Comments and questions concerning confession of sins according to right dividing.

Comments and questions concerning confession of sins according to right dividing.

The following post contains comments made by an individual in response to this post. I separated out the comments (enlarged blue text) and provided my responses accordingly. I believe that there are some valuable things to learn from the conversation, hence publishing it here.

I think this is a dangerously flawed view.

Believe me when I say that I get this warning a lot. I hold a dispensational view of scripture which appears to challenge the views of many people and how they interpret various topics in scripture. I’d have no doctrine left to write about if I submit to the many views where people say I’m wrong or mislead. Dispensationalism has brought me out of a 40-year mould of wrong biblical orientation. In the 10-years I’ve studied scripture rightly divided (2Tim.2:15), it has opened the scripture to me in deeper ways than in all 40-years of kingdom theology, and similar that I have been exposed to.

As a bible student I revere the Bible as God’s inspired Word and I will never write anything, let alone advise people concerning the Word, if I am not fully convicted of its truth and can back up what I write with scriptural reference. I openly admit that, like everyone else, I can misinterpret scripture and not have a full understanding of it, and it is these topics I keep silent on until I have a clearer understanding. However, what I write about on this platform, and in my blogs, is sincere, well researched, and confirmed by men of reputation in my circles. So, even if I get reprimanded or given the boot, it does not change the fact that I have confidence in what I write or advise, because it can be confirmed in scripture and is specifically supported by Paul’s mystery doctrine, which is written and directed to grace believers in the Body of Christ today, unlike Israel’s prophecy and law doctrine which, though we can learn of, is not addressed to us and is not for our application in this grace dispensation.

Just because Paul didn’t mention confession of sins does not mean that it is unbiblical or that it doesn’t apply to us.

Confession of sins is an absolutely valid doctrine which is mentioned in the prophetic scriptures and taught by Jesus and the 12-apostles, as you have quoted. The fact that Paul does not focus on confession of sins, whereas the rest of the Bible speaks clearly about it, should plainly tell us that it is not a requirement for salvation according to his grace doctrine. Other scriptures in Paul’s writings support this exclusion of emphasis as I have clarified in my post when I said, “We are forgiven, apart from anything we try to do to earn God’s justification.” Christ has done the work for us and we can add nothing more to that completed work. All we can do is believe. So, no confession, no baptisms, no sacrifices, no giftings or ordinances are going to bring us any closer to the position we hold in God’s eyes. This deals with the doctrine that God has provided to us by Paul. On the other hand, if I fail in this doctrine or sin in weakness, there is nothing stopping me from having remorse and calling out to God in confession, but, whether I confess or not, I have confidence that I remain sealed in the Holy Spirit and that the righteousness of Christ, imputed to me by faith in His cross, remains intact.

And lest you say, “Well, that’s in the Old Testament, it doesn’t apply to us,” it was actually Paul who said that the Old Testament is God’s word:

I agree. All of scripture is for our learning, to understand the great redemption plan of God and to find context and meaning in our mystery doctrine, BUT not all scripture is applicable to our practice. The Old Testament and Gospels are full of the Mosaic law, but it is not applicable to us today. I don’t have to fear being stoned to death or cursed by God if I pick up a stick, or touch a dead thing, on the Sabbath. On that point, not even the Sabbath is any command in the doctrine I must apply today (Col 2:16-23). This is the value of rightly dividing the truth (2Tim.2:15). It provides the correct context our what is applicable to us in scripture and sorts out the utter confusion when all of scripture is simply blended together into one big messy doctrine that makes no sense.

Everything in the Old Testament that is not abrogated or superseded by the New Testament is authoritative as a rule of faith and applies as much as the New Testament to Christians.

I am with you on this point. I call it, “trans-dispensational” content. Consider much of the Proverbs of Solomon. These are general truths which fit into any dispensation and is good advice that applies to all of life and godliness. Consider the parable of the Sower. The seeds that fell on the path, the rocky ground, amongst thorns, and in the good soil. This has value today as it is not concerning the Kingdom (which is Jewish doctrine) as it is about the receptive state of the heart of man to truth. On the other hand, much of the Old Testament and Gospels has to do with prophecy, law, and the doctrine specific to Israel. We can learn of these things to help us understand our dispensational program and doctrine, but none of that is applicable to us today. If content in the Old Testament and Gospels does not contradict Paul’s mystery doctrine, I receive it with an open heart and I apply it with full conviction. It is trans-dispensational.

