Christian Living

Living by Grace Not Law

Leave a Comment / Christian Living, Commentary, Doctrine / /

The Apostle Paul has written that in this Church Age believers are to live by grace not law. How are we to understand what he meant by that? Interpretations vary wildly.

Paul wrote to Timothy that “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;  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Commentaries on Romans chapters 6-8 bear strong evidence that Paul was exactly right.

Some of the truths we have turned from:

  • sin is in man’s flesh,
  • man inherited the bondage of corruption from Adam,
  • the Church Age believer has been made free from sin,
  • the Church Age believer is not to live by commandments,
  • the Church Age believer was given righteousness as a gift,
  • the Church Age believer has the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.

Some fables we have turned to:

  • Paul used the word flesh to mean sinful nature, which is a tendency to do evil,
  • Man gets a new nature at salvation, which is a tendency to do good,
  • all men in every dispensation are saved by grace through faith apart from works,
  • salvation depends only upon Christ’s death on the cross,
  • before the cross, people looked forward to the cross to be saved,
  • salvation is only positional or judicial so that man himself is unchanged at salvation,
  • a man is not saved if he does not do good works.

One cannot build true doctrine apart from truth. So when Scriptures have been translated to undermine the truth and support fables, sound doctrine is hopelessly lost. Thus we can hardly expect commentaries on Romans 6-8 to make sense in explaining how Paul tells believers to live after salvation. Understanding the passage is quite straightforward when one just takes at face value what the Bible (KJV) says.

These slides Living By Grace Not Law present a brief commentary on Romans 6:1 to 8:17. They accept the Scriptural view that salvation in this dispensation is experiential as well as positional and judicial, as established in the slides Body, Soul and Spirit, From this view these slides explain how those living with such salvation are to live by grace and not by law. In this updated version of Living By Grace Not Law I have included a better discussion of what it means to be baptized into Christ’s burial, a more careful contrast between the spiritual mind and the carnal mind. and other minor changes.

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How is Israel Today related to Biblical Israel?

1 Comment / Christian Living, Doctrine, Eschatology / /

Without a doubt the Bible has more to say about Israel than any other nation—probably more than all other nations put together.  After hundreds of years with no nation of Israel in the world, there is a nation of Israel again. Does this new nation of Israel have anything to do with the nation of Israel of the Bible?

I recently listened to a panel discussion with panelists of various theological persuasions. But surprisingly almost no one was convinced the modern nation of Isarel was connected to the Israel of the Bible by anything more than name. And almost no one thought there to be any Biblical obligation on other nation or people concerning this nation and the Jews in the world today.

Probably we should not be surprised that those who believe the Church has replaced Israel in the place of God’s blessing think a state of Israel today is outside the promises to the Israel of the Bible. Many believe Israel forfeited any claim to blessing when they rejected their Messiah, Jesus Christ, who then became the head of the Church. But it is surprising when those who believe Jesus Christ will return to earth to set up a kingdom, argue that there is no reason be supportive of a modern state of Israel and even reasons to oppose support.

It is my purpose in this set of slides to find Biblical evidence to decide if the modern state of Israel fulfills Bible prophecy and what should be our attitude toward supporting it. We will accept that the Bible is God’s word; and that God said in it what He meant to say and meant what He did say in both the New Testament and The Old Testament.

See the slides Israel in 2026 for a Biblical discussion of how the modern state of Israel relates to the Israel of the Bible and whether we should be supportive.

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Sanctification Is Not What You Think It Is

Christian Living, Commentary, Doctrine / /

The Scriptural (KJV) doctrine of salvation in this Church Age is that the believer’s soul is made righteous at salvation and left to live righteously in a body still containing sin. Although it is soundly Scriptural, it is a minority view. The majority view, accepted as “orthodox” by almost all theologians, commentators, expositors, and teachers, is that salvation is mostly (or totally) positional so that the saved soul still has a sin nature.

I have set forth the Scriptural (KJV) doctrine of salvation in the slides Body, Soul, and Spirit. This view is supported in a brief commentary on Romans 6:1 to 8:18 in slides Living by Grace Not by Law, which discuss how the Christian is to fulfil the righteousness of the law by not living by laws. A brief commentary on Romans 5:12 to 5:21 in slides From Condemnation to Justification adds some background.

Opponents of the Scriptural view present various reasons, some of which are addressed in the Body, Soul, and Spirit slides. But one of the most insistent arguments against a cleansed soul is that it cannot line up with the orthodox doctrine of sanctification. I deal with that in these slides, Redemption and Sanctification. Redemption and sanctification are blessings listed in 1 Corinthians 1:30 for those in Christ Jesus.  Wisdom and righteousness, also listed there, I have commented on other slides, but I say a few words here about them as well.

It would be too large task for this set of slides to consider all verses that apply to sanctification for Church Age believers. So not only have I evaluated arguments for an orthodox view of sanctification, in these slides I have also looked at each of the verses a proponent of the orthodox view has listed in support of his view. And as we would expect, those verses fully support the Scriptural view of salvation.

The Apostle Paul has made it clear that the Christian will only be successful at continuing sanctification if his doctrine is correct concerning it. The slides Redemption and Sanctification discuss the correct doctrine for how a believer in this Church Age should practice sanctification in his life.

