We humbly beseech you to re-read our last issue to help understand this issue easier. Since this study is very important, we implore you to bear with it’s longer than usual length and read it in its entirety.
WHAT DOES OUR LORD SAY?
CHAPTER VI. THE MIND GOVERNED BY THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER VII. SANCTIFICATION & HOLINESS
CHAPTER VIII. ACHIEVING PERFECTION
CHAPTER IX. TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVE
CHAPTER X. GOOD VIRTUES, GOOD DEEDS & GOOD LIVES
CHAPTER XI. WHAT THE PARABLES TEACH US
IN CONCLUSION
THE BIBLE IN PERFECT HARMONY
NO RIGHT TO SIN
THE GREAT DECEPTION
THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH – PLAIN & DIRECT
(2) Biblical truths are very straightforward. Plain and direct. Truly, even at the beginning of our previous issue, we saw Paul declare forthright that the Fight of the Faith is indeed gospel/church works (2 Tim 4:5-8). Only then we plunged into a further elaborate study. Yes, human thinking and worldly wise arguments cannot stand in front of direct Biblical evidences. Following that belief, let us begin our study by listening to our Savior Jesus decisively stating that the struggle for the sake of the gospel is essentially the fight that would win us eternal life – ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.’ (Mark 8:34-35). Doesn’t Jesus unambiguously assert here that only those who lose their lives i.e. dedicate their whole lives as living sacrifices for the sake of the gospel that bears his name would be saved! Let us take a moment to think about how direct this evidence is!
CHAPTER VI. THE MIND GOVERNED BY THE SPIRIT
(3) Keeping this in mind, let us first look at how one could defeat the flesh by walking by the Spirit and also find out what that even means in the first place. Apostle Paul has explained this in his epistle to the Romans and Galatians. When writing to the Romans, he says that we are justified not by our own works, but rather by Christ’s sacrifice and the righteous requirement of the Law was fully met in us only by that sacrifice (Romans Chapter 7, Rom 8:1-4). We studied this in detail in the last issue (See Grace – Blossom 48: Nov ’11, Para’s 03, 04, 05). Continuing on that thought, Paul says that we need to live in accordance with the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Because, ‘the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace’, he says (Rom 8:5-6). Many think that Paul is referring to sin when he talks about ‘the mind governed by the flesh’. That’s wrong. Paul does not say ‘the mind governed by sin’. When we study the Greek roots of word ‘flesh’ there, we find that the mind governed by the flesh essentially refers to a mind governed by all kinds of matters of the flesh. For instance, wanting to earn money by lawful means in this world is not a sinful thought, but it is still a thought of a fleshly matter. So, it’s definitely of a mind governed by the flesh. Truly, a mind governed by the flesh is not just a mind that’s led by sin, but also the one that is led by worldly matters. Such a mind governed by the flesh is death, says Paul. Didn’t we see the reason for this in the previous issue? (See Grace – Blossom 48: Nov ’11, Para’s 06-10). We saw that we need to dedicate our whole lives for the sake of gospel/church works to prove our faith because faith without works would essentially be dead. And we found that it’s those works of faith that confirm our faith that justifies and saves us. Therefore, we would not be saved if we just strive to live an upright life in this world. That’s useless. It would bring only death. As a matter of fact, this comes out strikingly in Jesus’ statement that we saw earlier: ‘whoever wants to save their life will lose it’ = ‘the mind governed by the flesh is death’. Yes, if we live like the people of the world with a mind governed by the matters of this present worldly life, it would surely lead us only to death. We have taken the baptism covenant by which we deemed our whole lives as dead to the world and dedicated ourselves as living sacrifices for the sake of Christ’s gospel. After that, it’s wrong to let our mind be governed by matters of this world. This world itself is a wicked world. So, all the worldly desires/relations are to be given up for the sake of the gospel work by us – ‘Do not love the world or anything in the world.If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.’ (1 John 2:15). How about that! John bluntly declares that all the things/matters of this world should not be loved. Indeed, a worldly mind is the mind governed by the flesh.
(4) Having said that ‘themind governed by the flesh is death’, Paul states, ‘but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace’. Yes, a mind that lives according to the Spirit leads to life, he says. Let us think for a moment. Instead of our own wisdom, let us let the Bible clarify the Bible – What was the thing that gave life in Jesus’s statement that we saw earlier? – ‘whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it’ = ‘the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace’ – What a straightforward and beautiful match! Jesus says that it’s only the gospel works that give life. Thus, it clearly comes to light that the life-giving mind governed by the Spirit is indeed the mind of the gospel. Today, many wrongly believe that the mind of the flesh means just a mind of sin. And so they think that living by the Spirit means just trying to live a sinless life. Thereby, they fail to live a life dedicated to the gospel which is a necessity to win eternal life. This is sad and unfortunate. What they fail to understand is that a mind of the flesh is essentially a mind that loves the world and things of the world. And hence, just living a life of struggle against sin is useless. In this wicked world, even living a worldly life that’s good and upright in our own eyes, is essentially a life that’s not pleasing to God – ‘The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.’ (Rom 8:7-8).
(5) Truly, in the last issue we did see Paul saying that a sinless life would be a life that keeps the whole Law (with all its 613 commandments). We also saw that no one can live such a life by means of their own works. That’s why, Paul asserts that even a life that appears to our eyes as geared toward only lawful worldly desires would still not be in submission to God’s Law, nor can it be. You might 
consider your present worldly life as a sinless life. John has a message for you – ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ (1 John 1:8). It’s for this reason that Christ’s redeeming sacrifice was required. By that sacrifice, we are justified by faith now. But, we have to confirm that faith by doing works of faith that are the gospel/church works. Therefore, with a mind governed by the Spirit, when we prove our faith by doing gospel works, we are saved. Instead, if we just live a life of struggling against sin, there is no use in that. This is what Paul wants to convey here – ‘You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.’ (Rom 8:9). We know that ‘the Spirit of Christ’ implies the Holy Spirit. Many miss the purpose for which the Holy Spirit was given. When Jesus described the Holy Spirit, he said – ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8). Clearly, from this statement of Jesus, we see that the Holy Spirit is essentially the Spirit that steers the Church with power and truth to take the gospel all over the world. We too should truly have a mind governed by that Spirit. When we are led by the Spirit, we would dedicate our lives more and more for the sake of the works of the gospel – ‘And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.’ (Acts 4:31, See also Acts 13:2-4, 1 Pet 1:12). So, walking with a mind governed by the Spirit means offering our lives as living sacrifices for the sake of gospel work.
