Want Some Answers ???
Christadelphian's IndexHello Ron
Thanks for writing and inviting my
response to your mail. I would like to address your entire letter [not a part,
as you did mine] and show how and why I differ. You wrote,
>>I read your comments with interest, yet I couldn't help thinking of the words
of the LORD to Job in ch.38:2 "who is this that darkeneth counsel with words
without knowledge"<<
I studied a number of Christadelphian 'Bible' courses and finished a Masters
Degree on your sect. So I'm not altogether "without knowledge" but look
forward with expectation having you [or any Christadelphian] teaching me the
truth. You wrote,
>>You make some strong accusations, suggesting that Christadelphians believe in
justification by works, that we do not accept the need to have the Spirit of
Christ<<
Yes Christadelphian's teach salvation according to works, with a list of
vital conditions. There's no spiritual birth in your doctrine. You can never be
sure of salvation because if your 'effort' or works are not good enough, you
think you will be lost. But the truth is, if we could save ourselves, Christ
didn't need to die.
I'm interested in your own words, how you are going to save yourself. Convince
me of 'the truth' if you think you have it. Truth needs fear no foe. And after
all, salvation is THE most important subject we can be occupied with. So tell me
all the things I need to do to get to heaven. Because it appears to me that the
Bible declares there's ONLY one way to heaven.
The Bible says, "all [are]
under sin...none are righteous, no not one"
[Rom.3:9-10]. "All our righteous acts are as filthy rags" in God's sight
[Isa.64:6]. Ron man's nature is rotten to the core. "Dead in sins" what can a
dead man do to come alive? How can we earn favour and good deeds make us alive
to God? And then, be good enough for heaven? Jesus said, we "must be born again
[or] born of the Spirit" [Jn.3:6-7]. The
'new birth' is not an end time event and received after a lifetime of working
for it. No! It's the only way to become a Christian and there is no exception. No where in your letter
have you answered my question. Have you being born again? I wait to hear. You
wrote,
>>Reading the Bible does not suggest the former, all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable, among other things, for instruction in
righteousness, and it by the words of Christ Jesus that we can have life (John
6:63). How else can we learn of "the life" but by reading the scriptures,
indeed the Bereans were commended by the Spirit for searching the scriptures
daily to make sure that what they were hearing were the Truth (Acts 17:11)<<
You have read the Scriptures to no avail. A cult has told you what to
believe. There's a difference between (1) reading, learning and then accepting
Christ as Saviour; and (2) religiously reading, learning and thinking that will
be saved. The Berean's received the Gospel of salvation first and then examined
to see whether what was said was true. Will you? You haven't addressed my entire
letter and shown the error, instead you present Christadelphian dogma on the
'kingdom', which I know already. You wrote,
>>I believe the Christadelphian focus on the Kingdom of God is absolutely
correct. To suggest that this message was restricted to Jews and that before
the resurrection is simply not correct. The disciples were instructed by Jesus
for 40 days after the resurrection concerning the kingdom of God<<
It's not 'correct' because it's not the Good News. The central truth
of the Gospel is missing. The 'disciples' were Jews. But the foundation
of the Christian Church is not the Kingdom but the Gospel message Act 2:36-39.
How clear can Acts 4:12 be? That's not the old message known to the OT Hebrews
but the message of salvation and grace through Christ's death and resurrection.
The Jews rejected Christ and His message that the King had arrived. The Kingdom
would NOT now be set-up immediately. Jesus gave the disciples the NEW message
for all the nations [Mtt.28:19]. The nation Israel [some Jews] expected Christ
to set up His earthly kingdom, instead they crucified Him. His disciples had to
figure-out what that meant. Jesus instructed about a New Covenant and a change
in God's plan. So like I said, Christadelphian's ignore the gospel of grace and
forgiveness of sins; and instead major on the kingdom. You wrote,
>>Obviously an important element of their future message which Jesus said they
would convey to Jerusalem, to Judaea to Samaria and the uttermost part of the
world (Acts 1:3, 8). Men like Philip carried out that responsibility when he
went down into Samaria and preached "the things concerning the kingdom of God,
and the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:12)<<
Like I said, my concern is Christadelphian's focusing on "the Gospel of
the Kingdom" and ignoring "the gospel of the grace of
God" [Ac.20:24]. One can spend a life-time focused on His coming earthly
rule and miss out on salvation. Since the resurrection, the prominent fact is
that Christ was raised from the dead and gave His life for our sins. Hence
this gospel could not have been preached while our Lord was on earth. It
is carefully defined in I Cor.15:1-3 "I declare unto
you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand...how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures [the OT]
and was buried, and rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures." Don't over look this verse, but explain where I'm
wrong about it. Paul declares that he did not learn this gospel from man,
but from the risen Lord [Gal.1:11,12] "If an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel, let him be accursed." You wrote,
>>The apostle Paul preached the gospel at Ephesus for over 2 years (Eph. 1:13)
and his message was the "kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25)<<
Note vs.24, Paul says, "the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying
to the gospel of God's grace". That should be your Gospel. Christadelphianism
ignores this gospel and suggests good works saves us. You wrote,
>>All these were Gentiles, not Jews, who heard the gospel after the resurrection
of Jesus, and which was altogether appropriate because the gospel was never
intended to be restricted to Jews<<
Yes, the gospel [good news] of the grace of God is intended for all men, but
the gospel of the Kingdom was intended for the Jews [who rejected it]. The Jews
effectively said "We will not have this man to reign over us" [Lk.19:14 1:33].