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In Consideration of Thought-provoking Questions by Atheists

Christian Living, Doctrine, Salvation / /

I saw these 15 Thought-Provoking Questions Atheists Often Ask The Religious (website no longer available) on the internet. They are indeed thought-provoking questions that everyone ought to be able to answer. In writing out answers for them in my slides Consideration of Questions Atheists Often Ask, I have been stuck by how simple and how profound was of the answer Jesus gave to the Samaritan woman who wanted to talk about correct worship of God. He stated in His answer, “God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

The words “in truth” set apart true worship from all false worship and false ideas about God. God allows the devil to propagate lies for those who prefer lies to the truth.  Jesus said of the devil that “he abode not in the truth; because there is no truth in him…he is a liar and the father of it.” And of Himself Jesus said, “And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words.”

The truth is in God’s words. A person needs God’s words to know about God and true (and false) worship. So, I will attempt to answer these questions from the truth, that is from the Bible. I accept the King James Authorized Version to be God’s words. I give my reasons in the slides Identifying the Words of God. Consider my Biblical arguments there, but do not take my word for it. Ask God to show you what to believe. He is most interested that every person know the truth and believe it.

Some will surely ask, What about those who do not have a Bible? I would say to get one and read it. To those who have no access to a Bible, ask God for it. Concerning those who are too unknowing to even ask, God confronts every person with some measure of truth. To each person who accepts that truth, God gives more. My answers to these thought-provoking questions expand upon these things.

Jesus said there are many that are on the broad way that leads to destruction; and few are on the narrow way to life. Since many on the broad way think they are on the way to life, everyone should consider carefully what way they are following. Consideration of these questions will surely be useful for that. I trust my discussion of these questions in the slides Consideration of Questions Atheists Often Ask will be beneficial for everyone’s consideration.

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Why is there Unbelief?

Christian Living, Doctrine / /

God, who by His very nature cannot lie, has written to us words of truth. Those who believe His words get great blessings from God, while those who do not believe, not only miss out on those blessings, but suffer God’s wrath. So why is there unbelief at all? Why wouldn’t people believe the truth for the blessings involved. Why is unbelief so very prevalent?

Actually the very Bible that many find hard to believe has much to say about unbelief. Without a doubt, the main reason people do not believe God’s truth is that they choose not to believe. For various reasons many would rather believe what is false. Then are many who partially believe God’s words. But failure to believe parts of it is still a manifestation of unbelief.

Those who do not believe the Bible are unlikely to admit the reason for their unbelief is that they simply choose not to believe. They are much more likely to give a ”logical” reason to justify their unbelief. The Scripture calls such reasons “stumbling blocks”. A stumbling block is minor hindrance to the appropriate path. One could get around it or over if he really wanted to. The person who does not really wish to go down the path of truth will claim a stumbling block as an excuse not to proceed.

God allows these stumbling blocks for people who want them. God allows the devil and his minions to promote strong deceptions–such strong deceptions that people willingly become completely blinded to truth by them. Because there are people who find advantages for themselves in deceiving others, unbelief through such deceptions is greatly multiplied.

The result is https://theologypoints.org/theology-slides-page-2/#unbeliefthat altogether there are surely more unbelievers than believers. Although there are strong warnings against unbelief and against being deceived into not believing, there are multitudes caught up in deceptions without even being aware that what they believe will bring upon themselves the God’s wrath instead of God’s blessings that they hope for. Furthermore, the constant deceptive pressures promote and establish a multitude of doubts about the truth of God’s words in those who otherwise have chosen to believe God.  

These PowerPoint slides on Unbelief emphasize God’s warning against unbelief and help people get past stumbling blocks that hinder belief.

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How to Get Wisdom

Christian Living, Doctrine / /

When God asked Solomon what He should give to him if he could have anything he wished, God was very pleased that Solomon asked for an understanding heart that he might judge God’s people. God then promised him a wise and understanding heart and gave Solomon “wisdom and understanding exceeding much” –more even than anyone else on earth.

Solomon said he wrote the book of Proverbs for the reader “To know wisdom….” In Chapter 4 he said: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom…” So the topic of how to get wisdom is surely a highly important topic. But is also seems hardly necessary after such a wise man as Solomon has already written about it so extensively. It is evident from Scripture that God gave Solomon a wise and understanding heart so he could learn wisdom by much study. Church Age saints, having the mind of Christ by salvation, have the capacity to get wisdom by the same steps through which God gave wisdom to Solomon. So why are we so lacking?

I have undertaken the challenge of commenting on the conditions for gaining wisdom that Solomon outlined in the early verses of Proverbs chapter 2 and of enhancing them by references to some other verses throughout the Bible. It will be evident that wisdom comes from God through His words. There is no way around that. We must believe God’s words above all other words. For us to do that it is necessary that we have God’s infallible, authoritative words available to us. Indeed, God has promised to make those words available to us. So we surely have them. For wisdom we must apply our hearts to identify the words to be believed, completely believe them, and then live them. See the slides on Identifying the Words of God and slides on How to Get Wisdom through those words.

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