The following is a response to a YouTube comment from a preacher who calls himself a right divider. He left quite a lengthy post under our podcast No One Has Ever Believed Paul's Gospel In Vain. We have broken it down into sections here to avoid missing any points.
Right Divider: I Corinthians 15:1-2 15:1-2 By using the word “brethren,” we know that Paul is addressing saved people, meaning that the Corinthians are going to heaven. Therefore, when he says in verse 2 that “ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you” (15:2), we know he cannot be referring to soul salvation. The question then is, “Saved from what?”
TTR: The full phrase is BY WHICH ye are saved and the context of the BY WHICH is the gospel which he had already preached unto them. They were already saved by it because they had already received it.
And that gospel he had preached to them, which they had already received and were saved by, WAS the gospel of salvation - so yes, we are definitely talking about soul salvation here. Paul is talking about the gospel he had already preached to them, which they believed, and as a result, their souls were saved.
Right Divider: Paul concludes verse 2 by saying, “Unless ye have believed in vain.” In verse 10, he says that he “laboured more abundantly than all the apostles.” Then, in verse 58, he tells the Corinthians that “your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” We can put all of these together and conclude that, if the Corinthians keep the gospel in mind, their labour will be them living by the faith of the Son of God as Christ lives in them (Galatians 2:20). This means the love of Christ will be shared with others so that they may be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4). Therefore, the answer to the question: “Saved from what?” is that they are saved from a life of futility, i.e., living in the flesh and suffering the loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ (3:14-15), if they keep in mind the gospel. In this way, they only glory in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14), and so their flesh does not get in the way. However, if they do not keep the gospel in mind, their labour will be in vain, because they will be labouring in the flesh, which will not be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ.
TTR: Obviously, Paul would not want their labor to be in vain, but that is not the context in 1 Corinthians 15. We get plenty of information from Paul's writings on how we should live, where our affections should be set, renewing our mind, etc.- WITHOUT reading it into a chapter that is clearly only about the gospel Paul initially preached to them for their salvation. He is only addressing it here because of the ones who had come into the assembly claiming that there was no resurrection. -A heresy that needed correction.
Right Divider: Notice that verse one speaks of the Corinthians’ soul salvation, while verse two speaks of their salvation from living by the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2).
TTR: No, it doesn't. Verse two speaks of the same salvation that verse one speaks of. Paul isn't going to hop subjects mid-sentence without making it clear. It's odd how some self-proclaimed right dividers want to make Paul's writings (which are ultimately God's Word) illogical, contextless, and barely understandable without a decoder ring.
Right Divider: We can easily see this by looking at the verb tenses used in the two verses. The Corinthians “HAVE received” the gospel (v. 1), which is in the past, and so they HAVE been saved from hell. They currently stand by grace in their position of eternal life (v. 1). This is explained to us in Romans 5:1-2, which says that we are now “justified by faith,” and it is by the Lord Jesus Christ that “we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” We stand in grace, as a result of the cross work of Christ. If we decide to put ourselves back under the law, we make ourselves a transgressor (Galatians 2:18), and we have “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). This is not to say that we lose our soul salvation, but it is to say that we are not operating in our standing in grace from a practical standpoint.
TTR: This is starting to sound Sonshippy (which we will address in our Romans verse-by-verse series - Chapter 8.)
The Corinthians were standing in the gospel because they believed it, and their souls were saved by it. This was their faith.
1 Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Their faith stood in the power of God - and what is the power of God?
●Romans 1:16 - The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation.
●1 Corinthians 1:18 - The preaching of the cross is the power of God.
●1 Corinthians 1:23-24 - Christ crucified is the power of God.
●2 Corinthians 6:7 - The word of truth is the power of God, and Eph 1:13 says the word of truth is the gospel of your salvation.
●1 Corinthians 15:2 talks about STANDING in the Power of God (the gospel/preaching of the cross/Christ crucified/word of truth.) Anyone who is saved has no choice but to STAND in it. You are conflating standing with state by trying to make verse 2 about state when it clearly uses the word stand.
Right Divider: The Corinthians currently stand in God’s grace (15:1), and “ye are saved” from following the flesh, “if ye keep in memory” the gospel that Paul preached unto them (15:2). So, since they received the gospel in the past, and they stand in grace currently, Paul is not saying that “ye ARE saved” from hell if ye keep the gospel in memory. If that were the case, they would not be standing in grace, because grace and works do not mix (Romans 11:6).
TTR: We've never taught that anyone has to keep the gospel in memory in order to be saved from hell. So, not sure why you are arguing against that point. Surely you listened to this podcast before you commented, right?
Right Divider: Rather, they are saved from a life in the flesh, if they keep in memory the gospel. Noting the word “also” in verse 2 helps us to understand this as well. They received the gospel and stand in grace, such that they have eternal life as a present possession. In addition, they are “ALSO” saved from labouring in their flesh in vain, if they glory in the cross of Christ alone.