Paul, in fact, was very clear that if believers did not deal with certain sins, especially sexual or adulterous sin, they would never inherit the Kingdom of God. See 1 Cor 6:9–10 NIV; Galatians 5:19–21 NIV; Ephesians 5:5–6 NIV

I disagree with your interpretation in this point. Let me explain.

You say, “…if believers do not deal with certain sins…”. Paul is not referring to ‘believers’ in these references. Look how your first reference starts,

1Cor 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

Paul is referring to the ‘unrighteous’, meaning the unsaved person, and then referring to the fruit of their unrighteous, which is repeated in the other references you list above. It is these who will not inherit the Kingdom. Conversely, if a person gets saved through faith in the gospel message, they obtain righteousness. Simply read the few opening verses of Hebrews 11 and note how Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham (to name a few) ‘obtained’ righteousness through their works of faith. Today, we are saved by the work and faith of Christ, hence the fact that we do not work for our own salvation but have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith alone (Rom 4:24). So, back to the point, when we are saved, we are no longer those whom Paul calls, ‘unrighteous’, those who will not inherit the Kingdom. Through salvation we become the children of God and are translated into the Kingdom of His Son (Col 1:13).

But what about those unrighteous works of sin? Will they keep us out of the Kingdom?

Have a look at the same Corinthian example. We know the Corinthians were saved individuals within that body in Corinth. Paul calls them sanctified in Christ and ‘saints’ in 1Cor 1:2. But, it is within these self-same individuals where there was gross sexual immorality, divisions in the church, lawsuits, fornication and marriage issues, idolatry, and gluttony. They were babes in Christ who lived carnally due to having no knowledge in the doctrine to provide them a stable spiritual foundation. However, with all these issues, let’s not forget that Paul called them saints due to their positional standing in Christ, but he also reprimanded them due to their carnal conduct. Irrespective of their carnal conduct, Paul still confirms their salvation (1Co 1:4-9; 2Cor 1:22).

The unrighteous (unsaved) will not inherit the Kingdom. The righteous (saved) are sealed unto that day of salvation, irrespective of their failures in the flesh. They are saved because of the work of Christ imputed to them, but their sanctification would determine their share in the reward and glory of Christ in the eternal.

Be careful not to fall into the false view that both Paul and the scriptures take sin lightly … The danger is that believers could potentially be careless and flippant about how they treat sins in their lives, and that may eventually lead them to hell. It could also lead believers to the false notion that they can continue to sin indefinitely, because they are certain that the cross absolved them of any sins which they knowingly commit. That’s the deadly deception of this notion that many have fallen into.

Paul never took sin lightly, neither did he ever consent to his grace doctrine being a license to sin (Rom 6:1). Romans chapters 6 and 7 confirm this and the rest of his epistles lead us steadily into the knowledge and emphasis of a renewed mind and the spiritual growth of the new (inner) man. This is what the Corinthians lacked (according to my above example). Our duty as grace believers is to put sin to death by gaining in the knowledge of his mystery doctrine, to the point that it influences our thoughts, our speech, and our actions, (read Romans 8; 2Cor 10:5). When the Word of God lives within us and we become increasingly obedient to its influences, it is then that sin is mortified in our flesh through the walk of the spirit (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5), producing the fruit of the spirit as per Gal 5:22-23.

It is the will of God that we come to the KNOWLEDGE of the truth (1Tim2:4) and it is our duty as grace believers to study the Word, to gain in knowledge of it, to renew our minds and to allow that knowledge and obedience to it to have Christ form within us. We may start out as babes in Christ, drinking the milk of the basic things of righteousness, but we are expected to grow up into sons of God, to mature in the knowledge of our doctrine and allow it to form within us that godliness that brings to fruition the things of faith, hope, and love, (1Cor.13) and a living testimony of Christ in our lives. If we neglect this, our salvation stands, but we will forfeit the prize of the high calling of God in the life to come, in which we will each individually receive a measure of the fulness and glory of Christ, (Eph 4:7, 13).

Concluding Motivation

That which is written above becomes clear and evident when one rightly divides the scriptures (2Tim 2:15) and separates out Paul’s mystery doctrine from that of prophecy to Israel. When one mixes these doctrines, it causes confusion and contradictions in scripture, ultimately ending in a false doctrine that is not approved of God. Rightly dividing the Word will occur naturally and by necessity when one studies the Word, comparing scripture with scripture across the whole of the scriptures. It is inevitable when one starts to compare prophecy with Pauls’ mystery doctrine. It is then that the scriptures will open up to you and become clear and glorious.