The following is someone's response to this article which dealt with aspects concerning the Kingdom and Grace gospels and the fact that they have different content and are addressed to different audiences. I'm posting this to point out that if one does not rightly divide the Word and recognize the fact that there are TWO programs and TWO people groups in God's redemption plan, one will get terribly mixed up and confused, skewing doctrine and getting tangled up in confusing discrepancies when right division clears all things up so easily.
These comments below clearly indicate the struggle to make sense of the Word, trying to join things that are meant to be separate and distinct. The arguments made result in unusual interpretations and indicate a juvenile understanding of the Word.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (16) But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
COMMENT:
You said, “One cannot miss the fact that one is faith and conditional works of obedience, and the other is faith alone in the cross work of Christ.” I see them as the same.
Believe is not an intellectual exercise, it is a matter of trust and trust does works, bears fruit. No murderer will enter the kingdom of God. David was only saved after he threw himself on the mercy seat and didn’t die. Unless a man forsakes everything, he cannot be Christ’s disciples. Those letters are written to disciples.
You said, “it becomes another gospel which is powerless and man-made,” So you believe the gospel Paul preached to the gentiles was different and the gospel Jesus preached to the Jews was powerless and man-made?
REPLY:
You will always run into these issues if you do not see TWO programs. You are in the position where you are having to choose one from the other. This is clear based on what you say in your second paragraph. It's not a matter of one gospel winning and the other being made powerless. BOTH gospels were correct and powerful to save. The one while the Kingdom program was in operation, and the other after the Jews were blinded and the Kingdom program suspended. At this time the grace gospel of Paul (the one without works) is the only gospel to save.
Seeing only one gospel is another result of ignoring the distinction between the Kingdom and Grace. Faith with works and faith without works is NOT the same. If you only see one gospel, then which one is it? They cannot be mixed as then you get the scenario as in Galatians 5:1-4.
What you say about disciples is yet another point to address,
Jesus disciples were taught under the Kingdom program: Faith in their Messiah, repentance, baptisms, enduring to the end, obeying the law, etc. It is clear they followed these things.
Paul also said, “be followers of me”. Those that follow Paul's example were taught under the Grace program: Faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Where are the works? The works were already done by Jesus Christ. We have no works to perform as all the work of Christ is imputed to us and in Christ, we are declared justified, Rom.5:1-2.
You will always have these discrepancies and contradictions if you ignore the distinction and purpose between Israel and the Body of Christ. The bible is full of evidence that prophecy and mystery, law and grace, Israel and the Body of Christ are distinct, different and should be kept apart for two different purposes. When you mix their respective doctrines together, or if you ignore Paul’s doctrine which is in operation today, you fall into law, philosophy, vain imaginations, and a powerless religion.
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