Part 3 - Who Should We Follow Today?

It is often mistakenly assumed that we need to follow Jesus of Nazareth, of the Gospels. But when we consider Jesus’ words, this makes no sense whatsoever. Consider;

Are we able follow Jesus’ instructions given to Israel (Matt. 15:24), to keep “the Law” (Matthew 5:18)? We’re obviously not able to keep all the whole “law”… and James says if we offend one point of the Law we are “guilty of it all” (James 2:10)!

The answer to this question comes to us from Paul, “the (one) apostle of the Gentiles.” The ascended Lord Jesus revealed “the mystery (God-planned secret)” to Paul alone. Paul writes of “the revelation of ‘the mystery’” (Rom. 16:25-26), which is God’s secret program to deal with the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles, on the basis of the “grace” of Christ’s finished Crosswork at Calvary. On the other hand, Jesus of Nazareth ministered only to “the lost sheep of Israel” in Mat. through Jn. (Mat. 10:5-7, 15:24; Jn 4:22; Rom. 15:8).

“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: ⁶  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10:5-7 (KJV)
“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24 (KJV)
 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22 (KJV)
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Israel) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:” (Romans 15:8 (KJV)

Jesus of Nazareth had no ministry to Gentiles because He came to save Israel first! It is not until we come to Paul’s ministry when God begins to deal with Gentiles. This is one basic fact of Scripture that most church members have never been told. Trying to follow Jesus’ word to Israel will not work for us!

Jesus Christ told His followers to obey Israel’s Mosaic Law, commanding them to teach others to do the same (Mat. 5:17-19). But contrariwise, God through Paul tells us, “ye are NOT under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14,15). Obviously, we can’t follow both sets of instructions. We can’t follow Jesus’ earthly ministry because we are not Jews. Furthermore, Paul wrote, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have known Christ after the flesh (as Jesus in His earthly ministry), yet now Henceforth Know We Him No More” (2 Cor. 5:16). We are not to know Jesus after His earthly ministry as seen in Matt., Mark, Luke, and John. Rather, we follow Jesus according to His heavenly ministry, by which Jesus from heaven (Acts 9) revealed “the mystery (secret)” to Paul who then gives it to us in his thirteen epistles of Romans through Philemon.

Christ saved Paul and sent Paul to be the “pattern” as to how we receive salvation. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (the first person saved “under grace”). ¹⁶ Howbeit for this cause I (Paul) obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

Paul wrote, “Be ye followers of me (Paul), even as (in the same way that) I am (a follower) of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). In our Christian life, we follow Paul in the same way… that Paul followed Christ. In Paul’s epistles alone we find the doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny of the members of “the Church, the Body of Christ.”

Paul is God’s spokesman to us today, just as Moses was God’s spokesman to Israel. If we want to learn what God would say to us for today, we must go to Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon. To reject or marginalize Paul, as much of Christendom has today, is to reject Christ who sent Paul to us. Jesus said, to reject Him is to reject God the Father (cf. Mat. 10:40; John 13:20). Paul wrote:

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I (Paul) write unto you are the commandments (instructions) of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).

The test for spirituality today is NOT in following Jesus of Nazareth in His earthly ministry to Israel, but in obeying what God and His Spirit says to us today through the Apostle Paul as he shows us how to walk in union with Christ’s indwelling “Spirit of life” (Col. 1:25-27, Rom 8:2, Gal 5:16, 18, 25). As members of “the church… the body of Christ,” we are not the nation Israel. During our dispensation of grace, Israel is temporarily “fallen,” “cast away,” and “spiritually blinded” (cf. Rom. 11:10-11, 15, 25). We are members of “the body of Christ,” where “there is neither Jew nor Gentile” (Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 1:22-23).

What God has to say to us in this age is different from what He told the nation Israel in the “Old Testament,” during Jesus’ earthly ministry to Israel, and during the early part of Acts. It’s important to understand how our Christian life operates as a non-Israelite, as Gentiles living during this “dispensation of the grace of the grace of god” and members of “the Church… the Body of Christ.”

If we want to be spiritually “edified (built up, strengthened)” and spiritually “perfected (matured),” we need to study and believe the Paul’s epistles, given he says “For perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Eph. 4:12) God wants to “stablish (stabilize)” our Christian life in the inner man of the soul by using a three-fold process. 1) God wants us to understand the life that He has given to us in Christ Jesus. 2) We need to better understand what He is doing today; and 3) we can by faith follow Paul as our “pattern” and do the same.

Paul tells us how we discover and are established in the will of God for our lives during “the grace of God.”

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my (Paul’s) gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (Gk. musterion, the God-kept secret), which was kept secret since the world began, ²⁶ But now is made manifest (revealed), and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment (instructions) of the everlasting God, made known to ALL nations (Gk. ethnos, ethnics, Gentiles) for the (their) obedience of (to the) faith:”

Notice the three-fold process of Christian edification seen in the above verses.

• “my gospel” is Paul’s Gospel that rests solely in “the cross” of Christ (1Cor. 15:1-4) as the foundation of the Christian life.

• And “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (secret)” is seen in Paul’s epistles. There we receive the “sound doctrine” (1Tim. 1:10). The information found in Paul’s epistles are the building materials that Paul uses to lay the church’s “foundation… which is Christ” (1Cor 3:11) in our lives.

• And “the scriptures of the prophets” as included in “all Scripture” … as seen in light of Pauline doctrine for today. Thus, we can recognize the differences in the dispensational ages of the past and future… comparing them to the Pauline truths of today’s “dispensation of the grace of God.”

This is why studying the Bible ‘rightly divided’ is so important. We study ALL the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, but we follow the design of Christian edification as laid out in Romans 16:25-26. If we refuse to follow the dispensational layout of Scripture, as most people do, then we will be going against what God is doing today, and our Christian lives will be in shambles, which is why Christendom is in such pitiful shape!

Do we study Paul’s epistles only? No!!!

Paul himself wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). All the Bible is God’s Word, so we study all 66 books (Genesis to Revelation). But unlike most churches and professing Christians, we study the entire Bible in the light of “the revelation of the mystery,” as found in Paul’s epistles. So, ALL the Bible is FOR us, but not all the Bible is written To Us or written About Us. After all, more than seventy-five percent of the Bible is written to and is about the nation Israel, not us.

We follow God’s design for Christian edification of “the body of Christ,” and seek only God’s approval, not man’s approval (2 Tim. 2:15). If Paul doesn’t instruct us in a matter, then it doesn’t apply to us. When studying any Bible passage, we first need to note; 1.) who is writing or speaking, 2.) who are they addressing, 3.) what are they writing, and 4) to apply when (in what age)?

Again, keep in mind that Paul’s thirteen epistles of Romans through Philemon are what God has to say to us today, while the rest of the Bible deals with Israel’s program of prophecy and prophecy’s fulfillment concerning God’s kingdom to “come to earth,” wherein Israel will co-reign with Christ. By now you’ve likely been shocked, but, doesn’t the Bible make more sense now? If you ask, “Why have you never heard this before?” I would suggest that you ask your pastor, Bible teacher, or priest why he never told you any of this.