The Gospel was changed by God:

[RichardBurger]

The Gospel was changed by God:

The failure or refusal to discern the Pauline Gospel as a separate and new revelation, and not a “development from Judaism,” accounts for two-thirds of the confusion in many people’s minds today as regards just what the Gospel is.

Paul’s Gospel will suffer no admixture with works on the one hand or religious pretensions and performances on the other. It is simple and clear as the sunlight from heaven.

The end of man is where God begins (Romans 3), at what might be called the opening of the Pauline Revelation. Most unsaved people today believe in their hearts that the reason they are not saved is because of something they have not yet done, some step that remains for them to take before God will accept them. But this is absolutely untrue.

When Christ said “It is finished,” He meant that He had, then and there, paid the debt for the whole human race. “He gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6).

Now Paul, in his wonderful revelation declares, that Gad hath “reconciled the world unto Himself; that God was in Christ (at the cross) reconciling the world unto Himself, (II Corinthians 5:19). ---- Men do not know this, but they conceive that something stands between them and God, before God will accept, or forgive, them.

If you tell a man that God is demanding no good works of him whatsoever, no religious observances or church ordinances, that God is not asking him to undertake any duties at all, but that God invites him to believe a glad message that his sins have already been dealt with at the cross, and that God expects him to believe this good news and be exceedingly happy about it - if you tell an unsaved man such a story as this, he is astonished and overwhelmed - yet this is the Gospel of Grace!

Note: Taken from the “Bible Student’s Notebook” a weekly Bible study publication.



www.BibleStudentsNotebook.com

 

[Episkopos]

The great lie of our time lies in the gospel of Barabbas who is pardoned on a technicality...thus being saved IN his sins. In other words he is a saved sinner.

But we have a choice to make to follow after Jesus Barabbas...or Jesus barABBA...these seem the same at first glance. But when we have a choice to live in the flesh and yet be saved compared with having to die to the flesh to be saved...well the choice is an easy one for the masses!

The crowd yells out...Free Barabbas!!!!! So many identify with this gospel of a general amnesty and forgiveness for their crimes. But they have been decived as to the nature of their salvation. So most of modern Christianity is built upon THIS offer to the people. They will follow Barabbas because the deal seems so much sweeter to the flesh. This is the true mystery of the gospel and the great delusion of our time.

But those who love God will go through the death of the cross in order to walk in the Spirit and not sin. Not because they love to die...but because that is where Jesus, the true Son of the Father (Bar ABBA) is.

 

[RichardBurger]

The great lie of our time lies in the gospel of Barabbas who is pardoned on a technicality...thus being saved IN his sins. In other words he is a saved sinner.

But we have a choice to make to follow after Jesus Barabbas...or Jesus barABBA...these seem the same at first glance. But when we have a choice to live in the flesh and yet be saved compared with having to die to the flesh to be saved...well the choice is an easy one for the masses!

The crowd yells out...Free Barabbas!!!!! So many identify with this gospel of a general amnesty and forgiveness for their crimes. But they have been decived as to the nature of their salvation. So most of modern Christianity is built upon THIS offer to the people. They will follow Barabbas because the deal seems so much sweeter to the flesh. This is the true mystery of the gospel and the great delusion of our time.

But those who love God will go through the death of the cross in order to walk in the Spirit and not sin. Not because they love to die...but because that is where Jesus, the true Son of the Father (Bar ABBA) is.

We have a choice to follow Paul's Gospel of grace, given to him by Jesus Himself for the Gentles and Jews who turn from being under the law of Moses. We have a choice to place our faith in what Jesus did for us to reconcile us to God or to place our faith in what we can do to reconcile ourselves to God. As for me I have placed my faith in what Jesus did on the cross; not what I do to reconcile myself to God but what Jesus did on the cross to reconcile me to God. You have that same choice.

 

[Episkopos]

We have a choice to follow Paul's Gospel of grace, given to him by Jesus Himself for the Gentles and Jews who turn from being under the law of Moses. We have a choice to place our faith in what Jesus did for us to reconcile us to God or to place our faith in what we can do to reconcile ourselves to God. As for me I have placed my faith in what Jesus did on the cross; not what I do to reconcile myself to God but what Jesus did on the cross to reconcile me to God. You have that same choice.