(6) Paul explains this very beautifully – ‘Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.’ (Rom 8:12-17). Doesn’t Paul decisively say here that being led by the Spirit is essentially sharing in Christ’s sufferings? Being in a sinless perfect body from birth to death, Jesus did not have to fight against any sinful fleshly weakness. His sufferings were rather for the sake of the gospel. So, sharing in his sufferings means suffering for the gospel. We might remember studying this in our last issue. So, a life of the Spirit is indeed a life devoted to the gospel without even an inkling of any thought about worldly matters. If we live such a life and put our deeds of the flesh i.e. worldly desires/relations to death (offering our lives as living sacrifices for the gospel), we would be saved. Again, let us see how stunningly and directly this matches with Jesus’ statement – ‘whoever wants to save their life will lose it’ = ‘if you live according to the flesh, you will die’ : ‘whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it’ = ‘if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds deeds (Greek word only means ‘deeds’, translators transformed it into ‘misdeeds’ to suit their idea of it referring to only sin thus deceiving many but in reality it refers to all deeds of the flesh)of the body, you will live… if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’. How straightforward and simple this truth is! Let us do some introspection whether our minds are governed by the Spirit that leads us to excel in works of the gospel or whether we are running an unclear/confusing race.
(7) What many fail to understand is this – Living a Christian life is essentially becoming dead to this world i.e. putting all worldly thoughts to death and living solely devoted to the gospel of God. If someone thinks one could follow God even as he/she enjoys the lawful desires/relations of this world, then that person is just delusional – ‘So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’ (Gal 5:16-18). Yes, this world and our flesh are against the Holy Spirit. This is a sinful world. Our flesh is a corrupt fallen flesh. Therefore, trying to live a worldly upright life, with such a corrupted body, in such a sinful world, would indeed be a quixotic undertaking – ‘The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ (Gal 5:19-21). Paul refers to the acts of the flesh (not sin) here. That is, He essentially explains what kind of non-beneficial sinful acts we would get ourselves into if we try to live according to the flesh. Even if we attempt to live an honest worldly life in this world, that life would still end up a sinful life since our flesh is in fallen state (See Rom 7:14-23). Even Jesus says this very directly – ‘No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’ (Matt 6:24 NASB). If you read and find out what Jesus goes on to say further, you would clearly understand that he is indeed referring to the usual (honest and lawful) worldly desires like food and clothing (See Matt 6:25-34). Yes, like Paul, Jesus too declares that if we live a life giving importance to such worldly things, we would not be able to serve God. If you do an honest introspection of your worldly life, you yourselves would realize this truth (1 John 1:8).
(8) That might prod you to ask the question – So, what really do I need to do then? – Paul answers you, ‘walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’ We might remember studying earlier that walking by the Spirit essentially means living a life for the gospel. Yes, when we set aside these worldly desires/relations and dedicate ourselves to serve God by doing serving the gospel, we would refrain from unprofitable sinful acts that sadden the Spirit. Because – ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.’ (Gal 5:22-25 NASB). How wonderfully does Paul explain this! We, who belong to Christ, have crucified not only sin, but also the flesh with all its desires and passions. Therefore, when we stop trying to live a worldly life and instead live a gospel life by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit would grow good fruits in us like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Yes, these are the good fruits that the Holy Spirit grows in us when we live a gospel life which is essentially the life of walking by the Spirit. Instead if someone does not dedicate himself wholly for the sake of the gospel, but still expects to grow these fruits while continuing to try and live a mere worldly upright life and doing works for God only occasionally, he would be just deluding himself, as Paul and Jesus declared earlier. Such people would only get the fruit of the flesh which is sin and death. Rather, when we walk by the Spirit in the path of gospel work, the Holy Spirit would surely renew us and bear the fruits of the Spirit in us. This does not mean that we achieve self-justification in our flesh. Won’t we need to keep 613 commandments to make that happen! Rather, even as the body remains dead because of sin, we receive spiritual justification by faith – ‘But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.’ (Rom 8:10-11). Yes, as we saw in our last issue, since our faith is confirmed when we undertake gospel works that are the works of faith, our salvation also gets confirmed. Truly, when we weed out human philosophies and instead study the Biblical scriptures in-depth based on their appropriate contextual meaning; they perfectly fit with each other and give us an amazing clarity in the Truth. Let us move onto our next topic after seeing one more direct and clear evidence that walking by the Spirit is indeed doing the gospel work – ‘He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?’ (2 Cor 3:6-8). This is such a direct, inarguably decisive and solid proof that needs no further explanation!
