PEOPLE who are promoting the “FAITH ALONE MOVEMENT” and of course Eric (our Blog’s number 1 Fan and Supporter) who is promoting the “YOUR FAITH and YOUR WORKS can NOT SAVE you MOVEMENT”, have similar belief that WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS or WORKS OF THE LAW, is NOT seen as RIGHTEOUS or JUSTIFIED by GOD. And of course in order to convince people in this belief, they are using VERSES from the Bible, to prove that what they are preaching are WORDS of GOD and to make it appear that their beliefs and teachings are BIBLICAL.
These are the VERSES:
Titus 3:5 “NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” [King James Version]
Galatians 2:16 “yet knowing that A MAN IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” [American Standard Version]
In the first instance by just merely looking at these verses it would appear that they have a point, and what they are trying to prove were really written in the Bible.
Well of course if we have a HABIT of just PICKING UP only the VERSES that will agree with what we believed and IGNORE the others, it would mean that we don’t believe in the ENTIRETY of the written words of God in the Bible.
We should follow the Rule that Eric suggested, for this is the APPROPRIATE MOVE:
“WE SHOULD NOT IGNORE VERSES”
The only problem is, ERIC is the FIRST and FOREMOST who defies his RULE hehehehe.
Why did I say that they do not believe in the Bible’s entirety by picking up verses that only they think agrees and ignoring those that they think do not? Because if they would interpret those verses as the way they interpret and explain them, meaning without further researching on what are their TRUE MEANING, it would appear that in the Bible there are CONTRADICTIONS.
Let us see the following verses that will CONTRADICT their EXPLANATION and UNDERSTANDING.
Regarding WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Psalms 106:3 “BLESSED ARE THEY that keep judgment, and HE THAT DOETH RIGHTEOUSNESS AT ALL TIMES.” [KJV]
Acts 10:35 “but in every nation he who is fearing Him, and IS WORKING RIGHTEOUSNESS, IS ACCEPTABLE TO HIM;” [Young’s Literal Translation]
1 John 3:10 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: WHOSOEVER DOETH NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS is NOT OF GOD, neither he that loveth not his brother.” [KJV]
As we can see very clearly see from those passages above that God will BLESS, ACCEPT, and consider His CHILDREN anyone who will do the WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Regarding the WORKS OF THE LAW:
James 1:25 “But whoso looketh into the PERFECT LAW of liberty, and continueth therein, HE BEING NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER, BUT A DOER OF THE WORK, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” [KJV]
It is very clear also that not the FORGETFUL HEARER but the DOER OF THE WORK will be blessed.
Which work? Of course the WORKS of the LAW.
It means when we do the WORKS of the LAW, we are OBEYING THE LAW. We are not only listeners, but we are doers of the LAW.
For it is a COMMANDMENT of the Almighty God:
Leviticus 18:4 “OBEY MY LAWS and DO WHAT I COMMAND. I am the LORD your God.” [Good News Bible]
And those who will not obey His LAWS are committing a SIN:
1 John 3:4 “WHOSOEVER COMMITTETH SIN TRANSGRESSETH ALSO THE LAW: FOR SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW.” [KJV]
So what is the meaning of TRANSGRESSION? Let us get the meaning from another Bible version:
1 John 3:4 “Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is DISOBEDIENCE.” [GWT]
So TRANSGRESSION means DISOBEDIENCE to the LAWS of GOD.
If we’re going to go back to the people who believed in their INSTANT LITERAL INTERPRETATION of Galatians 2:16 and Titus 3:5, and accept how they UNDERSTOOD these verses, it would appear then that God has put a man in a situation where he will not be saved. Because it would appear that God commanding us to do the things that he consider being NON RIGHTEOUSS or JUSTIFIED.
What is that? Was it not mind boggling?
It’s like God has commanded us humans to Go to a Ravine and Jump there and die.
Look at this, If God will not JUSTIFY or will not consider RIGHTEOUS the WORKS OF THE LAW and RIGHTEOUSNESS, why the Bible which is the WORDS of GOD said that if we will not do the WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS we are not consider as His Children or if we do not OBEY THE LAW we are sinful.
It would be like we are in a TWILIGHT ZONE…in a puzzle that’s very hard to comprehend.
If we do the WORKS of the LAW or OBEY THE LAW we are also BLESSED, and not considered as SINFUL but we are not JUSTIFIED or seen as RIGHTEOUS.
“BLESSED, and NOT SINFUL BUT NOT JUSTIFIED nor RIGHTEOUS”
And similar to WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, if we do the WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS we are ACCEPTABLE, BLESSED, AND CONSIDERED AS HIS CHILDREN, and yet we are NOT RIGHTEOUS nor JUSTIFIED.
