Hi everyone, I have recently been challenged on a few truths from the Bible, which has
prompted me to write this blog post. It is interesting to know how the scriptures can be
interpreted in so many different ways, some of which convey the truth and some that do
not. Lies can cause believers to walk away from Christ, even after they have learned the
truth, due to deceit. There are several warning scriptures that speak directly to
situations like this.
The challenge I have encountered is that some people claim that we can lose our
salvation even after being born again in Christ. The reason for this, they argue, is
that we must stay righteous by doing good works after receiving salvation.
My understanding is that salvation can only come through Christ, not by our own works or
abilities. This is precisely why we receive it as a gift. It is a one-time event, so
once we are born again in Christ, we have our salvation for eternity. It is
irreversible; once saved, always saved. This is a gift from God, as the scripture says
in
Romans 5:15
'But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the
trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the
grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!'
Ephesians 2:8-9 states,
'For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.'
Therefore, we cannot earn salvation through our own ability. Whatever actions we take after
being saved cannot cause us to lose our salvation, as if our sin could make us lose our
salvation, it would mean that our sins have more power than the sacrifice that Jesus made. I
believe that a sacrifice is always greater or bigger than sin, as the cover is always bigger
than the thing it covers.
We need to remember that our works do not make us sinners. We were sinners when we were
born, before we could actually do anything of our own. The Bible tells us that we are made
sinners when we are formed in our mother's womb, not by our own works.
As Psalm 51:5 says, 'Behold, I was
brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.'
Romans 5:12 states, 'Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world,
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.'
Romans 3:23 also tells us, 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'
Romans 5:19 explains that just as through the disobedience of one man, the many were
made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man, the many will be made righteous.
The sin of Adam affected all of humanity, including future sins. Similarly, the sacrifice
of Jesus has covered the sins of all humanity from all times (past, present, and
future). It is clear that we can never be righteous through our own good works. We need
the sacrifice of someone who is sinless and perfect, who has fulfilled all the laws, and
can take our place in judgment so we can be justified. This is why we need Jesus, just
as we got into sin through one man's fault."
Romans 5:1
"Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with
God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
We need only
Jesus to get to heaven, not our works. And Jesus' death on the cross is not only for
salvation but for a victorious life here on earth.
But we have been challenged that salvation through Christ is not enough to go to heaven, but
we have to be righteous by our works after salvation to keep the salvation valid until we
get to heaven. People who believe in our own ability and righteousness also believe that
salvation comes only through Jesus, but keeping the salvation valid until we get to heaven
is through our good works. So their point is once we get to be righteous through Christ, we
have to make sure we are righteous by our works out of our ability; if not, we will not go
to heaven.
Let me put it plainly. Once we get justified through Christ, once we are righteous through
Christ, once all our sins are forgiven by Christ on the cross, and we accept Jesus'
sacrifice as our payment for all our sins, we have the free pass to enter heaven. But the
claim is that if we sin after that event of being born again in Christ, the free pass to
heaven will be taken away. These claims are backed up by various Bible scriptures that
follow, such as Hebrews 6:4-6, 1 Timothy
4:1, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 2 Peter 2:20-22, Romans 11:19-22, Matthew 24:10-13, Revelation
3:11, James 5:19-20, James 1:1, 1 Timothy 4:16, 1 Corinthians 9:27, 2 Peter 1:5-10,
Matthew 24:1-51, 2 Peter 1:10-11, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 Corinthians 10:12, 1 Timothy
5:15, 1 Timothy 4:1-4, Mark 4:17, Revelation 3:1-3, 2 Peter 3:17, Hebrews 10:26-31,
Matthew 24:22, Hebrews 6:6, Galatians 5:4.
When we read these scriptures plainly without being in context and without understanding the
basic roots of God's principle, it does sound like we need to keep salvation valid with our
ability and works until we get to heaven. And it will definitely confuse everyone and lead
to doubt on the promises that God has given us freely as a gift by his grace. Firstly we
need to remember that God is not the author of confusion but the devil is.