CHAPTER VII. SANCTIFICATION & HOLINESS
(9) There is another thing that confuses many from realizing the straightforward Biblical truth that the gospel race is indeed our race of the faith. And that is the failure to understand what a holy life entails. Many wrongly conclude that holiness is something that’s achieved by living a sinless life. But, that’s not the truth. What sinlessness rather achieves is righteousness, and as we saw earlier, we attain that righteousness by our faith in Christ. Holiness is something different from righteousness. That’s why the Bible always shows them as two separate things (Luk 1:75, Eph 4:24). In that case, what does holiness really mean? First let us look at the meaning of the Greek root word for ‘holy’ which is hágios (Strong No. 40). This Greek word essentially means ‘set apart’. Okay, so what are we being set apart for? Jesus himself explains this directly and clearly – ‘They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.’ (John 17:16-19 NIV). Yes! We are a people who’ve been set apart by the truth. Since NIV renders it with a derived word, the meaning of the Greek hágios does not come out clearly here. The New Life Version translates it more plainly – ‘My followers do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Make them holy for Yourself by the truth. Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world so I have sent them into the world also. I set Myself apart to be holy for them. Then they may be made holy by the truth.’ (John 17:16-19 NLV). And the New Century Version renders it even better – ‘Make them ready for your service through your truth; your teaching is truth.’ (John 17:17 NCV). Doesn’t this verse unambiguously explain what holiness means! Does this need any further explanation! Indeed, we are a people set apart from the world by the truth i.e. the gospel truth, to be of service to God! Therefore, it’s that service to the gospel that makes us holy. That’s why, Jesus says he’s sending us i.e. the Church into the world just how God had sent him into the world to preach the gospel – ‘As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.’ Moreover, pay attention to the 19th verse! There Jesus says that he sanctifies himself. Let us think for a moment! If it were true that holiness could be gained only by fighting against sin as many believe, then why would Jesus who was in a sinless perfect body need to say he sanctifies himself! This itself inarguably establishes that belief to be wrong. Furthermore, doesn’t the way to achieve holiness become clear from these verses! Jesus says he attains holiness (sanctification) by fulfilling the work for which God sent him into the world. Likewise, he says, he’s sending us too to take the gospel into the world. So, it becomes obvious that we too can attain holiness only by doing gospel work.
(10) Holiness is a trait of God (Rev 4:8). If we too want to achieve that trait, we need to implement His will. Jesus sanctified himself by doing works that fulfilled God’s will. Not only did he make himself holy by means of his sacrifice that redeemed mankind, but he also created a way for us to become holy. How so? We, who cannot attain justification/righteousness by our own actions, are justified, with our flaws hidden by means of Jesus’ sacrifice. Only the justified/righteous are qualified to be in God’s holy service. And becoming justified by Christ’s sacrifice has brought us a great blessing/opportunity to do this holy service. This is what Jesus beautifully brings forth when he says – ‘For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.’ Therefore, more the gospel service we do, more the holiness we attain. Even the Old Testament typical priesthood service clearly shows us this truth. As per the Law, priests who entered the Holy and Most Holy Places of the Tabernacle tent and performed service to God were sanctified – ‘And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.’ (Exo 30:30 ASV). They were sanctified to perform the duties of the priesthood. God has called us too to indeed perform the sanctified priestly duty. What is that duty? Apostle Peter directly answers that question – ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light’ (NASB) / ‘But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.’ (NCV) (1 Pet 2:9) Did you notice how wonderfully it comes out that God set us apart i.e. sanctified us by his Spirit of Truth to do the priestly duty of preaching the wonderful gospel for the sake of the truth! Yes, only when we perform this priestly duty, we are sanctified, and made more and more holy. Even this could be confirmed from the Old Testament priesthood type. Because, touching the holy things in the Holy and Most Holy Places of the Tabernacle tent brought more holiness to the priests (Exo 30:25-29). So, the priests who had been sanctified for the sake of priestly duties would be sanctified more and more when they touched the holy things as they continue to perform that service. Likewise, we who have been sanctified by the Spirit of Truth for the sake of the priestly gospel duty would be sanctified more and more as we continually handle the holy and divine Truth when we do the gospel work. Truly, it’s amazing to see how divine truths plainly and perfectly match with each other! Let us give thanks to God!
(11) Let us look at more Biblical evidences that plainly show us that a holy life is indeed a life of doing gospel work. Paul explains this clearly in his epistle to the Romans. He says that we are justified by grace but that does not mean we should think let us continue in our old sinful life since there is grace for us. Because, he says, we who’ve been baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and hence are no longer slaves to sin (Rom 6:1-6) – ‘because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.’ (Rom 6:7). We need to understand the profound meaning of this statement from Paul. After our baptism, God considers us dead in the flesh. Do the dead have any part in worldly matters? Likewise, we too are duty-bound to not live for any kind of worldly things or desires/relations, but rather live for the sake of Christ’s gospel. Instead, if we live for worldly things like those who are alive in the flesh, we would reap destruction which is the fruit of the mind governed by the flesh – ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.’ (Gal 6:7-8). Yes, as we saw earlier, one who sows for this flesh i.e. a worldly life would reap destruction indeed. But the one who sows for a gospel life with a mind governed by the Spirit would reap eternal life! (‘whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it’ = ‘whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life’). We need to keep this in mind. If we do not live a gospel life and instead strive to lead just an upright worldly life, as we saw earlier, such a mind governed by the flesh would surely lead us to non-beneficial sinful things that distress the Spirit and hence bring us only destruction. So, what is it that we need to do then? Here too, Paul answers that we should not let our mind be governed by the flesh, but rather live with a mind governed by the Spirit i.e. a mind of the gospel that would reap us the fruits of the Spirit – ‘And if we died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised up out of the dead, doth no more die, death over him hath no more lordship; for in that he died, to the sin he died once, and in that he liveth, he liveth to God; so also ye, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to the sin, and living to God in Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Rom 6:8-11 YLT). Yes, Jesus lives to God to fulfill God’s will of the gospel ministry through the Church. Likewise, we too should live to God to fulfill His will. This is what Paul emphasizes in the subsequent verses – ‘Let not then the sin reign in your mortal body to obey it in its desires; neither present ye your members instruments of unrighteousness to the sin, but present yourselves to God as living out of the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God’ (Rom 6:12-13 YLT). In these verses, Paul very exquisitely lays out what we need to do. Didn’t we see earlier that the desires of the mortal body are essentially of mind thinking about worldly matters? Yes, if we have a mind of the world i.e. a mind governed by the desires of the body, we would end up being enslaved by inexpedient sins. Paul advises us to rather offer our body members to God as instruments that carry the gospel which supplies righteousness in the present time.
