by Dr.
Dallas Burdette in Grace Centered
Magazine: reviewed by
Kenneth
Sublett. The Grace Centered mission is to discredit and bite
the hand
which does or once did feed them. Somehow by first
discrediting that
which they detest people are supposed to repudiated it. This
sets up
the condition to ADD that which is discredited. The
Grace-Centered
thesis seems to have "discovered" grace as "unlimited
forgiveness for
unlimited sins" but grace also means God's power to obey
God's will.
The other "new" alternative involves attempting to worship a
Spirit
God IN BODY or IN FLESH (see the
spectacle of worship)
to replace
worship IN SPIRIT; to replace church as synagogue or "school
of the
Bible" with a "theater for holy entertainment."
This is apparently to give some level of
authority to the new Postmodern dogmas. Unfortunately, the
one-cuppers may have more Scripture and logic going for
them than
Dallas Burdette in proving the dogma of FAITH ONLY by
noting that THE
GOSPEL was preached to Abraham and since it did not
include a pro-a
cappella or anti-instrumental law, we are justified in
using THE LAW
OF SILENCE. This "law" is ONLY used by those who
intentionally sow
discord by adding legalistic music because God DID NOT
SAY, 'THOU
SHALT NOT.'
Thesis
Because God didn't
speak about
a cappella music or instruments in the ORIGINAL GOSPEL MESSAGE,
those
who do
not
use instruments are
left without authority for NOT
doing what that ORIGINAL
GOSPEL
does not
mention.
And apparently those
who use
"music" to sow discord are grace-empowered based on
Abraham's
experience.
Unfortunately, if you allow God and Paul
to
define the meaning of FAITH as KEEPING GOD'S COMMANDMENTS
but without
totally understanding, then the Grace-Centered, Faith Only
dogma gets
totally repudiated in DIRECT STATEMENTS.
In short, the need to pass harsh
judgment upon
conservative, Bible believers, the old legalistic method
of
proof-texting is used. Because it is misused, the thesis
makes no
sense and the judge is proven not to be aware of the
actual message
of the Bible "as it was delivered."
For instance, the answer to the meaning
of the
Gospel of Christ is somehow bound up in twenty-five "just
made up"
divisions within the churches of Christ.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
What is
the Gospel of
Christ? Within many of the twenty-five or more divisions within
the Churches of
Christ,
one discovers
that the basic definition of Gospel is associated with
the
twenty-seven books called the New Testament. Just
recently, I
listened to an editor of a very well known Christian
journal advance
the concept that the Gospel is the New Testament.
This is just a MADE
UP
NUMBER.
After the
witchcraft- influenced First Great American Awakening
there were now
321 separate denominations, many of those were Baptists.
Someone has
now counted 146
separate
Baptists Denominations meaning ORGANIZATIONS.
It is a fact that the
word
"gospel" is a TRADE WORD for those peddling some kind of
program,
seminar, book or effort they want to validate by pasting
on the
GOSPEL LOGO.
However, no one believes
that
the GOSPEL as defined in a dozen different ways in the
Bible consists
of the 27 books of the New Testament. For instance, it is
complete,
total GOSPEL or GOOD NEWS that Jesus fired the DOCTORS OF
THE LAW
because they TOOK AWAY THE KEYS TO KNOWLEDGE. However,
that bit of
good news does not comprise the 27 books of the New
Testament.
The gospel Paul
spoke about was the PROTOS
or prototype. This consisted of what GOD IN CHRIST did:
the Deity,
death, burial, resurrection, redemption and all that
Jesus taught as
good news for those REDEEMED by the blood only at the
time and place
of baptism.
However,
the ARCHE gospel Mark 1 wrote about was prophesied
by Malachi
(and others), prophesied again as the FOUNDATION
PRINCIPLE God in
Jesus Christ by Zacharias, the WAY made immediate by
John the Baptist
in going OUT and preaching the baptism preceded by
repentance. The
disciples of Jesus baptized more than John.
Because we are too
late to do
the prototype Gospel, Jesus taught that we can obey the
arche gospel
and obey that form of doctrine.
Dallas Burdette
deliberately
skips over the fact that churches of Christ are not centrally organized but
congregational.