1 Corinthians 14:33 says, "For God is
not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."
God never puts us in bondage but gives us freedom. I would like to share my
understanding on all those scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit. My intention is to
expose the truth behind the scripture. And this is the very reason we have been provided
with the Holy Spirit, who will reveal the truth and make us understand the true meaning
behind this scripture.
1 Corinthians 2:13 says, "And we impart
this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting
spiritual truths to those who are spiritual."
The person without the Spirit
does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness
and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
I would like to share a few basic truths that will help us connect the dots and
understand the complete truth behind these scriptures. Firstly, let us examine the
purpose of scripture. I have quoted a few scriptures to find an answer, such as
2 Timothy 3:15-17, which states that
every word in scripture is given by God for a purpose - to teach, rebuke, correct, and
train us in righteousness, so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Thus, every good work is a result of the Word of God (Jesus) inside us.
However, we must also be aware that the Bible contains information where God spoke directly
to man, God spoke through a man, man spoke to God, man spoke to man, Satan spoke to God, and
Satan spoke to man. Therefore, reading within its context is vital.
Psalm 119:9 emphasizes that to do righteous work, we need God's word (Jesus), as without
Him, we can never keep our way pure. Our good works are a mere reflection of the Word. Psalm
119:105 further emphasizes that His word or instructions are the lamp to walk in the right
path. Without the light (Jesus), we can never find a way, no matter how hard we try to work
our way out. The absence of light is darkness, and without the word of God (Jesus) in us, we
live in darkness by default. Therefore, our own ability or work will not get us out of
darkness since we cannot see anything in the absence of light.
John 20:30-31 states that Jesus did
many other signs in the presence of the disciples that are not written in the book.
Still, these are written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing, we may have life in His name.
Similarly, 1 John 5:13
emphasizes that these things are written to those who believe in the name of the Son
of God so that we may know that we have eternal life.
The main purpose of
scripture is introducing Christ to us, and the Gospels have been written to help us know
Christ, through whom we obtain salvation and freedom.
The Gospel of Christ is not only for our salvation, but it is also for the restoration of
our current life to the blessed life that God proclaimed when He created us in His image
(Gen 1:27). The blessed life initially designed by God is to be fruitful, multiply, fill the
earth, subdue it, and rule over every creature that crawls upon the earth. However, our
current life under sin has resulted in bondage to many things, and we have become slaves to
so many things of this world. Christ has come to set us free from all kinds of bondages and
restore us to the blessed life that God proclaimed. Through Jesus, it has been made even
better than before.
Gal 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
On Adam and eve's time, God lived outside of them.
and he visited them in the cool of the Day.
But after Jesus, he dwells inside us all the time.
Adam and eve was tempted in the absence of God,
This makes us to question why
God left them alone.
God Left them alone so that Adam and eve
can exercise their free will.
Now God made better way through Jesus to
dwell inside us in spirit all the time.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that
you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Ephesians 3:17
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
and that you, being rooted and grounded in love
Now God become more closer then ever before
The scripture says " he is in us and we are in him through Christ"
And also we can understand how great is love is through Jesus sacrifice.
He gave up his only son for you and me.
So now we know how much he loves us.
Adam and eve would not have known how much God loved them because
they wouldn't know what love is and never would have understood anything about giving up his
own son for others mistakes because they never had a son then.
So we need understand everything works together for good under Gods plan
Bible reveals God to us.
There are many things that we could never know about God unless He told them to us.
The Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity. The Bible also tells us who we are.
It tells us of our sin and of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Bible is not just a list of wise sayings that can be pulled out as if from a fortune
cookie.
Although we can benefit from all of the Bible, not all of it is written directly to us.
The Bible is a unified work and must be carefully read and studied in context.
