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The Pauline Bootcamp: Session XI

The Work of Proclaiming Paul's Gospel:
Pauline Witnessing in an Evangelical, Fundamentalist World

3 January 1998
Stephen E. Rodabaugh

Trinity Grace Fellowship

Bible Studies Index | Pauline Bootcamp Index | TGF Home Page

§0. Introduction. From the previous sessions of this Pauline Bootcamp, two things should be manifestly clear:

Paul's gospel is fundamentally different from the gospel of the kingdom, that is, the gospel from Christ through Paul is fundamentally different from the gospel preached by Christ and Peter on earth.
The leadership and seemingly most of the followership of the evangelical and fundamentalist world stand opposed to the distinctiveness of Paul's gospel; and many of those supposedly in favor of some sort of distinctiveness of Paul's gospel stand opposed to that difference being truly important and part of one's salvation. This latter group holds that Paul's gospel is only a matter of determining reward, but it is not fundamental to salvation.

This session, together with the previous and succeeding sessions, examines the practical implications of Paul's gospel. And this session is particularly devoted to the issue and necessity of proclaiming Paul's gospel to an unsaved world, even an unsaved evangelical and fundamentalist world. We affirm that the distinctiveness of Paul's gospel is non-optional for salvation, that it is the very template of perseverence for the Body of Christ into its Hope in the Third Heaven.

The following questions are addressed in this session:

What is the distinctive Lordship of Christ to be proclaimed today?
What are the basic points of God's sovereignty to be proclaimed today?
What is the necessity of proclaiming the distinctiveness of Paul's gospel today?
What is the character and nature of the Anti-Body, that group of supposed "saints" in opposition to Paul's gospel?
What does it mean to witness to a seemingly unsaved evangelical?

An outline of the rest of this session is as follows:

Proclaiming Distinctive Lordship of Christ in Paul's Gospel
Proclaiming Five Basic Points of Paul's Gospel
Opposition of Anti-Body to Paul's Gospel
Necessity of Proclamation of Paul's Gospel
Witnessing to Unsaved Evangelicals and Fundamentalists
Proclaiming Distinctive Lordship of Christ in Paul's Gospel.
Lordship of Christ in Paul's Gospel: Rom. 10:6–13
Faith does not express itself symbolically or ceremonially: Verses 6–8
Confession of "Lord Jesus" made to Christ privately, not symbolically: Verse 9
Belief in the heart of the resurrection is private, not symbolic: Verse 9
Lordship of Christ is to all-without-distinction = Headship over the Body: Verse 12
Lordship of Christ is to Jew and Greek without distinction = Headship over the Body: Verse 12
Citations of the Law are without Jewish context: Verses 11,13
Christ is Lord to the Body in the sense of being the Head of a non-ceremonial, non-symbolic, non-ethnic, non-earthly (Eph. 2:6), third heavenly (II Cor. 12:1–4), over-angelic Body (I Cor. 6:3, Eph. 2:6). This defines Lordship today and hence defines the confession of faith unto salvation today. Any other confession is not out of the righteousness of faith, i.e. not out of faith, and hence is in sin (Rom. 14:23).

Lordship of Christ in Peter's Gospel and Confession: Matt. 16:13–20, Acts 2:14–40; 3:12–26
1. Lordship in Peter's gospel is Messiahship over the Nation Israel: Matt. 16:16, Acts 2:36; 3:20.
2. Messiahship means the One Who saves the Elect of Israel into Israel's future earthly empire: Ps. 2: 1–12, Is. 53:1–12, Dan. 9:20–27, Matt. 16:19, Acts 2:30–36 (and note 46); 3:18–26 (cf. 2:16).
3. This is the gospel of the kingdom from the heavens: Matt. 5:3,5.
4. Christ is Lord to Israel in the sense of being the Messianic Deliverer of Israel (Luke 1:46–55, 68–79), an ethnic, earthly, ceremonial, ritualistic, lineal part of God's Elect. Those of Elect Israel must so confess him.
Lordship of Christ in Noah's/Job's/etc Gospel and Confession as the Creator/Redeemer/Last Adam: Job14:10–17; 19:25–27, I Cor. 15:45, Rev. 14:6–7. This is the Lordship of Christ as confessed by the Righteous of the Nations who will inherit the various regions of the renewed earth under the hegemony of Elect Israel (Gen. 1:28; 9:1, Is. 19:23–25).

