He did not preach a different gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).
He went from violently opposing Christians to preaching that he had seen the risen Christ (Galatians 1:23-24).
God moved in others to pay attention to him and receive his words as the very words of God (Acts 16:14, 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
The other apostles did not oppose him, but concurred with him (Galatians 2:7-9).
He was accompanied by signs and wonders. “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” (2 Corinthians 12:12)
Believers evaluated what he said according to existing scripture. “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
He bore the marks of persecution, which he called the marks of Christ (Galatians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12).
T., thanks for your continued patience! Another partial answer for you this morning.
Regarding works, you asked,
“Doesn’t that mean that works are kind of necessary because without them you will have a dead or powerless faith?”
Maybe it would help to separate this question out:
Are works necessary as a precondition to salvation? No.
Are works necessary to merit salvation? No.
Are works necessary to maintain living faith? No.
But we could answer in the affirmative if we frame it differently:
Will works necessarily result from living faith? Yes.
Are works necessary to glorify God? Yes.
Are works necessary to fulfill the purpose God has for our lives? Yes.
Are works necessary to demonstrate the authentic Christian life? Yes.
I love your point that it’s important “not to downplay the importance of works.” There are a few texts that bring grace and works together in a beautiful way.
The first is Luke 7:36-49, where Jesus tells the parable of two men who are forgiven of their debts. The one who is forgiven more, loves the one who forgave him more. Jesus draws out a principle: “He who is forgiven little, loves little.” Forgiveness melts the heart of a sinner. It comes freely. It attaches us to the one who loves us. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
The second text is Colossians 3:13: “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” The irony of this passage is that I am unable to obey it if I am not first forgiven! So I must receive this forgiveness freely and then forgive others from that state of being forgiven. If I insist on achieving forgiveness by works, then I can’t obey this command. Being freely forgiven by faith only, and receiving the Spirit by faith only, is what empowers me to love my enemies, and forbear with difficult people, and pray for my enemies, and live by the Spirit.
So works don’t maintain our faith. Rather, our living faith energizes our works. This is why Paul speaks of “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
I must maintain a distinction between faith and works (Romans 4:5), and between works and grace (Romans 11:6), yet it is grace and faith that set the stage for the best and only and most powerful way to become a loving and forgiving person who keeps God’s commandments. Faith is a very “weak instrument” — it has a simple, needy, dependent, empty-handed posture of receiving from another. It trusts in the righteousness of another. When faith grows strong, it only grows more confident in its neediness and dependence on another. It says, “I am not righteous; Christ alone is righteous.” It declares spiritual bankruptcy. It looks to the worthiness of another. Then it is given instant and free access to the riches of Christ’s righteousness.
Ironically, this is the only way to become a person that does works that please the Father. This is the only way to have works at final judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) which show the evidence of my identity in Christ and the real transformation that the Spirit did in me. I must trust in Christ only, by faith only, and then, and only then, can I bear fruit.
Jesus said, “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4). I must be connected to the vine to bear fruit. Therefore, bearing fruit is not what connects me to the vine.
In summary:
Our works are evidential, but not meritorious.
Work are inevitable, but not identical to our faith.
We are prepared for works (Ephesians 2:10), but they are not a prerequisite to our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).
I hope this encourages you. This free grace also helps inform the way we pray to God for mercy. “Lord, help! Forgive me. I believe, help my unbelief. Forgive me, an unworthy sinner. Don’t change me, and then later forgive me. No, Lord, forgive me now freely, and then transform me!”
Self-control, discipline, and hygiene challenges for young men:
100 push-ups a day for a 100 days, minus Sundays. Spread it out throughout the day. Work up to the daily count if needed.
Cut the sugar foo-foo Starbucks drinks. Drink black coffee instead.
Reduce the frequency of touching your face. Improve your impulse control. Slow down and use a tissue or napkin with both hands. Not every itch needs to be scratched.