Therefore, if I wanted to just judgmentally lash out and
hurt people
because of some personal sore Spot I might identify
several hundred
because they will all have different customs about how
they DO
CHURCH. However, if I use lots of cups and you want to use
just one
then you are not any more a sect of churches of Christ
than one who
decides not to use pews but sits on the floor. Would
Dallas Burdette
deprive people of the right to use one or many cups? If
the Dallas
community club decides to use paper plates what has that
to do with
the Nashville community club which uses fine china? It
becomes a
divisive issue only if the up-towners decide to judge the
country
people as somehow evil.
Those who count
"divisions"
label churches of Christ into three major division while they also label Baptists into up to
146. So,
it makes no points to smash others
in the face as an almost universal prelude to writing
about anything
Grace
Centered.
We might add
the emerging church promoted by some in the Grace Centered
movement
and label it ancient paganism. Or we might assuredly label
the Grace
Centered Cult which believes that it is grace to
misrepresent the
facts just to convince the silly readers that churches of
Christ are
evil because they won't join in all the childhood games
with music,
dancing, clapping, etc.
Church is synagogue and
not
pagan worship center. Synagogue was a school of the Bible
and not a
pagan worship center. Thomas Campbell called church The
School of
Christ.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
As a young
preacher, I
also taught that the Gospel consisted of twenty-seven
books. As a
result of this mindset, I castigated every believer that did
not agree with the
particular faction of which I was identified.
Ultimately, the meaning
of the word Gospel
boils down to the fact that many associate their
understanding of the
New Testament on par with the Gospel.
The gospel--at the working
end--is "come to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden
and I will
give you rest." Heavy laden is "spiritual anxiety created by
religious
rituals." The SABBATH or REST is the Greek PAUO which is
dedicated to
"stop the preaching, stop the singing and stop the music."
You cannot
speak "that which is written" in song and sermon and make
music.
Some coins just flip over: I
can remember about everyone being castigated because they
would not
subscribe to the CORE
GOSPEL
of "seven
facts about Jesus" where the Gospel and everything else is
opinion.
Now, that has evaporated as Just- Jesus which means Anti-
Christ.
This happens when God pours out His wrath by sending
BUFFOONS to MOCK
Him as the MARK that those applauding them are without
redemption.
See Just Jesus by
Dennis Downing under Max Lucado. The
Postmodern heresy is derived from know know nothing
philosophers just now reading about the Heisenberg
Uncertainty
Principle which originated in 1927: some are slow. They
claim that
you cannot project something from your eyes without altering
the
meaning of a scroll which Jesus may have read. However, for
a price
they will get you the NEW TRUTH. See
Rubel Shelly and John York of the Flat Earth
Society.
Scripture uses the word
"law"
to include everything in the Old Testament. In the same
way, "gospel"
can mean the New Testament. However, I have lived 73 years
and never
heard anyone claim that the gospel is 27 books. They
couldn't know
that gospel means 'good
news' and
claim that
the 27 books were the gospel. However, in an accomodaive
sense, the
OT is called LAW and the NT is called GRACE or THE FAITH or THE GOSPEL.
The truthfulness of the
judgmental Grace-Centered mantra rests on whether churches
of Christ
invented or uniquely speak of those things which provide
the FUEL for
the HOUSE BURING EFFORT.
Origen
on the Law and The Gospel. While "thus saith the
Lord" in the first four books
are considered by Origen as Gospel as opposed to Law, he
notes that
the story repeated and taught by the apostles also
becomes THE
GOSPEL.
"Must we also show
that the old
Scripture
is not Gospel, since it
does not point out the Coming One, but only foretells Him and heralds His coming
at a future time;
but that all
the new
Scripture is the Gospel.
It not only says as
in the
beginning of the
Gospel, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the
world; "it also contains many praises of Him, and many
of His
teachings, on whose account the Gospel is a Gospel.
"Again, if God set in
the
Church apostles and prophets and evangelists (gospellers), pastors and teachers, we
must first enquire what
was the office of the evangelist, and mark that it is not only to narrate how
the Saviour
cured a
man who was
blind from his birth, or raised up a dead man who was
already
stinking, or to state what extraordinary works he
wrought;
and the
office of
the evangelist being thus defined, we shall not hesitate
to find Gospel
in such
discourse
also as is
not narrative but hortatory and intended to strengthen belief in the mission of Jesus;
and thus we shall
arrive at
the position that whatever was written by the Apostles
is Gospel.
