The Teachings of Paul (TOP)

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
TOP #273: The Old Covenant is set aside because salvation via law was imperfect, and it is replaced via Jesus by a better New Covenant able to save completely. [Heb. 7:18-25, 8:6-13, 10:1-9] In Heb. 8:8-12 Paul (?) quoted Jer. 31:31-34, and in 8:13 he called the OC “obsolete” and soon to disappear. In Heb. 10:1 he called the OC a shadow of the coming NC. Another way of saying this truth is that the NC surpassed (Matt. 5:20) and superseded the OC.

TOP #274: The OC Levitical sacrifices were ceremonial external regulations applicable until the NC was revealed. [Heb. 9:9-10] Such regulations should not be confused with moral teachings reaffirmed by the NT but done/effectuated via willing cooperation with the Holy Spirit's love rather than by obedience of dictatorial laws.
 
TOP #275: Jesus mediated the NC by offering himself as the unblemished sacrifice for the sins of those who are called. [Heb. 9:11-26, 10:10-18] Paul called Christ’s atonement a “ransom” and noted that without the shedding of Christ’s blood there would be no forgiveness.

Jesus said in Matt. 22:14 that many are called, and in John 12:32 that when he was crucified, he would draw all of humanity to believe in him. However, God allows souls to ignore/resist His drawing/calling, because He created humans with volition, not mere robots (Matt. 23:37).
 
Just a reminder that as I share this study of the TOP, comments are welcome. I am aware that Paul did not sign Hebrews, but I know of no better candidate for the authorship of this great epistle than the least of the apostles.

TOP #276: Christ’s sacrifice made perfect forever those who are being made holy. [Heb. 9:26-28, 10:10-15] Just as each soul will die once and then be judged, so also Christ was sacrificed once to bring salvation. Paul did not dwell on the fate of those judged to be anti-Christ.

The emphasis of this teaching is on the one sacrifice being salvific for all humanity, presumably efficacious reaching back to the beginning, indicated by mention of the Holy Spirit inspiring Jeremiah.

Verse 14 teaches via two tenses both that righteousness is imputed at conversion and that converts need to strive for actual righteous behavior the rest of their lives.

Verse 18 means “…there is no longer any further or additional sacrifice for sin needed". There is no salvation via works or obeying moral laws, although moral behavior results from being saved because the Holy Spirit leads believers.
 
TOP #277: Christians may have confidence or assurance of God’s forgiveness of their sins as they persevere in professing faith in Christ, do loving deeds and encourage each other in meetings. [Heb. 10:19-31, 12:1-3] However, if Christians deliberately continue to sin, then they will be punished in hell as enemies of God. This TOP combines #267 & 264.

>>>TOP #264: Believers may commit apostasy. [Heb. 3:6-4:11, 6:4-6, 10:19-39, 2Pet. 2:20-21] Apostates will never repent, and thus it must be the unpardonable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit referred to by Jesus in Matt. 12:31-32.

>>>TOP #267: Believers should be confident that they are saved and may pray to God. [Heb. 4:16] This is called walking by faith in 2Cor. 5:7.

TOP #278: Faith enables us to be sure or certain of our unseen hope for heaven. [Heb. 11:1-3] This verse should be harmonized with 2Cor. 5:7 in order to avoid misinterpretation. Faith serves as spiritual eyesight by providing understanding of ultimate truth (Heb. 11:2&4-40, cf. TOJ #182).

>>>TOP #119: Although we live by faith that we will go to heaven rather than by sight or already being there, God’s Holy Spirit gives us confidence and motivates us to please the Lord as we await the Judgment. [2Cor. 5:1-10, 2Tim. 1:12, Heb. 9:27] This TOP combines several others regarding saving faith (#4&20), immortality in heaven (#111&113), the gift of the Holy Spirit (#24&27), cooperating with God (#105&106) and the day of Judgment (#19&83).
 
TOP #278: Faith enables us to be sure or certain of our unseen hope for heaven. [Heb. 11:1-3] This verse should be harmonized with 2Cor. 5:7 in order to avoid misinterpretation. Faith serves as spiritual eyesight by providing understanding of ultimate truth (Heb. 11:2&4-40, cf. TOJ #182).

