Only One Gospel: From Cain and Abel to the Apostle Paul

Below is an email sent to some students summarizing a set of classes in Romans 3 which I recently concluded.  Since the email was originally only meant to summarize the contents of the classes for those who attended, the language and grammar are a bit irregular, and I am not going to take the time here needed to smooth them out.  Nonetheless, I hope the summary conveys the gist of the global, timeless, and unchanging aspects of the gospel message.

We discovered that the gospel, the good news, is "God's promise of salvation to humankind to those who have faith."  We learned the staggering truth that the gospel delivered to Cain and Abel (remember our Hebrews 11 study?) was the same gospel delivered to King David, which was the same gospel delivered to John the Baptist, which was the same gospel delivered by Jesus, which was the same gospel delivered by Paul, and is the same gospel we deliver to the world today! 

Just one gospel.  God saves sinners on the basis of the faith they place in Him as Savior.  Before the Law, Abraham was saved by faith in God.  During the Law, the Law saved no one--it was not the gospel.  During the Law, people were saved only by faith; they had their hearts renewed, their spirits revitalized, and their sins forgiven on the basis of faith.  After the Law, now, people are saved only by faith, and their hearts are renewed, their spirits made alive again, and their sins forgiven. 

The only difference between then (during the Law) and now is that we know now that Christ is the begotten God, the God Who became a man, to save His creatures.  Before He came, during the Law, they knew only that God saves.  How did God save before Jesus became the sacrifice?  The animal sacrifices did not save, but God did "pass over" sins confessed with an animal sacrifice, but He only passed over them until the final sacrifice.  That final sacrifice brings forgiveness of all past sins, present sins, and all confessed future sins.  The animal sacrifices were symbols of the faith that the people had placed in God, as Savior, and God promised them He would forgive them.  God always honors His promises. 

Salvation is always a promise of ultimate final redemption.  Salvation is both "now" but "not yet."  We have the renewed hearts and spirits now, the promise of ultimate salvation now, and the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of that ultimate salvation now.  But what need do we have of a promise if we have salvation now?  Because there is a final redemption coming, a final change from this corruptible body (which will be resurrected) into an incorruptible body for eternal life with God--He has promised and God never lies.  We have salvation now, but the final form of it yet to come.

The gospel, the promise of God's salvation on the basis of faith, has not changed age to age.  The exact nature of the fulfillment of that promise, that is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise via His life, death, and resurrection, was not given until 2000 years ago, but the gospel itself, the promise of God's salvation on the basis of faith, is still the same as it always was.  The Law never saved anyone, faith in the Law never saved anyone, and faith in sacrifices did not save anyone.  Faith in God saved all who believed, all who believe, and all who will believe.

As Paul said, a Jew could be a Jew via his blood line, and keep the Law (as best he could), but not be a Jew in heart, and so not be a spiritual son of Abraham, but merely a son of Adam.  A gentile may ignore the Law of Moses but embrace Christ by faith and so become a spiritual son of Abraham in spite of having once been a son of Adam.  So it is our goal to be known as sons and daughters of Abraham, spiritual Jews, adopted by God our Father, joint heirs with Christ.

Scripture Passages on the continuity of the gospel message:

There only ever was one Savior of humanity

Isaiah 45:21, 49:26, John 4:42

Messiah (the coming Savior) foretold (not a contradiction of Isaiah 45:21, but the fulfillment of it)

Daniel 9:25-26, Isaiah 9:6-7, Jeremiah 31:6-13

There never was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles

Romans 3:22, Jeremiah 3:17

All humanity sinned - Jews and Gentiles

Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6-7, Psalm 14:1-3

One gospel for all humanity for all time

Hebrews 10:38-12:3, Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 11:5, 24:14, 26:3, Mark 1:1, 1:14, 8:35, 10:29, 13:10, 14:9, 16:15, Luke 3:18, 4:18, 7:22, 9:6, 16:16, 20:1, Acts (seamless transition from the gospel of faith and repentance that Jesus taught to the gospel of faith and repentance that Paul ended up teaching)

Old Testament View of What Happens to a Man of Faith

New Heart: Ezekiel 36:25-26, 18:30-31, Psalm 51:9-13, Jeremiah 32:40

Spirit Made Alive: Nehemiah 9:30-31, Psalm 104:29-30, 139:4-10, Isaiah 57:15, 63:10, Lamentations 5:21, Titus 3:5

Yes, the gospel was always the same, as was the means of salvation:  God saves by His mercy and grace those who have faith in Him, and He gives them a new spirit and a renewed heart--that's a promise!

