Commentary

Commentary on Scripture

Those Saved by Faith Without Works

Commentary, Doctrine, Salvation / /

How did dispensationalists miss the very important truth that salvation is different in different dispensations? Except for James who said it is not always true, the only dispensation that even mentions salvation by faith apart from works is Paul in his epistles. There is no such statement in the Old Testament. Jesus when specifically asked how to be saved, said to live by the commandments of the law. Paul declared he was given a special gospel for the Church Age; and he explained how that salvation is different from salvation in prior dispensations.

I suspect the false doctrine that everyone in all dispensations is saved by faith apart from works is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Paul’s argument concerning Abraham in Romans chapter 4. Paul is not saying Abraham was saved like we are saved. Rather he is saying we must express faith like Abraham showed faith. God promised Abraham’s physical seed would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky; and Abraham believed Him. And just as God recognized Abraham’s faith as righteousness (not salvation righteousness), so God recognizes similar faith in us for His promise of the righteousness of Jesus Christ in salvation.
James in his epistle makes the point that Abraham was not saved by the faith that he expressed without works. We need to interpret Paul’s argument in Romans 4 consistent with all Scriptures. And that is my purpose in these slides Faith Without Works which present a brief commentary on Romans 3:19 to 4:25. This interpretation is counted as heresy by those who believe God saves everyone in every dispensation by faith without works.

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Live Soul Thrives in Dead Body

Christian Living, Commentary, Doctrine / /

Have you heard of a man’s live soul living in a man’s dead body? That is exactly the situation of every Church Age believer according to the Apostle Paul. He tells how that is possible, accomplished, and overcome in verses in Romans 6 and Colossians 2. Although the soul of the believer has new resurrection life, it is stuck in a body that will not be cleansed of sin until the resurrection of the dead or rapture of the living.  In such a situation the soul must live by grace not law to keep sin from having dominion in their lives.

But the doctrine of new life in Jesus Christ is so poorly understood and taught, that Christians do not understand Paul’s explanation of how to live by grace. Thus they struggle way more than they should to let grace reign in their lives instead of sin.

Paul starts in Romans 6 by telling us there are things we must reckon as true. But commentators, expositors, Bible teachers and pastors teach us not to reckon these things as true, or they confuse them so badly that we find it impossible to reckon them as true. And by this we are defeated from understanding how to live by grace before we even get started.

It is not possible to build true doctrine upon false doctrine. The false doctrines we must set straight are many. Adam’s sin brought us condemnation by inheritance of corrupted flesh. Church Age salvation, though by faith for believing without works, is completely different than was Abraham’s salvation. Baptism of the Holy Spirit makes experiential changes in the believer as well as positional and judicial changes. A man’s soul is cleansed of sin but left in a body that will not be cleansed of sin until it is resurrected or raptured. The believer receives a gift of righteousness that is more than imputation of Christ’s righteousness in going to the cross.

The believer must recognize internal changes at salvation to live righteously and victoriously after salvation. Correct doctrine must come before correct living, which will entail then learning more correct doctrine and continued growth in Jesus Christ.

See slides From Condemnation to Justification and The Blood of the Grape for discussion of Adam’s sin and resulting condemnation on all men. See slides on Church Age Salvation and Body, Soul and Spirit for discussion on Church Age salvation. See slides on Dispensational Salvation and The New Testament Is Not the New Covenant for discussion of salvation in other dispensations.

The slides Living by Grace Not Law are a brief commentary on Romans 6:1 to 8:18.  As such they establish that the corrected doctrines make interpretation of this Bible passage straightforward without the necessity of misdefining words to fit inconsistent doctrines. And they set forth what Paul means by living by grace not law to give us the pathway to victorious Christian lives. Contrasts with more orthodox (but incorrect) views of progressive sanctification are discussed in the slides Redemption and Sanctification.

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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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