Trim your board and maintain a basic haircut. Ask an older man (who isn’t a goofy people-pleaser) if you look disheveled.
Replace a graphic tee with a polo or button-up shirt.
Fast for two meals, one day a week.
Read the job listings for a position you aspire to. What does it require?
Spend one evening a week developing your career, e.g. practical new skills, certifications, or training.
Gradually turn your shower water colder (mid-shower). Push yourself.
Keep your phone outside of your bedroom.
Memorize a Bible verse and make it your “fighter” verse against porn, lust, and wandering eyes, e.g. Psalm 119:9 or Philippians 4:8.
Memorize a gospel-of-grace passage for when you stumble, e.g. Psalm 51:1-2, or Romans 4:5, or Romans 8:1.
“Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.” (Titus 2:6)
Added: “Divide allowance or job income into Give/Save/Spend, so you don’t blow it all on frivolous things.” (Josh Pavon)
August 3, 2020
Counsel to young men going to college this Fall:
Find a local church that preaches the Bible and become a member.
Join a college Christian fellowship. Regularly attend a Bible study. Dive deep.
Make friends with people that are different from you. Be hospitable and welcoming to the socially awkward or lowly. That’ll also connect you with other kind people.
Think about going on a Summer mission trip to share the gospel.
Find a squad of Christian brothers. You don’t need a lot of friends. Just a few good ones.
Call your mom on the weekends.
Be productive. Treat video games like occasional desserts.
Get radical to avoid porn. Use your computer or phone screen out in the open. Install a filter. Turn off the internet at night if necessary.
Stay away from secular fraternities.
Stay away from drinking parties and drinking games. Being drunk is stupid. A good beer is for meals around trusted, mature friends who keep you in check. Not for the company of fools.
Find a mentor, discipler, who will risk offending you and kindly tell you the truth and keep you honest.
Be informed via Christian apologetics on the overt historical arguments against the Bible, philosophies that preclude miracles, and subtle attacks (critical theory, standpoint epistemology) on your faith. Find some solid apologists and read their books.
Pursue a godly Christian spouse on purpose, intentionally, straightforwardly, and don’t be bashful about it. Be realistic about beauty standards. Don’t date without a bigger mission. Sex is meant to be productive towards raising a godly family in the context of marriage.
Pursue a career that’ll help you raise a family. That’s the goal. Having a “passion” for a particular career is great, but keep it in perspective. Take a serious look at the marketplace and the job statistics and typical lifestyle for those with the degree in question.
I read the ESV (English Standard Version) and CSB (Christian Standard Bible).
If you want more continuity with the KJV, you could try the NKJV.
The NIV (New International Version) is another good one that I grew up on.
Long answer:
Almost any major modern English translation is great. They’re done these days by teams of scholars who typically include footnotes for interesting translation/textual issues.
A few translations are more unapologetically paraphrase, like “The Message”, which is just done by one guy. At best this can function like a commentary, but doesn’t work well as an actual translation.
The free YouVersion/Bible iOS app is great — it has all the major translations, most of which have audio narrations. Just click and play. Great for commuting.
My personal favorite dramatic audio narration is “The Word of Promise.” It uses the NKJV. It is great for OT historical books and is available also as an app.
My children greatly benefitted from the Action Bible (comic book format) when they were still learning the basic stories.
“Ignatius (d. 110) engaged both pagans and heretical Christians, particularly docetists, with the gospel…”
“Employing the language of Greek philosophy, Justin [Martyr, d. 165] communicated through public debates and written treatises, directing his message to Jews, pagan intellectuals, and Christian heretics…”
“While serving as bishop of Alexandria for forty-five years, Athanasius [c. 296–373] also evangelized heretics, particularly as he defended the church against Arian teaching…”
“Augustine [354–430] also served as a missionary of sorts to heretics, defending the church against Manichean, Donatist, and Pelagian teaching…”
“[Irish monk] Columban [c. 543–615] proclaimed the gospel to heretics, particularly the Arian Lombards in Italy.”
