Keep It Simple

 

Been perusing some of the theology and spiritual books at my bookstore, one of them that cautht my attention was “Religionless Christianity” by Eric Metaxas who uses Diedrich Bonehoffer’s model of religionless Christianity. Metaxas makes a case that the church is falling into Pharisee teachings and Satanic religious substitutes & compromises to popular culture. At first his points are compelling as he makes his case that churches in America are compromising a living faith for dead religion. However, he ends up making a war on grace, claiming that “faith without works is dead,” interpreting this in a very Papist Way. He double downs on the need for works even making a case with Bonehoffer’s words that Martin Luther went overboard on grace, and so he ends up pervertIng the true gospel of grace that the apostles agreed is grace not works at The Council of Jerusalem, “Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and elders met to consider this question.  After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them” (Acts 15:1-12). Thus comes the error most fall for, deviation from the apostle’s teaching, when we should be devoted to their teaching, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). The apostle’s teaching is the 27 books of the New Testament and those books are God breathed, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Metaxas’ words, Bobehoffer’s words are not God Breathed! They are not Scripture. 

Eric Metaxas like many gets deceived by a teaching by a scholar or theologian who is not the apostles. In this case Bonehoffer who admitted his best selling book “The Cost of Discipleship” was wrong, and yet did not pull it from the presses, and that book is still infecting people with its bad teaching of “greasy grace” versus “costly grace,” when its just grace, the Scriptures say so, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” (Titus 2:11), “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace,” (Romans 11:6), “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” (Romans 5:1-2), “So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life,” (Titus 3:7), “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:4-5), and “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

We need to be wary of people that tell us to find inspiration from theologians, religious scholars, and supposed saints outside the Bible. I have seen more error in Christian books than anywhere! You have to stick to The Scriptures! Solae Scriptura! (Scripture Alone). Otherwise the deceiver will distort God’s truths, and make you trust the tradition of men, “One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” 

Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”” (Mark 7:1-13). 

What agitates so called theologians and scholars is that the gospel, and the deep truths of God are simple,  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16), “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,  for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.[d] No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”” (John 10:27-30), “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose,” (Galatians 2:22), and, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9). The scholars want to obfuscate it with their interpretations because they want you to come to them like the Pharisees, and they bar door into heaven, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to,” (Matthew 23:13), and seek to make you a twice the child of hell “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15). These supposed scholars spy your freedom, “Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—” (Galatians 2:4) and seek to lead you  astray from simple devotion, “But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve through his craftiness, so your senses should be corrupted in some way, and ye should fall from the simplicity that is in the Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). 

As I have said in other posts, stay away from spiritual books and theology outside The Bible. Stick with the 66 Books, especially the 27 of the New Testament! All you need to know is therein. Its simple! The so called Christian theologians & scholars seek to complicate it because they are of synagogue pf Satan, “I know your affliction and distress and pressing trouble and your poverty—but you are rich! and how you are abused and reviled and slandered by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan,” (Revelation 2:9)..  They wish like those Judaizers who wanted people to do the law before knowing Christ, to keep you from pure and simple devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 13:2). Remember if anyone tries to complicate the gospel, its a false gospel, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:6-9). The real gospel is simple, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” (John 3:16-18) and “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10). 

Keep it simple! The gospel is simple! Grace is simple! The truth is simple! You do not need learned men to grasp it! It is clear in the Scriptures! (John 3:16-18, Romans 10:9-10). Do not let Neo Pharisees corrupt your pure and simple devotion to Christ! Amen.