Proclaiming
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
(Of both blood and body aspects)
Email: kgww-@tpg.com.au NOTE. When using this email address, please remove the dash (-) before the @ otherwise the email will not work. This dash is there to stop search engines picking up my true email address and bombarding me with useless emails.
If I were now asked
to explain the Gospel and full effect of the cross of Jesus Christ,
· How would I explain it?
·
How would I compare it with traditional descriptions and teachings
of the Gospel?
The
emphasis on the word now, means that I now have a
different view of the Gospel, that view adding to what I already knew, and
completing the whole story. I must say
right here that this is not some weird made up gospel – ‘some other gospel’ as
Paul puts it – but simply reveals what the Bible says in full. Although I believed I knew the Gospel well, I
now consider my previous view somewhat incomplete, partly in knowledge, but
mostly in the full application of the doctrine of the cross to my life as God
intended.
The
title for this study - The Blood and Body Gospel – is indicative of the nature
of the study. Further clues as to the use of the title can be taken from the
examples of the role of the blood and body of the lamb in the Passover and in
the remembrance of Christ in the eating of the bread ( body ) and drinking of
the cup ( blood ) in the Lord’s supper.
I
am going to contend that the blood aspect of the cross (dealing with sins),
which is generally taught well in evangelical churches, is incomplete when the
body aspect of the cross (dealing with sin) is not also known, taught and lived
by believers. In fact, I would contend
that it is not possible to live the Christian life from the blood aspect alone,
because it only addresses the issue of sins and their forgiveness and does not
fully recognize the sin / body aspect on
the living of the present life. This
leads to all sorts of difficulties such as powerless living, self-effort and
the difficulties in having and applying true biblical faith.
I
want to also say at the beginning that I did not work all this out myself. Yes, I have searched for a long time, and
been down many an endless path. But the
Lord, after initially enlightening me Himself, has now graced my life with
several others who have guided me through the scriptural principles
involved. Also the Holy Spirit has now
graciously revealed His truth to my heart – and is still so doing. Fortunately, one of my endless paths had
not been so far away from the real and full truth.
Even
in this synopsis I must emphasize the vital and fundamental role of the Holy
Spirit. In my experience it is quite
impossible to understand these things at a knowing level of our spirit, without
the Spirit’s teaching. Intellectual
knowledge alone will not and cannot make these things work in any life. It is only the Holy Spirit that can teach us
and bring about the experiential knowing that is required to operate in these
ways intended by God.
One
caution. I have found these things to
come to me in a knowing sense, only via the Holy Spirit. I believe that one may
read and study such things intellectually, think we know them and think we live
them out, but until such time as the Spirit of God reveals them, then we really
do not know them. So I would suggest
readers use the study to get to know the information in their mind, then seek
and allow the Spirit of God to make it real in their experience. That is one of the aspects of walking by
faith. I would advise against any
Christian who finds the material is this study to be new or partly new to them
– especially the body aspect of the cross, not to attempt to use it to teach
others until the Holy Spirit has taught them first. Academic knowledge of such things is pretty
useless without the revealing of it to one’s heart, heart revelation being
needed before one could ever teach it from their heart.
Finally,
this study has been written with Christians in mind. This is not to say that unbelievers might not
get to understand it with the help of a believer or with the help of the Holy
Spirit in prayer. With God, nothing is
impossible.
C
o n t e n t s
1 What
was Paul’s experience of ministering the Gospel?
2 Salvation
is full and complete
3 The
blood aspect of the cross.
4 The
body aspect of the cross.
5 How
can this be applied to my life?
Conclusion of basic
study
6 Issues
related to this study – in question and answer format
Details of these are at the end of the
study.
When
the prophet Daniel was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar to interpret a dream
for the King, he said to Nebuchadnezzar A....there is a God in heaven who
reveals secrets.@ (the word mysteries
is used in some versions)
Some
650 years later the Apostle Paul wrote of the mystery of the Gospel, one of
God’s most important mysteries, when he stated,
“the mystery which has been hidden
from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To
them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory.” Col. 1:26-27 (NKJV)
Notice
the nature of the mystery. “Christ
in you”
He
then extended the explanation of the mystery by adding:
“When Christ who is our life appears,
then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:4 (NKJV)
The
extended explanation is, “Christ who is our life”
So
this mystery has a duality. Christ
in us and Christ our life. So
Paul was saying that this Christ, whose Spirit had re-birthed us at our
regeneration, was actually in us and was our
actual life. We (as our old
man – old self – the word self used in some modern bibles is both incorrect and
misleading – see later discussion) no longer lived. Christ now lived His life
in us. Other parts of scripture also
indicate that the old man was dead and that this new life of Christ was in us AS
our new life.
Galatians
“I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal.
So we can
say that: By faith
in Jesus, our old life is gone
and He lives in us, as our actual
life!
To
many in the Christian church, from my observations, these teachings remain
somewhat of a mystery. To some, these
things are more or less ignored and others, whilst they might give a lip
service to them in partial understanding, do not know or have not experienced
the full practical effect of this teaching in their lives. Still others, whilst they might know
something of the principles, have not allowed the Holy Spirit, or cooperated
with Him, to bring about the spiritual changes needed. Others still may have intellectually known
all the doctrine but not known what to do with it. Knowing and experiencing the
ways of the Spirit in these things is essential. The true and full Christian life cannot be
lived without it!
The
blood aspect of the cross is well known and well taught in most true
evangelical churches. We are born again, regenerated, have our sins forgiven,
saved from eternal death, justified before God and adopted by Him, receive
eternal life, made righteous, reconciled to God, redeemed, sanctified and
preserved by God.
But
when it comes to being dead to sin, freed from sin, no longer slaves of sin,
dead to law, our old man, having been
crucified with Christ, the church somehow cannot, and generally does not teach
how to apply these biblical facts by faith, as well as they do those relating
to being born again – the blood aspect of the cross. Consequently, it does not teach that it is
possible to receive the full benefits of the cross that scripture
describes. There seem to be very few
men and women of faith who have known to stand on all the correct biblical
facts long enough for the Spirit of God to work, to make these things known in
their personal experience. True biblical faith is required to do that. The church does not seem to teach to allow
for the receiving by faith of the full benefits of the cross, which are:
When
reading the above points, some readers may consider there to be a conflict
between the views expressed and the traditions or ‘isms of their own
denomination. Be patient! For what is
said here is what the Bible itself says and will be fully explained. To avoid or not consider these explanations
is to miss out on the full truth of the Gospel, which much of the church has
done for centuries.