“ACCEPTABLE, BLESSED, AND CONSIDERED AS CHILDREN OF GOD BUT NOT JUSTIFIED nor RIGHTEOUSS”
So the solution of those people: Keep their UNDERSTANDING and INTERPRETATION of Galatians 2:16 and Titus 3:5 since they are in accordance with their beliefs and IGNORE those verses we’ve shown that are in CONTRAST in what they believed.
That’s why you’ll never see them using those verses, and if only given the chance and possibility we are sure, they would ERASE them from the Bible.
Because of this we can ask now, look who’s ISOLATING VERSES, ha Eric?
We no so very well that the WORDS of GOD will NEVER CONTRADICT ITSELF nor it will create CONFUSION, for God is not the AUTHOR of CONFUSION:
1 Corinthians 14:33 “For GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” [KJV]
It’s very clear that we can conclude that God will not speak or do things to CONFUSE us. For His WORDS written in the BIBLE are upholding UNITY and ONENESS of TOUGHT because ALL of them came from ONLY ONE GOD, so they will never ever contradict each other.
So let us DIG DEEPER to Galatians 2:16 and Titus 3:5’s TRUE MEANING, for they should not contradict other verses that we have shown.
The WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS That God Will Not Justify
Let us quote again the verse:
Titus 3:5 “NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” [King James Version]
The people who are using this passage were just focusing on the phrase “WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” but deliberately ignoring the phrase: “WHICH WE HAVE DONE” that follows after.
What is the meaning of that specific phrase? Let us read the same verse in another Bible version:
Titus 3:5 “not by works done in RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH WE DID OURSELVES, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” [ASV]
It is clear that this is the RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE DID OURSELVES, it means we are the CREATOR, MAKER, FABRICATOR and SOURCE of this RIGHTEOUSNESS and not GOD.
Was there a proof of this from the Bible? That we humans CREATED or ESTABLISHED our own RIGHTEOUSNESS? Of course, look and see for yourselves:
Romans 10:3 “FOR THEY BEING IGNORANT OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND GOING ABOUT TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, have not submitted themselves unto the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.” [KJV]
See Eric, according to Apostle Paul who also wrote Titus 3:5, there are people who are IGNORANT of GOD’s RIGHTEOUSNESS and instead of submitting themselves to the RIGHTEOUSNESS which God has CREATED, THEY ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
And these are the WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS that we DID, CREATED, ESTABLISHED by ourselves THAT GOD WILL NOT JUSTIFY nor consider as RIGHTEOUSS, because these does not comply with GOD’s RIGHTEOUSNESS which is the WORD of GOD [Psalms 119:172].
What are those WORKS of RIGHTEOUSNESS that we humans have done as a result of our IGNORANCE to GOD’s RIGHTEOUSNESS or His Words?
Romans 10:3 “They have not known the way in which God puts people right with himself, and instead, THEY HAVE TRIED TO SET UP THEIR OWN WAY; and so they did not submit themselves to God's way of putting people right.” [GNB]
Apostle Paul said: “THEY HAVE TRIED TO SET UP THEIR OWN WAY”, instead of submitting themselves to GOD’s WAY or RIGHTEOUSNESS.
These are the WORKS that we base not on the RULES or LAW of GOD written in the BIBLE, but the RULES we ESTABLISHED and CREATED for ourselves and we decided to follow and consider for ourselves as RIGHTEOUS, those are the things that GOD will never consider as RIGHTEOUS nor JUSTIFY.
The WORKS OF THE LAW That God Will Not Justify
Let us go back to the verse that they use that we quoted earlier regarding this:
Galatians 2:16 “yet knowing that A MAN IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” [American Standard Version]
Which WORKS OF THE LAW were being referred here that God will not be JUSTIFIED? Let us get the full context and reasons why Apostle Paul said this message to the Gentile Christians of Galatia.
Let us read the PRECEDING VERSES and you will see what I mean, that those people using this passage were just JUMPING IN A WRONG CONLUSION.
Gal 2:11 “But when Peter came to Antioch, I OPPOSED HIM TO HIS FACE, BECAUSE HE WAS TO BE BLAMED.”
Gal 2:12 “For before certain men came from James, he would eat together with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and began to separate himself, FEARING THOSE OF THE CIRCUMCISION PARTY.”
Gal 2:13 “And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.”
Gal 2:14 “But when I saw that they did not act rightly with respect to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "IF YOU, BEING A JEW, LIVE IN GENTILE FASHION AND NOT IN JEWISH FASHION, WHY DO YOU COMPEL THE GENTILES TO LIVE AS JEWS?”
Gal 2:15 “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 “knowing that A MAN IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; because no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law.”
There is a story behind that was often OVERLOOKED and NEGLECTED by the people who use Galatians 2:16. The very History that took place when this letter was written by Apostle Paul, they are DELIBERATELY IGNORING.
