What The Gospel Means to Me

[Scribe]

"In the day that God judges the secrets of men according to my gospel through Jesus Christ" Paul Romans 1:16.

Paul's gospel is our judge. Peter tells us , " our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable twist, as also the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:15-16

At Romans Paul has laid his gospel before us. He sets forth his introduction in 1:1-17. Then he lays his gospel before us in seven parts. The gospel is really the glad tidings. It is the Word of the oath coming to us in it's sevening. Each tide must develop by the Holy Spirits work in us to give ground for the next.

1. Condemnation 1:18-3:20. Here the Holy Spirit brings us to full condemnation. At this stage none can judge for all are judged equally condemned. Only when the Spirits work is mature in condemantion does the second tide come.

2. Justification: 3:21- 5:11. Here we see that the Lord's shed blood has removed all our sins and we are thus righteous. Most of christianity waffles back and forth between condemnation and justification because the condemantion work is not mature enought to fully open justification. There is still trust in self. But when we see we are fully justified by his blood, then the third tide comes.

3. Sanctification. 5:12- 8:13 In the first two our mouth is sufficient, but in the third measure our hand must be discovered and applied. Justification deals with our sins by his blood and the testimony of our mouth. But at sanctification the glad tidings deals with Sin and transfers the holy nature into us. Here the unspeakable gift branches into our hand. Here John 17:17-20 activate to us. We measure our steps in holiness. This leads to the fourth tide.

4. Glorification. 8;14-39. At each measure of sanctifications maturity the church enters glory. Glory is the result of sanctification. In glory the church is fully mature. Out of foretastes of glory we have the holy way to approach Israel. Then out of the glory comes the fifth measure of the glad tidings.

5. Selection. 9-11. This is where we remember Israel. Out of the glory we reach forth to remember and recover Israel into the sanctification fellowship. This is where Revelation chapter one opens. The faith in the glorious church reaches out on the right hand and connects with the faith of Israel on the left. From faith (ours) to faith (theirs) the righteousness of God is made known. 1:17. Together the glorious church walks hand in hand into the sixth measure....the transformation of the selected Israel.

6. Transformation. 12:1-15:13. Hand in hand with the church Israel matures into transformation and is ready to shepherd the nations the church is called out of. This brings in the rest of the seventh measure of the gospel.

7. Consumation 15:14-16:27 the nations offered acceptable in the hands of Israel, with the church.

This gospel judges the secrets of all men.

Scribe

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Scribe

"In the day that God judges the secrets of men according to my gospel through Jesus Christ" Paul Romans 1:16.

I was about to suggest you had really lost it. But I eventually found your verse; Romans 2:16. But what do you think that means? What translation are you using? That is an entirely different series of words than in all others I have found. For example, the NIV:

This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

First, your version seems to say that God judges "according to my gospel" whereas the NIV more clearly puts the judging in context of "through Jesus Christ" first, then Paul adds that it is consistent with the gospel he is preaching. He is not saying that God is acting according to Paul's gospel, but that Paul has correctly understood how God will judge and has included that in his gospel.

But your snippet is out of context. In context, excluding the parenthetical portion in verses 14 and 15, Paul says:

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.... This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

So the whole of Paul's writing here can be summarized into the little phrase (which has already been misread in earlier posts) of being doers of the word and not hearers only. And while Paul says a lot of truly wonderful things, they are too often taken as substitutes for the gospel that Jesus spoke. I hate that some will take what I am going to say as an endorsement of a particular ministry that wants to ignore all of scripture outside of the 4 gospels, but here goes. The gospel is primarily found in the "gospels." You can find a lot of commentary in the other NT books, but the source is the gospels. When we read Paul and determine that there are a lot of "spiritual" things that have to be done to move through the various stages of spiritual growth, we are misreading Paul. He is not adding to the needs. He is explaining what is happening spiritually when you actually do and obey. But the doing and obeying is in relation to what Jesus says. What God has said.

Just like we need James to remind us that if we are not doing, the spiritual is just a farce, we need Paul to remind us that there are spiritual things that underpin the doing. Paul does not say to ignore doing and instead be spiritual. But that is what Nee taught, and what Lee taught. These are your "watchman" and your "witness" who lead you. Yes they lead you away from the "simplicity of the gospel." They lead you away from doing and into being spiritual. And whether they lead you to this "writing" thing I cannot say. But it would not be an unreasonable extension of their impractical, uber-spiritual worldview that requires no foundation of doing real life, through the Spirit, in a righteous manner.

Yes, sanctification, transformation, glorification, etc., are wonderful things. But they are not rungs of a ladder that we willfully climb. They are spiritual realities that occur as we deepen our love and our faith by living and doing according to that faith and love. This notion of writing, and all the LRC focus on uber-spiritual "activities" is a distraction from the real Christian job of living and obeying. To the extent that they have correctly understood and identified spiritual realities, they have cheapened them by thinking that they can pursue those realities without undertaking the activities of obedience and faith in their daily walk in the world.

[ZNPaaneah]

So, OBW, what does the gospel mean to you?

[OBW]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

So, OBW, what does the gospel mean to you?

The gospel is the good news of Christ.
It is must be lived before it can be preached.
It is evidenced by changed lives.
It is the true "formula" that makes those changes.
While it is good to know and understand it, it is better to do it and obey it.
Seeking sanctification is not the gospel. Neither is seeking transformation, glorification, or even justification.
But the gospel will provide all those things to those who truly believe and follow.

I had a brief discussion with my wife this evening about this. We agree that it is not harmful to understand the spiritual realities that happen because of our obedience to Christ. (Paul spent a lot of time telling us about those things as the reason that we should be obeying.) But seeking to know about them, and seeking them for their own sake outside of obedience is just as natural as doing the works because you think they will save you. It just has a more spiritual sound and so few would consider that it is just as great an error. Both are out of balance, and can be followed in the erroneous belief that you are following Christ.

All of the "spiritual" activities that are irrelevant to the rest of life are just our "sacrifices" (even if they are of praise). If they flow out of our life of obedience, then they are a pleasing aroma to God. If they are in lieu of a life of obedience, then we should recall that God loves obedience more than sacrifice.

[Scribe]

Mike.

I think you are a gentile. I am also. We are far off, without hope, without God and in the world, unless Paul was separated and sent to us. We have no gospel without Paul. Even now it is judging both you and I. It is separating us. His gospel is sent to bring forth obedience of faith in us as a heavenly bride for Israel.

Scribe

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Scribe

Mike.

I think you are a gentile. I am also. We are far off, without hope, without God and in the world, unless Paul was separated and sent to us. We have no gospel without Paul. Even now it is judging both you and I. It is separating us. His gospel is sent to bring forth obedience of faith in us as a heavenly bride for Israel.

I'm sorry you think in terms of categories. In my Bible, there is no Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, bond or free, male or female, but Christ is all and in all.

And Paul judges no one. God is the only one who judges.

[Scribe]

Originally Posted by OBW

I'm sorry you think in terms of categories. In my Bible, there is no Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, bond or free, male or female, but Christ is all and in all.

Then that wife you were talking too.....what is that? She and you must not be in Christ according to your Word.

Originally Posted by OBW

And Paul judges no one. God is the only one who judges.

Is the Word you write God? And if not, how do you presume to judge me our my teaching?

Scribe