Is the gospel just grace?

[Open Heart]

The following is an article about the Pope's environmental encyclical, Laudato Si:

Pope Francis Doesn’t Get The Gospel
By telling people their spirituality is measured by what they do, Pope Francis in his recent encyclical rejects the central message of the gospel: grace.
​

I find this an absolutely appalling oversimplification (probably due to anti-catholic myopia). Yes, the heart of the gospel is Christ's atonement and salvation by grace, but that isn't the whole story. There is a lot in the new testament about obedience and refraining from sin. And how can we refrain from sin when we are not taught what sin is?

The essence of the mistake this evangelical author makes is that there is no place in his gospel for teaching right and wrong. Thank goodness the Pope believes differently. In an age where so many species are dying out, when resources are becoming scarce and contaminated by pollution, when our future is threatened by Climate Change, how are we to address this as Christians? What under these new circumstances is right and what is wrong? At least the Pope is on task trying to teach us.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

The following is an article about the Pope's environmental encyclical, Laudato Si:

Pope Francis Doesn’t Get The Gospel
By telling people their spirituality is measured by what they do, Pope Francis in his recent encyclical rejects the central message of the gospel: grace.
​

I find this an absolutely appalling oversimplification (probably due to anti-catholic myopia). Yes, the heart of the gospel is Christ's atonement and salvation by grace, but that isn't the whole story. There is a lot in the new testament about obedience and refraining from sin. And how can we refrain from sin when we are not taught what sin is?

The essence of the mistake this evangelical author makes is that there is no place in his gospel for teaching right and wrong. Thank goodness the Pope believes differently. In an age where so many species are dying out, when resources are becoming scarce and contaminated by pollution, when our future is threatened by Climate Change, how are we to address this as Christians? What under these new circumstances is right and what is wrong? At least the Pope is on task trying to teach us.

In reading the letter of James in where it is said Faith without works is dead, it appears Pope Francis is applying this to the global economy.

I find using what the bible describes love to be as a good replacement for the tree of knowing good and evil, still aptly gets the point across.

The first passage I like to use is in Romans Chapter 13 it sums up any commandment in one brief saying that love does not harm their neighbour, so in making laws and a "global order" one must ask .. how can one create an economy and way of life that does not harm others? at the very least .. it is a good place to start.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Is the gospel only about being born again? No, it is about the new life with Jesus and the restoration of all things, in which we are first fruits .. it is written also in Romans that the creation subject to frustration waits for the children of God, the creation is waiting for us to be what we really are .. and no longer conform to the pattern of this broken world, so that we might restore it.

 

[Steeno7]

The following is an article about the Pope's environmental encyclical, Laudato Si:

Pope Francis Doesn’t Get The Gospel
By telling people their spirituality is measured by what they do, Pope Francis in his recent encyclical rejects the central message of the gospel: grace.
​

I find this an absolutely appalling oversimplification (probably due to anti-catholic myopia). Yes, the heart of the gospel is Christ's atonement and salvation by grace, but that isn't the whole story. There is a lot in the new testament about obedience and refraining from sin. And how can we refrain from sin when we are not taught what sin is?

The essence of the mistake this evangelical author makes is that there is no place in his gospel for teaching right and wrong. Thank goodness the Pope believes differently. In an age where so many species are dying out, when resources are becoming scarce and contaminated by pollution, when our future is threatened by Climate Change, how are we to address this as Christians? What under these new circumstances is right and what is wrong? At least the Pope is on task trying to teach us.

The Gospel is ALL about the grace of God. It is ALL about Jesus Christ and what He has done for sinners. And Christianity is not morality.

 

[Open Heart]

The Gospel is ALL about the grace of God. It is ALL about Jesus Christ and what He has done for sinners. And Christianity is not morality.

So the apostles were wrong to teach their congregations right and wrong? Paul was mistaken for including passages on right and wrong in his epistles?

 

[Steeno7]

So the apostles were wrong to teach their congregations right and wrong? Paul was mistaken for including passages on right and wrong in his epistles?

God is Good, and what God is only God is. Any time we manifest genuine goodness it is derived out of the character of God, expressed and enacted by the power and grace of God. Whenever we see admonitions exhorting us to "know good" and to "do good" we must always remember that the dynamic for doing so is the grace of God in Christ.

 

[Open Heart]

God is Good, and what God is only God is. Any time we manifest genuine goodness it is derived out of the character of God, expressed and enacted by the power and grace of God. Whenever we see admonitions exhorting us to "know good" and to "do good" we must always remember that the dynamic for doing so is the grace of God in Christ.

You didn't answer my question, so I'll try again. Was it a mistake for Paul and the other apostles to teach their congregations right from wrong?