TTR: So, let me get this straight: Your assertion is that as long as a person remembers the gospel, they will be "saved from a life in the flesh?" Exactly what does that look like? How does one escape their flesh and still walk upright on this earth? I'm especially interested in knowing how you've managed to figure this out when even our apostle says in Galatians 2:20 that he was still living his life in the flesh... Did Paul forget the gospel while he was writing Galatians?
Right Divider: If they do not, they will trust in their own flesh to save them from this world, as so many in Churchianity do today.
TTR: Anyone who trusts in their own flesh to save them from this world does not believe the gospel - meaning, THEY ARE NOT SAVED.
Also, at this point, we need to make it clear that you have now said that the additional conditional salvation -which you claim is in 1 Corinthians 15:2- is salvation from:
1. following the flesh
2. a life of futility
3. losing reward at the judgment seat
4. labouring in the flesh
5. a life in the flesh
6. trusting in one's own flesh for salvation
If you are right about how one obtains this additional conditional salvation, then it would be impossible for any saved person who doesn't forget the gospel to ever partake in any of the abovementioned things. Otherwise, they would not be saved from them (as you assert.)
Are you willing to stand by the logical conclusion of your assertions that saved people will never follow the flesh, live a life of futility, lose reward at the judgment seat, labour in the flesh, live a life in the flesh, or trust in their own flesh for salvation - as long as they simply keep the gospel in memory?
Right Divider: ...they will trust in their own flesh to save them from this world, as so many in Churchianity do today. Then, they would have believed in vain (15:2).
TTR: Sure, believing the wrong thing as truth would be believing in vain. - But as I proved in the podcast/video that IS NOT what 1 Corinthians 15:2 is about. It is impossible for anyone in the dispensation of grace to believe Paul's gospel in vain. And that is the EXACT context of the passage. No one can believe the truth in vain. So no, you don't get to cherry-pick believe in vain out of verse 2 and just slap any old context to it that you wish, to prove your point. The immediate context starts in verse one and goes all the way to verse 19. Broadly, the entire chapter centers around resurrection. Christ's resurrection, and later, the resurrection of the body of Christ. The only people I've ever known to add conditional works and a different salvation to 1 Corinthians 15 are those who teach Sonship theology.
-And just like Sonship adherents, you are either assuming most people are just saved and confused rather than likely just plain lost - or you vacillate between saved and lost people with no clear distinction when trying to explain your multiple salvation theories. Bad doctrine is always inconsistent.
This mindset is dangerous to the lost world, and is just as capable of creating false converts as denominationalism is. With that attitude, you might as well be a Universalist.
Right Divider: Not that they lose their salvation, but that Christ will not be living in them. As such, they will “frustrate the grace of God” and so “then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21).
TTR: You are using the same incorrect logic in Galatians 2:21 as you are using in 1 Corinthians 15:2. You completely ignored the if right in the middle of Galatians 2:21. Paul literally says, "if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
Question: Does righteousness come by the law? Galatians 2:16 says that a man is not justified by the law. Justification is a declaration of righteousness. Therefore, the answer is a BIG "NO." Righteousness does not come by the law.
So, if righteousness does not come by the law, then it is impossible for Christ to be dead in vain. The only way Christ is dead in vain is IF righteousness came by the law.
There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the term in vain amongst a few in the grace circles, which, unfortunately, leads to all sorts of scriptural errors and missteps while attempting to preach the gospel to others.
Right Divider: Again, Christ’s death still atones for their sin, because their salvation from hell has already been accomplished. But, Christ’s life does not work in them, because they are living in their own flesh (Galatians 2:20).
TTR: Christ's life does not work in saved people? -Philippians 1:6 says otherwise.
The gospel is quite simple, but the flesh tends to muddy it up and make it unclear.
●There aren't two different salvations from one verse to the next.
●Paul isn't telling anyone that if they forget the gospel after they are saved, they won't make it to heaven.
●Paul isn't declaring 2 different gospels in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2.
●In order for ANYTHING to be done in vain - it would have to be done for naught.
●No one in this dispensation can ever believe Paul's gospel for naught.
●And Jesus didn't die for naught - even if someone tries to be justified by the law.
On the contrary - NOT believing the gospel and trying to obtain your own righteousness by the law would be for naught - in vain ---- because it is an impossibility. And anyone who believes such a thing would be believing it in vain/for naught - just as anyone teaching such a thing would be teaching it in vain/for naught.
1 Corinthians 15:13-17 explains how believing/teaching in vain actually works and gives the result. It's baffling how many people just stuble right over this. All one has to do is keep reading.
There's no need to add an extra salvation to the passage. Besides, surely, you realize that you can't have a different salvation without also having a different gospel.
Yet, according to your logic, we've got 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 as a single gospel (keeping in memory) within another gospel (soul salvation), leading to two different salvations (soul and life).
-I suppose no one can accuse you of lacking imagination...
The gospel is simple and should be a red flag anytime anyone tries to add to that simplicity.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
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