The Gospels of Jesus and Paul

why do they seem to differ so much? Jesus never mentioned the word 'grace'. Paul was all about 'grace'.
Jesus said 'keep my commands'. Paul said grace not law...
Lawlessness was condemned by Jesus yet Paul was always preaching 'grace'.

How do they mesh?

I see grace in everything Christ did or said, even without the 'word'.
Also... that 'lawlessness' was condemned... in His own body on the cross. This is the life changing grace that is so profound. Paul later embellished this in the epistles.

FritzMichaels said:

why do they seem to differ so much? Jesus never mentioned the word 'grace'. Paul was all about 'grace'.
Jesus said 'keep my commands'. Paul said grace not law...
Lawlessness was condemned by Jesus yet Paul was always preaching 'grace'.

How do they mesh?

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They mesh very well.
The gospel of Paul still expects obedience. But the blood of Jesus is added to the equation.
His blood isn't an excuse to sin(contrary to what some would teach)
but nevertheless, the His blood is there as a gift from God.
Forgivness for our failings.

Christ preach the Gospel of The kingdom to Jews
Paul Preach the Gospel of Salvation to Gentiles who never had the one true God to begin with.

Never said this before so you guys can tell me how it sounds.

Jesus taught that the first commandment is "love". And if we love we will keep the Law.

Paul explained that if we "love" we do not need the Law as threat of condemnation; we need the law as a tool to guide us in the expression of our love.

Grace is the purely benevelant act of God in providing a means by which our love can be acknowledged by Him.

hummerpoo said:

Never said this before so you guys can tell me how it sounds.

Jesus taught that the first commandment is "love". And if we love we will keep the Law.

Paul explained that if we "love" we do not need the Law as threat of condemnation; we need the law as a tool to guide us in the expression of our love.

Grace is the purely benevelant act of God in providing a means by which our love can be acknowledged by Him.

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Jesus spoke mainly in parables about the Kingdom of God, Paul's letters were mainly in regard to questions that the churches had later after he had lived with them and then left to another place and was now responding back. Except Romans, And pastoral letters. I suspect that Paul in person spoke about the Kingdom of God

Ronnie T said:

They mesh very well.
The gospel of Paul still expects obedience. .

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I agree, I just see this grace gospel running rampant and obedience to Christ put on the backburner or even mocked. Its like the words of Paul were more important than the words of the Lord. That is bothersome to me when people reject the words of Jesus and cling to the words of Paul just because 'grace' is easy and obedience is hard. Anyway, i greatly appreciate yalls input.

I believe Jesus spent more time showing Grace than talking about it.. Think of all the miracles... Since Grace is unmerited favor some people mistake it for a license to sin.. So far from the Biblical picture of Grace.....

FritzMichaels said:

I agree, I just see this grace gospel running rampant and obedience to Christ put on the backburner or even mocked. Its like the words of Paul were more important than the words of the Lord. That is bothersome to me when people reject the words of Jesus and cling to the words of Paul just because 'grace' is easy and obedience is hard. Anyway, i greatly appreciate yalls input.

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I totally agree.
Jesus was filled with mercy and grace, but quite often after giving that gift to someone you would hear Jesus say, "Go and sin no more".

There was an expectation.

.

Inthegarge said:

I believe Jesus spent more time showing Grace than talking about it.. Think of all the miracles... Since Grace is unmerited favor some people mistake it for a license to sin.. So far from the Biblical picture of Grace.....

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Grace is forgiveness of "past" sins.

hummerpoo said:

Grace is the purely benevelant act of God in providing a means by which our love can be acknowledged by Him.

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I don't agree with your definition of grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor. It has everything to do with His love for us and nothing to do with our love for Him. For while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Ronnie T said:

Grace is forgiveness of "past" sins.

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Past what? The last time we prayed? When we were saved? If we are saved by grace and grace is only forgiveness of past sins then, by your definition, we're still under the law, right?

For Jeff.

Romans 6:
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
........
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Ronnie T said:

Grace is forgiveness of "past" sins.