Scripture says we receive salvation though Jesus by grace and we receive it through faith
alone.
But the claim is,
we have to do good works after salvation to keep it valid or else we can lose it.
But my point is
It is clearly stated It is grace through faith, not by our good works.
I am not against good works,
but good works will not GET US TO HEAVEN.
And all I am saying is Good works is a result of accepting Christ in our life.
So let’s go back to this scripture
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for
us to do.So it clearly states by grace through faith by Christ.
So what is Faith, Faith is acting upon our beliefs
Let me explain.
Romans 10:17
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God.
In another scripture its says faith is useless or dead if there is no action or
work.
James 2:17
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
So Faith is acting upon what we believe.
All of our actions are an expression of what we believe.
Until we act upon what we believe,
faith is dead or our works do not exist.
Faith and work coexist
without work there is no faith
without faith there will be no work
Faith come to life when we act upon our beliefs.
Because everyone’s life is based on this fact.
God says he has given faith in equal measure to everyone
He did not say faith is only for people who believe in God.
Romans 12:3
"For through the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more
highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think with sound judgment, as God has
allotted to each a measure of faith."
It's like oxygen; everybody has to use it to live day-to-day life because we always believe
in something and act upon it. So, everyone has faith in them because everyone is capable of
acting upon what they believe. People who believe in God do good works or act upon their
beliefs in God. People who do not believe in God will also act upon things they believe. As
human beings, we always believe something and act upon it. We either believe the right thing
or the wrong thing, but we always believe something. It is something we cannot ignore; it's
an integral part of life. The outcomes or consequences we face in this life depend on what
we believe because our works are the result of what we believe. Right believing leads to
right living, but we need something to believe. Trusting, believing, and having faith are
ways of life; life has been designed this way. But have we ever wondered what makes us take
that leap of faith? What makes us act upon our beliefs? The kind of faith that makes us put
a pill inside our body, which we do not know what it is made of? It's a bunch of unknown
chemicals put together that might end our life. The kind of faith that makes us jump off
cliffs or an aircraft, tossing our life itself up in the air, hoping or being certain it
will fall on the right spot, the right way. These breathtaking events are done so casually
without any thought to them. We have no fear, no doubt, sometimes no understanding, but we
still do it without any struggle. How and what gives us that confidence and trust that
enables us to take that jump? The answer is simple; it's called information (beliefs).
Information alone will not do the magic, but information from a trustworthy source will
certainly do it. Look back at our life; how we learned all this that we know now has all
been given to us from a trustworthy source like our parents, friends, or teachers. We need
information or content to believe. Information gives birth to beliefs, and beliefs manifest
through faith by works. But the real question is, who is the origin of the information? Is
it from God or the devil? Scripture is information given by God; anything that is not in
line with scripture is not from Him. When the information is not from Him, it must be from
the devil. Remember, it is either with God or against Him. Look what happens when we remove
'word of God' from Romans 10:17,
it would be just 'Faith comes by hearing.' So what we hear determines the works or outcomes
in our life. The information that we expose ourselves to is what will manifest in our lives
now. So, the information from God is the source, and our works are the result of believing
the information. Ultimately, our own effort by itself will bring nothing good. God wants to
be our source so we can do good works. If we disconnect from the source, we cannot produce
the right outcome. Let's rephrase it plainly: God is our source, and we connect to Him
through His Word (Jesus), which results in good works (righteous works) as fruits. But
remember, we are always connected to some source, and there is no place in our life where we
are not connected to any source at a given time. So, we are either connected to God or evil.
"That is why God says in
Matthew 12:30,
'Whoever is not with me
is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.'
In John 15:5,
Jesus said, 'I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me
and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.'
We can see this truth from scripture - God has made us this way. He is our source, and
death came to us as a result of disconnecting from God. Disobedience results in sin, and the
consequence of sin is death. I will explain this from scripture in Genesis 1:
'Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the
land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees
bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
Then God said, "Let the waters swarm and abundantly produce living creatures." And it
was so. ...