Always remember my beloved viewers that this LETTER BY APOSTLE PAUL was addressed to the GENTILE CHRISTIANS OF GALATIA (Not to you Eric, and those people who use that verse, keep that in mind). There are SIGNIFICANT ISSUES here that we should consider. Apostle Paul mentioned about the CIRCUMCISION PARTY and a question which he addressed to Apostle Peter which says: “WHY DO YOU COMPEL THE GENTILES TO LIVE AS JEWS?”
Therefore we should consider the meaning and intention of Apostle Paul why he said that message, and we should not give our own meaning. For that will DISTORT the TRUE MEANING of the message.
Based on the EVIDENCES that we have seen from the Previous passages, we could say that the “WORKS OF LAW” that are being mentioned by Apostle Paul is a kind of LAW that would make the GENTILES live like a JEW. Because he said this to Apostle Peter:
“WHY DO YOU COMPEL THE GENTILES TO LIVE AS JEWS?”
And by this important phrase came out our LEAD in determining the TRUE MEANING of Galatians 2:16:
For the information of those who do not know, when the CHURCH OF CHRIST in the First Century propagated in the Gentile Nations, A PROBLEM ARISES between the JEWS and the GENTILES and this is recorded in the Scriptures:
Acts 15:1-2 “Some men came from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the believers, "YOU CANNOT BE SAVED UNLESS YOU ARE CIRCUMCISED AS THE LAW OF MOSES REQUIRES." Paul and Barnabas got into a fierce argument with them about this, so it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others in Antioch should go to Jerusalem and see the apostles and elders about this matter.” [GNB]
Acts 15:5 “But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT JEWISH MUST BE CIRCUMCISED AND ORDERED TO FOLLOW MOSES' TEACHINGS." [GWT]
The JEWISH CHRISTIANS were requesting the CONVERTED GENTILES to follow the LAW OF MOSES about CIRCUMCISION, they are commanding the GENTILES to be CIRCUMCISED, and Apostle Paul disagree and argued with Peter regarding this issue. And this has created a dispute between brethrens among JEWS and GENTILES, that their solution was to go to JERUSALEM and settle the matter in front of the CHURCH ELDERS. And as we continue to read the rest of the verses in the same chapter, Apostle James stood up and made a decision which he said:
Acts 15:19-20 “Therefore I judge that WE MUST NOT CAUSE TROUBLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE TURNING TO GOD FROM AMONG THE GENTILES; but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” [English Majority Text Version]
And the decision of the Church turn out to be in FAVOR of the GENTILES for they are no longer required to obey the WORKS OF THE LAW that are trying to impose or implement by the JEWS to the GENTILES.
This is the WORKS OF THE LAW that are being mentioned by Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:16 that will not be JUSTIFIED, it is the LAW OF MOSES – “THE LAW THAT WILL MAKE A GENTILE LIVE LIKE A JEW” and the GENTILES no longer needed to obey this LAW.
And Apostle Paul himself, directly said that in the Bible:
Acts 13:16, 38 “Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience…“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, FROM WHICH YE COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW OF MOSES.” [KJV]
Very clearly spoken by Apostle Paul as I quote again:
“FROM WHICH YE COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW OF MOSES.”
So this statement that he said in Galatians 2:16 which says:
“…yet knowing that A MAN IS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW but through faith in Jesus Christ,”
“WORKS OF THE LAW” here very clearly refers to the LAW OF MOSES, for it is TRUE that we’ll no longer be Justified by this LAW, for this LAW ends its VALIDITY when JOHN THE BAPTIST was born.
Of course this TRUTH is recorded in the Bible, and NOT MY OWN WORDS:
Luke 16:16 "The LAW OF MOSES and the writings of the prophets WERE IN EFFECT UP TO THE TIME OF JOHN THE BAPTIST; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in.” [GNB]
We will never be JUSTIFIED anymore in our time if we still continue to follow and to do the WORKS OF THE LAW of MOSES, for that LAW is only IN EFFECT before the TIME of JOHN THE BAPTIST.
And that’s how we should UNDERSTAND Galatians 2:16, not from our own ANGLE or POINT OF VIEW, but from the ANGLE or POINT OF VIEW of Apostle Paul who said it, for that is really what he meant in that message.
And that meaning will NEVER CONTRADICT any other passages from the Bible for sure.
So by giving a FALSE EXPLANATION to the letter of Paul to the Galatians you Eric, and others are bringing destruction to yourselves, as Apostle Peter emphasized:
2 Peter 3:15-16 “Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as OUR DEAR FRIEND PAUL WROTE TO YOU, using the wisdom that God gave him. This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. THERE ARE SOME DIFFICULT THINGS IN HIS LETTERS WHICH IGNORANT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE EXPLAIN FALSELY, AS THEY DO WITH OTHER PASSAGES OF THE SCRIPTURES. SO THEY BRING ON THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION.” [GNB]
So before you attempt to INTERPRET any of the messages written in Paul’s LETTERS think twice because maybe instead of bringing out the TRUTH you might end up bringing DESTRUCTION to your own self.
God bless to all brethrens in Christ Jesus…