The fleshly realm is not the greater realm...so we from that realm do not decide whether or not we wish to accept the greater realm. That is for God to decide. Our job is to repent and surrender our lives to the death through the cross so that we are available to be given access to the higher realm by God. So God needs to accept us...not the other way around.

In Christ, a student doesn't choose his teacher. It is the teacher who chooses his student.

5:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

The fleshly man can claim Jesus as his saviour as he can claim to be the king of the world. But this is meaningless. It is not what we accept that counts...there are many grandiose illusions in the world. God reserves the right to accept and reject whom He wills.

 

[RichardBurger]

The fleshly realm is not the greater realm...so we from that realm do not decide whether or not we wish to accept the greater realm. That is for God to decide. Our job is to repent and surrender our lives to the death through the cross so that we are available to be given access to the higher realm by God. So God needs to accept us...not the other way around.

In Christ, a student doesn't choose his teacher. It is the teacher who chooses his student.

5:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

The fleshly man can claim Jesus as his saviour as he can claim to be the king of the world. But this is meaningless. It is not what we accept that counts...there are many grandiose illusions in the world. God reserves the right to accept and reject whom He wills.

You have made your choice and so have I. There is nothing that is required by God except to place your belief, faith, trust, and confidence in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to reconcile yourself to God. The only gospel that saves men today is the Pauline Gospel of grace. A mixed up, blended gospel will not save a person.

No matter how you mask it, your gospel is one of your works.

 

[Rach1370]

The Gospel was changed by God:

The failure or refusal to discern the Pauline Gospel as a separate and new revelation, and not a “development from Judaism,” accounts for two-thirds of the confusion in many people’s minds today as regards just what the Gospel is.

Paul’s Gospel will suffer no admixture with works on the one hand or religious pretensions and performances on the other. It is simple and clear as the sunlight from heaven.

The end of man is where God begins (Romans 3), at what might be called the opening of the Pauline Revelation. Most unsaved people today believe in their hearts that the reason they are not saved is because of something they have not yet done, some step that remains for them to take before God will accept them. But this is absolutely untrue.

When Christ said “It is finished,” He meant that He had, then and there, paid the debt for the whole human race. “He gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6).

Now Paul, in his wonderful revelation declares, that Gad hath “reconciled the world unto Himself; that God was in Christ (at the cross) reconciling the world unto Himself, (II Corinthians 5:19). ---- Men do not know this, but they conceive that something stands between them and God, before God will accept, or forgive, them.

If you tell a man that God is demanding no good works of him whatsoever, no religious observances or church ordinances, that God is not asking him to undertake any duties at all, but that God invites him to believe a glad message that his sins have already been dealt with at the cross, and that God expects him to believe this good news and be exceedingly happy about it - if you tell an unsaved man such a story as this, he is astonished and overwhelmed - yet this is the Gospel of Grace!

Note: Taken from the “Bible Student’s Notebook” a weekly Bible study publication.



www.BibleStudentsNotebook.com

Hey Richard. I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. The OT makes it very clear that the only gospel was Jesus. And that Jesus was coming to save all nations to God, not just the Jews.
Remember the promise God gave to Abraham:


"And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command. ” - Genesis 22:18

There are lots and lots of OT verses that say much the same thing...here is but one:

May his name endure forever; as long as the sun shines, may his fame increase. May all nations be blessed by him and call him blessed. - Psalm 72:17

And of course we have Paul himself saying that the saving of the gentiles was always part of God's plan through Christ.

Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. - Galatians 3:8

Israel was the people God chose to unveil the Christ, to complete His purposes of redemption for all.

For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favour and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favoured us with in the Beloved. - Ephesians 1:4-6

Saving the gentiles was always plan A and not plan B. 'Before the foundation of the world'...that's not a 'doh! The Israelites aren't falling in, I'll have to go to plan B' kind of a thought. He chose to redeem us so that our praise would bring Him glory!

 

[Episkopos]

You have made your choice and so have I. There is nothing that is required by God except to place your belief, faith, trust, and confidence in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross to reconcile yourself to God. The only gospel that saves men today is the Pauline Gospel of grace. A mixed up, blended gospel will not save a person.

No matter how you mask it, your gospel is one of your works.

There are two choices..dead works or works of the Spirit.