(12) Many misunderstand what it means to offer our members as instruments of righteousness to God. They think this too means abstaining from sin. Let us think for a moment! In our last issue, we saw that even though we cannot attain self-justification by adhering to all the 613 commandments of the Law that tells us what sins are, we still have to seek to abstain from sinful activities like murder, theft, lying, slander, anger and stubbornness etc. that are deemed non-beneficial by the New Testament because they would be obstacles in our spiritual race. So, we should not wilfully indulge in such unprofitable sinful things emboldened by the grace provided for us. Even when we lose self-control and fail, we should immediately repent and seek divine forgiveness. That’s why Paul says we should not present our body members as instruments of unrighteousness to such inexpedient sinful acts. For instance, we should abstain from wilfully offering our tongue as an instrument to anger. Okay, so if we do not present our members to such unprofitable activities, doesn’t that itself mean we do not indulge in such things? Then, how could one say that presenting those members as instruments of righteousness to God also mean the very same sin-abstinence? Isn’t that absurd! Truly, many have such a mistaken belief and fail to offer their members as instruments of righteousness to God i.e. instruments that carry the gospel that provides righteousness. We should not only abstain from anger but should give our tongue as a slave to proclaiming the gospel. That is Paul’s point. It’s true that sin is not our master anymore as we have been justified by grace through Jesus and that grace hides our lack of righteousness. But if our mind is governed by the flesh enslaving us to a worldly life, we would end up unrepentantly indulging in wilful sinful acts that would be non-beneficial to our race, and be left with destruction alone (Rom 6:14-15). Instead, if we obey the gospel that brings us righteousness, since a mind of the gospel is indeed the mind governed by the Spirit as we saw earlier, we would grow in the fruits of the Spirit (Rom 6:16). Therefore, since we became obedient to the pattern of teaching that has claimed our allegiance, we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness (Rom 6:17-18). When we become slaves to the gospel which is the pattern of teaching that was taught to us by serving it (by spreading it), our faith is confirmed and we are justified! Paul lays this out directly – ‘For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification’ (Rom 6:19 NASB). Do you see now! Doesn’t it become clear from this verse that Paul is not talking about just abstaining from inexpedient sinful acts? He says here we need to present our body members as slaves to righteousness ‘resulting in sanctification’. Earlier, from John 17:17 we saw that it’s indeed the truth i.e. the gospel that sanctifies us. So, to achieve sanctification, we need to suffer for the gospel.
(13) Yes, when we become slaves to the gospel that brings righteousness, we would achieve sanctification. Becoming slaves to righteousness essentially denotes that – ‘If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!’ (2 Cor 3:9 & Read 2 Cor 3:1-10). How much straightforward this is! When we dedicate ourselves as slaves to the gospel ministry that brings righteousness, we grow in the fruits of the Spirit and therefore non-beneficial sinful desires shall not overcome us. Furthermore, only when we become slaves like that to the holy gospel ministry, sanctification would result in us – ‘But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life’ (Rom 6:22 NASB). Yes, we are freed from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus and his righteousness is bestowed upon us. And as we saw earlier, that’s why we get the blessed opportunity of becoming slaves to God and to serve Him through the gospel ministry. God does not tolerate even a little bit of unrighteousness. So, only by now being in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we get the blessing of serving in God’s ministry. By receiving such a blessing to implement His divine will by doing the gospel ministry that is the ministry of righteousness, we attain the divine quality of holiness and sanctification results in us. And the outcome is eternal life, Paul proclaims. Now, shall we see how wonderfully this matches with our Master’s statement that we saw earlier? – ‘whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it (life)’ = ‘you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life’. Yes, how superbly do the statements of Jesus and Paul match with each other, clearly conveying the truth that it’s the gospel ministry that saves our life i.e. provides eternal life! Yes, ministering the holy gospel of the truth is what we, who are the priestly class, need to do to sanctify ourselves. Paul says this forthright – ‘He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God’ (Rom 15:16). Paul declares plainly here that the gospel ministry is indeed the holy priestly duty. Yes, if we want to become and live as holy priests, we can do so only by fulfilling the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God and not by any other means! Just as Jesus made himself holy by doing the gospel ministry, we too need to sanctify ourselves by doing the holy work of the gospel. Let us keep this in mind!
CHAPTER VIII. ACHIEVING PERFECTION
(14) How do we achieve perfection in our Christian life? Paul answers that wonderfully – ‘dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.’ (2 Cor 7:1). Let us take a moment to study the profound in-depth meaning of this verse. Paul mentions two things here. First, he tells us to purify ourselves from sins i.e. everything that contaminates body and spirit. But how could we do that? In our last issue, we saw with indisputable Biblical evidences that we cannot become totally sinless by our own efforts because we would have to keep all the 613 commandments to achieve that and that’s an impossible thing to do. Isn’t that why Apostle John warns us that ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’ (1 John 1:8)? Then how do we purify ourselves from everything that contaminates? Let us give thanks to God! To help us avoid any confusion, He has given us a direct answer to that question through the same Apostle John – ‘If we confess our sins,he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all 
unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). Yes, it’s such a purification that we need to receive every single day. We can never attain self-justification by our own efforts. So, seeking divine forgiveness is a daily necessity for us. Without such purification, we are not worthy to stand before God and do the holy gospel ministry. So, it would be useless to do the holy gospel work if we don’t receive such a daily purification or if we unrepentantly continue in any inexpedient sin. Because it’s only those who receive full purification that are deemed worthy to do the gospel ministry (Eph 5:3-4). That’s why, Paul advises us to get such purification first. And as we saw in the last issue, that’s the same reason seeking forgiveness has a permanent place in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught us. Let’s say someone says such a daily purification is not necessary. Let’s say, he proclaims he’s not a sinner or claims with human pride that he would attain self-justification by himself someday. For such persons, John has another strong warning – ‘If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us’ (1 John 1:10). Yes, truly only those who do not comprehend even fundamental Christian truths would think that they would achieve self-justification or would believe that they would purify themselves someday such that they would have no sin within them. Let us be alert and cautious about such teachings and such people! What’s the real truth? It’s the sacrifice of Jesus that purifies us from all unrighteousness.