Proclaiming the Five Basic Points of Paul's Gospel

We sketch using only Ephesians; other epistles and/or combinations of other epistles can easily be used and are left to the reader.

Total Depravity Today: No one is able to confess Christ as Head of the Body as defined in §1.A above in the energy of their Adamic nature: Eph 2:1–9.

Unconditional Election Today: The Father unconditionally chose certain members of humanity to be the fulness of His Son's humanity as His Body as defined in §1.A above: Eph. 1:3–5, 22–23.

Unconditional Atonement Today: The Son unconditionally and judicially secured His Body as defined in §1.A above by representing them before God as their Head as defined in §1 above: Eph. 1:6–8,11; 2:11–22.

Unconditional Regeneration Today: The Spirit unconditionally regenerates the Son's Body as defined in §1.A above to faith and confession of Christ as defined in §1.A above: Eph. 1:8–9,11; 13–14,18–19 (Greek); 2:4–9.

Perseverence of the Elect Today: The members of the Body as defined in §1.A above will persevere and progress in the gospel given in Paul's epistles and outlined in §1.A above: Eph. 1:17–19; 2:10 (preceding context); 3:14–21 (in context of 3:1–10); 4:1–6; 6:10–18.

An integral part of progress in the Pauline gospel or Mystery is in the understanding of it: Eph. 1:17–19; 3:4 (in context), 18 (in context). Also see outline of previous session.

An integral part of progress in the Pauline gospel or Mystery is in the proclamatiojn of it: Eph. 6:18–20 (cf. I Cor. 11:1, Phil. 3:17; 4:9, etc). Also see more below on proclamation.

An integral part of progress in the Pauline gospel or Mystery is in the honoring of it: both in public doctrine and behavior (Eph. 4:1–6; 6:10–18) and in private life and behavior (most of Eph. 4–6). Also see outline of next session.

Opposition to Paul's Gospel from the Anti-Body
Anti-Body is formed in accordance with the Anti-Mystery or Lawless Mystery of the Lawless One: II Thess. 2:3–16. The following points follow from this passage:
1. The Mystery of Lawlessness runs concurrently with the true Mystery of Paul's gospel, i.e. throughout the present dispensation. See Verse 7; also Verse 11 (is sending).
2. The Mystery of Lawlessness is doctrine formed by the Lawless One, namely Satan and Antichrist, to oppose the true Mystery revealed by Christ to Paul (Gal. 1, Eph. 3, etc). The former might be dubbed the "Anti-Mystery". It is THE LIE (Verse 11).
3. Those formed by the Mystery of Lawlessness stand in opposition to those formed by Paul's gospel. Since the latter are by Scripture called the Body of Christ, then the former are by us called the "Anti-Body of Anti-Christ". See Verses 10–12; cf. 13–16.
4. This dispensation has two great purposes: to form the Body of Christ, which as the expression of Christ's authority will supervise the restoration and implementation of Israel's future empire; and to form the Anti-Body of Anti-Christ, which promulgates the Anti-Mystery of Anti-Christ and so prepares the way for Anti-Christ and his kingdom, part of the means by which the true kingdom of Elect Israel will be brought in.
5. Paul's gospel is precise and clear and light; The Lie is murky and ill-defined and dark. Paul's gospel declares the distinctive character of the Body vis-a-vis the rest of God's Elect; The Lie declares that there is no real distinction, or that possible distinctives are not really important and not part of salvation today. Paul's gospel, and Scripture generally, are knowable and accessible by the normative hermeneutic (or grammatico-historical method); The Lie declares that all such is "head knowledge" and coldness toward a "God" who loves all men without exception and simply wants our devotion. Paul's gospel declares Christ as Lord as defined in §1.A above; The Lie preaches Christ as a murky Lord with ill-defined relationship to His people today, and this confession is made or confirmed by coming forward or raising one's hand or being baptised or charismatic gifts or ... Paul's gospel preaches "Yea" is "Yea" and "Nay" is "Nay"; The Lie preaches the "black-white, square-round ball" (borroowed from DJR). Cf. II Tim. 2:25 (Greek); 3:7 (Greek).
6. Pauline issues are an important part of what documents the Body vis-a-vis the Anti-Body: I Cor. 11:19.
- The Leadership and Membership of Anti-Body is Demonic.
1. Leadership are ministers of Satan: II Cor. 11:12–15.
Opposers of Mystery / distinctiveness of Paul's gospel are demonic: Eph. 2:2; 6:12, II Tim. 3:8.
The Anti-Body develops in stages: e.g. I Tim. 4:1–5, II Tim. 3:1–4:3.
Possible case-study: Acts 16:16–18.
The Anti-Body Opposed Paul.
1. Supposed "saints": II Tim. 1:15.
2. Foremost among the ancient Anti-Body were these six: Phygelus and Hermogenes (II Tim. 1:15), Hermanaeus and Phyletus (II Tim. 2:17), and Demus (II Tim. 4:10) and Alexander (II Tim. 4:14); cf. I Tim. 1:20.
3. The leadership of the present day Anti-Body includes all the evangelical and fundamentalist leadership who are opposed to Paul's distinctive gospel.

