Olive Tree Congregation

by Paul J. Rico (paulrico@hotmail.com)

Our Responsibility to Diligently Study

2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (KJV) The first two phrases of 2 Tim 2:15 are self-explanatory, but the third phrase “rightly dividing the word of truth” needs to be clarified. Literally it means to cut it straight, an allusion to the Paul’s trade of being a tent maker. Tents, sails and awnings of the day generally were made of animals’ skins. The problem with using the animal skins is that they don’t come off the animals in perfect squares but rather have wacky shapes which fit the animals appendages: legs, neck, tails etc. In order to have a large piece of material which laid flat, draped straight and had no gapping holes a tentmaker needed to cut the skins straight for the multiple pieces to make one straight piece. This is our responsibility in dealing with scripture, to make the pieces fit together in the way that God intended, without overlapping contradictions or gapping holes in the theology that we believe and teach. The Word of God does not contradict itself, but it requires a master craftsman to work diligently to understand those things that are difficult to comprehend.

Salvation

The word “salvation” is used in many different ways in the Holy Scriptures. When a person sees the word “saved” or “salvation” one cannot automatically assume that it refers to or is concerning going to heaven instead of hell. Below are some examples, but not an exhaustive list.

• Noah was saved from the flood. Gen. 5 & 6 likewise Paul and his shipmates were saved from drowning when the ship was going down Acts 27:31
• Israel (nation) was saved from slavery in Egypt. Exodus 1-15
• David was saved from his enemies, including King Saul.
• Jonah was saved from drowning in the belly of the great fish. Also Peter, when he walked on water with Y’Shua.
• Women are saved in childbirth. 1 Tim 2:15
• The church is saved from judgment during the Great Tribulation.

People need to be saved from the errors of false teaching/prophets and from their love growing cold. Mt 24:13 This verse is commonly used to support false doctrines of good works for salvation from going to hell. This is in spite of the fact that the context of the passage is specifically talking about the dangers of false prophets, false messiahs and believers’ love growing cold from being deceived by false teaching. It’s ironic that false teachers use this very passage the warns us about them, to teach the very things that we are being warned to reject.

None of the (7) above includes being saved from the eternal consequences of sin or, more explicitly, from going to hell. Moreover being saved from sin has three primary aspects. To confuse all these (10) uses of the word “salvation” and “saved” is to be guilty of not rightly dividing the word of truth. Far too often Bible teachers can be heard telling people to practice what is included in sanctification (which also has three different aspects, to be covered in more detail later) as a method of obtaining justification. Beside the fact that this, in essence, is putting the cart before the horse, it turns the gospel into a works for salvation message. Salvation from the penalty of sin (hell): justification can either be by grace or by good works preformed by the individual not both. It cannot be both because works and grace are mutually exclusive (Rom 11:6) Salvation by works or a mix of works and grace becomes a false gospel and falls under the heading of legalism (defined as using law for an illegitimate purpose, that is a purpose not intended by God), which will be discussed after the following table. See highlighted subjects later in this paper.

Sanctification

Sanctification means to be made holy or set apart, especially for a special use or ownership. God owns those who He has created and bought back from slavery to sin by the death of Messiah. Sanctification has three aspects to it that are not easily inserted into the above chart. Those three aspects are 1) positional sanctification, 2) experiential sanctification and 3) ultimate sanctification. Positional sanctification occurs at the point of justification and is completed by God without effort on the part of the believer. It could therefore be placed in the first column under justification because when God justifies a person he also sets them apart for His personal use for the sake of holiness. Positionally a person is made holy at that point when God declares them justified (just as if they never sinned). This is also called a person’s standing before God, not to be confused with the state within a believer lives. Ultimate sanctification occurs when a person is glorified because they are no longer in the presence of sin, the flesh, the evil world system and the devil. Ultimate sanctification could be placed in the glorification column. The aspect of sanctification that is represented in the chart is the experiential. This aspect deals with the state of the believer’s life and how holiness is revealed as a growth process in spiritual maturation.

Legalism

Legalism isn’t when a person sees a fellow believer falling into sin and because of love for that believer tries to warn them of the impending danger. The person caught in sin will automatically accuse the concerned believer confronting them of being a legalist, as if that rationalizes the sinful activities. Being called a legalist seems to have become the worst insult possible within theological circles. Being called a legalist by a sinning brother is just a smoke screen to take the focus off the sinful activity. Discernment isn’t the same thing as condemnation, in our judgment we are to discern but not condemn.

Definition: Legalism is anytime a person tries to use the Law of Moses or any other standard of good works or success (such as denominational or church or personal ethics) to dictate how a person can be saved or be spiritual other than by grace through faith.

Often a group will agree on something that is not stated as a sin in Scripture and make it against their rules and therefore a sin even though God didn’t say it was sinful. (Example: During the 1950s and 1960s if someone chewed gum or worn makeup or had a shaggy haircut they were considered unspiritual. Where is the chapter and verse for that?) A person therefore can’t be accepted as saved or spiritual if they might be involved in the taboo activity or thought. It is important to know therefore exactly what the Law can and cannot do. Legalism in a nutshell is using the Law for wrong or inappropriate purposes.

Even confusing sanctification with justification can result in legalism because people are trying to live a spiritual life by the power of the flesh (sinful human nature) in order to obtain justification. It’s a good works for salvation (false) gospel coming in the back door. Satan is so sneaky he will try to give you a heavenly way to go to hell that seems to be based on Scripture but in reality isn’t. Satan confused Eve by misquoting the word of God. Remember that Satan tried to confuse and deceive even Messiah through the misuse of Scripture. To try to get saved, maintain salvation or become spiritual by the Law of Moses, or any other standard of good works or success will cause a person to miss the goal of knowing and having an intimate relationship with God by trusting in the sacrifice for sin made by Messiah. The following outline, “THE PURPOSE OF THE TORAH” is intended to help illuminate the proper understanding of what the Law of Moses can and cannot be used for.

Another error: lasciviousness, license or licentiousness is almost the opposite of legalism. As much as legalism is using the Law for the wrong purpose, licentiousness is using Grace for the wrong purpose. Licentiousness is taking liberty to violate God’s Word and therefore commit sin by ignoring what God has commanded. It is a sin of unbelief when God has stated something is a sin and we refuse to comply. When we by acts of omission or commission violate a commandment it shows that we don’t believe what God has said is true. We are calling God a liar by the acts of our life. Also we are saying that God doesn’t have the right to be the master of our lives. Modern denominations frequently fall into this error especially within Evangelical circles that think that the Grace of God has eliminated the Law of God. Such a theology shows that not only do they not understand the Law but also that they don’t understand Grace either Rom 3:31,6:1-2,15, 7:7,12,25, 8:1-4, 1 Jn 3:4, 5:2-3. God does not save us from the penalty of sin in order to give us freedom to sin by violating His Law, but rather He saves us to have freedom from the slavery to sin. He places the Holy Spirit within us giving us supernatural power to obey all of the Law that applies to us. 2 Tim 3:16 teaches us each believer’s responsibility is to read ALL of the Word of God verse-by-verse; cover-to-cover; prayerfully asking God these questions. “God what does this passage mean?” God what do you want me to believe?” “God what false beliefs do I need to change to comply with your Word?” “God what sin exists in my life that I need to change to obedience to your Word?” “God how do you want me to live?” These questions are between you and God. Dishonesty here deceives only ourselves since God isn’t fooled by our rationalizations.