Origen notes that
this is
true because words like LAW and GOSPEL are used in
various ways.
Because baptism was commanded by Jesus, when the
apostles preached
and practiced it it beame GOSPEL because it relates to
the FIRST FOUR
BOOKS which he defines as THE GOSPEL.
Martin
Luther apparantly "fell from grace" before the old
rotten legalists
by noting that Paul uses different terms:
23. The apostle
employs the words "letter"
and "spirit," to contrast the two doctrines; to emphasize his office
and show its advantage over
all others, however eminent the teachers whom they
boast, and however
great the spiritual unction which they vaunt. It is of
design that he
does not term the two dispensations "Law" and "Gospel,"
but names
them according to the respective effects produced.
He honors the Gospel
with a superior term--"ministration of the spirit."
Of the Law, on the contrary, he speaks
almost
contemptuously, as if he would not honor it with the
title of God's
commandment, which in reality it is, according to his
own admission
later on that its deliverance to Moses and its
injunction upon the
children of Israel was an occasion of surpassing glory.
24. Why does Paul
choose this
method? Is it right for one to despise or dishonor God's
Law? Is not
a chaste and honorable life a matter of beauty and
godliness? Such
facts, it may be contended, are implanted by God in
reason itself,
and all books teach them; they are the governing force
in the world.
I reply:
Paul's chief
concern is to defeat the vainglory and pretensions of false preachers, and to teach them the
right conception and
appreciation of the
Gospel
which he
proclaimed.
29. Again, Paul in
terming
the Gospel
a "ministration of the spirit"
would call
attention to its power to produce in the hearts of men
an effect
wholly different from that of the Law:
it is accompanied by the Holy
Spirit and it creates a new heart.
Luther speaks of the
Grace
Centered "super apostles" of Paul's time:
35. In this light
Paul here portrays the false apostles and like pernicious schismatics,
who make great
boasts of having a
clearer understanding
and of knowing much
better
what to teach
than is the case with true preachers of the Gospel.
And when they do
their very best, when they pretend
great things, and do wonders with their preaching,
there is naught
but the mere empty
"letter."
Indeed, their
message falls far
short of Moses. Moses was a noble preacher, truly, and
wrought
greater things than any of them may do.
Nevertheless, the
doctrine
of the
Law
could do no more
than remain a letter, an Old Testament, and God had
to ordain a
different doctrine, a New Testament, which should
impart the
"spirit."
41. Now the meaning of
the
contrasting
clause,
"the spirit giveth life," becomes
clear.
The reference is to naught else
but the holy
Gospel,
a message of
healing and salvation; a precious, comforting word.
That means that any
provision
of Christ for the world is good news and therefore
"gospel" to those
who have not narrowly restricted "gospel" to preclude
others from
teacing the epistles.
While these men
are not
inspired, they give the lie to the oft-repeated notion
that if there
is any false doctrine in the world it must have been
invented by
NON-INSTRUMENTAL churches of Christ.
Does anyone at Grace
Centered speak of THE GOSPEL OF JOHN?
Sure, and we had Gospel
meetings, Gospel tracts, Gospel singings, Gospel
workshops, gospel
preachers, Gospel everything. Just as LAW can stand for
the entire
Old Testament, GRACE can represent all of the Christian
System.
Gospel also as 'good news' is contrasted to the Law of
Moses which
was bad news. THE FAITH can represent the entire system of
Christ.
As ye have
therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Col 2:6
Rooted and
built up in
him,
and
stablished in THE
FAITH,
as ye have
been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:7
Faith is both
objective and
subjective: it is both our own personal belief which
leads us into
action or it is THE
FAITH or
the Christian
System:
PISTIS (G4102)
pis'-tis; from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; mor.
conviction (of
religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a
religious teacher),
espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstr.
constancy in such
profession;
by extension the
system of
religious
(Gospel) truth itself: -
assurance, belief,
believe, faith, fidelity.
Beloved, when I gave
all
diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me
to write unto you, and exhort
you that ye should earnestly contend for THE FAITH which was once delivered
unto the saints. Jude 1:3
For there are
certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old
ordained
to this
condemnation, ungodly
men,
turning the grace
of our God
into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God,
and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4
See A
Spectacle of Worship
So, the building
stones of
the foundation are made of sand. If this is true, then
one cannot
APPROVE of instrumental music because IT IS NOT part of
Dallas' view
of the OLD TESTAMENT GOSPEL.
