Jesus Christ, with all the riches of our new relationship with God, which flows to us via His cross-work is “the Riches of the glory (the full expression) of this mystery.”

Paul wrote here using this term “the Israel of God.”

“in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. ¹⁶And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon “the Israel of God.” (Gal. 6:15-16)

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)

Before I get to the one and only Christian baptism for today, I need to lay some groundwork of understanding concerning John the Baptist’s water “baptism unto repentance” for the Israelites of His and Jesus’ day only.

Many people have truly come to know Christ personally as their Savior, but some have come to believe only after having already been sincere, religious ‘church members’ of some independent organized church or denomination. Though having been faithful supporters of some earthly church organization, some had never really experienced the reality and joy of new life in union with Christ.

It is strange but true that most people — even the great majority of religious people — do not know what a church is. Ask the average man what a church is and he’s apt to reply:

“Well, anybody knows that! A church is a building where people go to worship God.”

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

Noted above is 2 Timothy 2:15 which, if followed, is the key to understanding "THE WORD OF TRUTH." If this principle of paramount importance is ignored or misunderstood, the Word of Truth becomes a "word of inaccuracy."

Let's now compare the clearly delineated requirements of the two Biblical gospels for salvation. Both being found in the so-called New Testament of our Bibles and apply to two different peoples in two different ages.

Introduction:

This study is based upon what sprang to mind as I later pondered what I heard of a message given by Casey Groeneveld. I also borrowed his title for this series.

This is the first part of a 10-part study based upon the supposition that the Apostle Paul and his writings could be removed from the Bible.

The Word “Church”

We need to know the definition for the word that is translated “church” from the Greek, in order to interpret the word “church.” The word “church” immediately has various meanings to those who hear and use it. But, there is a great misunderstanding of this word – most associate the word “church” either with 1) an organization or, 2) the building that most people call churches, but neither of these is the correct meaning of the word according to the Greek.