he saved.  They must practice, that is, there is a work oriented gospel and we find that same mental attitude among some churches calling themselves Christian whereby they teach in demand that their followers do certain things that when examined by Scripture are not found to be there.  I posted in the blogs examining Second Corinthians this: "He hath made Him to be sin for us...  that we might be made the righteousness of God...  (2 Corinthians 5: 21).  There has been over many years, especially since the Enlightenment, thinking that is contrary to Scripture, that one must do certain things so that we are to be accepted by Jesus Christ.  There is this modern view in regard to the death of Jesus that He died for our sins out of sympathy.  That is not the gospel, and if it is taught as gospel that it is a different kind of gospel and not the one that Paul had preached, and that is not what is to be reached by Bible preaching preachers.  It is not this form of gospel taught by those false teachers of gospel that we are to abide and observe.  The New Testament has a view that we must understand; Jesus Christ or our sin not by sympathy, but by identification.  Jesus Christ did not come to this earth for your sins.  Jesus Christ came to this earth to pay a debt that no man could pay, a debt owed to God the father, and this debt was original sin caused by Adam and Eve.  If man could not pay it, and he can't, then God by His mercy, and yet must have His justice met, paid the debt owed to himself by himself.  And this he did by sending himself, the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ to die upon the cross whereby that debt was justified and paid.  Jesus Christ was made to be sin!  Nothing less, nothing more!  Jesus Christ came to pay the debt of sin for the whole world, and noticed that the word sin is singular.  Now with this debt being paid and justified our sins can be removed because of the death of Jesus.  It is not by running around doing such things as some sort of treasure hunt looking for people to whom you can pray for, or speaking in some sort of gibberish tongue, or doing other acts that people consider to be a worshiper of God when in fact they are not.  People get caught up in these things because they feel godly and have a sense of piety and this crew of the Galatians who were being taught to follow one observe certain rituals and festivals and do certain things so that they would be pleasing to God when in fact this did not and does not please God.  Let me explain the death of Jesus: His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us.  What Jesus taught us by His life here on earth is that we are to be obedient to God the Father.  This we do when we are all obedient to Him who taught us to bring the gospel, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, to the father, and now sits to make eternal intercession to all those of father shows to say from the foundation of the world.  Let us look at this even deeper; we are not acceptable just because we have obeyed, or have promised to give up certain things, to act in a different way, no: we are acceptable to God the father because of the death of Jesus Christ and in no other way.  How often is it said that Jesus Christ came to reveal The Fatherhood of God, the loving kindness of God, when in fact the New Testament does not teach us that for the New Testament teaches us that He came to bear a way that is sin up the world.  Any revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Savior.  We are not scot-free because Christ died for you or for me for this is never taught in the New Testament.  Jesus Christ died for all not that He died my debt, and it is by this death we are dandified with Him and freed from sin and thereby have His righteousness imparted to you and to me.  This is what was taught to the churches by Paul and other apostles of Jesus Christ, through apostles, and this bay and we must remember that it is not by doing something that God received us and accepts us.  Yes when we have converted to the Lord Jesus Christ our heart goes out for others, and we respond in love to our brothers and our sisters in every way possible.  To say that we are doing this is to say nothing for all we are doing is what we have been commanded to do so we have nothing to add to any pride for doing anything that we are doing for God's children and possibly for others.  Comes with this is the fact that we must examine the doctrines that are being taught to us by others, and we do this in the light of Scripture then this is what we are doing as we are studying these inspired writings.  My goal is not to insert my opinion but to examine Scripture and see whether or not that which I believe to be true is in actuality true.  This epistle sets forth prominently the importance of the doctrines and those doctrines are not to be built upon the credit of men but on the authority of the Holy Spirit.  We will look at what others have said and then examine those things in the light of Scripture.  My goal once again is so that you will examine Scripture and wherever there is a need to change in thinking in doctrine, it is so that you are changed from the inside/out.

Harsh discipline is for him
who forsakes the way,    
and he who hates correction will die.
                        Proverbs 15: 10

He/she desires understanding seeks knowledge

Richard L. Crumb

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