Yes, and I'll betcha
that
Dallas Burdette is going to define Gospel as "faith only" so the beat goes on.
However, "gospel" is not an
ecclesiastical word and cannot be constricted to mean the
faith of
Abraham "only." If we just use the term 'good news' then
the system
of gospel is good and the system of law is bad.
Make fun if you wish,
but
"gospel" or good news means more than a few teachings
ABOUT Jesus but
it also means the teachings OF Jesus. I think of it as
GOSPEL or good
news that I don't have to pay someone to mediate the
GOSPEL MESSAGE
to me in song, sermon or prayer.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
One of the
first
Scriptures that I memorized as a young Christian came
from Galatians
1:6-9. Twice in this short pericope, the apostle
pronounces a curse
upon anyone who preaches
another gospel other
than the Gospel he preaches. Paul went so far as to even
mention
angels. Even if an angel preached any other gospel, one
should let
the angel be anathema. Thus, one can understand why so
much emphasis
is placed upon this section of Scripture.
That warning is still in my Bible. If it
turns
out that Dallas is teaching something different then the
woes he once
believed in will come back to haunt him.
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.
Gal 1:8
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. Gal 1: 9
Dallas implies that
because the
GOSPEL preached to Abraham did not include a condemnation
of
instrumental music it must be approved.
However, Paul outlawed
musical
instruments when he used the word PSALMOS which defines
the first
instrument of choice as the voice and heart. The good news
was that
we can teach the Word of God without wine and music to
induce a
charismatic fit to make the spirits come.
If instruments
are such a vital part of the Grace Centered "gospel"
that it is worth
sowing discord and offending many of these little ones
then it is a
DIFFERENT GOSPEL than that which Paul preached.
The meaning of gospel is debated so
vocally
perhaps because that is a substitute for the demand that
WHATEVER the
CORE GOSPEL is you have no right to hold ownership to it
unless you
GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.
Euagelion (g2098)
yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on; from the same as 2097;
a good
message,
i.e.
the gospel: - gospel.
Euaggelizo (g2097)
yoo-ang-ghel-id'-zo; from 2095
and 32; to announce good
news ("evangelize") espec. the gospel:
- declare, bring (declare, show) glad
(good) tidings, preach (the gospel).
Gospel is packed full
of the
fact that it MUST GO AND BESTOW rather than BATCH AND
HATCH.
If you are preaching the
CORE
GOSPEL and are not GOING INTO THE WORLD TO TEACH THE
UNTAUGHT then
you are preaching a different gospel than what Jesus commanded and all
of the
apostles and evangelists obeyed--without exception.
If I sign on to
"the faith of Abraham" or "seven facts about Jesus" and
it turns out
that Baptism as Christ's way to cleans us of sins so
that we can
grasp His Mind which is the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2) then
we have
trimmed off an important aspect of "gospel" or good
news.
The gospel also involves something
about the
kingdom:
And Jesus went
about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching the
gospel of the
kingdom,
and healing
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people.
Mt.4:23
But when Philip
preached the
gospel of the kingdom people were baptized.
But when they believed
Philip
preaching
the things concerning the kingdom of
God,
and the
name
of Jesus Christ,
they were
baptized, both men and
women. Acts 8:12
The GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM means THINGS
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM of God. That FULL GOSPEL was
preached and the
response was to be baptized. Do you suppose that preaching
the
KINGDOM gospel included HOW ONE BECOMES A CITIZEN OF THE
KINGDOM?
Isn't the remission of sins as the obstacle to the new,
spiritual
kingdom GOOD NEWS OR GOSPEL? Luke apparently thought so.
Isaiah also prophesied about Christ
as the
ARM of God and the gospel but this was prophetically:
But they have
not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias
saith, Lord, who
hath believed our report? Ro.10:16
The first thing
commanded to
BE OBEYED in connection with the gospel is BAPTISM.
Therefore, the
gospel is something which can be obeyed: it is good news
because it
asks God fo a cleansing.
When God gave
Israel The Book of the Covenant it was "good news"
because it rested
on the Faith of Abraham and had no clergy or musical
rituals.
However, Israel
rose up to
play which means the musical idolatry of Egypt.
