Conditional instructions versus grace

Conditional instructions versus grace

STATEMENT:

The Bible is clear that we must confess our sins. Please read 1st John 1:9 which says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin …".

RESPONSE:

The verse you reference in 1 John is applicable to the believers that live during a different dispensation. It is not the dispensation you and I live in today. So, although we can learn from what John writes, concerning their doctrine and life, it is not something that applies to us today. I can validate what I say by pointing you to the very nature of the words used by John in the verse you quote. Let’s compare:

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.

Why does Paul, writer of two-thirds of the New Testament, not mention confession of sins?

Why does Paul, writer of two-thirds of the New Testament, not mention confession of sins?

According to doctrine

Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, never commands that members of the Body of Christ must confess sins. Paul received a deeper truth from the ascended Christ for grace believers, and unlike the Old Covenant and the Kingdom program, this does not contain instructions regarding the confessing of our sins. Paul only mentions the word "confessing" (Gk, homologeo, "acknowledge") in the context of "acknowledging Jesus Christ is Lord", as we see in Romans 10:10.

Since we are not under the law, we do not practice confession of sins because our salvation and fellowship with God are not dependent of OUR performance. We are forgiven, apart from anything we have done. In Colossians 2:13, our Apostle Paul tells us that we are "forgiven of all trespasses [in Christ]". In Ephesians 4:32 it is written, "God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you", and Colossians 3:13, "even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye". We are forgiven (past tense), not because we confess our sins, but because of Christ’s finished cross work on Calvary. In Christ, we have unbroken fellowship with God forever and ever. How many times can we be forgiven of "all unrighteousness?" Only once. In Christ, now and forever, we are forgiven of all sins ----past, present, and future!

In John 10v16, who are the OTHER SHEEP in Jesus fold?

In John 10:16, who are the OTHER SHEEP in Jesus fold?

STATEMENT:

Jesus also said that he has sheep of another fold but during his ministry it was not yet time to be fulfilled to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles and Cornelius and his entire family received the Holy Ghost.

ANSWER:

Cornelius and his family were saved under the Kingdom program because they received and believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, Act 10:36,42–43. The focus of Peter’s message and the offer of salvation pertained to the identity of Christ, not to the significance of the cross and justification by faith (aka: the Grace program). Furthermore, this Gentile household received the Holy Spirit and got water baptized, which is not conditions required in the Garce gospel. So, the point I make here is that we are still in the Kingdom program here, not in the Grace program, and Cornelius and his family were added to Israel’s kingdom and to the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd.

Now, concerning the “Other Sheep”. Who are they? Let’s see what the bible says about it.

Did Paul ever teach the Kingdom Gospel?

Did Paul ever teach the Kingdom Gospel?

Yes! But only for a very short period of time.

Paul, blinded by the glory of Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, was led into Damascus by his companions after his encounter. He spent 3 days without sight and sustenance. Then Ananias prayer for Saul’s sight and Saul was strengthened with food. Straightway after he gained his strength, Saul went to the Jewish synagogue and started to preach that Jesus is the Son of God. See Acts 9:19 in the image.

This is the only time when Paul preached the Kingdom gospel.

How do we know it was the Kingdom gospel? In verse 19 it says that Saul preached that Jesus is the Son of God. This was the key faith condition (and confession) for receiving salvation as per this gospel. A person had to believe that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and confess Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.

For confirmation of this, have a look at these examples of people being saved under the Kingdom gospel.

A conversation with a non-Dispensationalist, initiated by this post which asked if Paul taught about fasting.

A conversation with a non-Dispensationalist, initiated by this post which asked if Paul taught about fasting. I post it here because I believe it contains valuable information for people who are learning to study the Word and who are seeing the need to rightly dividing the scriptures.

REACTION:

This is part of the problem with Dispensationalism — we have the clear teaching from Jesus Himself that fasting is an essential part of spiritual life (not to mention unambiguous historical records of periodic fasting being normative going back to the very earliest days of Christianity), and then Dispensationalists come up with excuses to disregard it all.

RESPONSE:

My post does not forbode fasting. It simply informs that it is not an obligation, nor a necessity, nor a means, under grace.

We have the clear teaching from Jesus Himself that fasting is an essential part of spiritual life

We have the clear teaching from Jesus Himself that fasting is an essential part of spiritual life

The following is a reactional comment from this post concerning fasting, and if it is observed in the grace dispensation.

STATEMENT:

This is part of the problem with Dispensationalism — we have the clear teaching from Jesus Himself that fasting is an essential part of spiritual life (not to mention unambiguous historical records of periodic fasting being normative going back to the very earliest days of Christianity), and then Dispensationalists come up with excuses to disregard it all.

REPLY:

My post does not forbode fasting. It simply informs that it is not an obligation, nor a necessity, nor a means, under grace.

Benching dispensationalism, I do want to bring attention to how you suggest that what Jesus taught applies to us. It is important to know that the Bible tells us clearly that Jesus taught under the law (Gal.4:4; Rom.15:8) and that his earthly ministry and teachings were addressed to Jews only (Matt.10:5-6; Matt.15:24). When Jesus called men to follow him, it was a call for Jews to follow his example and pattern of living. It was an example of living under the kingdom he was about to set up (Matt.4:17). This is not the example we follow today because we do not belong to that earthly kingdom. We belong to the heavenly kingdom (Eph.2:6; 2Tm.4:18), a different part of God’s whole redemption plan (Eph.1:10; Col.1:20).