Jesus and Paul and Fundamentalism and Salvation

I have basically grown up in Church, mostly in the Evangelical or Protestant denominational side of Christianity, although I do not consider myself such. When it comes to the Scriptures, I personally feel that if Jesus didn’t say anything about a certain topic than perhaps it is not as important to the scope of the Faith. Recently, a friend was saying something in what was seemingly opposition to this way of thinking I maintain. If I remember correctly, he may have said something similar to, perhaps: Jesus never said anything about killing or mutilating children, but that does not mean it is okay. I do agree that we have no documentation about him saying such a thing. However, Jesus did say that we are to “love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves,” and he said that these are the greatest two commandments, and all of the law is summed up in them. If we analyze these commandments and practice them, they do sum up all laws because if you love your neighbor, you will not kill or mutilate him or her, at worst. What I mean is that just by speaking about those two commandments, Jesus said enough, and anything else would have been superfluous. Anyhow, I am sure you get the picture. However, this post is not really about that. I just wanted to share my thoughts on what I feel that some may think are contradictory ideas between the things Jesus said and what Paul said in the Scriptures.

Again, this is what some feel are contradictory ideas between the things Jesus said and what Paul said in the Scriptures. Of course, if you, the reader, would like to post your opinion on my post or anything I have said on here before, there is a section below in which you can comment, but let’s not get side-tracked. I also want to be brief, so I will only show a couple of verses. Now, if one takes the verses out of context, it does seem that they are opposing ideas, but when put into context, they are not that opposite at all. So, we begin here!

Jesus said, in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (RSV).”

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6: 9: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (RSV)?”

Now that I think about it, perhaps some people are right because it sure seems that Jesus was inclusive, and Paul was exclusive, and we all know that Jesus was the Son of God, so Jesus wins. Okay, not so fast, we have to put it to the context litmus test, and see if the message changes.

John 3:16 – 21 says:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God (RSV).”

Okay, this does sound exclusive because it does say: “he who does not believe is condemned already.”But, let’s test Paul, now.

1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 says:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God (RSV)."

Okay, actually, Paul simply elaborated on his exclusivity, but Jesus did say “whosoever believes,” and he is not specific as to what really makes one evil, but Jesus does say: “their deeds were evil.”

Now, I cannot conclude this post here because it seems that we are in some sort of a Fundamentalist Scriptural trap. I also know that neither Jesus, nor Paul believed anyone was good or righteous in the eyes of God, so things are not hopeless. I will show you two verses that reflect this foregoing idea. In Romans 3:10, Paul said: "as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one (RSV)..." In Luke 18: 19, Jesus said: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone (RSV)."In reality, both Jesus and Paul were quoting Psalms 14:1, and it seems that they were both in complete agreement. We are ready for a conclusion, for now! What seems to be in question throughout this post is salvation. Theologically speaking, salvation or soteriology is something that means different things to different Christian denominations. I think that the best way to understand salvation is to try to go with the idea that has been more common in both the Eastern and Western Churches throughout Church history; however, I think that ultimately it is all about God’s mercy and grace, and how we learn to accept and understand it.


References:

RSV Bible