(15) Having received such a purification, should we just stop at that? What should we do next? Paul answers – ‘let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God’. Yes, we need to perfect holiness! Based on many evidences, we saw that holiness is essentially doing the holy priestly duty of the gospel ministry. So, it’s that gospel ministry we need to perfect! Here too, Paul deems perfecting holiness as another thing to be done after receiving purification. That makes it even more clear that struggling against sin is not holiness/sanctification, as many seem to think. Rather, just like Paul who said that he achieved perfection fighting the good fight, pouring himself out as a drink offering for the sake of gospel, we too need to offer our lives as wholesome living sacrifices for the gospel’s sake. And Jesus’ sacrifice was essentially needed because we first have to be found pure in the sight of God to undertake that holy gospel ministry. That’ why, Jesus said, ‘for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth’ (John 17:19 KJV). Didn’t we study this earlier? How neatly does it fit here! Yes, Jesus sanctified himself by offering his life as a living sacrifice to implement the divine will i.e. the gospel ministry. This too makes it obvious that it’s those sufferings we undergo for the sake of the gospel work that sanctify us. Furthermore, it’s true that we cannot achieve perfection on our own with regards to righteousness. But, we have to indeed attain perfection in our holy priestly ministry of the gospel. The New Testament writers urge us to achieve such a perfection. As a matter of fact, even Jesus had to be made perfect in this – ‘Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.’ (Heb 5:8-10). Truly, we see here that even Jesus had to learn obedience from the sufferings he underwent for the sake of the gospel and thereby made perfect. Likewise, only when we suffer for the gospel, we are transformed into people obedient to God and in that way attain perfection. And this is the same thing that Jesus tells that rich man who wanted to get eternal life – ‘Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”’ (Matt 19:21). Doesn’t this show us that one can truly attain perfection only by following Jesus! What does following Jesus mean? Let us hear it from Jesus himself – ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.’ (Mark 8:34-35). ‘He [Jesus] said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-60). How unambiguous the calling of Christ is! Indeed, we can achieve true perfection only when we live a gospel life like Jesus and offer everything as a living sacrifice for the gospel’s sake. This truth comes out in an irrefutable way in the Bible. How many verses neatly fit with each other! But, it’s a very sorry state of affairs today that many fail to understand that our spiritual race is to achieve perfection in the gospel ministry, but rather continue to believe in the deceptive illusion that our race is to achieve perfection in self-righteousness. We saw many biblical evidences that show that belief to be wrong and we are going to see more.
CHAPTER IX. TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVE
(16) So far, we have confirmed that works of the gospel are indeed the works of faith that we need to do. We also learnt that those are the works of a mind governed by the Spirit and such works essentially sanctify and perfect us. Next, let us turn our attention to one of the greatest commandments given unto us in the New Testament – ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matt 22:39-40, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27). How does the gospel work relate to our greatest commandment of love? Actually, both are essentially the same! How so? Let’s say, we truly love someone. In that case, should it be a love that benefits them just for this earthly life? Or should it be a love that takes care of their eternal interest? Of course, only the love that brings eternal good for someone could be considered a true Christian love. Would anyone argue with that statement? Truly, whenever we preach the gospel to someone or every time we guide a brother or sister in Christ to properly walk in the Narrow Way, we are essentially exhibiting a true Christian love. Jesus too did likewise – ‘This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters’ (1 John 3:16). By laying down his life for us, Jesus did not earn us riches for our earthly lives, but rather brought us eternal life. And John declares that only such a love that brings eternal good is the true love. So, when he says we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren, he essentially asks us to offer our entire lives as living sacrifices so that we devote ourselves to live in such a way that helps them in their spiritual race. This does not mean we need not help them in worldly matters. Because sometimes even worldly issues could make a brother or sister stumble in their spiritual race. During such situations, we are obligated to provide everything that we could, including our money, material possessions, time, energy and life, to help resolve those issues that are stumbling blocks to that brother or sister (1 John 3:17). But, even as we offer support in earthly troubles, the ultimate objective of our love should never be to help them shine in this present world that’s marked for destruction, but rather should always be about helping them properly run their spiritual race to achieve eternal blessings.
(17) Furthermore, John is talking here about the love that needs to be shown among our brethren alone. But when Jesus talks about love, he says we need to show love even to our enemies (Matt 5:44). Indeed, we are duty-bound to exhibit love even to the people of the world. And it’s that love that necessitates/compels us to preach the gospel to them. It’s because of that love the Son of Man kept traveling around preaching the good news of the gospel with no place to rest his head. When we give someone the gospel/truth, he or she might not accept it in the present time. But that person would definitely remember it during the resurrection. And that would make it easier for that individual to understand the truth then (1 Pet 2:12, let us study this verse in detail later). That’s why even Paul says that Christ had not sent him to baptize, but rather to preach the gospel (1 Cor 1:17). Therefore, true Christian love is the love that gives the people of the world the gospel truth which would bring them eternal blessings forChristian love rejoices only in the truth (1 Cor 13:6). We need to exhibit the qualities of love – patience, kindness, humility and enduring everything – especially in our gospel/truth ministry work and in helping our brethren better run their spiritual race. As a matter of fact, there are many words in the Greek language that are translated as ‘love’ in English. Among those words, the one that’s predominantly used in the New Testament to denote ‘love’ is ‘agape’ (Strong No. 25). Agape love is a separate subject in itself that could take a whole issue to study. So, we would not be able to study it here. To summarize in brief, agape strongly differs from the other Greek words that denote love like phileo and eros. In what way does it differ? Those other words denote a fleshly affection or a feeling-based love. But agape is rather a reason-based love or a love centered on ideological convictions. For instance, the love that comes after getting to know a person is a felt, experience based love. But the love we exhibit to a brother whom we have never seen before is something that arises based on our ideological unity in the truth! And that’s agape! Doesn’t the same truth call us to love everyone? Therefore, we need to show agape love to the people of the world as well and proclaim the truth to them. Agape is not a love that gives importance to feelings, but it’s rather a love that’s based on reason and a guiding doctrine.