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind:
livestock, crawling things, and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds"; and
it was so. ...
Then God said, "Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to
Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let
them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle,
and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth." So
God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male
and female He created them.'
If we look at the creation account in Genesis, we can see that God spoke to the source of
everything to bring out life from it. For example, God spoke to the earth to bring out all
kinds of plants and trees. God spoke to the sea to bring out all sea creatures. But when God
made humans, He spoke to Himself, saying, 'Let us make man in our image.' If we look deeply
into these creation events, we can identify the source and the life that depends on the
source. If we separate the creature (life) and the source, the creature dies. For example,
if we uproot a plant from the land, it dies, which disconnects the plant from its source
land. Similarly, if we take a fish out of water, it dies, which disconnects the fish from
its source sea.
This is the reason God said the day Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they would die. Disobedience
made a disconnect from God, and humans became connected to the knowledge of good and evil.
This knowledge brought fear, selfishness, doubt, pride, anger, etc., into our soul. But as
God said, our spirit is dead, and we lost God's nature in us, which has been replaced by a
sin nature. However, when Christ comes into our life, our spirit is born again, and the old
sin nature is gone. So we become righteous by His grace again. Our only job is to stay
connected to God, which will automatically produce fruit, and we can only connect back to
God through Jesus. So, we make that one choice of accepting Jesus into our life, and the
consequences of that will be our good works. We labor to rest on His finished work - that is
the only work we do."
Hebrews 4:10-11 says,
"For anyone who
enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us,
therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following
their example of disobedience."
So how do we labor to enter His rest? We
must rest from the dead work of trying to earn God's favor, which is the work we should be
doing. By reading the scripture in context, we can see that it is referring to the
unbelieving children of Israel who tried to earn what God wanted to give them as a free gift
that was already available.
If we do not believe that God wants to bless us and that He has already blessed us with
every blessing in Christ Jesus, we will work and never rest. We will exhaust ourselves
trying to get what He has already given us. We may work for salvation, sanctification, or
rewards, but if we are trying instead of trusting, we will be anxious and insecure. We will
always wonder, "Have I done enough?"
"The children of Israel never entered in because they were disobedient," and "they
didn't keep God's law. You've got to strive and work to keep the commands." This was
true under the law-keeping covenant, but in the new covenant, the only real work is that
which flows out of faith in Jesus Christ, as
John 6:29 says,
"Jesus answered, 'The
work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
We should not be fooled by the Israelites' desire to obey because it is truly based on their
selfish motives. If they truly trusted God, they would not have asked for laws and rules.
They should have thanked God for the blessing that He already provided through a covenant
with their father Abraham. Instead, they asked for laws and rules to be blessed by their own
works. God gave them what they asked for, which was lots of rules to show that they need
God.
Today, some people are like the Israelites and are searching for principles, guidelines,
and strategies, anything but God Himself. They are doing their level best to obey all
the rules in the Bible, but the sad fact is they don't trust God. They are trusting in
themselves by thinking, "I will be safe, accepted, righteous, and blessed if I keep the
rules." They act as if Jesus never came, as if we were still under the old law-keeping
covenant. If we know our Bible history, we will know that rule-keeping is a recipe for
disaster. The Israelites couldn't do it, and neither can we. No one can keep all the
rules except God Himself.
The issue is not what we do but what we believe because what we do follows what we
believe. Disobedience is a fruit, not a root. Disobedience follows distrust. Adam and
Eve distrusted God first before disobeying Him. The Israelites' problem was not that
they broke the rules, but that they distrusted God first, which led to disobedience.
We all hear the Good News but never combine it with faith. Hebrews 4:2 says, "For we
also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did, but the message they
heard was of no value to them because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed."
If we do not trust God to take care of us and provide for our needs, we will end up
working. It is better to labor towards a place of trust where we cease from our dead
works and allow our hearts to be established in true righteousness. We do not work to
earn rest but to enter His rest. There is a big difference.