Is It a Blessing or a Sign?

My teenaged son returned from summer camp this past week.  I never know what to expect when that happens.  Last year it was an appeal to be allowed to pursue attending college (in a couple years) at Cedarville.  His camp counselor was a Cedarville attendee and he wanted to emulate him (as much esteem as I hold for Cedarville, it is far too expensive for me and my son, yet, a year later he is still dropping hints that he wants to attend there).

This year he sat on the couch reading a book that the camp speaker had given out.  I could not pry it from his hands to see what the content was about.  A day later he looked up and said, “Dad, do you believe you can know the will of God?”  That was followed by several hours of questions, including, “Do you believe that God does miracles today?” and “Do you believe that God gives you signs?”  I just love summer camp (for those who do not know me, I am not joking or being sarcastic in the least--I just love Christian summer camp because little else floats my boat than to have my own child ask me penetrating theological questions).

Even my wife was surprised at my response that I do not look for, or expect, supernatural signs from God to make decisions or confirm decisions already made.  She asked, “But we just got those tax refunds in exactly the amount we spent on his summer camp--surely that was a sign that we were supposed to have sent him to Christian summer camp--otherwise, what would you call it?”  I replied, “I would call it a blessing.”

Looking for signs is an indication of disbelief.  Gideon lacked faith to believe the prophetic word of God, so he invented a sign by which he demanded that God affirm that He was not lying when He prophesied Gideon would be victorious.  Similarly, when the scribes and Pharisees could not believe that Jesus was from God, they demanded Jesus prove Himself by giving them a supernatural sign.  Jesus declined and told them that those who demand a sign so as to believe God are perverse and evil because they lack faith.

God has given us the faculties to make godly decisions, the Holy Spirit within guides our thinking toward the scriptural principles of wisdom, and He continuously makes our hearts and minds to desire to do the work of holiness (just as He hardens the hearts of those who hate Him).  Those three things, logical minds, scriptural wisdom, and a desire to be holy in His service, are sufficient to make “good” decisions. 

Signs in the Scriptures were not often used by God to affirm the decision making process, but mostly to give evidence that His messenger spoke for Him: Jesus used signs to make it evident that He was the Messiah (but declined to give signs when it was demanded that he do so), Moses used signs to demonstrate he was a prophet to Pharaoh, Paul used signs to show he was an apostle.  Signs, supernatural miracles, were used to give evidence that the speaker was true, but not to indicate what choices to make in the decision making process, and never “on demand” by the unfaithful.

For that reason I view the unexpected tax refunds as blessings, gifts, from the Lord and not signs.  In fact, the sign would have been too late anyway.  We had already made the decision to send our son to camp without knowing about the tax refund money.  We made the decision based on what we thought would be best for our son and best for God’s kingdom.  The decision was already made.  Could the refunds be seen as confirmation that the right decision had been made?  No.  My son’s response to the spiritual instruction he received was already sufficient confirmation that it was a wise decision.  Would lack of a refund have been a counter-sign?  No, for it never was expected and would never have been missed.  The refund was a blessing.  It was unexpected and had played no part in our decision making or in our son’s response to camp.

