The Joyful Heart by Jim Hughes: December 2012

What does the Bible teach about the Gospel of Grace; are there other Gospels?

Acts 15:10-12

(KJV)

10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke [The Law was considerd to be a yoke of bondage (JPH)] upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

Romans 8:14-16

(KJV)

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that we are to be under bondage again to fear God!

Galatians 1:3-10

(KJV)

3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

(AMP)

6 I am surprised and astonished that you are so quickly [a]turning renegade and deserting Him Who invited and called you by the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ (the Messiah) [and that you are transferring your allegiance] to a different [even an opposition] gospel.

7 Not that there is [or could be] any other [genuine Gospel], but there are [obviously] some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering you [b]with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel] and want to pervert and distort the Gospel of Christ (the Messiah) [into something which it absolutely is not].

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!

9 As we said before, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from or contrary to that which you received [from us], let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)! 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

— * Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament

a. Galatians 1:6 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament.

b. Galatians 1:7 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament.

Galatians 3:20-27

(KJV)

20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Hebrews 8:7-13

(KJV)

7 If that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of

Israel

and with the house of

Judah

9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of

Israel

after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

— *Barnes’ (Word Pictures in the New Testament)

If that first covenant had been faultless - It is implied here that God had said that that covenant was not perfect or faultless. The meaning is not that that first covenant made under Moses had any real faults - or inculcated what was wrong, but that it did not contain the ample provision for the pardon of sin and the salvation of the soul which was desirable. It was merely “preparatory” to the gospel. Then should no place have been sought for the second - There could not have been - inasmuch as in that case it would have been impossible to have bettered it, and any change would have been only for the worse.

[It’s not that the first covenant was faultless, it was perfectly conceived to be a schoolmaster. But it wasn’t blameless—it couldn’t bring salvation of the soul—(JPH)]

— Blue Letter Bible

(KJV) Verse 7—Strong's Greek translation for faultless G273 – amemptos

1) blameless, deserving no censure, free from fault or defect

Authorized Version (KJV) Translation Count for G273 — Total: 5

blameless 3: Luke 1:3; Phl 2:15; Phl 3:6;

unblameable 1: 1Th 3:13

faultless 1:Hbr 8:7

Hebrews 8:6-13

(MSG)

But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said,

Heads up! The days are coming

when I’ll set up a new plan

for dealing with

Israel

and

Judah

I’ll throw out the old plan

I set up with their ancestors

when I led them by the hand out of

Egypt

They didn’t keep their part of the bargain,

so I looked away and let it go.

This new plan I’m making with

Israel

isn’t going to be written on paper,

isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;

This time I’m writing out the plan in them,

carving it on the lining of their hearts.

I’ll be their God,

they’ll be my people.

They won’t go to school to learn about me,

or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.

They’ll all get to know me firsthand,

the little and the big, the small and the great.

They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,

with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.

— Jim

One argument against the Gospel of Grace is, “What if I sin? Don’t I need to repent and do some kind of good deed to get back in God’s favor and be in right standing with Him?”

Jesus paid for all of our past, present and future sins on the cross. We will always be in fellowship with God the Father forever thru the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross! That would be like saying, “I have to help dear old God out because His Son’s sacrifice didn’t pay for my sin I committed just now.; I have to do some kind of sacrifice myself.”

Another argument against the Gospel of Grace is, “What about those who have so seared their conscience that they have thrown away their salvation? 1 Timothy 4:2. Their consciences are seared and they cannot hear from God any longer, they are not aware of sin.”

I say, “Stop it! Stop looking for loop-holes in the Gospel of Grace!”

The Bible says that these hypocrites (imposters-they never were believers) are branded, like Cain was after murdering his brother Abel. Cain forever had his sin before his mind, he was incapable of forgetting his sin. He will be tormented in Hell for his sin. He was not a saint, neither are these imposters.

—Thayer's (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon)

1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

καυτηριάζω kauteriazo {kow-tay-ree-ad'-zo}

1) to mark by branding, to brand, branded with their own consciences

1a) whose souls are branded with the marks of sin

1b) who carry about with them the perpetual consciousness of sin

2) seared

3) in a medical sense, to cauterise, remover by cautery

— *Robertson’s (Word Pictures in the New Testament)

Branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron (kekaustēriasmenōn tēn idian suneidēsin). Accusative case suneidēsin retained with the perfect passive participle of kaustēriazō, a rare verb only here and once in Strabo. Branded with the mark of Satan (2Ti_2:26) as Paul was with the marks of Christ (Gal_6:17). Agreeing in case with pseudologōn.

To repeat, those under the old Mosaic Covenant (The Ten Commandments) had no way of keeping the Law. So God instituted sacrifices to cover their sins. They had to do something—they had to obey the Law.

But under the new Covenant God does it all! as we read earlier in Hebrews 8,

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Plus I repeat, Acts 15:10

We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.

The Gospel of Grace is this:

All we have to do is BELIEVE the Good News (the English translation of the Greek word Gospel.) That thru Christ’s sacrifice, God’s eternal mercy turns our being unrighteous into being in right standing with God and we are forever forgiven of all sins; and the sin nature has been dealt a death blow at Calvary! We are no longer slaves of sin but servants of God and our fruit is unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22)

That’s it, or as the acronym says, KISS—Keep It Simple Saints! Just BELIEVE, Be a Believer!

References:

Thayer's (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon) Based on Grimm's Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti, tr., rev. and enl. by Joseph Henry Thayer; Published by New York American Book Co. in 1889. Retrieved from http://lexiconcordance.com/

*Barnes' Notes on the New Testament (Barnes) by Albert Barnes Published in Philadelphia, August 25th, 1832

*Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament; Published in 1886 by Marvin R. Vincent

*Word Pictures in the New Testament; by (AT) Archibald Thomas Robertson; Published 1n 1930 by Broadman Press in Nashville, Tenn.

King James Version (KJV)—Public Domain/ 1604, King James I of

England

The Joyful Heart by Jim Hughes

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Gospel Of Grace