“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? (Galatians 1:8-10)
Pretty harsh wouldn’t you say? Paul says anyone who preaches a gospel contrary to what he had preached to them was accursed – meaning “devoted to destruction” (death-not tortured in hell).
So don’t you think it important to know what Paul preached, and receive it?
So what did Paul preach?….you will have to read Romans through Philemon to get it all but 1 Corinthians 15 will give you a good summary.
But it is what he did NOT PREACH about that is very interesting to me….he did not speak of eternal conscious torment in hell even one time…even to deny it. Why? Because it never crossed his mind that anyone would believe such a thing. So how did the doctrine get introduced into the church?
Well, as I read history, it was not introduced into the church until around 187 AD when Christian teachers like Tertullian of Carthage began to blend Greek philosophy — human speculative reasoning - with the teachings of God’s Word. And Plato (427-347 BC) had talked about hell as a place of torment for immortal souls almost 400 years before the birth of Jesus. It was not based on the Bible but on Greek myth and philosophy. Bible verses were later sought to uphold the ancient philosophies of the Greeks, and were added to the teaching of the Church as best I can tell.
Eventually under the influence of Augustine, in about AD 430, the concept of endless conscious torment was brought into general acceptance by the Catholic Church in the Western world, and has remained a “destructive heresy” of both the Catholic and Protestant Church to this time. That is why I am wary of the opinions of “wise men”, even those of well respected theologians and philosophers…I prefer to read the Bible for myself.
I like what A. W. Tozer says about men who are constantly seeking the approval of wise men…
“I cannot believe in the spirituality of any man who keeps an eye open for the approval of others, whoever they may be. The man after God's own heart must be dead to the opinion of his friends as well as his enemies. He must be as willing to cross important persons as obscure ones. When we are wholly lost in Him the frantic effort to please men will come to an end. The circle of persons we struggle to please will be narrowed to One. Then we will know true freedom, but not a moment before.” (A. W. Tozer - The Price of Neglect, Page141)
If I am lost…at least it is in His Word, not in wise men and their philosophies!
Pretty harsh wouldn’t you say? Paul says anyone who preaches a gospel contrary to what he had preached to them was accursed – meaning “devoted to destruction” (death-not tortured in hell).
So don’t you think it important to know what Paul preached, and receive it?
So what did Paul preach?….you will have to read Romans through Philemon to get it all but 1 Corinthians 15 will give you a good summary.
But it is what he did NOT PREACH about that is very interesting to me….he did not speak of eternal conscious torment in hell even one time…even to deny it. Why? Because it never crossed his mind that anyone would believe such a thing. So how did the doctrine get introduced into the church?
Well, as I read history, it was not introduced into the church until around 187 AD when Christian teachers like Tertullian of Carthage began to blend Greek philosophy — human speculative reasoning - with the teachings of God’s Word. And Plato (427-347 BC) had talked about hell as a place of torment for immortal souls almost 400 years before the birth of Jesus. It was not based on the Bible but on Greek myth and philosophy. Bible verses were later sought to uphold the ancient philosophies of the Greeks, and were added to the teaching of the Church as best I can tell.
Eventually under the influence of Augustine, in about AD 430, the concept of endless conscious torment was brought into general acceptance by the Catholic Church in the Western world, and has remained a “destructive heresy” of both the Catholic and Protestant Church to this time. That is why I am wary of the opinions of “wise men”, even those of well respected theologians and philosophers…I prefer to read the Bible for myself.
I like what A. W. Tozer says about men who are constantly seeking the approval of wise men…
“I cannot believe in the spirituality of any man who keeps an eye open for the approval of others, whoever they may be. The man after God's own heart must be dead to the opinion of his friends as well as his enemies. He must be as willing to cross important persons as obscure ones. When we are wholly lost in Him the frantic effort to please men will come to an end. The circle of persons we struggle to please will be narrowed to One. Then we will know true freedom, but not a moment before.” (A. W. Tozer - The Price of Neglect, Page141)
If I am lost…at least it is in His Word, not in wise men and their philosophies!