You wrote,
>>Paul was imprisoned at Rome for two years during which time he "received ALL
that came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Acts 28:30-31). The kingdom of God and
name of Jesus Christ are an inseparable part of the same gospel message<<
What was this "same gospel message" in Act.28 ? Paul said, "..the
gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures
regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who
through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God BY
HIS RESURRECTION from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord" [Rom.1:2-4 see
also 1 Cor.15:1-3]. Ignore this gospel to your peril.
>>Paul preached the same gospel as did the Lord Jesus Christ and the same gospel
as that of Peter. Peter's message in Acts chapter 2 was not restricted to Jews,
it was directed to "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord" (Acts 2:21).
That this reference includes Gentiles is confirmed by Paul himself (Romans
10:11,12) and Peter in reference to Cornelius (Acts10:43)<<
Surprisingly Paul and Peter didn't preach an identical message to that of
Jesus. They had to revaluate it in the light of what had happened to Him. And
differentiate what He had said to Israel and what He said to the disciples. When
Peter said, "whosever" he was speaking to the Jews [Ac.2:5,14], indicating
primarily the "promise is unto you [Hebrews]
and your children" [Ac.2:39]. The
Gentiles had not yet embraced the message. Why else would Peter say this? -
Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man
accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you
through him, as you yourselves know" Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all Israel be
assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ."
So Paul wrote the Gospel was "to the Jews first" [Rom.1:16 2:10]. When they had
not accepted it the Holy Spirit turned to the Samaritans [Ac.8:5,12] and then to
the Gentiles [Ac.10:45].
You remind me of the college professor who reads, studies and teachers the Bible
[has knowledge] yet has never trusted Christ as Saviour [no Spiritual birth]. So
you can't be sure you have eternal life.
You spend your entire letter on 'the gospel', yet don't know the Good News
of Grace of God. Ron, it won't work; you will never get to heaven by good
works. You wrote,
>>As you noted, Paul received the gospel from the risen Lord (Gal.1:11,12) and
it was the same gospel that was preached to Abraham (Gal.3:8) and involved ALL
nations - "In thee shall all nations be blessed". When Jesus was born God was
remembering His covenant which He made to Abraham (Luke 1:68-73) - a reference
to Gen.22:16-18). The gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of grace, because it
is a gospel of faith - "they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham" again "If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heir according
to the promise" (Gal.3:9,29)<<
The significance of Lk.1:68-73 & Gen.22:16-18 was that the Gospel was to be
realised at an appointed period [Jn.1:17]. Although the Jews hoped He would,
"...rescue us from the hand of our enemies" [Luke 1:74], yet that was not the
Gospel. Christ's coming was "to give knowledge of salvation...by the remission
of...sins" [Lk.1:77]. That stamps the spiritual nature of the salvation intended
and explains Lk.1:71,74. Abraham's experience was one of faith [Gal.3:6-7], but
the message of the kingdom relates to the law ["not of faith" Gal.3:12], which
also relates to Israel. The kingdom agreement depended Israel's covenant keeping
and receiving the Messiah [Rom.10:21]. The Good News of the new agreement is all
nations can enjoy God's unconditional love. God has not finished with Israel
[Rom.11:1 7-12] Jesus will one day establish the kingdom but the Church needs to
proclaim the Gospel of John 3:16. You wrote,
>>There is much that can be said about the remainder of your comments but you
seem to believe that to disagree with your views is a sign of a closed mind.
Before I comment further I would be interested in your comments on the above<<
It's Christadelphian's who think they are the only true church. But I'm
looking forward now to you answering the rest of my letter, then we shall see
who has a closed-mind. Particularly when you start telling me how you will
save yourself. R.Roberts makes a list of "conditions" to keep, without which
there is NO salvation. These 'conditions' bind followers to your sect. And there
are the hidden conditions, which clutter the list, not to mention those who
'cannot be saved' [pg.226-240 "Christendom Astray" Birmingham 1984]. Roberts got
these from Thomas [Elpis Israel pg.260-261]. H. Tennant wrote, "This work of
salvation continues throughout the life of the disciple. He is saved finally
because he has held fast to the lifeline secured in Christ" [pg.212 "The
Christadelphian's What they Believe and Teach" Birmingham 1986].
Many religious people [like yourself] think they can live a good life and do
what their 'church' leaders say they, then they will have earned their way to
heaven. Unfortunately, the Bible does not allow anyone to earn his way to
heaven. The Scriptures teach that good works have nothing to do with one
entering into a right relationship with God. This relationship is nothing we can
earn, because God has done everything for us.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us.
Eph 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can
boast.
If our salvation was on the basis of works and we could earn it successfully,
God would be our debtor: He would owe us something [Rom.4:1-3]. The Bible
teaches that God owes no man anything, and our righteousness is as filthy rags
[Isa.64:6]. The simple reason is that God has a perfect standard and all of us
have sinned and come short of this mark [Rom.3:23]. We like to compare ourselves
to others and thus we feel that we are not so bad after all. But God compares us
to Jesus Christ and next to Him we cannot help but fall far short, all of us,
without exception. Hope to hear from you in due course.
Regards
Mark Purchase