 

[mark s]

If you tell a man that God is demanding no good works of him whatsoever, no religious observances or church ordinances, that God is not asking him to undertake any duties at all, but that God invites him to believe a glad message that his sins have already been dealt with at the cross, and that God expects him to believe this good news and be exceedingly happy about it - if you tell an unsaved man such a story as this, he is astonished and overwhelmed - yet this is the Gospel of Grace!

This is the wonderful Gospel of Grace . . . provided such a man wants to turn from his sins, towards serving the Lord Jesus.

 

[veteran]

The everlasting Gospel was changed? by God???

That kind of false thinking certainly is a major sign of the end times we are now in!


2 Tim 4:2-4
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
(KJV)

 

[Episkopos]

If you tell a man that God is demanding no good works of him whatsoever, no religious observances or church ordinances, that God is not asking him to undertake any duties at all, but that God invites him to believe a glad message that his sins have already been dealt with at the cross, and that God expects him to believe this good news and be exceedingly happy about it - if you tell an unsaved man such a story as this, he is astonished and overwhelmed - yet this is the Gospel of Grace!

This is a false gospel. We are not saved in order to be saved. A shovel is not bought in order that we can say we have a shovel. Grace is the means given to us in order to fulfill the righteous and holy standards of God and to do the works of God through the Spirit. The lazy servant is called wicked and he is rejected. We must WALK in the Spirit...not relax in a spirit of self-satisfaction that we are SO saved by lip-service. Faith without works isn't faith yet.

 

[Netchaplain]

We came to God empty-handed, so, everything good we do derives from God and not from us.

"John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven"(John 3:27).

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phil 2:13).

When Christ comes in to save us, He doesn't use anything He finds, but only what He brought!

 

[biggandyy]

I am stealing that for my Facebook status.

 

[Episkopos]

It is very human to go from one extreme to the other. In order to refute a salvation based on human effort...other carnal reasoners will say that God doean't expect any works at all. What is lost in both of these errors is the truth. We are meant to work through the Spirit and DO the works prepared in advance. This is not the same as trying to be good by human effort.

Rather we are EMPLOYED by God and EMPOWERED by God to be wprkers for the kingdom of God. We are saved to DO good works.

Act_9:36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.

This is not a negative comment on Tabitha....as some would have us believe. So who really changed the gospel again???which god???

Eph_2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

I think a man is trying to change the gospel...

2Ti_3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Tit_3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

1Pe_2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Tit_2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

 

[mark s]

This is a false gospel. We are not saved in order to be saved. A shovel is not bought in order that we can say we have a shovel. Grace is the means given to us in order to fulfill the righteous and holy standards of God and to do the works of God through the Spirit. The lazy servant is called wicked and he is rejected. We must WALK in the Spirit...not relax in a spirit of self-satisfaction that we are SO saved by lip-service. Faith without works isn't faith yet.

Who has said that it stops there?

Once we've been born again, our new nature will begin to express itself. Our life will change, and we will begin to do the works of our Father in heaven.

Lip service? No, that's not what we're talking about.

Love in Christ,
Mark

 

[RichardBurger]

A Common Error:

It is a common error to assume that the Pauline Gospel of Grace was always in effect from the beginning of the world.

Grace = unmerited (unearned) favor = you don’t have to work for it. It is free.

If we assume, as some say, that grace was always the gospel in effect then we have to see that God was unfair when He brought about the flood, when he scattered the human race, when He choose a certain people (the Jews) to be His own. God was unfair when He imposed laws for the Jews to follow with the penalty of death if they were not followed. After all the law was not in effect when the Jews left Egypt. It was imposed at Mt. Sinai.

It is a fact that God has given mankind different requirements down through history. The Pauline Gospel of salvation by faith in what God did on the cross (His shed blood) is without precedence in the scriptures. When you fail to see this you will always blend the Law of Moses (what Jesus and the 12 taught) with grace and destroy both of them.

It is clear that Jesus Christ, by His own words, did not come to minister to the Gentiles, nor was His message "the kingdom gospel" sent to the Gentiles. He did not offer the "kingdom of heaven" To the Gentiles. The following scriptures support my view.

