How do you rightly divide the gospel?

How do you rightly divide the gospel?

QUESTION:

How do you resolve these two contradictory scriptures?

• “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” - James 2:26
• “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. - Eph 2:8-9

How do you decide that any verse is in the expired kingdom gospel or the grace gospel?

ANSWER:

The very first verse in James tells us to whom the letter is addressed,

James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Hebrews to Revelation are epistles written to those who will go through the tribulation and belong to the Kingdom program. These are not letters addressed to us today under the grace program. In other words, the doctrine in these letters is not applicable for the dispensation of grace. This is why the content (as in James) appears to contradict content in Paul’s letters. Trying to blend the two doctrines produces a confusing mess and a false narrative.

Paul’s 13-letters, Romans to Philemon, are written to us for this grace dispensation. The contents of these letters are our doctrine; the principles and guidelines which we learn and allow to change us and influence us.

Concerning FAITH:

James rightly informs his readers that faith without works is dead. His readers will have to put their faith in action to prove themselves worthy of the kingdom. Jesus warned them that if they put their hand to the plow and look back, they will not be fit for the kingdom. Saying one believes Jesus is the Christ in the tribulation, but not living by that confession, ie: not proving one’s faith, is the same as rejecting Christ and serving the antichrist. Faith MUST be accompanied by works in this time.

As for us under grace, we place our trust in Christ alone for salvation. The ‘works’ necessary for salvation has already been accomplished by Jesus. His cross work is imputed to us. What more work can we do if Jesus has already finished the work that is necessary for our salvation.

In our dispensation, all we need is to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, 1Cor.15:1-4. God declares that acknowledging His Son is sufficient for our justification, Rom.5:1. But, it is not only the work of Christ that is imputed to us, BUT we are also saved by His faith. Notice the verses below. We trust in Christ, but it is the faith OF Christ that makes us righteous. It’s not my own faith, but Christ’s faith. It’s not my own works, but Christ’s works. This is why we cannot boast. We did NOTHING except to believe in Him. He gets ALL the glory for saving us.

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, 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.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

In order to understand the correct context of scripture, one must rightly divide the truth. All scripture is for us and for our understanding, but not all scripture is written to us. It is only Paul’s epistles that is written and addressed to us. It is his epistles that contains our doctrine for application and practice. The rest of the Bible informs us of God and of His great redemption plan. The scriptures of the prophets (Rom.16:25–26) shows us who we are and how we fit into the full and complete plan of God to redeem us and creation.

You cannot mix up content from James into Paul’s doctrine. You cannot refer to Hebrews through Revelation and apply the scriptures in there for our application today. Doing this will cause a skewed and corrupt doctrine and result in a powerless faith.

Learn the Word. Enjoy ALL of the Bible as God’s pure and perfect Word and master plan, but when it comes to faith and practice, stay with the letters of Paul, as this is the grace doctrine for this dispensation today.