As a result, God
gave them
the Law and all that went with it to regulate the
lawless.
Therefore, Israel
did not
obey the "gospel" delivered in the Covenant. Yet, this
was not the
gospel which Jesus preached.
Whatever the gospel is, no preacher
has a
right to improvise or alter it to fit today's situation:
But I certify you,
brethren, that the gospel
which was preached
of me
is not after man. Gal
1:11
For I neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by
the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Gal
1:12
Paul KNEW only Christ and Him
crucified because he MARKED the
robbers by showing that he suffered for the cross.
However, Paul
TAUGHT what Jesus taught and
later revealed to
him in Spirit.
The invisible Spirit
Lord
identified Himself as "Jesus of Nazareth" and promised
Paul to guide
him into all truth. If the "seven facts about Jesus is
the Gospel"
that does not take much supernatural power to remember!
Therefore, it is
good news
or gospel that what Paul preached came from heaven.
Woe to those who
preach that Paul filtered old memories through
philosophy and wrote
to meet his own personal agenda.
If Paul preached
just the
CORE GOSPEL then we wonder why people were baptized?
Is it because
Christ associated baptism with gospel, Peter practiced
it and it was
something which could be obeyed?
Whatever Paul preached to make people
believers
and then disciples was the gospel because what Paul
preached he called the
gospel.
But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mothers womb, and called
me by his
grace, Gal 1:15
To reveal his Son
in me, that I might preach
him among
the
heathen;
immediately I
conferred not with flesh and blood: Gal 1:16
God separted Paul
from the
womb but Paul did not predestinate him.
Preaching the
gospel
apparently meant preaching that circumcision was not
part of becoming
a Christian:
And I went up by
revelation,
and communicated unto them that gospel
which I preach
among the
Gentiles,
but
privately to them which were of
reputation, lest by any means
I should run, or had run, in vain. Gal 2:2
But neither Titus,
who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be
circumcised: Gal 2:3
Isn't it "gospel"
that we do
not have to be circumcised or endure the trauma of a
"penis check" to
be in fellowship?
For ye are
not come
unto the
mount
that might be
touched, and that burned
with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and
tempest, Heb 12:18
And the
sound of
a
trumpet, and the voice
of words; which voice they that heard intreated that
the word should
not be spoken to them any more: Heb 12:19
The 120 trumpets
during the
slaughter of animals was not music: it created a
horrible sound to
warn people not to rise off the ground.
And that because of
false
brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy
out our
liberty which we have in Christ
Jesus, that
they might bring us into bondage: Gal 2:4
Then, does the
'gospel' mean
liberty from the Law? Doesn't gospel mean that there
is only ONE
FLESH AND BLOOD of humanity?
But when I saw that
they
walked
not
uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before
them all, If thou, being a
Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do
the Jews, why
compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Gal
2:14
Doesn't the gospel
make it
possible for Jew and Gentile to be one body and even
eat at the same
table? Is that good news? What if we stopped at the
one or seven fact
gospel?
Doesn't this prove that "the gospel" has
something to say about respect of persons? I think so:
Paul thought
so.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
Many
interpreters find
meanings in the text that is really not there, but
rather the meaning
found in one's own mind. If one is to understand
correctly the
meaning of the word "Gospel"
as utilized by Paul, one must consult the context. In
order for one
to get the
feel, as
it were, for
this particular word, then one must read the entire book
in one
sitting. One must endeavor to understand the text's theological meaning within the book
itself. Many Christians jump
into the text without any thought of what the author
intended to
convey with his use of the word "Gospel."
Yes, we note that the
writer
jumps into a gospel based on "the faith of Abraham"
without defining
"faith." Because gospel simply means "good news" some of
us define
the word by the context.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
Paul
defines
"Gospel" in verse four of chapter
one of
Galatians-"Who gave
himself for our sins to rescue us from the present
evil
age"
(1:4,
NIV). Paul
opposed Peter when he failed to set forth the nature of
the Gospel
when he withdrew from the Gentiles. Some of
the brethren insisted
upon obedience to circumcision as prerequisite to
salvation, other
than faith in Jesus alone (2:1-21). In the course of
this
conversation, Paul draws attention to the fact that the
Gospel is
about how one is put in a right relationship with God.