(18) Let us take an example. Consider a soldier who fights for his country. Doesn’t he have a feeling-based affectionate love for his wife? But because of a doctrine-based love that reasonably compels him to be duty-bound towards his country, he puts aside his own feelings and gets ready to sacrifice himself for his country. As the Church, what is our guiding doctrine? It’s surely the gospel truth. Hence, we need to show our love by that gospel. Let us consider another example. When Jesus said he would sacrifice himself, it was the affectionate feeling-based love that prompted Peter to rebuke Jesus (Mark 8:31-33). But, Jesus had a different kind of love – a reason-based agape love centered on doctrinal convictions. So, we see him setting aside Peter’s feelings, why even his own personal will and offering himself to do the will of the Father (Luke 22:42). And that’s how our love needs to be. So, true agape love is offering our lives as living sacrifices for the sake of preaching the gospel to the world and helping our brethren who are already in the truth to walk properly in the Narrow Way. That’s how Jesus showed his agape love. That’s how Paul showed his agape love. That’s why we are called to love even our enemies. Considering someone an enemy is a feeling. But agape love is not a feeling-based affection. It’s rather a reason-based doctrinal love. So, we are duty-bound to give even our enemies the gospel/truth that would bring them eternal blessings. They might not reform now. But we know that they would be resurrected during the Kingdom and be granted a second chance. And we know the gospel/truth we give them now would be useful to them then. Since we have this knowledge, our agape love should guide us based on that reasoning and not based on any feelings. We also know that all good things of this world are useless and meaningless (Eccl 1:14, 2:1). We have the knowledge that the Only Truly Good thing we could do to someone is essentially giving the gospel/truth to that person. Only a love based on this knowledge and reasoning could be the original agape love. We should always keep that in mind. As a matter of fact, the Bible declares forthright that walking in love is essentially giving ourselves up for a life of gospel work like Christ did – ‘walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (Eph 5:2). Even John says upfront that only the love that is in truth is the real Christian love – ‘let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth’ (1 John 3:18). Truly, real Christian love is a love shown in the truth with actions that bring out that truth. Therefore, we should not confuse worldly love with Christian love. Instead we should hold the true Christian love that proclaims the truth which brings eternal blessings to everyone. We should exhibit the real Christian love that helps brothers and sisters in the truth to last in the truth. Only then would we be fulfilling the greatest commandment of love. All other kinds of love are seen among the masses including nominal Christians, social workers and the people of the world. What distinguishes us is the gospel truth alone. Our love is a love that brings lasting blessings for eternity!
CHAPTER X. GOOD VIRTUES, GOOD DEEDS & GOOD LIVES
(19) Therefore, if someone does not do gospel work or does not offer him/herself completely for the sake of the gospel, then he/she cannot be said to be exhibiting true love. Peter explains this beautifully – ‘For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet 1:5-8). Peter essentially says here that if the qualities of faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and the greatest fruit of the Holy Spirit i.e. love (agape) increase in us, then we would not be ineffective and unproductive. Let us think for a moment! Doesn’t this make it clear that our job is not just to increase in love and all these virtues, but rather there’s a goal that’s to be achieved by increasing in those virtues! And that goal is to become effective and productive in our knowledge of our Lord! Yes, if we truly increase in all these qualities, we would not be ineffectively wasting the knowledge given unto us, but rather become productive in doing works of the gospel by proclaiming the truth and spreading that knowledge and by serving our brothers/sisters by helping them walk in that knowledge. When our faith increases, we would undertake gospel/church works which are essentially the works of faith. When goodness increases in us, won’t we feel more enthusiastic about doing the Only Truly Good thing towards our fellow human beings i.e. giving them the gospel truth! And won’t we need to increase in divine knowledge to be able to go out into the world and do gospel works as shrewd as snakes and with the clarity of the knowledge of the truth! When we have self-control, we would safeguard ourselves from getting entangled in sinful activities that could be non-beneficial to our spiritual gospel life. When perseverance abounds in us, we increase in our capability to endure the persecutions that come upon us in our gospel life. When godliness increases in us, we burn with zeal to do gospel work which is essentially God’s will in our lives. As mutual affection thrives among us, we would become eager to help the brothers/sisters that we come to know to achieve victory in their gospel lives. Finally, if agape love abounds in us, we would become focussed towards giving the knowledge of the gospel to everyone so that they might receive eternal blessings. Thus, when all these qualities increase in an individual, that person would definitely not remain ineffective/unproductive, but rather would produce fruitful works of the gospel. Instead, if someone lacks in these qualities and remains ineffective/unproductive in gospel work, then that person is blind, having forgotten why he was purified by Jesus Christ, says Peter (2 Pet 1:9 NASB). Because, as we saw earlier, wasn’t the whole purpose of our purification actually to do God’s gospel work and get sanctified? Yes, we need to realize that and be careful to make our calling and election sure by doing gospel work. Only then would we be fruitful in doing good deeds – ‘Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful’ (Tit 3:13-14 NASB). This clarifies what good deeds are. Let us study that a bit in-depth next.