But, without signs, how will we know how to make the right decision?  We don’t, not always.  Just as Paul continually wanted to get to Rome (he eventually did, but not in the way he had wanted), or just as Paul desired to go to Bithynia and the Holy Spirit prevented him, our decisions are subject to “the will of the Lord” which means He institutes unexpected redirection (James 4:13-17).  Was not the entire point of Job’s story to demonstrate that God does everything for His own hidden purposes, He redirects or undoes our best plans, and He owes us no explanation?  Does not Ecclesiastes tell us that God hides from man the outcomes of his decisions (Ecclesiastes 6:12, 10:14) and that neither days of adversity nor wealth can reveal God’s true purposes or even what the next day will bring to a man (Ecclesiastes 7:14)?  Does this not all teach us to NOT rely on circumstances as “signs”?

Paul did not rely on signs, but rather looked for opportunities to evangelize and teach.  He called these opportunities open doors (Colossians 4:3 1 Corinthians 16:9), and the lack of them, closed doors.  And all such times are of the Lord.  Paul did not see circumstances as signs of God’s favor on his decision making, but that all circumstances were good for one thing, “is this a chance to preach and teach?” 

No, I do not believe in looking for signs to make my decisions.  I try to ask with sincerity, “Is this the right thing to do for the kingdom, for my family, and as a steward of what God has entrusted to me?”  There are no signs, only opportunities, so that “man will not discover anything that will be after him.”  The decisions are ours, but only as the Lord wills, because the outcomes are entirely up to Him for His own good purposes and reasons which He need not share with anyone.

Is there a Gospel without the Proclamation?

"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

Saving faith comes from hearing the good news of Christ, literally.  Hearing the gospel of what Christ did 2000 years ago and then believing while the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, and then repenting of those sins so as to allow the Holy Spirit to regenerate us, brings salvation to anyone who will believe. 

Salvation is so very odd.  How often I have wondered at the fact that salvation is based on such an intangible thing as faith.  You cannot hold it, buy it, or do it.  You believe it.

The gospel is the story/good news that Christ did all the work of salvation for us.  We did, and do, nothing.  We just believe.  And it is not like we have to whip up a belief in some kind of mythology, for the gospel is true.  Christ lived in human history, He did not sin, He was executed as a sacrifice for our sins, and He really rose from the dead and left His tomb.  He now reigns in Heaven and is waiting to come back to this planet in person, once again.

Christ is a real person, the real God.  The demons know this and tremble at that fact.  But knowing that Jesus is a real person does not give anyone a relationship with Him.  To get to have a relationship with Jesus requires that one hear and believe the gospel message about Him. 

On another Christian’s blog, a lively discussion is being conducted about whether people can be saved without ever hearing the gospel (http://mc-shann.xanga.com/701107032/item//?nextdate=last&leftcmt=11 ).  My answer is: one must know and believe the content of the gospel, that our Lord, Jesus, died as a sacrifice for our sins and that He is the Savior, otherwise, one cannot be saved.  Salvation is a relationship with Christ, in which He restores within you a new and living spirit to replace your old and dead spirit.  That regeneration of your spirit does not occur until you have faith such that you can be born again.  That requires hearing and believing the gospel message so as to enter a relationship with the One whom the gospel is about.

I stated it this way at the other blog:

Jesus' "work" of salvation was done 2000 years ago.  Now, the Holy Spirit calls, convicts, and regenerates (makes born again) all who believe the message.  That there is a real person/God behind the message does not alter the fact that one must hear the message to be saved.  Even if you had never heard of Jesus before, and if He were to appear to you in your room, you would not believe in Him as Savior and Messiah until He told you the gospel and then said to you, "repent."

“for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’ " (Romans 10:13-15)

Oh yes, salvation requires the preaching, hearing, and believing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Sin of Balaam as Observed in Mormon Soliciting

Yesterday, at noon, my wife and I went for a walk around our neighborhood.  A pair of teenage Mormon boys, missionaries, were leaving a house where no one answered the door.  The more senior of the two called out to us, “May we ask you a question?  Are you interested in spiritual matters?”  I replied, “Yes, we are.”  “Have you considered the truths of the Book of Mormon?” 