Now, Paul didn't
define that
as the GOSPEL which he preached. Better spend some more
time. Gving
Himself is good news along with dozens of other
teachings but GOSPEL
means that we have to abandon our own rights of flesh to
imitate
Christ.
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: Gal 1:4
The important point of the
gospel
as the events by
which Jesus redeemed us by his blood. This is the PROTOS or prototype or TYPE for
us to imitate.
Paul said that in
baptism we
obey THAT FORM OF DOCTRINE. Form is anti-type. This
really means
INSTEAD OF. Grace means that we are baptized instead of
hanging on a
cross for our own sins only to find that inadequate.
Those who believe
(have trust)
and are baptized are saved.
Those who DISBELIEVE
do not
just lack faith. Their disbelief means DISOBEDIENCE and
calling God a
liar by "rejecting the counsel of God. The word
means TREACHERY against God.
Paul also defined "this
evil
age" to the Corinthians in warning against the musical instruments of soothsaying and warfare
IN CHURCH by
defining them in terms of "speaking in tongues."
He warned against the
evil age
to the Ephesians with a Dionysic background by telling
them that they
had better get filled with SPIRIT so that they could teach
or preach
to one another and leaving singing (a secular word) and
melody (an
anxiety-creating device) in the HEART. He paralleled the
word SPIRIT
with THE WORD OF CHRIST in Colossians and "that which is
written" in
Romans 15.
Circumcision is part of
THE LAW
as practiced by the Jews who did not see it as a sign but
as proof of
their own personal righteousness. However, by rejecting
circumcision
as proof of righteousness, Paul does not see this as
outlawing
keeping God's commandments as the meaning of FAITH or
FAITHFULNESS:
Circumcision is
nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the
commandments of
God.
1Co.7:19
Getting rid of circumcision would seem
like
gospel or good news to this writer but that won't do away
with
keeping the commandments of Christ which are not Divine
suggestions
and must be laws.
If you want to flash your minister's
badge to
prove that you keep God's commandments that's ok with me.
But the
badge or claim means nothing: what MEANS is that you
actually keep
the commandments of Christ and commandment keeping is
still a
law.
The proof-text
reads:
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: Gal
1:4
How does one get
delivered from
the present evil world? Is that not part of what Jesus
died for? Does
God have a WILL in how we are delivered? Is delivery good
news or
GOSPEL? How did Jesus and Peter tell repentant believers
how to be
delivered? What did they do? The answeres constitute
GOSPEL or GOOD
NEWS.
The Abrahamic gospel of
faith
only does not speak of delivery from the world system
under Satan
which too many want to make into Christian worship under
the umbrella
of Grace Centeredness.
That is assuredly GOOD
NEWS
but it does not exhaust the plan Jesus had for the church and
the
salvation of mankind. For instance Paul stretches the meaning many
times:
Who gave
himself
for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and
purify
unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. Tit.2:14
Ephesians puts
it:
That he might sanctify and cleanse
it
with the washing of water
by the word,
Ep.5:26
Peter explained the
gospel
of cleansing this way:
Then Peter said unto
them,
Repent, and be baptized every one
of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Acts 2:38
Dr. Dallas Burdette: For instance, he stresses
that the
Gospel is about justification by faith (2:15-17), not
justification by law.
If faith is THE FAITH and law is THE LAW
then
we agree. However, obedience to the direct command of Jesus
who died to abrogate the Mosaic Law (given because of the
musical
idolatry transgression at Mount Sinai) is keeping
commandments but it
is not according to THE
LAW which never justified
any one any
where.
We believe that Paul uses THE FAITH to
define
the Christian System while THE
LAW defines the Law of
Moses which
replaced The Book of The Covenant after Israel refused to
listen to
the Word and lusted for the reemerging Egyptian-Babylonian
musical
worship. We are not justified by a passive faith.
For the
promise, that he should be the
heir of the
world, was not to
Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Ro.4:13
For if they which
are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the
promise made of
none effect: Rom 4:14
Because the law
worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no
transgression. Rom
4:15
This is the meaning of
THE LAW
in Paul's discussion. Righteousness is doing what it right
but since
our actions cannot justify, God credits our faith in His
power but He
does not remove the demand to obey Him.
Knowing that a
man
is not justified by the
works of the law, but by THE FAITH of Jesus Christ, Gal 2:16
even we have
believed
in Jesus
Christ,
that we might be
justified by the
faith of
Christ,
and not by the works
of the law:
for by the works of
the law
shall no flesh be justified.
