But Knowing The Truth Will Set You Free

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to anyone around the world who wants to be set free from the elephant of shame and condemnation by jumping off the treadmill of religious demands and duty. How?

By being set free from the Mosaic Law, which arouses sin and causes death (as Paul made very clear in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.) How?

By experiencing the higher Law of the Spirit of Life in the arms of our loving Father-God, Romans 8:1-2.

He sent Jesus to:

1) pay for and remove all of mankind’s sin debt,

2) reconcile mankind to God, from God’s viewpoint,

3) offer each person salvation through rebirth and

4) offer all believers His abundant Life through Jesus’ whole Gospel of grace of the New Covenant – the finished work of His divine exchange on Calvary !

Jesus gave this amazing revelation primarily to Paul who declared this reality in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21:

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new ^[b]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and ^[c]He has ^[d]committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be ^[e]sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

INTRODUCTION 

Despite an apparent cover-up, there has been a doctrinal war – a schism – in the church from its very early days. This inconvenient truth has been glossed over and virtually ignored by most theologians for almost 2000 years. A few Christian historians have documented the symptoms but only a few have pin-pointed the source of the deadly disease of this doctrinal division.

Much later, Martin Luther’s original aim in bringing false doctrine and practice to light in his Ninety-five Theses was not to fracture the established church but to present evidence of some doctrinal discrepancies. However, the church’s stern refusal to admit and correct these seemingly minor doctrinal issues eventually revealed an existing fault line in the accepted orthodoxy itself. He had been steeped in a works-centered, religious mind–set (not unlike Saint Paul’s Jewish past). Thankfully, the pain and despair of trying to become holy through law-keeping brought Luther to the end of himself and to his well-intentioned efforts at self-righteousness. He looked for a way out of his misery. How did such a drastic turn-around from law to grace happen?

As the story goes, both his confessor and his abbot advised him to teach the Bible at a local university. He plunged himself into a study of the book of Romans that, over time, helped him to come to rely on much of what Jesus’ finished work had already done for him. He discovered that salvation and righteousness and all of God’s blessings are gifts of grace from God, received by faith alone – apart from any of his efforts to earn or maintain them.

Unfortunately, the Jewish Christians in the infant church in Jerusalem did not fully grasp this reality because it was so drastically different from what they had been formed in as Jews. Circumcision and obedience to the Law were absolutely necessary to be acceptable to God under that Mosaic Covenant. I will document the details of how and why the fault line between a focus on law-keeping versus on Jesus and His whole Gospel of Grace came about and split the early church.

My intent in showing this is the same as Luther’s, which was: to expose root differences between the truth of Jesus’ Gospel to Paul from the elephant of mixture that still prevails in most seminaries and churches today. Why? So that we, His church, can live in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace and love, already a spiritual reality in Christ Jesus because of His divine exchange with believers. This is Kingdom living. Our efforts to accomplish what He has already done will forever be futile and fruitless. Depending on our works instead of on His performance, prevents us from entering into His “rest” – which He invites each of us to enjoy in Him, according to Hebrews4:10.

Government agents efficiently detect counterfeit currency by first thoroughly studying genuine bills. Jesus revealed to Paul the full details of His genuine grace–based Gospel in 42 AD, which Paul later called “my Gospel.” (It was very different in tone and purpose from the four Gospels that were written down many years later.) After that monumental event, Paul regarded the works-based system he had formerly been steeped in as “rubbish” by comparison with being spiritually immersed in the exalted Christ Jesus and enjoying the many benefits of the finished work of His divine exchange.

About This Book

Actually, This relatively small book is just one of fifteen Appendices of my much larger book, Is There An Elephant In YOUR Church?. Like a trailer of a big movie, this much smaller book is a helpful peek into the many important puzzle pieces which fit together progressively to unveil Jesus’ whole Gospel of Grace, which makes clear just how good Father-God really is.

 Jesus revealed His whole Gospel of lavish Grace directly to Saint Paul. Martin Luther partially recovered this revelation for anyone in his day hungry for the truth of God’s truly Good News for mankind. Part One of my big Elephant book presents an overview of a Christian’s new identity in Christ. It is one of the main themes of this entire Blog and songs of Grace.

Part Two explores and explains the roots and consequences of a disastrous schism in the infant church, caused by Judaizers who were mixing two opposing covenants (the heresy of Galatianism). I discovered this “elephant” by connecting the dots – the clues given in the Bible and actual historical accounts – that reveal exactly when, where, why and how this disastrous division happened and how it still plagues and divides believers today.

Part Three presents how to recognize and resist this “elephant in the church” by learning how to enjoy the same realities that Jesus and Paul walked in – which were minimized by this early heresy and schism that still greatly influence mainline churches today. Only a few besides Paul have noticed its dangers and have been persecuted like Paul was when they dared to confront this entrenched beast.

This is Big Picture thinking, which sees the end from the beginning of God’s original intent for mankind. Whether people are aware of this fact or not, each persons’ own spiritual journey starts with the Fall of Adam and continues with how God reveals Himself, through interactive covenants, to various humans over 6000 years. It culminates with the New Covenant that God made with Jesus as mankind’s new Representative who revealed directly to Paul how we are involved in His-story today. It has never been about what man could do for God. Rather it has always been about God revealing His true nature of sacrificial love through what only He was completely willing and uniquely able to do for mankind through Jesus, our Last Adam.

It is the good news of our wonderful Father-God’s lavish grace and mercy, motivated by His agape love which has overcome, for believers, the obstacles of the world, the flesh and the devil through Jesus’ finished work. Now, all those who receive His offer of salvation by faith are joined into Himself in a forever family.

So, for the next many weeks, I will present two lies per week from Appendix # 9 from the Elephant book. It deals with many common lies rooted in legalism that are contrasted with the truth of big picture thinking. They are nuggets of revelation that are covered more extensively with scripture quotes in the Big Book.

Coming Next Week: The first two lies that confuse many Christians. Wrong believing which leads to wrong living. Conversely, right believing leads to right and prosperous living in Christ.