It’s fun to think about the fact that Jesus created everything in the natural world that He used at a later time—during His earthly ministry—as teaching tools. That means it is possible, for example, that the primary reason He originally created the “birds of the air” and “lilies of the field” (Matt. 6:25-33) was to teach folks like me and you (who are paying attention) that God will take care of us.
It is certainly wise to be suspicious of oft-repeated “Christian” doctrinal statements that utilize phrases that can’t be found anywhere in the Bible. Since the Bible consists of thousands of doctrinal phrases within its 783,000 words, it is certainly reasonable to think that all biblical doctrine could be expressed using actual phrases that are found somewhere within the Bible.
You may have heard that, some months back, California law regarding shoplifting was changed. Now, stealing merchandise worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor rather than a felony. The result is that law enforcement generally doesn’t bother to investigate any shoplifting cases in which less than $950 in merchandise is stolen, and if there are charges, prosecutors dismiss them. As you might guess, shoplifting is on the rise in California.
If I was found guilty of 1st-degree murder in a court of law, I would be very happy to hear the judge begin his sentencing speech with these words: “Mr. Servant, although you have been found guilty of 1st-degree murder, I’m going to show you some grace.”
In contradiction to scores of New Testament scriptures, it is believed in many Christian circles that salvation is a “one-and-done” event. That is, if someone believes in Jesus at any point in their life, that one-time event seals their salvation for eternity, regardless of whether they continue in faith or obedience.
A popular but misleading doctrine of false teachers is the idea that there are two categories of Christians, the “believers” and the “disciples.” The believers, they claim, are those who believe in Jesus but who are not committed to obey Him. Nor are they willing to pay a price to follow Him. And that is OK, false teachers maintain, because salvation is by grace. So, as long as those uncommitted believers believe, they are safely on their way to eternal life, and anyone who claims otherwise is, they claim, preaching “salvation by works.”
During one of the many times the apostle John, in his Gospel, recounted Jesus’ discussions with Jewish audiences, he once wrote, “As He [Jesus] spoke these things, many came to believe in Him” (John 8:30).
That certainly sounds like good news, doesn’t it? We’re always happy to hear about people believing in Jesus. Christians want everyone to believe in Jesus.
I have been thinking about my post of last week that I titled “Gratefully Guilty as Charged.” I did my best, in a very brief format, to show that “works” are required for salvation (not the initial salvation that accompanies the new birth, but ultimate salvation when one inherits God’s kingdom after standing before the Lord Jesus Christ at judgment). And I listed three crystal-clear New Testament passages authored by Paul—all written to saved Christians—that proved my point:
“I feel like the man has shown his true colors. His true colors prove that he is unbalanced. The man believes that works are required for salvation.”
The above quote, copied verbatim from a public forum, is by a ministry leader and a former friend. For years, he published a number of my teaching articles in his ministry magazine, articles in which I consistently taught that the biblical gospel is a call to repentance, a living faith, and a new life of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Any Christian who has read 1 Corinthians knows that the Corinthian church had problems. There were divisions, quarrels, strife and jealousy among them as they fought over their favorite teachers (1 Cor. 1:10-12; 3:1-4; 11:17-19). There was sexual immorality in the church, and tragic toleration of it (1 Cor. 5:1-2; 6:15-20). There was also toleration of professing Christians who were greedy, idolaters, swindlers (1 Cor. 5:11) and drunkards (even during the Lord’s Supper; 1 Cor. 11:21).