May God bless you Mark. It is clear, as it is in the Beatitudes and everything esle Jesus says in the Gospels, that what we do matters to God even though He died for all our sins.
Jesus preached works-based salvation. The NT preaches works-based salvation. It states in no uncertain terms that we will be judged for our deeds. And Matthew 25 tells us what that Judgment will be.
But the Reformed will tell you that Paul says otherwise. Does Paul trump Christ?
***May God bless you Mark.***
He has and in more ways than I could possibly relate. One particular blessing is the opportunity to participate here on the RF and learn great religious lessons at the feet of my theological betters.
***It is clear, as it is in the Beatitudes and everything esle Jesus says in the Gospels, that what we do matters to God even though He died for all our sins. ***
Jesus laid it all out how people were to behave and why before He even revealed the upcoming Passion. The time after the Resurrection were mostly spent in instructing the Apostles and preparing them for Pentecost.
***Jesus preached works-based salvation. The NT preaches works-based salvation. It states in no uncertain terms that we will be judged for our deeds. And Matthew 25 tells us what that Judgment will be.***
Where our Reformed brethren don’t get it is that they claim that we work our own way into Heaven. As I posted previously, we must have God’s Grace to even get onto the Way. Without that, we have no possibility of salvation.
***But the Reformed will tell you that Paul says otherwise. Does Paul trump Christ?***
No, but as one delves further and further into Pauline verse, one may understand more deeply that Paul does what he does in order to cudgel the heretic churches into order. He had the toughest of the bunch to start out with - they were not Jews and didn’t think like Jews or have the basic understandings of Jews. They were pagan and had to have themselves corrected, sometimes rather seriously.
Paul really doesn’t contradict Jesus or Peter or James. The Church is plain - they are all Scripture and must all be accomodated. They are all correct, from a theological point of view.