Smiling broadly, I answered, “Actually, I have read it.”  “Really?  What did you think?”  “Oh, I don’t want to be offensive, but I found it to be an interesting story, a novel story, about the early Americas, but it was not a true story.” 

Undeterred for the moment, the senior of the two pressed the point, “But it is a perfect story of Jesus, how can it not be true?”  I recalled for them that the Book of Mormon’s own introduction refers to itself as another testimony of Jesus, as in one witness being the Bible and this alleging to be be another witness similar to the Bible.  Since a testimony or witness is just one who proclaims something, in this case, the good news of the gospel, even the Book of Mormon was claiming it was another gospel.  I reminded them that the Bible warns there is only one gospel, one good news, and that any other gospel is a false gospel.

From there I reminded them that they and us believe in different Gods.  At first they denied this.  I asked them if Jesus is God.  They instantly replied, “No, Jesus is not God.”  I asked them to quote John 1:1.  They declined to do so, the junior one feigning ignorance of the passage.  I asked the junior one if that was a Bible in his hands.  He said it was, and I asked him to read John 1:1.  He did, but he literally could not bring himself to read the phrase “and the Word was God,” skipping right over it. 

“You see, my wife and I believe that the Bible is true, and we believe what it says, and you do not.”  “Oh, but we do.”  “No, you do not, because you just denied that Jesus is God, and so you do not believe what the Bible says.”  They launched into an apologetic about the Bible not being accurately translated.  I asked the junior, “Oh, do you know Greek?”  A negative.  To the senior, “Do you know Greek?”  Another negative.  To both, “Did Joseph Smith know Greek?”  Another negative.  I replied, “Even the little Greek I have studied indicates John 1:1 is properly translated, so how can you say to me, without knowing Greek yourself, that this passage is not translated properly?”

Then I asked them if they were born again.  They both said no.  I reminded them there is no ability to see the kingdom of God or enter the kingdom of God without being born again.  We talked a little about their desire to become gods of their own worlds in eternity, whereas we desired to serve and worship at God’s feet for eternity. 

Finally, the senior one said, “Can you at least pray this: ‘God, please show me whether the Book of Mormon is a true book’?”  I had to pause and think this through.  What a wonderful, clever, and hideous way to cause a Christian to sin against God.  It is exactly the same tempting argument used by Satan with Eve, and it is the same defiling sin of Balaam. 

God has already given us His Word that denies the majority of Mormon doctrine.  Jesus is God.  God the Father never was a man.  Satan is not the brother of Jesus.  Good works do not advance one to become gods of one’s own worlds. 

Satan told Eve, “Go ahead and eat from the tree of knowledge…God did not tell you the truth about life and death, and He will not mind if you test Him in this.”  Wrong! 

Balaam continually prayed for things that God had already told Him were improper to have, to do, or to ask for.  He prayed, “God, I know you said ‘No’ to this, but please…”  God nearly killed Balaam on the spot the last time he did that. 

God has told us the truth already in His Word.  There is only one God, YHWH, and He said that He does not even know about the existence of any other true gods (Isaiah 44:6-8).  If we pray and ask God to show us whether something is true that He already said was false, then we deny God’s Word, we deny the Bible’s authority to render the truth, and we deny our faith.  Worse, we are challenging God to His very face that maybe He had not told us the truth before!

What a hideously clever tool of deception is that little question.  I replied, “No, I do not need to pray for that, because God has already plainly revealed that the Book of Mormon is false.  But thank you so much for having this conversation with us.”  We parted cordially, but I noticed no lack of haste at their departure.  It has been my prayer that God will use their denial of Jesus, the truth of John 1:1, and other Scripture, to bring them to Himself and to salvation.

Cussin’

Is it proper for Christians to use obscene or vulgar language?  This rarely becomes an issue with the community of believers that populate the cities and towns in our area.  For us, it primarily becomes a question when self-described postmodern pastors employ “dirty words” with great alacrity and defend this behavior by invoking the old dictum, “Be all things to reach all people--and I am trying to reach the unchurched and the young who see nothing wrong with swearing.”