 

[Soyeong]

I was just talking yesterday about how there is too much focus on justification and not enough focus on sanctification. Justification is just the beginning of the Christian walk, whereas sanctification is how we live out the rest of it as we are made to be more like Christ in how he thought and acted in obedience to God.

 

[Open Heart]

I was just talking yesterday about how there is too much focus on justification and not enough focus on sanctification. Justification is just the beginning of the Christian walk, whereas sanctification is how we live out the rest of it as we are made to be more like Christ in how he thought and acted in obedience to God.

Sounds like you are ready to become a Catholic. j/k

 

[Shane R]

The gospel is the 'gospel of the kingdom', and the kingdom is a society, and a society has a way of living. Thus, the gospel calls us out of one way of living to another - principally worship and charity.

 

[Tangible]

The gospel is the 'gospel of the kingdom', and the kingdom is a society, and a society has a way of living. Thus, the gospel calls us out of one way of living to another - principally worship and charity.

It depends on your definition of 'gospel'. In one sense, especially in Lutheran circles, the Gospel is only and always the good news about what God has done for us and for our salvation. Period.

It is the Law that tells us how we should live, what we should do, and how to love our neighbor. Ultimately we will always fail under the law, yet through the works done by God through Christians (and non-Christians) working in our daily tasks under the law the whole world is blessed.

So in a sense, the Law is good news too, up to a certain point. It is good for civil righteousness, for righteousness before men, for blessing those around us. But when it comes to justification, the Law only accuses us for our many failures under the law, and rightfully condemns us as sinners before a holy God, sinners in need of a Savior.

 

[Steeno7]

I was just talking yesterday about how there is too much focus on justification and not enough focus on sanctification. Justification is just the beginning of the Christian walk, whereas sanctification is how we live out the rest of it as we are made to be more like Christ in how he thought and acted in obedience to God.

Both justification and sanctification are God’s work. Both are gifts of our union with Christ...justification being the root of sanctification and sanctification the fruit of justification. Moralism happens when we separate the fruit from the root. Sanctification is the justified life.

 

[Wordkeeper]

Sounds like you are ready to become a Catholic. j/k

On tWeb, he calls himself a new messianic Jew. Circumcision, Sabbath, all required!

 

[Open Heart]

On tWeb, he calls himself a new messianic Jew. Circumcision, Sabbath, all required!

As a Hebrew Catholic who keeps Torah as well as my Catholic obligations, I say he should feel right at home.

 

[Wordkeeper]

As a Hebrew Catholic who keeps Torah as well as my Catholic obligations, I say he should feel right at home.

So this is insignificant or not worth considering:

Galatians 5:2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.


Galatians 5:4You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.


?

 

[hedrick]

The Gospel is ALL about the grace of God. It is ALL about Jesus Christ and what He has done for sinners. And Christianity is not morality.

Tell that to Jesus. He demanded obedience, and said quite clearly that we will all be accountable. He didn't emphasize what many people mean by morality, but he did say that we'd be judged based on whether we make a difference for other people (or negatively, abuse them).

He also said that God won't give up on us, and goes out of his way to reach us. The grace part. But you can't take just one of his emphases and ignore the other.

 

[Steeno7]

Tell that to Jesus. He demanded obedience, and said quite clearly that we will all be accountable. He didn't emphasize what many people mean by morality, but he did say that we'd be judged based on whether we make a difference for other people (or negatively, abuse them).

He also said that God won't give up on us, and goes out of his way to reach us. The grace part. But you can't take just one of his emphases and ignore the other.

Mans response to the gospel is not part of the gospel.

 

[Soyeong]

On tWeb, he calls himself a new messianic Jew. Circumcision, Sabbath, all required!

I'm not sure about your screenname there, but I have said the the Sabbath is required, not circumcision. And just Messianic Judaism is fine.

So this is insignificant or not worth considering:

Galatians 5:2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

Galatians 5:4You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

?

Roughly 80% of males in the US are circumcised and the majority of them are Gentiles, so does that me that Christ is of no value to them? No, the problem was not with circumcision, but with the reason why they were becoming circumcised, namely that they were trying to become justified be becoming circumcised and keeping the law. By trying trying to become justified by a means other than by faith in Jesus they were rejecting what he did for them and thus he was of no value to them. It was an important distinction that we need to keep the law because we are justified, not in order to become justified.

 

[Berean777]

...

 

[Open Heart]

So this is insignificant or not worth considering:

Galatians 5:2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.


Galatians 5:4You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.


?

I have no problems with those verses. Just as faith without works is dead, works without faith are futile. And neither faith nor works would be worth a cent if it weren't for God's grace.

In the verses you are quoting, Paul is advising Gentiles that they do not need to observe Mosaic law. I agree. Mosaic law was given to Jews, not to gentiles. I follow Torah as a Jew, not because I can be saved apart from grace, but because the only appropriate response to that grace is a life of trust and obedience.