But if, while we seek
to be
justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the
minister of sin? God
forbid. Gal 2:17
Therefore, justification
by
faith demands keeping Christ's commandments because SIN is
the
violation of a law or commandment.
THE LAW was a system of
types
quite antithetical to the Spiritual anti-types:
The Holy Ghost this
signifying, that the way
into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet
standing: Heb 9:8
Which was a figure for the time then present,
in which
were offered both gifts
and sacrifices,
that could not make
him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience;
Heb 9:9
Which stood only in
meats and
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances,
imposed on them
until the time of reformation. Heb.9:10
This is the meaning of
THE LAW.
This law had musical services added which means "hard
bondage" during
animal sacrifices. Those do not justify so adding
instruments might
make Dallas happy so he can sing and dance but they will
divide and
sow discord and WILL NOT do anything spiritual.
The fundamental "because of
transgression" at
Mount Sinai was "rising up to play" in the idolatrous,
musical worship of the Egyptian "gods."
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. Gal
3:19
The promise was made
to Abraham
but the reality leap-frogs the Law of Moses. The promise
made by the
Spirit of Christ came through the Work of Christ:
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus
Christ;
that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Ga.3:14
And that blessing is
not FAITH
ONLY but the faith of Abraham which leads to obedience.
The only
commandment connected with remission of sins is baptism.
What?
For ye
are all the
children of God by
faith
in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:26
How? For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. Gal 3:27
Mark begins the
gospel of
Jesus Christ by connecting directly into the baptism of
John:
THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God; Mark
1:1
As it is
written in the prophets, Behold,
I send my
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before
thee.
Mark 1:2
The voice of one
crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight.
Mark 1:3
John did baptize in the wilderness, and
preach the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Mark 1:4
And there went out
unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of
Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark 1:5
The trumpets of God
signaled
the offering of animal sacrifices. After David and the
COMMANDERS OF
THE ARMY reassigned the surplus warrior Levitical
Musicians, they
made a great crashing noise during the burning of animals.
Therefore,
as the law was added because of transgression, the temple
worship was
added after Israel's elders fired God and demanded a king
like the
nations so that they could worship like the nations.
The people were
"strangers" and
were put outside the gate during animal sacrifices. The
Levitical
musicians STOOD BETWEEN the people and the alter of
sacrifice, the
laver of total washing, the ongoing purification of hands
and feet,
the holy place as place of prayer and the Most Holy Place.
Therefore, to restore
the
LEVITICAL MUSICIANS makes them stand between the
worshipers and God
while the gospel is that Christ died so that we can "come
boldly
before the throne of Grace." No musical Levite would have
been
permitted to live if he went into the Holy Place as a type
of Christ
or into the Most Holy Place where we worship IN SPIRIT.
Dr. Dallas Burdette:
Paul
sought to solidify
his arguments by reflecting upon Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited
to him as
righteousness" (3:6).
Then Paul drops the bombshell in calling attention to the very heart
of the
Gospel: "The
Scripture
foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the
gospel in advance to
Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you'" (3:8). How did this
blessing occur?
Paul says, "The
Scripture
does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but
'and
to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ" (3:16).
Let's hear it again:
the
promise of the Spirit (Christ) defined FAITH as belief
plus
obedience:
What?
For ye
are all the
children of God by
faith
in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:26
How? For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. Gal 3:27
But God told Isaac that Abraham was
justified:
Because that
Abraham OBEYED my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my
statutes, and my laws. Gen 26:5
Therefore, the faith
of Abraham
was a faith which acted because it was a LIVING FAITH.
If Abraham had
"believed" but not kept God's charges, commandments,
statutes and
laws God would know that Abraham had no faith.
The point
Dr.
Burdette misses is that Abraham lived BEFORE the
Law so he could not
have been justified by keeping THE LAW.
However,
GOD says that
Abraham was justified by keeping His commandments.
Therefore,
keeping God's
commandments for our time and place is NOT trying
to be justified by
keeping THE LAW which does not apply to us.
Conclusion:
Paul who
COMMANDS many times was not preaching a dogma of
justification by
FAITH ONLY.
Jesus said "my
words
are Spirit and Life" (John
6:63).
