What Gospel Does Your Church Teach?

[JohnD]

13 hours ago, Anonymous Aristotle said:

What would you say qualifies as the actual Gospel to be taught in a church dedicated to Christ and his Gospel?

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

John 3:16-18

Ephesians 2:8-10

[Anonymous Aristotle]

Thank you for that answer John.

[JohnD]

I hear a lot of teaching pitting Pauline theology against Jacobean or what Paul taught against what Jesus taught.

It matters very much what program of God was going on at the time.

Jesus came to fulfill the Law to qualify as our Savior. This is not to impose keeping the Law on New Testament (New Covenant) believers.

Nor is it a different Gospel than what Paul taught.

I always remind the antagonists of Paul that what he taught was directly from Jesus.

And the teaching of James (Jacob*) was that faith that was not evident in the life of the believers was either dead in the sense that it was not a genuine faith,  OR  that it was a genuine faith but useless to the Lord and his kingdom expansion through evangelism. 

There are many useless believers today (have been for 1500 years since the Roman take over stymied so many from personal ministry in the New Covenant: the priesthood of every believer). Which is not to say they are unsaved. All who believe in the (genuine) Lord Jesus Christ the Bible says plainly are saved.

I wonder... this is a personal question to ask one's self... is your (or my) faith a dead faith?

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* The translators of the KJV changed the New Testament references to Jacob to James in honor of the British King who commissioned the translation.

[JohnD]

There's a lot of confusion as to what a believer is to do once saved.

There's the BE attitudes, the forgive others lest we be not forgiven, pay your tithes, attend Church every time the doors open, volunteer for the nursery or parking lot duty, sit quietly shut up and stay away during the sermons.

This stems from putting the distinction between the New Testament and the Old somewhere between Malachi 4 and Matthew 1.

BUT...

Hebrews 9:15–16 (AV)
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

That would mean the Old Covenant / Old Testament was still in effect until the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!

Luke 22:20 (AV)
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

1 Corinthians 11:25 (AV)
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

John 19:30 (AV)
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Changes things. Doesn't it!

 

 

 

[JohnD]

The sermon on the mount, for example was a Divine commentary in Old Testament times about the Law (essentially Jesus putting the teeth back into the Law that the Sanhedrin took out, and to reiterate God's purpose for it).

The so-called "Lord's prayer..." was a disciple's prayer taught to disciples who requested he teach them as John taught his disciples.

Not that they were the same prayer.

John may well have taught his personal testimony as a prayer. "I indeed baptize with water but there is one coming after me who is before me whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

Jesus taught an Old Testament / Old Covenant prayer.

Remember the Old Testament contains the New Testament concealed and the New Testament contains the Old Testament revealed.

So the disciple's prayer Jesus taught his disciples contain New Testament elements (prophetically).

Our Father who art in Heaven (very little about God as Father is in the Old Testament)...

Hallowed by thy Name.  (Old Testament)

Thy Kingdom come.  (Old Testament... interestingly that the Kingdom of God was standing in their presence and teaching them at that moment).

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven . (Old Testament)

Give us this day our daily bread. (Old Testament)

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. (Old Testament*)

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. (Old Testament) 

For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. (Old Testament & New)

Amen.

John 16:24 (AV)
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

If the disciple's prayer was truly the Lord's prayer didn't he leave off an important ending?

It was a prayer for the disciples of that age / covenant. I shy away from the word dispensation because both sides of the Preterist vs Futurist argument have perverted its meaning IMHO.

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* Conditional forgiveness from God (other than belief in the genuine Jesus Christ) is NOT New Testament.

[JohnD]

Further evidence that the Sermon on the Mount was Old Testament:

Matthew 5:27–30 (AV)
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

The teaching in the Jesus' day was strictly against women dressing inappropriately in public (Leviticus 18:8 / Isaiah 47:1-3). Old Testament. Jesus did not refute this teaching but pointed out the flip side of the coin (Job 31:1-13). Old Testament. 

Now, we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water as far as the Old Testament is concerned (which we are no longer under as a covenant but cannot dismiss as definite definition of what God deems good and what God deems evil).

Many Christians today need to be reminded of this!

Lying cheating stealing murdering lusting causing others to lust after you it is all still evil to God.

We are simply under another covenant that frees us from trying to painstakingly keeping it for the purposes of focusing on our individual ministries playing some role in evangelizing every generation for Jesus Christ our Lord and Master! 

 

[JohnD]

When we start living this Gospel

the world will take notice.

It will hate us by and large.

But it will know we are sincere and ours

is not a dead faith.

In Jesus' name.

[Swords99]

Sadly, there are churches that teach we are still under the law, whether it be Sabbath keeping or the 10 Commandments.

Then there are those churches that teach a "works" based theology.

[brakelite]

The gospel cannot be reduced down to just one or two scriptures. In the OT the gospel was also preached to Israel. This was accomplished through the sanctuary services and the sacrifices and holy days all of which prefigured Christ and the gospel.If one was to believe most of todays televangelists, one would think that the sanctuary service consisted of the death of the animal, the washing in the laver (baptism), and that's it. But the gospel goes further than Calvary. It goes further than the empty tomb. It goes all the way into the sanctuary itself, where the priests ministered the blood before the curtain, and then once a year entered into the Most Holy Place to 'cleanse the sanctuary of all the sins of the children of Israel".

The above ministry in the temple by the earthly priests was the type or shadow of Christ's ministry now as our Mediator before the throne of His Father. All of this, and more, is a part of the gospel, and the gospel is incomplete without any one aspect...it includes justification (the altar of sacrifice/Calvary, which provides us with our legal right to eternal life)....it includes sanctification (the ministry within the holy place before the showbread/bread of life; the candlestick/light of the world; altar of incense/prayers of the saints, providing us with the fitness we all need to enter heaven, receiving Christ's righteousness)...and it includes glorification which is our final meeting with Jesus when He comes with all the angels of heaven on resurrection day to take us home.

[JohnD]

On 6/23/2017 at 7:23 AM, brakelite said:

The gospel cannot be reduced down to just one or two scriptures.

This is patently false.