(20) Apollos and Zenas were gospel workers in the Early Church. Paul issues an instruction in his missive to Titus (quoted above) to help them diligently so that nothing is lacking for them and then declares that good deeds are essentially those kinds of gospel deeds that help fill up anything lacking in the gospel ministry. He adds that only people doing such good deeds are deemed fruitful (NASB) / productive (NIV). Doesn’t Paul’s statement strikingly match with Peter’s! Peter states this in another place as well – ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us’ (1 Pet 2:12). Here too, many are under the impression that living good lives and doing good deeds mean just trying to live a sinless life. But, let us take a moment to think! What’s this verse actually telling us? The people of the world, seeing our good lives, would presently accuse us of doing wrong! But, on the day God visits us, i.e. during the Kingdom of Heaven, the very same people would then remember our present-day good deeds and glorify God rather than us for those deeds! From this itself, doesn’t it become obvious what good lives/good deeds denote here! Yes, a gospel life is indeed the truly good life. Works of the gospel are the truly good deeds. When we live such a life in the present times, just how the world called Jesus as wicked and as even Satan (Beelzebul), the same way it would surely accuse us who do works of the gospel. Even Jesus has foretold this (Matt 10:24-25). But those people of the world who accuse us now, would realize the truthfulness of gospel truth we tell them today when they resurrect in the Kingdom of Heaven and understand the love of God then and praise Him. For argument’s sake, if Peter had actually meant a life of sin-resistance when he said good lives/good deeds, then why the people of the world would be praising God instead of us in the Kingdom of Heaven? That doesn’t make much sense, does it? Thus, it becomes crystal clear that good deeds essentially denote the works of the gospel and good lives definitely mean lives devoted to gospel work. If we were to go further in-depth, this too is essentially like holiness. Jesus explicitly declares that no one is good except God alone (Luke 18:18-19). Therefore, only the works of gospel that fulfill the will of Yahweh God – who alone is good, could be deemed as good deeds, and only a life offered as a living sacrifice to His gospel work could be called a good life. That’s why the New Testament urges us not to become weary in doing good, but demands us to live a good life of doing the good gospel work that brings true eternal good for everyone (Gal 6:9-10). Therefore, we should not be ineffective/unproductive/unfruitful beings who fail to do any good works of the gospel.
CHAPTER XI. WHAT THE PARABLES TEACH US
(21) Isn’t that the same lesson taught by Jesus in his Parable of the Ten Minas? (See Luke 19:11-26). As in that parable, before ascending to heaven, Jesus has handed us over the truth and also commanded us to proclaim it to everyone. When we compare Matthew 28:19-20 with the parable’s Luke 19:12-13, this comes out plainly. In the parable’s Luke 19:12-13, the nobleman, before he goes to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself , gives his servants ten minas and tells them to do business with that until he comes back. Likewise, what did Jesus tell us before he went to the distant heavenly country to receive the kingdom and then return? – ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 18:19-20). Do you notice what an exact match this is! Truly, this parable from Jesus fantastically brings out the fact that ultimately we would be judged based on how diligently we followed this command of Jesus to yield fruit in gospel work. Paul too knew that gospel work was the only beneficial and fruitful labor to him and he actually understood without any doubt that the gospel ministry was his life’s sole purpose (Phil 1:12-26). His life stands as a great witness to us.
(22) Likewise, Jesus’ Parable of the Sower too shows this very straightforward – ‘But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matt 13:23). Truly, it’s absolutely critical that we, who have listened to the word of the gospel, yield a fruitful gospel crop like Paul did. Especially, pay attention to what Jesus says in Matt 13:22 – ‘The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful’. Jesus does not say here that it’s just sin that spoils the man. This too confirms what we have been saying so far. If a man just lives a life of sin-resistance, but gets immersed in the worries of this (lawful) earthly life and wealth (a mind governed by the flesh) and ends up failing to yield a fruitful gospel crop, then there is no use. So, we should not be like such a man. We should also not be like the man who runs away from gospel work as soon as trouble or persecution comes in his gospel life (Matt 13:21). Instead, we should live as the man who yields a tremendous gospel crop! Therefore, if someone claims to possess love, but does not do the holy work of the gospel that brings truly good things to others, then that means he/she has only the ordinary worldly love, not the agape love. Qualities like worldly love, patience and meekness are seen among many people of the world and nominal Christians. We should never forget the fact that it’s only the gospel truth that makes our love unique and special. How do we increase such an agape love in us? Haven’t we seen the answer to this question already? Yes, we might remember studying earlier how when we walk with a mind governed by the Spirit which is essentially a mind of the gospel, the primary fruit of the Spirit i.e. love increases in us. So, when we dedicate ourselves to a gospel life, we grow in divine love more and more. And since that gospel life itself is an exhibition of our love, we essentially fulfill our second greatest commandment too. Furthermore, as we do the gospel work i.e. God’s will for us with a complete devotion, we would also be fulfilling the greatest commandment too, which is loving God with all our heart, soul and mind.
(23) Now, let us reason together for a moment on how this study that began in our last issue has come out beautifully streamlined, eliminating confusions throughout and has brought out with amazing clarity what our race is! Jesus says in one place that he who loses his life for him and for the gospel would 
save it. James says in another place that we cannot attain life without doing works of faith because faith without works is dead. And Paul declares somewhere that a mind governed by the Spirit is life, and in another place that the outcome of sanctification is eternal life, and in yet another place that we need to achieve perfection in holiness. The same Paul says elsewhere that if we suffer with Christ, we would be saved, i.e. receive life. Apart from these, the greatest commandments of loving others and loving God have been given unto us with much significance. Having summarized all the above, the direct statement from Jesus (along with the many other verses we studied) plainly declares that it’s the gospel work that gains us eternal life. In that case, for argument’s sake, if sanctification denotes something else other than the gospel work, then won’t that mean the Bible is contradicting itself! Likewise, if a mind governed by the Spirit means something else, or if the works of faith mean doing some other things, or if suffering with Christ implies some other suffering, or if perfecting holiness is some kind of abstraction, or if we need to do something else to fulfill the greatest commandments, then that would not harmonize with the direct statement from Jesus that it’s the gospel work that gives life, would it? Then each of those places in the Bible would be conveying a different message, and what would remain is only confusion about what really needs to be done to attain eternal life! But, that’s not the case. Works of faith, sanctification, a mind governed by the Spirit, the greatest commandments, participating in the sufferings of Christ as his partners, achieving perfection – ALL of these essentially denote one thing – dedicating our lives for the sake of the gospel and suffering for it. That’s what we saw with concrete biblical evidence in our study. And it would not be too much to say that, this not only proves that the Holy Bible is not some ordinary book that contradicts itself, but also stands as a strong testimony to the authenticity of our study. Truly, the Bible is not a book of confusion at all. It has put forth plainly that the gospel race is indeed our spiritual race. But, in present times, many fail to understand this and are confused about the race that we need to run to attain life. They seem to be fighting like a boxer beating in the air.