For example, every parent worries about their children, especially if there is any
trouble. We are tempted to be anxious and agitated, and our natural response is to take
matters into our own hands and work to fix the problem. This is what Job did. He worked
to bring sacrifices that no one had asked for, thinking they would provide insurance
against his children’s sins (Job 1:5). But this was a dead work, as he was operating out
of fear rather than faith. We know this because Job later said, “That which I feared has
come upon me” (Job 3:25). To all outward appearances, Job was a good man and a good
father, but his fear made him superstitious and religious.
We all act like Job - full of worry and care. Some think that by praying long prayers
for their kids, they will protect them, but all we are doing is giving voice to our
fears. God always reminds us of the promises in his word. He’s watching over our kids,
and he’s got this. Our choice is to stress out or trust him. At first, it will not be
easy. It will take real effort to cast our cares upon him and actually let them go. It
will be hard work to come to that place of rest. But it will be worth it.
Job worried about everything, but Jesus slept through storms. Who would we rather
follow? When life hits us hard, we should ask ourselves this question: “Do we want to be
a restless wreck like Job or would we rather sleep in peace like Jesus?” Sometimes it’s
not easy. We might get a bad report and find nothing in our natural circumstances that
brings us comfort and hope. Walk by faith and not by sight. Look above your
circumstances and see our Father who cares for us and numbers the hairs on our head.
Ground ourselves on his word – choose to believe the good things he says about us – and
we will be the house that cannot be shaken.
The world is a big place, and we are small, but greater is he that is in us than he that
is in the world! When the world tells us something to believe in any given situation in
life which is not in line with what God said, then our work is to believe in what God
said, in spite of what we see, feel, and hear, and see the manifestation of God's
promises in our life.
Even though the branch produces the fruit, it is the root that sources everything to
produce the fruit. That is why we need Jesus to connect us back to God, our source,
which will automatically produce righteous living. But if we try to achieve
righteousness by our own works, we will never succeed. It is like a disconnected branch
from the Vine trying to produce fruit. It will only end up producing death. The source
is the root, and our works are like fruits. Without the root, there is no fruit. So,
without Jesus (the word of God) in us, there will be no good works. But when we have the
word of God in us, nothing can stop us from doing good works.
An apple tree can only give apples, not oranges. Accepting Jesus is not just for getting
salvation and going to heaven. That is only a small part of the reason for accepting
Jesus. Accepting Jesus is to bring heaven down to earth now, which is more relevant to
today's living. If salvation was the only reason Jesus died, He wouldn't have gone
through all that He did, and we wouldn't need such a big book that records so many
events. The Bible is so vast and covers many subjects related to our life on earth
because it is made for us to live a blessed and righteous life now.
We know Jesus said, "What is so great about loving someone who loves us? What is the
reward in it?" But when we love someone who hates us, it glorifies our Lord. So, what is
great about being blessed and righteous in heaven, where there is nothing to oppose and
no challenges? But being victorious, blessed, and righteous in the midst of all the
challenges in this world through Jesus will certainly glorify our Lord. So, going to
heaven is not the only reason for Christ's sacrifice. It is even bigger than that.
Christ came to give us freedom from all sorts of bondage in this world, not in heaven,
because there are no bondages in heaven.
Matthew 5:6 says, "If you love those who
love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if
you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans
do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Nowadays, churches and religions focus more on sin than forgiveness, law than grace, and our
own work than the work of Christ. It is more of placing us in the center than Christ being
the center, ultimately taking glory for ourselves but not God. It happens in a very subtle
way, and we do not even realize it happening within ourselves. But that is always the
devil's way. His ways are so deceiving; it looks so much like the truth, but it's not. So
people easily give into it and are blinded to the truth.