>>>TOP #119: Although we live by faith that we will go to heaven rather than by sight or already being there, God’s Holy Spirit gives us confidence and motivates us to please the Lord as we await the Judgment. [2Cor. 5:1-10, 2Tim. 1:12, Heb. 9:27] This TOP combines several others regarding saving faith (#4&20), immortality in heaven (#111&113), the gift of the Holy Spirit (#24&27), cooperating with God (#105&106) and the day of Judgment (#19&83).

TOP #279: Faith pleases God, who rewards those who earnestly or genuinely seek Him with salvation. [Heb. 11:6&13-16] This is TOJ #44 (cf. #49). Pre-NT Gospel believers are saved because they sought the Way to heaven.

>>>TOJ #44: Ask/seek/knock. [Matt. 7:7-11/Luke 11:9-13] These three synonyms are three, four and five letter words for GRFS. Ask what is true, seek salvation, and knock on heaven’s door. (See Heb. 11:6) The parallel passage in Luke makes this clear, because instead of “good gifts” it says the Holy Spirit will be given to those who ask. (See TOJ #182.) Thus, sincerely seeking salvation is regarded by God as righteousness (cf. Rom. 4:3), probably because God knows that were a seeker given the opportunity to hear the gospel, he/she would believe and be saved or sanctified {John 17:17}.

A soul enters the path of salvation at the moment he/she decides to ask/seek/knock (2Thes. 2:10), but all primitive paths eventually converge onto the highway to heaven at the point of accepting Christ (TOJ #49). Jam. 1:5&17 teaches this truth in terms of wisdom.
Its converse is that those who are not truth-seekers will not LGW/satisfy GRFS. {Matt. 21:24-27//Mark 11:29-33//Luke 20:3-8, Matt. 22:18//Mark 12:15//Luke 20:23-24}
 
TOP #279: Faith pleases God, who rewards those who earnestly or genuinely seek Him with salvation. [Heb. 11:6&13-16] This is TOJ #44 (cf. #49). Pre-NT Gospel believers are saved because they sought the Way to heaven.

>>>TOJ #44: Ask/seek/knock. [Matt. 7:7-11/Luke 11:9-13] These three synonyms are three, four and five letter words for GRFS. Ask what is true, seek salvation, and knock on heaven’s door. (See Heb. 11:6) The parallel passage in Luke makes this clear, because instead of “good gifts” it says the Holy Spirit will be given to those who ask. (See TOJ #182.) Thus, sincerely seeking salvation is regarded by God as righteousness or saving faith (cf. Rom. 4:3), probably because God knows that were a seeker given the opportunity to hear the gospel, he/she would believe and be saved or sanctified {John 17:17}.

Jam. 1:5&17 teaches this truth in terms of wisdom. Its converse is that those who are not truth-seekers will not LGW/satisfy GRFS. {Matt. 21:24-27//Mark 11:29-33//Luke 20:3-8, Matt. 22:18//Mark 12:15//Luke 20:23-24}
 
TOP #280: Abraham’s offer of his only son as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:1-18) prefigured or foreshadowed Christ. [Heb. 11:17-19, TOP #48] One might have expected Paul to say it foretold Christ’s atonement, but he goes beyond death to the crux of the cross in the context of TOP #111.

>>>TOP #111: The crux of the Gospel is that Christ has been raised from the dead. [1Cor. 15:12-20] Paul admitted (in v.19) that if Christ is not raised, then there is no hope of heaven. This admission implies that Paul knew for a fact that Christ was risen, presumably because of the Damascus Road experience (Acts. 9:1-19).

>>>Gen. 15:6. Abraham’s faith in the Lord was credited to him as righteousness. This was a major theme of the teaching of the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans (Rom. 4:3,9-12&16-17). This is why Paul teaches that a true Jew is one whose “circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Rom. 2:29). Thus, all who become one with Jesus are spiritual Jews and God’s chosen people (Eph. 2:13-3:6), although it is possible that the political nation of Israel may play a further role in history before the eschaton.

>>>Gen. 22:8. These words of Abraham to Isaac may be viewed as the first prophetic reference to Jesus (John 1:29), although they had an immediate fulfillment (in v.13). Many years later, Moses instituted the sacrificial system that also portrayed the future messianic atonement. Jesus instituted the observance of the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of the fact that His death fulfilled this system, so that NT believers no longer need to practice it (cf. Heb. 7:11-10:1).
 
