Are any of these items unbiblical?
1- believe in Jesus Christ
2- have faith in Jesus Christ
3- repent of your sins
4- be baptized for the remission of sins
5- receive the Holy Ghost
6- keep Jesus's commandments
7- partake the Lord's supper
8- have charity
9- love your Jesus and your fellow man
10- do good works
11- have humility
12- pay a tithing unto the Lord
Would Jesus be unhappy if we did these 12 things?
Would Jesus be unhappy if we did not do these 12 things?
Biblical =/= Gospel. The Gospel is biblical, but not everything written in the Bible is Gospel. The Gospel is a very specific thing, completely distinct and separate from the Law.
The Bible contains two kinds of words: Law and Gospel.
Law = What we are supposed to do, and do not do on account of sin.
Gospel = What God has promised and accomplished for us already, apart from ourselves.
1- Believe in Jesus Christ
2- have faith in Jesus Christ
Faith in Christ is a gift from God apart from ourselves, Ephesians 2:8. As faith "comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17)
3-repent of your sins
Indeed, the Law brings knowledge of sin, and therefore sorrow and grief over sin, because of its condemnation of sin (Romans 3:20), by which we know "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Repentance does not come as an obedience which makes just, but as the searing conscience before the just and holy Law of God. And so repentance becomes the practice of the Christian, for in the struggle between the old man and the new, as the Apostle clearly states in Romans 7, concerning the good he wants to do but doesn't do, and the evil he doesn't want to do but does anyway--for the old man must die, and the new man must live; and so the Law condemns the old, the Gospel gives life to the new. And while alive in this "body of death" we are wretches, beggars, before God in the daily death of repentance. Earning nothing, but receiving everything as pure gift.
4-be baptized for the remission of sins
And this is not law, but gift. As the Apostle says, "don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Romans 6:3) Baptism is not law which must be performed, but Sacrament through which God works to create faith, offer the Holy Spirit, and appropriate to us the finished work of Jesus Christ. For here in Baptism we receive forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are buried and dead with Christ and raised up with Him, have been clothed with Christ and His righteousness, received new birth, etc. Because here the sinner, helpless and hapless, is given birth from God as pure unmerited grace. For God works through His Word and Sacraments to accomplish His good purposes.
5-receive the Holy Ghost
Again, a gift, apart from our works. We receive the Holy Spirit as a gift, as St. Peter says in Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit", and also we read from St. Paul, "In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and trusted in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit," (Ephesians 1:13), the Spirit works through and is given through God's Means of Grace, namely Word and Sacrament, as we see in these passages. Thus receiving of the Holy Spirit is not a thing we accomplish, but which God accomplishes as grace, pure gift, apart from ourselves, through His Means. That by the preaching of the Gospel, and by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we receive the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the promised Paraclete, who dwells in us, and by Whom we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (for "no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3) and by Whom we can cry out "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6)
6- keep Jesus' commandments
Yes, that is Law, not Gospel. The Law is given to instruct in righteousness, but on account of sin condemns sinners, for the Law (as already stated) brings knowledge of sin. So what does the Law do? Show us that we are righteous, far from it, instead it shows us that we are not righteous. For Christ our God has commanded, "Love your neighbor" but we do not do it. You are a contemptible sinner in the sight of the Law, and under the commandments of God are found to be a sinful wretch. And if you do not know this, if you do not accept this, then you are faithless, because as St. John has said, "If we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" and we call God a liar (1 John 1:8,10)
7-partake of the Lord's Supper,
Yes, but why do we do this? Why do we, passive beggars, receive this humble meal of bread and wine? That we might demonstrate our righteousness? No, because here "is My body broken for you" and "the cup of the New Covenant in My blood".
8- have charity
9- love your Jesus and your fellow man
10- do good works
See above concerning the Law.
11- have humility
For no servant is greater than his master. "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)
12- pay a tithing unto the Lord
Tithing was the practice under the Covenant established through Moses. No such commandment exists for the Church. On the contrary, as Christians we are called to a life of generosity and cheerful giving. We do not "give tithes", we offer our time, resources, and things freely. For the Apostle says, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7). We give because we have and there are those who do not have. This is the Way of Christ.
-CryptoLutheran