When the truth is twisted, it's no longer the truth. But Satan cannot deceive us without the
truth. He cannot tempt us above the law that God has put in place. He can never create
anything of his own but manipulate the good thing that God already created. That is why
Satan uses scriptures to deceive people and turn them away to destruction because it looks
so good and powerful, so much like the truth, but it's not the truth. If you check out all
the different religions in this world now, they will all be based on the truth that God put
in place, but he would have altered certain things in it because he knows very well that
when the truth is manipulated, it contradicts the real truth, and it has the absolute
opposite outcome. He always adds or removes something to the truth, which makes it a twisted
truth, which is ultimately a lie.
"When we examine the original sin of man, we can clearly see that Satan tempted Eve
regarding the one law God gave to Adam and Eve. Therefore, he cannot work outside of
God's law. We should never forget what Adam did first when he sinned. He tried to work
his way out of it by his own effort and thought he could fix it himself. This resulted
in a proud heart, which is the backbone of the sin nature, telling us that we can handle
things ourselves. Sin brought self-consciousness rather than being God-conscious, and
Adam tried to fix his nakedness by his own effort, which resulted in making clothing
from fig leaves. Imagine us wearing clothes made of leaves - every move we make will
tear them apart and expose our nakedness. Similarly, every time we try to handle things
on our own, we get exposed to shame. However, we need to understand that when the sin
nature got into man, he shifted from being dependent on God to being self-dependent,
which is depending on our works. So, what is sin? In the original translations of the
Bible, sin means "to miss the mark." And the mark is the standard of perfection
established by God and evidenced by Jesus. God establishes the mark or standard of
perfection through law, but when we miss the mark, grace saves us from the consequences
of it. This is why grace is superior to law, but there is nothing wrong with a law. Law
is perfect. Let me give a simple example for better understanding. Imagine we are in a
closed room with a dartboard, and the room is completely closed without any windows, but
the room has a bright light so we can see everything clearly around us. With the
presence of light, we can definitely hit the bullseye on the dart every time, but if the
light is taken away, we will be in darkness, and we will certainly miss the target on
the dartboard. Our God is our light, and with the absence of God, we are already in
darkness, so we can never hit the mark. We should be aware that there is nothing called
darkness; it is nothing but the absence of light."
John 1
8 John was not the light, but he came to tell people about the light.
9 The true light was coming into the world. This is the true light that gives light to
all people.
John 8
12 Later, Jesus talked to the people again. He said, "I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never live in darkness. They will have the light that gives
life."
1 John 1:5
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him
there is no darkness at all.
Another reason why grace is superior is because it existed even before the beginning of
everything. As 2 Timothy 1:9 says, "He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because
of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us
in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."
God loved us even before we were created, which is hard to understand for our human minds,
but we can be sure that it is the greatest love we know. It is impossible without God's
grace to make it.
For example, God's law says that we need to obey the law of the land (Romans 13). If we
travel at a speed of 50.1km/hr in a place with a 50km/hr speed limit, we have missed the
mark, which means we have sinned. This disqualifies us from going to heaven. We should also
remember that if we decide to keep the law, we have to keep them all. We break one, we break
them all (James 2:10).
As Galatians 2:21 says,
"I do not treat
the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God,
then there was no need for Christ to die."
Galatians 3:10 also states,
"But those who depend on the law to make them right with
God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, 'Cursed is everyone who does not
observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law.'"
The Book of Hebrews was written by a Hebrew to other Hebrews, telling them to stop acting
like Hebrews. In truth, many of the early Jewish believers were slipping back into the
rites and rituals of Judaism in order to escape mounting persecution. This letter is an
exhortation for those persecuted believers to continue in the grace of Jesus
Christ.
The scripture clearly talks about someone who got saved and experienced God's goodness
in their life. It also says that there is a possibility for such a person to fall back.