– Edward L. Smither, Christian Mission: A Concise Global History
A Mormon asks, “How is having faith in Christ… not a ‘work’ in the same way our ordinances are works?”
I think it’s a great question. In summary, saving faith:
(1) must be distinguished from works, because scripture itself makes the distinction;
(2) faith admits one’s own unworthiness and takes a needy, humble posture that receives eternal life as a free gift;
(3) faith trusts in a particular Savior who has made particular promises to believers.
Unpacking these:
(1) We are required by the text of scripture to distinguish between faith and works. See especially Romans 4:5 — “To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Paul also makes the distinction in Galatians 3:2,5.
He also insists that believers are saved “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.” (Titus 3:5) And he says that he has a righteousness, not “of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” So even before we answer *how* faith and works are different, we can at least see *that* they are different.
(2) Saving faith takes a needy posture or mode: it positions itself like a destitute beggar entirely dependent on another. It receives. It has nothing to offer. It holds out open, empty hands. It’s the posture of receiving a free gift, with humility that acknowledges one is unworthy and unqualified to receive it. “Lord, I am unrighteous. Please forgive me, because Jesus alone is righteous.”
Saving faith looks outside of itself to the righteousness of another. Saving faith distrusts its own works to earn eternal life, and entirely depends on the work Christ to earn it on our behalf.
(3) Lastly, there is the content of faith: Faith trusts Christ for particular promises. It does not say, “I am trusting Christ to help me earn, merit, and prove myself worthy of his presence.” Rather, it says, “Christ alone is worthy, he alone has merit, and he has earned eternal life for me on my behalf.” Saving faith hears and believes, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:25)
It is—at the very least—a courtesy to your new church to request a letter of transfer from your old church.
It lets the new church body know that you are in good standing with your previous church. You’re not running away from church discipline or keeping the new church in the dark. It better primes the new community for recognizing the credibility of the profession of your faith.
It lets the previous church body know that they can gladly release your membership. Your love has not grown cold, you have not left the faith, and you have not detached from the body of Christ.
It honors the pastor-elders that previously were responsible for shepherding you. It encourages you to involve them in evaluating the new church you are you considering.
It reinforces the duty that the elders of a previous church have to encourage outgoing members to find a new healthy church wherever they go.
It invites the elders between both churches to have an open line of communication during the hand-off. They may have something pastorally relevant and helpful to say for the sake of shepherding.
It celebrates the season of fellowship you had with your previous church.
It honors the “communion of saints” — the broad fellowship that Christians enjoy across many local churches.
To those thinking, “I would never do that”:
This requires a high level of trust in the elders of the church you attend. If you don’t have this kind of trust, consider changing your mind about it, or finding a church where you can trust the shepherding leadership to that extent.
It also requires a kind of transparency that is fitting to the community life of a healthy church.
If this seems foreign to you — please keep an open mind. It’s possible to have that kind of relationship with a local church!
Pastors don’t have the freedom to bind a person’s conscience from moving to a different faithful church. Christians don’t technically need their “permission” to move.
Nor can pastors overstep their bounds to infringe upon the conscience, the family, or the state. They can only act in accordance with the Bible according to their “jurisdiction” as church shepherds.
And even then, there are important decisions pastors are only supposed to make in unity and consent with the congregation (such as excommunication, or the adding of a new elder). “Christ has likewise given power to his whole Church to receive in and cast out, by way of Excommunication, any member; and this power is given to every particular Congregation, and not one particular person, either member or Officer, but the whole.” (London Confession of 1644)
There is a brotherly and healthy protocol (when between faithful churches) in letting one’s prior shepherds know that they are no longer under their spiritual care or congregational governance, and letting the new church know that one isn’t running away from something (kept secret). So it’s not about seeking de facto permission, but about unity, open communication, and voluntary accountability.
Churches are free to apply the “light of nature” and apply wisdom as they seek to obey the Bible. How churches fulfill the conceptual equivalent of “membership” (the recognition of a belonging that comes with special responsibilities) may look different in the details and terms and formalities.
