These things you have done and I kept silent; You thought that I was just like you; I will rebuke you and present the case before your eyes. (Psalm 50:21)

The biggest error that the Reformers in the seventeenth century have made is that they turned to speculative and miserable doctrines to please men, not God. Christianity is not for the majority of people but for few chosen. However, God was pleased to make a system (the visible church) through which His people were taught and trained just like He did in the OT.

There are many religions around the world. Religiousness is deeply embedded in our nature. Even those who say they do not follow a religion believe in themselves. All religions require people to do something for their gods. The Bible says that idols are people’s inventions. Our God does not require us to do something for Him from our own initiatives. It is God who does everything. Therefore, we know that anyone who says we can do something for God from our own initiatives is an idolater. One may think that people like doing nothing for their gods but on the contrary, people always seek new ways to please their imaginary gods.

The gospel tells us that grace is freely given to God’s chosen people. We do not gain faith by our own efforts. Faith is connected to the knowledge of God. That knowledge is not given unless the Holy Spirit enters a person. And the Holy Spirit speaks what is written in the Bible. He interprets the words of God. We are born spiritually dead like the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, unable to know and love God from our own initiatives. Moreover, Adam was unable to overcome the devil’s temptations although he was born upright. Adam did not know God as the Son does. Christ is the only one who truly knows the Father.

No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18)

Christians want to believe that God’s grace is for all mankind. But we know that the Holy Spirit has come only to certain people. If indeed the Spirit has come to all mankind, we would not have what we face in this world – famine, war, greed, injustice, poverty, etc. The Bible tells us that there are evil people who blaspheme God. God separates the saints from those people who will be eternally condemned. Some say that people who do good works receive the Holy Spirit. Their definition of good works are the good works in the eyes of the world. Those good works are not connected to the knowledge of God. Besides, there are no good works from people who are born dead. God sees that there is no one who does good, not even one (Romans 3:10). Paul had much education under the Jewish religion. However, he considered everything as dung. The Jewish religion did not lead him to Christ.

But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, (Philippians 3:7-8)

Some ignorant people think that Paul’s education under Judaism led him to write what he wrote. The only benefit Paul received from Judaism was reading the Old Testament. When the Holy Spirit came to him, Paul realized that the Jewish knowledge of God was wrong. The Spirit gave him the true knowledge of God and the right interpretations of the words of God. In Galatians 1, he emphasizes that his mission and knowledge is given by God for a purpose. He mentions ‘man (or men)’ several times in the chapter and insists that he was not made an apostle to please men.

For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12)

For many centuries, the Roman Catholic church ruled the Europe. Most people in the Europe were the Roman Catholic, and anyone against the church was considered a heretic. A Roman Catholic Order, the Dominicans, were called ‘Domini canes (hounds of God)’ and they spent much time studying the Bible, developed their theories about God, and persecuted anyone who was against the church. They openly adopted the ideas of Aristotle. Aquinas was a Dominican. And with his theories, the Roman Catholic church condemned the Reformers in the Council of Trent. Some theologians believe that Augustine, Luther, and Calvin followed the ideas of Plato and Aquinas and others followed those of Aristotle. Bringing Greek philosophers who did not know God into theology is an abomination. Even though they might have said some things right, their ideas are not better than pagans having their own ideas of an invented god. In any religion, there may be a glimpse of God there, but the pagans follow their own invented knowledge and theories. They are satisfied with their idols and never seek for truths that the words of God bring by the Holy Spirit. Some of them turn away from their sins and believe in the only true God when the Holy Spirit comes to them. All others remain blind and will be resurrected to eternal damnation.

I read that Luther relied on the Book of Galatians much. Luther was a God’s instrument to initiate the Reformation. But his knowledge had limits. We can see his limits by what the Lutheran church has become. If I remember it correctly, it was Luther who thought Adam did not need Christ in the garden of Eden. I may be wrong. Some of you who have more knowledge in this matter may know more about Luther’s idea of Adam in Eden. I think it is one of the limits that the Protestants had.

Paul emphasizes on the death of Christ continuously. He never mentions Christ’s perfect keeping of the Law as righteousness separate from the cross. Christ’s sinlessness is connected to once-for-all perfect sacrifice.

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)

Did Paul and other apostles emphasize on the cross because Adam was so perfect that his descendants need only forgiveness of sins? The Covenant Theology came because the theologians considered that the cross represents only the forgiveness of sins. They thought that Adam and we need more than the cross. Therefore, the perfect keeping of the Law became a mean to gain eternal life in their theory. The Bible never mentions of the probation period of Adam that the Covenant Theologians talk about. I can only conclude that they have failed to see the true meaning of the cross. Paul and other apostles always connect the cross to adoption through the union with Christ. As the Son lives eternally, the saints who are united with Him live eternally. Those who follow the Covenant Theology and the Active Obedience of Christ think that what God really wants is obedience to the Law. However, what they call the obedience to the Law is only false piety. They attempt to weaken Christ’s work on the cross by emphasizing the Law. And Paul tells us today that we must not depart from the gospel of Christ.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (Ephesians 2:4-8)