Matt 10:5-7 (NKJ)
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Matt 15:23-24 (NKJ)
23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."
24 But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Paul said: Rom 15:8 (NKJ)
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
Note that in Matt 10:5-7 and Matt 15:23-24 Jesus said He did not come EXCEPT to the house of Israel. Jesus came to confirm/fulfill all the promises that were written of Him in the O.T. His mission was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. This is what Paul meant in Rom 15:8.

IMPORTANT NOTE: -- This is not to say that God did not have another purpose for Jesus' death on the cross. But that purpose was “hidden in God” and revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus by Jesus. (Eph 3:9)

There are two choices..dead works or works of the Spirit.

Both of these are the works of man. I have choosen the work of Jesus on the cross to reconcile me to God. Not my works but Jesus' work. You do not seem to want to claim the work of Jesus on the cross.

 

[Angelina]

Ephesians 2 KJV

[sup]11[/sup]Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
[sup]12[/sup]That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
[sup]13[/sup]But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
[sup]14[/sup]For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
[sup]15[/sup]Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
[sup]16[/sup]And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
[sup]17[/sup]And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
[sup]18[/sup]For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
[sup]19[/sup]Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
[sup]20[/sup]And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Shalom!!!

 

[RichardBurger]

Ephesians 2 KJV

[sup]11[/sup]Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
[sup]12[/sup]That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
[sup]13[/sup]But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
[sup]14[/sup]For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
[sup]15[/sup]Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
[sup]16[/sup]And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
[sup]17[/sup]And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
[sup]18[/sup]For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
[sup]19[/sup]Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
[sup]20[/sup]And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Shalom!!!

And how do these scriptures impact the idea of this thread. Both the gospel of the kingdom (for the Jews) and the Pauline Gospel of grace for all are based on Jesus Christ being the Son of God.

 

[Rach1370]

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:5-9 ESV)

This passage tells us two important things. One, God always intended to saved the gentiles by grace. And two, that Abraham himself was saved by his faith. Very cool when you think about it...Abraham was a Christian...430 years before the law of Moses was even given! Nothing will thwart God's purposes.

 

[Episkopos]

A Common Error:

It is a common error to assume that the Pauline Gospel of Grace was always in effect from the beginning of the world.

Grace = unmerited (unearned) favor = you don’t have to work for it. It is free.

If we assume, as some say, that grace was always the gospel in effect then we have to see that God was unfair when He brought about the flood, when he scattered the human race, when He choose a certain people (the Jews) to be His own. God was unfair when He imposed laws for the Jews to follow with the penalty of death if they were not followed. After all the law was not in effect when the Jews left Egypt. It was imposed at Mt. Sinai.

It is a fact that God has given mankind different requirements down through history. The Pauline Gospel of salvation by faith in what God did on the cross (His shed blood) is without precedence in the scriptures. When you fail to see this you will always blend the Law of Moses (what Jesus and the 12 taught) with grace and destroy both of them.

It is clear that Jesus Christ, by His own words, did not come to minister to the Gentiles, nor was His message "the kingdom gospel" sent to the Gentiles. He did not offer the "kingdom of heaven" To the Gentiles. The following scriptures support my view.

Matt 10:5-7 (NKJ)
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.
6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Matt 15:23-24 (NKJ)
23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."
24 But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Paul said: Rom 15:8 (NKJ)
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
Note that in Matt 10:5-7 and Matt 15:23-24 Jesus said He did not come EXCEPT to the house of Israel. Jesus came to confirm/fulfill all the promises that were written of Him in the O.T. His mission was to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. This is what Paul meant in Rom 15:8.

IMPORTANT NOTE: -- This is not to say that God did not have another purpose for Jesus' death on the cross. But that purpose was “hidden in God” and revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus by Jesus. (Eph 3:9)



Both of these are the works of man. I have choosen the work of Jesus on the cross to reconcile me to God. Not my works but Jesus' work. You do not seem to want to claim the work of Jesus on the cross.

A man cannot claim Jesus' work for Himself. Jesus is the Lamb of God not the Lamb of men! It is God who justifies...not men.

 

[RichardBurger]

A man cannot claim Jesus' work for Himself. Jesus is the Lamb of God not the Lamb of men! It is God who justifies...not men.

I believe you to be miss-guided. We have to claim Jesus' work on the cross for our salvation. Without the sheding of Jesus' blood there is no atonememt for our sins. We claim it when we believe in it.