Necessity of Proclamation of Paul's Gospel
1. Paul's Commission to Proclaim Mystery of Body: Ro. 2:16; 16:25, I Cor. 2:4–16, Gal. 1:1–12, Eph. 3:1–10, Col. 1:23–29, I Thess. 1:5, II Thess. 2:14, II Tim. 1:8–12; 4:17, Tit. 1:1–3.
2. Paul's Commission to Proclaim Distinctiveness of Mystery of Body: Rom. 16:25, Gal. 2:1–7.
3. Body Must Emulate Paul: Ro. 16:17, I Cor. 11:1, Phil. 3:17; 4:9, I Thess. 1:6–7, II Thess. 2:15; 3:6–7.
4. Important Instances of (make public, declare openly, proclaim): Ro. 16:25, Gal. 2:2, Col. 1:23, II Tim. 4:17, Tit. 1:3.

Witnessing to Unsaved Evangelicals and Fundamentalists

God Saves Evangelicals and Fundamentalists! God is able to save anyone, even anti-Pauline evangelicals and fundamentalists. Paul was a rabbinical evangelical and God was pleased to save Paul in accordance with the Mystery (Gal. 1:11–17, Phil. 3:4–6, I Tim. 1:12–17).
Salvation unto Christ as Head According to God's Mercy. We have not believed the precious, distinctive Mystery out of any innate goodness of our own, so we must not be proud: I Cor. 4:7, Eph. 2:1–10. Furthermore, we are still progressing in this sacred deposit (Phil. 1:9).
Approach of Gentleness: II Cor. 6:1–4, Phil. 2:15, II Tim. 2:25 (Greek—middle voice for oppose); cf. Matt. 10:16.
Assessment and Evaluation and Strategy.

If the evangelical/fundamentalist is merely questioning, he/she may be confused as we once were (and to a certain degree still are), in which case:

Establish groundwork of approach to Scripture;

Explain the content of Paul's gospel;

Make the case for the fundamental distinctiveness of Paul's gospel and why it is important to one's salvation;

Call on them to submit to Christ as Head of the Body (this can be done without personal offence; e.g. "the gospel given to Paul calls us to acknowledge Christ as our personal Head and be identified with Him as part of the non-ceremonial, third heavenly, ... Body of Christ).

When they show interest in themselves, then give them more and more to get them on their way into "Arabia" for three years like our brother Paul!

If the evangelical/fundamentalist is contentious and possibly ill-informed, in which case the previous case may be followed.

If the evangelical/fundamentalist is contentitious and you are sure that they are reasonably well-informed, then you must warn them, without pronouncing a judgment on them (that is the Lord's place alone—Rom. 12:19–21), that if "one" (note the abstract usage) knowingly refuses, unto the grave, Christ as Head as distinctively defined in Paul's epistles, then that individual comes under the judgement of Rom. 2:16 and will burn forever in the Lake of Fire. Now is the Day of Salvation in accordance with the Mystery (II Cor. 6:2).

Our Pauline witness is nothing if we do not practice separation: I Cor. 11:19, II Cor. 6:1–18. This is no partnership with those in opposition to Paul's gospel (e.g. the Seven Ones).

In all things, we are to be measured against the benchmark which Christ Himself set up in the ministry of Paul: Ro. 16:17, I Cor. 11:1, Phil. 3:17; 4:9, I Thess. 1:6–7, II Thess. 2:15; 3:6–7.