The BIG Picture (Study)

Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences  (Part 4 --- Righteous Works) We continue with the comparison of the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ by looking at key elements that distinguish them from each other. I recommend to start at the beginning of this comparison to gain the necessary context of this series of posts. Righteous works Because the gospel of God was based on works , you will naturally see this works requirement manifest in the lives and actions of those who committed to, and were saved, under this gospel in the Acts period. For a Jew who believed in the gospel of God, that Jesus was risen and was the Christ , their works program did not change at all. They simply continued their routines based on the requirements of the Kingdom gospel, so there is not much we can learn from their accounts. However, by looking at examples from the saved Gentiles in this time, and what they did, we can glean an understanding that the gospel of God...

Understanding and Interpreting the Bible (Part 5B ---  Dividing the PROGRAMS ) In our last post, Part 5A , we took a high level look at the two programs, simply discussing what they are and how they are different. I'd like to wrap up this series of lessons on "Understanding and Interpreting the Bible", by confirming the scriptural proof of the divisions n the programs of Israel and the Body of Christ. As a reminder, the below picture illustrates that we have two main parts to God's overarching redemption plan. The realms of earth and heaven, physical and spiritual. Within each of these realms, we have a people group (or agency). Earth will be inherited to Israel, and heaven will be filled with the Body of Christ. We covered these details in depth in previous posts. To clarify the 'program' portions of the image below, I can describe it as follows. The programs are the actionable components of the two divided parts. They portray the 'modus operandi...

Faith and Works during the Law Program We know as fact, and because of detailed evidence in Paul's writings, that the grace gospel has no works connected to salvation because Jesus has done the 'works' part on our behalf and all that is required of us to be saved is to believe the completed work of Christ. However, under the Law program, there was no such definitive salvation statements and the pattern during the period of law was that one would believe in the Redeemer/Messiah to come, but until then there were also works of obedience . God still required men to do His commands even though they believed in a coming Redeemer/Messiah. Rom.2:12 For as many as have sinned without law [Gentiles] shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law [Jews] shall be judged by the law; 13 ( For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified . ... Gentiles were never given the law and will never be judged by the la...

Q-A: Should Christians uphold the Sabbath? This question has been asked in the past, and as a spin-off from the content in this video regarding what 'Law' means in the Grace Dispensation , I thought I'd add it to the Q&A section of this site. In Exodus 20:8-11 , the bible defines the Sabbath law, that it was an absolutely required ordinance to keep. As a matter of fact, it carried the death penalty for anyone who broke this law. In Numbers 15:32-36 we encounter someone picking up sticks on the Sabbath and even this simple or mundane task incurred the fateful sentence. This law (as with all the other Mosaic laws) would remain in force throughout the Old Testament, into the Gospels, and even into Acts. It was only suspended after the Jerusalem Council Meeting in Acts 15 where Paul's grace gospel became the only valid gospel from that time on. Paul emphatically taught in Romans 6:14 that we are not under the law, but under grace, so this Sabbath law, as ...

OBS: God's Word is a Progressive Plan (Part.4) This is  Part 4  of the Series Click here for  Part 3 We continue our journey through this lesson series, gathering evidence to clearly show the distinctions between the parts of God's great redemption plan for humanity and creation. Recall that any plan or project has a start and an ending and that between the start and end one would typically have actions or events that drive you to the goal or what you want to achieve, being the ending! Each of these parts of the plan are foundational actions or events that have a part in the whole, but although they relate to each other to form the whole, they don't necessarily relate to each other in their details, or maybe I can state that they don't have the same steps or materials or qualities.  For example, if you build a house, you MUST start with the foundation. You cannot start with the roof! It just does not make sense! The foundation, the walls and the roof are all part o...

OBS: God's Word is a Progressive Plan (Part.2) This is Part 2 of the Series   Click here to start with Part 1 Examples of 'primary' progression and context In part 1 of this article, we proved that the Bible is a singular PLAN, albeit very intricate. As with any plan (or project), it has a start and an end point, and between these one typically has parts or specific actions that provide progression and momentum to achieve the planned objective. In this part, we will have a look at the divisions of the plan that provide its progress. Depending on what your focus is, there are many clear divisions in the Bible that can be identified based on period, people group, covenant or promise and various attributes. Our timeline image in the header of the page provides some of the primary divisions, or parts of Gods plan. Some of the primary divisions we can clearly recognize and which we will shortly analyze are, prophecy and ...