It is a warning message for believers that temptations and persecution might come in our
path, which might lead us to fall back from God's goodness. However, it never says that
we will lose our salvation. It states that a person who was once saved, if they fall
back, it is impossible to bring them back to repentance towards salvation, which is
absolutely right. They cannot start over again by accepting Christ for salvation because
they have already done it once. Repentance towards accepting Christ is a one-time event.
Once saved, always saved. Repentance means a change of ways or a new beginning, so it is
impossible to restart all over again to get saved. Therefore, a saved person cannot be
saved again despite their works. If Jesus can't save us, then nothing else can. For
those people who do fall back, they are going back to the bondage of the Law system
which crucified Christ. Therefore, it is a warning of the bondage of the law from which
Christ freed them.
The Book of Hebrews is written to people who fall back to the law (work) from grace
(gift). The author explains that being saved by Jesus through grace is much superior and
the only way out. However, it is often misunderstood that we have to stay righteous by
our works after salvation to keep it valid, which is completely opposite to the
intention of the Book.
Another point worth mentioning is, if a saved person falls back (sinned) and it is
impossible to be saved (righteous) again, what is the point of doing righteous work?
What difference will it make? According to this kind of interpretation, it is impossible
to be saved again, so there is no use in doing righteous works once we have sinned after
getting saved. When such messages are preached in church to those who believe these
deceiving lies, why do they never tell the people that they can never be saved, even if
they try to be righteous by work? Because once fallen, always fallen, and no matter how
righteous we try to be, we can never regain salvation. Therefore, no one is going to
heaven. We need to remind ourselves that Adam's sins affected everyone from his future,
and in the same way, Jesus' sacrifice will cover the sins of all times.
In another interpretation, the key word in the passage is "if" (verse 6). The writer of
Hebrews sets up a hypothetical statement, "IF a Christian were to fall away," to
emphasize the impossibility of renewing salvation. The reason being that Christ died
once for sin, and if His sacrifice is insufficient, then there's no hope. The passage
presents an argument based on a false premise, that a true Christian can fall away, and
follows it to its senseless conclusion, that Jesus would have to be sacrificed again and
again. The absurdity of the conclusion points out the impossibility of the original
assumption. This reasoning is called reductio ad absurdum, a form of argument that
attempts to disprove a statement by showing it inevitably leads to a ridiculous, absurd,
or impractical conclusion or to prove one by showing that if it were not true, the
result would be absurd or impossible.
Timothy 4:1-5 is a warning message to believers and non-believers of the church. The
passage is for all people who may be attracted to the truth, regardless of where they
are in their journey to salvation. Paul's first letter to Timothy is an instruction book
on leading, administering, and pastoring the local church. He warns Timothy about false
preachers and false doctrines that can lead people away from the truth.
The kind of teaching that can take people away from the grace of God, which God provided
as a gift, is the kind that emphasizes our works over Christ's works. This is the false
doctrine that Paul warns about. He talks about false preachers who will teach deceiving
false doctrines that will make people abandon their faith in Christ and His grace. Paul
plainly advises us to stand firm on the truth and to receive the free gifts of God's
grace, and to be thankful to God. Any teaching that tells us that our works are superior
to Christ's works is from the devil. This message always comes in a deceiving way that
people may feel is right.
So this verse is a warning message against preachers who teach false doctrines. And it
clearly tells us a sign of false doctrines, "They forbid people to marry and order them
to abstain from certain foods," which Paul warns against. It is a warning message
against the wrong teaching that makes people try to be righteous through their own
works, leading them back to the law from grace.
2 Corinthians 11
3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may
somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone
comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a
different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you
accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Outline of the Book of 2 Corinthians:
BACKGROUND OF THE EPISTLE: The church in Corinth was founded in 52 A.D. when Paul visited
during his second missionary journey. He stayed there for one and a half years, which was
the longest time he had been allowed to stay in one place. The establishment of the church
is recorded in Acts 18:1-18.