TOP #281: Moses’ choice to be included in the people of God is equivalent to the cooperation with God of those who hear the Gospel and believe in Christ. [Heb. 11:24-28] Christ’s atonement is signified by the shedding of blood at the original Passover.

This is another passage in the vein of teachings about a provisional/foreshadowed or proto-Gospel being in effect until the NT atonement occurred and the full Gospel was revealed (TOP #10), and this chapter connects saving faith with cooperative deeds, even by Rahab (cf. TOP #28, 39, 48, 54, etc.).

>>>TOP #10: Although God’s creation reveals His power and love, godless people suppress truth and exchange it for the lie of idolatry. [Rom. 1:18-25, cf. #3] This is what Adam and Eve did (Gen. 3:1-7, cf. 2Thes. 2:10-13). Paul says men are without excuse, both because God’s eternal power and moral nature (love) are manifested by creation (Rom. 1:20). Apparently, creation combined with conscience or moral sense (Rom. 2:14-16) that manifests a moral Authority TOP #23)–and combined with OT law for the Jew (TOP #22)–serves as a provisional or proto-gospel (Col. 1:23, Rom. 10:13-18, Gal. 3:8), which is the revelational basis for divine salvation and judgment (TOP #24-26 & 281).

>>>TOP #48: The Gospel is revealed to everyone in the world in various ways. [Rom. 10:14-18] Other verses indicating this truth include Col. 1:23, Rom. 10:13-18 & Gal. 3:8 (cf. TOP #281). Apparently Paul affirms God revealed in creation (Rom. 1:20) and conscience (Rom. 2:14-16) or what has been termed “general revelation” as functioning as a provisional or proto-gospel as being sufficient for saving those who seek God and find Him via this means, so that souls are “without excuse”.
 
TOP #282: OT saints will not go to heaven or be made perfect until they join NT saints who are raptured. [Heb. 11:39-40] The rapture is TOP #213, and it involves bodily transfiguration per #114.

>>>TOP #213: The dead in Christ will rise first and be joined in the air by Christians who are living at that time. [1Thes. 4:13-18] Regarding the times and dates, “the end will come like a thief in the night” (1Thes. 5:1-4, cf. Matt. 24:36-44/TOJ #144), so the children of light (TOP #168) should be alert or ready rather than asleep or drunk (1Thes. 5:5-7).

>>>TOP #114: The resurrected body will be changed into a heavenly or immortal body. [1Cor. 15:35-54, Phil. 3:21] This transfiguration will happen in a flash (v.52).

>>>TOJ #144: Only God the Father knows when the end will come. [Matt. 24:36//Mark 13:32] Some people might find it disconcerting that Jesus could be mistaken or ignorant about the exact time salvation history will end, but they should realize that He was human (1Tim. 2:5) and had finite capabilities, which is the reason His moral perfection qualified Him to be Messiah (Heb. 2:17-18, 4:15, 5:7-9). If Jesus did not know, Believers in Him certainly should not be concerned with the date {Acts 1:7}. (See TOJ #57.)
 
TOP #283: The Lord disciplines those He loves for their good. [Heb. 12:5-13] By means of hardship and pain, God’s children learn to be righteous and share in His holiness.

I believe that experiencing suffering during earthly life enables saints to appreciate the joy of heaven.
IOW, everyone in heaven experiences the same blessings, but with various capacities called rewards in Scripture that correlate with spiritual development during earthly tribulation.
I also believe earthly learning teaches saints not to spurn the blessing of heaven like some of the angels are reported to have done,
so that tragedy will not be repeated.

TOP #284: Make every effort not to be godless like Esau and thereby commit apostasy. [Heb. 12:14-17]

This command harks back to Heb. 6:4-6 (TOP #270) and to the insight just shared about the fallen angels.

I also compare/apply this command forward to citizens in the USA who seem apathetic about losing
their God-given and hard-fought birthright/blessings of freedom to a Marxist-Islamist conquest.
 
TOP #285: The New Jerusalem is the Church of Christ that will be consummated at the Judgment. [Heb. 12:22-29] God’s “once more” or final judgment is signified by fire, and the fire that warms or saves and purifies believers (1Cor. 3:12-15) also burns or condemns to hell those who do not pass God’s test on earth.

“What cannot be shaken” is God’s kingdom, which includes all souls who cooperated with His plan of salvation by believing the Gospel of Christ on earth before dying. They will “remain” by being resurrected to eternal life and joy in heaven.

Yay! :love:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back