(24) As we have furnished solid biblical evidences for each and every point made in this article, we beseech you to patiently study them. Because, some might let their emotions get the best of them and feel that we somehow seem to say it’s not important to struggle against inexpedient sins or even it’s okay to sin. That would be totally untrue. In both of our magazines, we have been continually emphasizing the need for us to intensely strive to avoid non-beneficial sinful activities and also to refrain from even small wrongdoings that are widely prevalent in the world like bribery, tax evasion and lying. If someone brazenly continues to remain in any kind of inexpedient sin in an unrepentant manner, he/she would not be able to attain life but instead would go towards second death for sure. But at the same time, we have absolutely no hesitation in saying that no one can attain self-justification and become righteous/sinless on his own. Because if a person claims otherwise then John says the truth itself is not in that person (1 John 1:8). So, we have zero doubt in our mind that we need the righteousness of Jesus till our last breath. Furthermore, we also wish to state unambiguously that even as it’s important to struggle against inexpedient sins, that struggle is not our race, but rather the goal of resisting such activities itself is to run our actual race which is the gospel race without any stumbling blocks. We confirmed this with many scriptural proofs. Moreover, only when we walk a life of the gospel with a mind governed by the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit grow in us and help us overcome inexpedient desires. More importantly, nobody ever had the right to sin. Sinning is wrong. Not committing a wrong could not be considered a sacrifice. So, to consider that as our race/sacrifice would be absurd! A sacrifice is giving up something that we have the right to do. Therefore, giving up our entire lawful worldly life for the sake of the gospel work is the work of faith that wins us eternal life. That’s the living sacrifice we need to offer. That’s the act of love which sanctifies us.
(25) But, from our personal experience, we have seen that whenever we point out this biblical message, while many are excited to see clearly what their race is, it makes some people to think that we are saying that it’s okay to sin. But the amazing thing is, such people were there even during Paul’s times. Paul boldly declared things like – None can attain self-justification, grace is necessary and our race is essentially suffering for the gospel. Therefore, during his times, some slandered even the Apostle – ‘Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!’ (Rom 3:8). As we can see, these people slandered even an Apostle, claiming that he was preaching that doing evil/sin could result in good. Because, Paul too firmly declared that attaining self-justification is not at all possible. Therefore, people like those could exist even today. And they could misrepresent our message. We implore you not to succumb to such slander so that you avoid ending up confused regarding what’s the real truth. We beseech you to read with an open mind the things we put forth in this article and compare them with the Bible. As a matter of fact, what we found during the course of this study is this: Satan has brought about many a deception to propagate the wrong doctrine that our race is just a struggle against sin. For instance, in the verses that talk about ‘the mind governed by the flesh’, the Greek root word translated into ‘flesh’ does not mean ‘sin’, but rather plainly means ‘flesh’. But some English translations wrongly render it as a sinful mind or a mind of sinful nature. We noted several such distortions because of which, the real truth – that is, Christian life is essentially sacrificing every kind of fleshly desires (including even lawful worldly desires) – gets lost. And many live a life of just struggling against sin. As we saw before, since faith without works of faith – i.e. works of the gospel – is dead, those people’s Christian lives, which are spent in just resisting sin, essentially become useless. And Satan’s deception succeeds.
THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH – PLAIN & DIRECT
(26) Therefore, this study that has lasted two issues is very important. Instead of interpreting verses based on whims and fancies, we studied them carefully in their contextual meaning. And how wonderfully did they match with each other to shine a glorious light upon our Narrow Way! Why, even Old Testament types and the Parables of Jesus bore testimony! It became unambiguously clear that the gospel race is the race marked out for us. Shall we see one more direct evidence? Why not! – ‘For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved’ (Rom 10:10 & SeeRom 10:11-15). How definitively does this scripture tell us how we are saved! We could go on laying out many more direct scriptural proofs – See Mark 10:29-30; Romans 1:1,9; 1 Corinthians 9:22-23; 2 Corinthians 8:8; Ephesians 6:15; Philippians 1:27; 2:22; 3:10; 4:3; 2 Timothy 1:8; 2:3-6; 1 Peter 4:13-19 – and the list could go on even further. We would not have space to quote all of them here! All throughout its entire length, the New Testament urges us plainly to live a gospel life when it says things like – be servants to God and Christ, do the will of God, participate in the sufferings of Christ, do good deeds, be holy, and be the light (Isn’t the truth the light?). But many do not realize this because of incorrect misinterpretations. As a matter of fact, don’t the lives of the Apostles and the members of the Early Church recorded in the Acts of the Apostlesbear a great testimony to this! They clearly knew that running the gospel race is the required living sacrifice. That’s why, as we read in the Book of Acts, they sacrificed their entire worldly lives and lived only for the sake of the gospel.
(27) How many plain and direct verses! We decisively saw that gospel work is the race that wins us eternal life. Works of the gospel include spreading the gospel message and serving to enrich/strengthen the faith of our fellow church members. For this purpose, we have to give up our whole life including our wealth/time/energy/talents and everything. Not everyone can become teachers or preachers. But we need to do works of the gospel with whatever talents we have. It would be wonderful when we plan together as a church and do gospel ministry effectively utilizing each and every member’s talents. We see in the Bible that early churches essentially operated that way. Suppose your church is not such a church and even your best efforts could not change that state, then you should do gospel work with like-minded brothers/sisters. For no reason should we stop fighting the Gospel Fight of the Faith that we need to fight to win eternal life! If you have any questions (no matter if it’s minor/major) on this study, feel free to contact us. Or if you feel,‘This is true, but how can I do gospel work in this present world?’ or if you wish to join us and do gospel work, you are more than welcome to get in touch with us. Let us do the holy work of God together! Amen.