I feel that their about the same thing, the Lord was adding to His church in acts, Hewbrews tells us not to forsake this gathering,in acts they were gathering to be added. In hebrews they(we) go to the gathering to be added.that is if you compete,to win the prize. Also in acts they were saved in hebrews that has not been established.

Carl, there just isn't any such thing as a corporate church and a spiritual one. There is one body (Ephesians 4:4). Jesus is the head of the one body (Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the head of the body, the church. That's inspiration talking, my friend.

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"that in all things he might have the preeminence." Colossians 1:18

Well said

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preacher@hydeparkcoc.org

Of any one statement made in the Bible, there is in most cases only one correct interpretation. There are sometimes (particularly in the Old Testament) more correct interpretations than one, but those meanings are closely related, and never conflict with each other. (They are generally due to multiple meanings in the text itself, not to uncertainties of the text.) They augment each other, and extend the meaning of the whole Bible. Imv, if one takes the whole 66-book Bible (nothing more or less) as the context for any one of its statements, one cannot go wrong. If one acknowledges that an almighty deity exists, and that he has revealed himself over 1500 years in written form, it seems absurd to suppose that one could go wrong. One must reasonably suppose that God's revelation is both complete and unmistakable.

So why are there so many different interpretations in circulation? One reason may be simply ignorance, or even poor translation. (Sermons have been preached taking as their texts verses that do not even, in reality, exist!) But the majority of interpretations are caused by the perfect holiness of God, and the deep unholiness of most of mankind, and we know this because people are unable to defend their interpretations in an acceptable manner, using only Scripture and reason. Most people understand the Bible only too well, and, while they often give it lip service, seek to distort it, as indeed prophesied by Biblical authors. One can take the many interpretations of the Bible as fulfilment of its own prophecy.

The Bible's central message is that sinful mankind can be accepted by God through faith, as Abraham was, early in Genesis. What follows after that is simply the account of how it was possible that Abraham could be accepted (justified). Now justification by faith sounds very easy- simply believe, like a child! But actually it is the hardest thing in the world, because of its implication, which is that one surrenders ownership of one's whole life in gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus. That means acting selflessly, in the interests of others, all of the time. (That is actually the only purpose of the Bible in this world.) Now people who have surrendered their whole lives to God are, just as Jesus prophesied, opposed by those who prefer to keep control of their lives, because they prefer to do harmful, selfish, evil acts, and do them without shame.

I think the way to end one's confusion regarding the many false interpretations is to look for one of just two tendencies, because those selfish people have two ways of negating the demand of God on their lives, and of attempting to deceive those who accept the Bible. One method, very common in the modern age, is to cast doubt on the veracity of what the Bible says. The holiness of God, that is basic to the Bible, is a particular target. The sinful state of mankind is another. This approach applies particularly also to Paul's commands about women and sexuality, people saying that these are outmoded, or inventing some way round them. Others simply dismiss the whole Bible as having no value. There are many variations on this approach, which may be called liberalism. (At least one wriggling variation gets invented on the internet every week, it seems to me!)

The other approach is that of legalists. Legalism is less common than it was, because it involves discipline of some sort, and that does not appeal much to modern thinking. The first instance of legalism was when some of the first disciples were told they needed to be circumcised if they were to be acceptable to God. Paul wrote that Christ became of no value to those who believed this, and the same must be said of any of the many 'replacements' for circumcision that followed- water baptism, going to Mass and confession, fasting, giving alms, etc. Almost everything that is 'good' and 'Biblical' has been specified as essential for justification, because doing things, even very inconvenient things like monasticism, is easier than surrendering one's life to Christ. People will even flagellate themselves rather than do that.

So any interpretation that reduces God's glory, his holiness, that complicates the simplicity of faith, that a child cannot readily understand, is likely to be false. Anything that is claimed to be added to faith in order to please God is likely to fatally put faith in one's own efforts, not the finished work of Christ. A situation that appears complex is actually very simple indeed.

The discussion part of this thread concerning baptism has been moved to the following new thread: Is Baptism a form of legalism?

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In Christ,
brother Sonnie

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

I agree

Any child can understand this:

Hebrews 5:9
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
KJV

And this:

Acts 10:35
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

And this:

James 2:21-24
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
KJV

Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
KJV



Those are pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

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"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." 1 John 3:18-19

The church of Christ at Granby

Agreed. One might want to add:

'Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.' Gen 15:6 (NLT)

'So they asked him, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?" Jesus answered, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent."' John 6:28-29 (GNB)

'Anything that is not based on faith is sin.' Romans 14:23 (GNB)

'What matters is faith that works through love.' Gal 5:6 (GNB)