First, let’s be clear.  Paul never meant he sinned when he said “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).  He meant that if a person were weak in accepting that the Law was obsolete and so remained living as a Jew, he would live as a Jew too if that would allow him to more readily make an impact with the gospel on those living as Jews.  It never was a sin to live as a Jew, as the sinless life of Jesus will attest. 

But is cussing inherently a sin?  First, certain words are associated in our culture with being “bad words.”  Usually these bad words are vulgarisms for the natural acts of defecating and having sex.  Neither defecating nor being romantic with one’s spouse is sinful.  And many godly farmers, especially in the Pennsylvania Dutch area, routinely use a vulgarism for manure because in their culture the vulgarism does not carry the stigma of being a “bad word.” 

These vulgarisms for manure and sex became “bad words” not for what they described, but largely because they were applied as curses against people and things.  For example, in our day a common “bad word” describes the sex act.  But it often was employed not to mean ordinary marital relations, but rather, “I hope you get raped.”  That is literally invoking a curse against someone.  When that same word is used as an expletive about a thing or event, the same meaning applies; the speaker intends to convey, “I curse this day and wish that it could be raped.”  Wishing someone or something to be raped is almost always nothing more than wishing a curse upon that one.

Most vulgarisms are overtly curses.  Some express a wish to condemn people to Hell, quite explicitly, as in the majority of damnation expressions.  Even saying, “Darn it” is just a veiled form of damning that thing to Hell.  And this is what makes the use of “bad words” and caustic vulgarisms sinful.  The words themselves are not really inherently bad, for often they have valid ordinary meanings.  It is the intentional curse against people and things that turn these vulgarisms into sins.

God alone may curse man and things.  God alone judges whether a sinner will be sent to Hell.  When God cursed mankind, the snake, and the Earth in Genesis 3, it was because mankind had committed a crime against God so heinous it deserved this curse.  Yet, God Himself, at the cost of the life of His own Son, provided the means of escape from the curse.  When God cursed man in Genesis 3, it was not merely a wish for a curse, but it was a literal and binding curse which God invoked.  He alone can invoke binding curses.

Whenever a man invokes a curse, he is putting himself into God’s throne.  Man can utter curses, but it is always a sin to do so, for man has no authority or power to carry out the curse and no ability to judge another man’s heart so as to genuinely determine if anyone is actually deserving of the curse.  Notice that Peter invoked a curse against himself to try to give his lie credibility (when he denied that he knew Jesus), yet, his own curse against himself was vain, for a Christian cannot condemn himself to Hell after God has redeemed him.

In Matthew 5:22 we are told that Jesus commanded us never to say to a brother, “You are a good-for-nothing fool.”  That is the core meaning behind any curse:  “You are worthless and deserve eternal destruction.”  It is an unloving insult, and it is a lie, for what God has redeemed cannot be considered worthless or be subjected to a curse.  Further, would you curse an unbeliever who might be among the elect of God who has simply not yet been saved? 

The word “cussing” is really a shorthand form of the word “cursing.”  Cursing means to bestow a curse against someone, to wish them pain, suffering, and often, eternal damnation.  Cussing is not really the use of shockingly vulgar words, it is the use of words that convey your desire that a person or thing be mercilessly punished, or to verbalize your desire to wreak your vengeance upon them, as if you were God and had the perfect justice and mighty power to carry this out.  Well, men do not have such perfect discernment, nor do they have the power, nor do they have the authority.  Vengeance (cursing) belongs to God alone.  And each time a man curses another man he demonstrates his ignorance of the Scriptures and his arrogance as he attempts to seat himself on the throne of God.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. (Romans 12:18-19)

For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:30-31)

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Note: a related topic is “swearing an oath.”  In this practice, the swearing is not invoking an eternal curse, as in cussing, but invoking an eternal authority, namely God, to guarantee the outcome of your promise.  This too is a forbidden practice in the New Testament:  for more information on that topic please read Oaths, Vows, Pledges, and Sovereignty at http://thefaithfulword.org/oaths.html .