This second letter of Paul to the Corinthians was written in response to the report brought
back by Titus. Titus informed Paul of how the Corinthians received the first letter and the
rebuke it contained (2 Corinthians 2:12-13; 7:5-9).
PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE: Titus' report was encouraging, but it also brought troubling news
that some in Corinth were questioning Paul's authority as an apostle. These doubts may have
been planted by "Judaizing teachers" who followed Paul and attempted to undermine his
teaching concerning the Law. They questioned his veracity (2 Corinthians 1:15-17), his
speaking ability (2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6), and his unwillingness to accept support from
the church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:7-9; 12:13). Some people had also not repented of
their licentious behavior (2 Corinthians 12:20-21). Paul's primary purpose in this epistle
was to address these issues and defend his apostolic authority.
This verse is another warning message for believers against deceiving doctrines. The verse
refers to the first fall of humanity in Genesis.
Genesis 3:
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He
said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God
did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and
you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said
to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Let's compare. The serpent was mentioned as crafty and used the one law that God gave to
Adam and Eve (not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) to
deceive them. This teaches us that we can be deceived by someone with knowledge of the
Scriptures who uses them to confuse and deceive us, just like the serpent did to Eve.
Therefore, we should not conclude anything based on new ideas introduced by someone, but
instead, we should go to the Scripture with an open heart and ask God to reveal it to us.
We need to look at how Eve responded. She said that God said not to eat the fruit and also
not to touch it, but God did not say not to touch it. It is believed that Eve received this
instruction from Adam, not directly from God, so she had second-hand information that was
not accurate. This is the reason Satan went to Eve instead of Adam. Therefore, we should
seek direct revelation from God.
This is what Paul is insisting on, that he is the true apostle who taught about the real
Christ and not to be deceived by someone who introduces a different Jesus. We need to
closely watch what the devil did. He made Eve focus on that one fruit out of all the others
and believe the lie that she would become like God.
The devil made Eve think about what he wanted her to think, focusing on one fruit out of
all the others. Then, he made her believe the lie that she would become like God, which
is nothing but a lie. If you find a teaching that makes you depend on your own works
instead of depending on the finished work of God, it is a straight lie from the devil
who is distracting and deceiving us, leading us to destruction and away from our
blessings. Peter 2:20-22 states that those who have escaped the corruption of the world
by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but are again entangled in it and overcome
are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for
them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turned
their backs on the sacred command passed on to them. Of them, the proverbs are true: "A
dog returns to its vomit," and "A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the
mud."
It is helpful to read these verses in the context of chapter 2, as well as within the
context of both 1 Peter and 2 Peter together, and one must consider the overall message
of the Bible. The first question is who exactly Peter is referring to. Who are these
people who had escaped the defilements or corruption of the world? It's possible that
Peter is referring to the false teachers he has been condemning, but it seems more
likely that he has in mind the ones the false teachers are leading astray. This seems to
suggest the newer, less mature, or less experienced believers, or those who were just
hearing the gospel and still uncommitted.
In verse 18, Peter wrote that the false teachers were enticing those just escaping from
error. These are people who had come out of the world and entered into the community of
the church. They had heard and understood the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the Bible
is very clear that intellectual knowledge is not the same as saving faith (James 2:19).
It seems most likely Peter is referring to those who were attracted to the gospel but
had not come to a full faith in Christ. If they had been saved, what Peter wrote in 1
Peter 1:5 would apply to them. They would have been shielded or guarded by their faith
and by God's power until salvation was revealed. Instead, as John wrote, "They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued
with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us" (1
John 2:19).
Now, these people, distracted and enticed by the false teachers, are worse off than
before. They had begun to escape the sinful corruption of the world and begun to
associate with a community of believers. And then, they were fooled by the false
teachers into participating in their old sinfulness. Once more, they were entangled,
overcome, and dragged back to their old place in the world by their own sinful desires.
Worse, now their concept of the gospel is tainted. (Romans 11:19-22).