Paul Preached A Lot of Law

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hyper grace, john crowder hyper grace, michael brown

The Hyper-Grace or Contemporary Grace Movement has infiltrated many of the Charismatic/Pentecostal ministries I pay attention to (by my wording you can see that I consider this a negative). This movement is focused on what Christ has done for us, which is good, but insists on too strong a division between law and grace.

Since Paul’s letters are essentially the sole source of Hyper-Grace teaching, I thought it would be interesting to see how many do’s and don’ts (laws or commandments) Paul wrote in his letters. Using my Bible software I searched for imperatives per letter, wrote the number down, and then subtracted out things that we wouldn’t consider general commands like “Greet John” or “bring my scrolls.” I came up with 336 do’s and don’ts in Paul’s letters. This isn’t a scientific study, the numbers might be too high in some letters and too low in others, this is intended to give a general sense.  For some perspective here, there are 613 commandments in the Mosaic Law. To be clear, Paul does not teach adherence to the Mosaic covenant. He does, however, tell believers what to do and what not to do, over and over and over.

Now when you hear people condemning a certain preacher for teaching do’s and don’ts you can confidently respond that the preacher is following the Apostle Paul’s example.

	Imperatives	Exceptions	Do’s and Don’t’s
Romans	62	23	39
1 Cor	99	3	96
2 Cor	25	8	17
Gal	21	9	12
Eph	41	0	41
Phil	26	3	23
Col	29	6	23
1 Thes	21	2	19
2 Thes	7	0	7
1 Tim	28	5	23
2 Tim	30	6	24
Titus	14	2	12
Philemon	4	4	0
Total	407	71	336

 

 

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Your Local Church is Important, But It’s Not Everything

Ekklesia, the Greek word typically translated church, occurs 115 times in the New Testament. Here are the four occurrences, which clearly refer to individual congregations:

Rom 16:5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.

1 Cor 16:19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

Col 4:15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Philemon 1:2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house.

You could expand this list a bit to include verses about church assemblies, for example, Paul’s instructions on prophecy during gatherings in 1 Corinthians 14 (though that’s more applicable to a modern small group). When “church” is mentioned in the New Testament, the author is almost always referring to all believers everywhere or believers in a geographic area.

In the Western church, we have a tendency to focus too much on the church we attend. We look at Christians who attend other congregations differently. We think of growing our congregation instead of growing the believers in it (they aren’t mutually exclusive, of course). Can you imagine Paul instructing Prisca to lay down her life for the church in her house? The people, yes, but the place and the organizational structure? I can’t imagine that. As you can see, the verses that mention individual congregations give them no theological weight as an entity in themselves.

Local assemblies, and the structures that go with them, are absolutely necessary. They are where believers gather to worship together: to sing to God, to hear his Word, and to receive the sacraments. Hopefully, they are also where church discipline, pastoral care, and spiritual gifts are exercised. But they are a small part of the larger picture; after all, there are several hundred thousand churches in the US alone.

Considering praying for the Pope as a regular practice, or attend a prayer meeting at another church in your town, or connect with a believer who goes to a different church.

John 17:22-23 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Best Foundational Books on Christianity

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best Christian books, essential Christian books

People are busy these days. Most don’t have time, or inclination, to wade through the mountain of Christian books to find the gems. Therefore, below, I’ve made a list of the most important Christian books I know of after the Bible. My goal for this list is to thoroughly cover the fundamental teachings of Christianity in the most accessible and succinct manner possible.

Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves (135 pages)
Nothing is more important than God, and this is the best practical and accessible book on the triune God I know of.

A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Jesus Christ by Mark Jones (76 pages)
Deep and devotional book about Jesus, focusing on Jesus himself instead of what he does for us, though Jones covers that as well.

The Drama of Scripture by Bartholomew and Goheen (213 pages)
An introduction to the Bible story and our place in it.

Creation Regained by Albert Wolters (143 pages)
Presents a Christian view of the world organized around the Bible story of creation, fall and redemption.

Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga (202 pages)
Why sin is bad. Very important as secular forces influence our lives more and more.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief by John Frame (1280 pages)
This book presents the most important subjects in Christianity in one place in an understandable and devotional way. This one blows my page limit out of the water, but it’s so good I had to include it. Besides, you don’t have to sit down and read through the whole thing; you can dip in at different points.

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney (304 pages)
Knowledge is important, but the goal is a changed life and right worship. This is the best book on spiritual growth I’ve read, sound and intensely practical.

Honorary mention: Thinking in Tongues by James K A Smith (192 pages)
Presents a Pentecostal worldview in a sound way, but didn’t make the main list because it is a difficult read. But if you feel you are up for the challenge go for it.