Even if a church doesn’t have something formally called “membership”, they still need to know:
Who (by name) the leadership is responsible to shepherd
Who should be counted as fellow believers and mutually cared for by others as believers (Galatians 6:10)
Who is in good standing and not “purged” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
Who, if an outsider asks, is attached to that local church
If you don’t want to call that membership, then choose another term (some use “partnership”). But there needs to be a category between “guest” and “leader”.
As an evangelist this is tremendously helpful to me. When I meet someone who *claims* to be a Christian, I want to know if another body of believers has recognized the credibility of the profession of that person’s faith.
Let’s normalize and de-stigmatize membership. It’s not a dirty word. We can give it a healthy meaning. Don’t let culture (or the government) dictate the church’s ecclesiology. If it makes us weird, then let’s be weird.
If we’re going to conceptually purge our churches of the very idea of membership, then we need to be honest about the kind of radical divergence this is from historical Christianity.
This is also important because Utah has real false teachers and false public influencers. They claim to be Christian and even attend a local church. We need to be able to ask: Which faithful local evangelical church approves of what you’re doing? Who is backing you? Are you rogue, or are you really doing this with the blessing of your church elders?
This is also helpful for those church visitors who keep coming but have a false assurance of their salvation. The very matter of membership often creates conversations between pastors/members and a person who needs some shepherding toward faith and repentance. It’s such a pastoral win!
My friend Michael writes:
Assurance is a community project. The idea that a community can corporately regard an individual as “Gentile and tax collector” (Matthew 18) on the basis of bad fruit pushes us to recognize that professions of faith may be contradicted by the community, but conversely, can and should be affirmed by the community when the profession can be deemed credible, on the basis of good fruit.
Nominal Christians have largely abandoned their biblical duties that Christians are called to. Within community they are called to submit to their leaders and encourage and strengthen other believers, exercising their spiritual gifts to look after each other. Good questions for “Christians” who have no connection with the local church “how are you obeying the biblical command to submit to your leaders? And how are you expressing love for God’s church, which the Bible says is the evidence that you know God? (1 John).
“Church Membership” is a description (take it, or use your own) of what it means to be regarded by the community as a believer, to submit to and be accountable to its God instituted leadership, and to be accountable to the community as a whole, loving its people in community life. Again, if you don’t love God’s people, God’s word says you don’t have God’s love in you.
The specific sin of avoiding accountability and membership in a local church setting is an especially pervasive and unique challenge in our modern context. By its very nature it exacerbates the responsibility that we have to confront those who name Christ in their sin, because it removes the Matthew 18 system of community decision process and forces us as individuals to act as judge, jury, and executioner with how we will regard a “Christian hermit”. This is the unfair position that we are put in when we encounter Christian hermits, whose claim to have union with Christ must be affirmed, ignored, or contradicted (those being our only logical options); but it is the position that we are consistently faced with in this day.
As Christians we have a challenging responsibility, especially in this day, to begin to contradict these claims. For too long I, for one, have been willing to practice affirmation or to simply ignore the Christian hermit’s profession of faith, without challenging the individual with the biblical responsibilities of church membership and attendance. We should be patient and gentle in our confrontation, but be willing, ultimately (maybe after some time), to say to the Christian hermit, “I will not be party to your sin by ignoring it, and so I cannot call you brother until you repent of this sin, and join yourself to Christ’s church. Please, friend, follow God’s word, and come into a formal relationship with the visible church.”
We should trust the response to God’s hands. Christ’s sheep hear his voice and follow him. False professors ultimately represent the falsity of their profession by remaining outside. We must not forget that an individual’s response to Christian community is one of the criterion by which we would judge their profession of faith, not just an outward appearance of zeal and sincerity. If “they went out from us” can show that “they were not of us”, perpetual avoidance of Christian community does the same, and provides us with a measure of spiritual insight that we should not ignore.
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 