Therefore, when Paul ministered
the
Spirit to the people he
did it by his
preaching and their hearing of the gospel. Abraham's
family was to be
a blessing to all of the nations. Later, the nation of
Israel was to
be a blessing and teacher of others. However, they focused
their
lives on "worship rituals" and, as God complained, "You
offer the
sacrifices to Me but you eat the meat yourselves."
Jesus was being a blessing to the
nations when
Paul brought them the Spirit of Christ:
He therefore that
ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles
among you, doeth he it by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:5
Now, Paul did not lay hands on the
Galatians in
order to bestow a supernatural power of the Spirit. Rather
HE worked
miracles and ministered the Spirit by ministering the
Words of
Christ.
The Spirit of Christ does not work in
Dallas'
rituals any better than the one-cupper's rituals. Rather,
the Spirit
works when the evangelists go, preach, baptize and preach.
The contrast is vivid: work is NOT done by rituals which were not
intended to
be a blessing but work IS DONE by teaching and hearing and
producing
faith.
FAITH ONLY does not do the work of the
Spirit.
But, Dallas will tell us that the Abraham patternism is
just to
believe. Well, this same Paul will tell you the rest of
the story
about the meaning of faith:
Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Gal 3:6
Abraham believed God
and it was
ESTEEMED as "equity of character." When we ask someone to
"please get this horse off
me" and they go to work we "esteem" or count their faith
and good
intentions. However, if they whine: "But, I ain't gonna
get the horse
offa you" we don't count or esteem their good intentions
for
NOTHING.
Because that
Abraham
- OBEYED my
voice,
- and kept my
charge,
- my
commandments,
- my statutes,
- and my laws.
Gen 26:5
This was not a ONE
STEP PLAN OF
SALVATION. The next time God asked Abraham to do
something he was
deemed equitable based on his faith. Therefore,
Abraham's one-time
faith didn't PURCHASE him eternal salvation so that
God's
Grace-Centeredness would gain God's approval for Abraham
to USE THE
LAW OF SILENCE to add instrumental immaturity to his
teaching-blessing program.
But Paul understood
faith as
more than just belief:
By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed;
and he
went
out,
not knowing whither he went. Heb.11:8
Therefore, faith
means that
we obey the command of God without being able to see
by sight. Faith
means action.
By faith Abraham, when he was
tried,
offered
up Isaac; and he that had
received the
promises
offered up his only begotten son, Heb.11:17
Faith is to offer
up the son
gained when Abraham believed that it was impossible.
Belief without
giving up his impossible dream would not have been
faith.
This same Paul
defined the
Promise of the Spirit as that which the Spirit had
promised to make
one have the faith of Abraham:
Know ye therefore that
they
which are of
faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Gal 3:7
And the scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall
all nations be
blessed. Gal 3:8
So then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Gal 3:9
A blessing is to be
spoken
well of or be thanked or praised.
We should be aware that
to
Abraham and His descendants this was a land
and nation
promise as
the type.
Abraham did
not hear the gospel which Jesus commanded be preached and
which
included baptizing believers into discipleship with Him.
Abraham didn't just
believe
God's command and then keep meeting with the musical
pagans at the
tower of Babylon at Ur. Rather, he went out without being
able to
understand why: that is the meaning of faith. If we don't
obey then
we do not have faith.
As long as temple,
clergy,
Levitical service (hard bondage) signaled with many loud
instruments
existed, there
was no
gospel as the GOOD
NEWS that Jesus had denounced the
temple as
PLACE of worship once again, had fired the clergy burden
laders where
burden means "spiritual anxiety created by religious
rituals.
However, in the
fulfilled or
ANTI-TYPICAL the faith of Abraham means the obedience of
Abraham so
that the promise of the Spirit or that made by the Spirit
of Christ
(1 Peter 1:11) made one a seed of Abraham by baptism:
GOSPEL to Abraham meant
GOOD
NEWS for his family. FAITH meant obedience to each
commandment of God
EACH time God commanded him to do something.
And he said
unto
them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be
damned. Mark 16:16
If baptism is not part
of the
gospel then cleansing by Christ is not part of the gospel.
But Jesus
connected baptism as the action word defining believeth.
Peter
understood this, preached much more than "Chris and Him
crucified"
and demanded repentance and baptism to get the GOOD NEWS
of the
forgiveness of sins and salvation.