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And also strength to handle the present... as in Hebrews 4:16:
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

"Grace to help in time of need" is for those times when no 'earthly' help will do.
I've seen a few of those times !

The Bible is a hard thing to understand. Nice to know we do have some good people who want to know more about the gospel on here.

Thanks Ronnie but I think you missed my point. You and I have had discussions on salvation before and we disagree on eternal security, OSAS or whatever you want to call it. I don't know if we'll ever agree on it. Here I'm just questioning the necessity to change the definition of words to better fit your position? Nowhere in the bible or even in the dictionary can I find where grace only covers past sins. I also don't see how grace can be defined by our love for God when it's wholly a manifestation of God's love.

Gabassmaster said:

The Bible is a hard thing to understand. Nice to know we do have some good people who want to know more about the gospel on here.

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I'd just offer one suggestion, pray before opening the scriptures and ask the Lord to speak. I'd be specific about the prayer request also, especially if there's life issues to deal with. He will answer and open up His word to any heart willing to hear.

Jeff57 said:

Thanks Ronnie but I think you missed my point. You and I have had discussions on salvation before and we disagree on eternal security, OSAS or whatever you want to call it. I don't know if we'll ever agree on it. Here I'm just questioning the necessity to change the definition of words to better fit your position? Nowhere in the bible or even in the dictionary can I find where grace only covers past sins. I also don't see how grace can be defined by our love for God when it's wholly a manifestation of God's love.

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Romans 3:25
Hebrews 10:26

Jeff57 said:

Thanks Ronnie but I think you missed my point. You and I have had discussions on salvation before and we disagree on eternal security, OSAS or whatever you want to call it. I don't know if we'll ever agree on it. Here I'm just questioning the necessity to change the definition of words to better fit your position? Nowhere in the bible or even in the dictionary can I find where grace only covers past sins. I also don't see how grace can be defined by our love for God when it's wholly a manifestation of God's love.

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Okay, I agree with you. But I have to add another verse of scripture to help explain how I agree with you.
Jesus' death on the cross became the "once for all" sacrifice for my sins. But there are some minor stipulation on my life in Christ.

One of them, for me, is found in 1John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

My point in the above scripture is that in 1John, John is writing to children of God.
Now another verse from 1John.

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
The blood of Jesus was shed for evil mankind, but only for those who would come to Christ as Lord and Savior.
And now, after receiving Jesus Christ as Lord, those who are continuing to walk with Christ are covered by His blood. Or said another way, God's grace.

That, as a person touched by the grace of God, if I indeed walk in the light Jesus continues to purify me.
John also speaks of my willingness to confess my sins.

Paul told me to stop thinking of God's grace as my life insurance plan that will protect me from punishment, but to think of it as the very power that allows me to seek Jesus Christ.

Don't get me wrong, I, as you, believe God's grace is of necessity during the remainder of my life.

Jeff57 said:

I don't agree with your definition of grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor. It has everything to do with His love for us and nothing to do with our love for Him. For while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

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I don't disagree with you but I see how you might disagree with me. I need to try to explain.

First I'm sure we meant the same thing when I said "purely benevolent" and you said "unmerited favor". If that is correct, then we agree that the power to give is all on God's side of the equation. The contrary statement might be, we have nothing to give that is of value to God.

When you say "nothing to do with our love for him" my thinking, perhaps, goes one step further. Can a fallen sinful man rise to the level of love that is called for by the Great Commandment? I think not. Can a fallen sinful man muster up, from within himself, the understanding of a Holy God necessary to cry as Isaiah did "I am ruined"? I think not. From where then does the ability to take even the first step, a desire to approach the Throne of Grace, come. It must come from the source of all that is good, all that is pure, all that is Holy; it must come from God Himself.

I'm drawing a blank on the reference I'm after but a similar one is Jn 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..."

So what I'm getting at is that when I wrote about God's recognition of our love, I was thinking that He provided us with the gift of that love, then (in effect) gives us credit for it.

I truely am not sure I explained myself well, if not, please accept my assurance that I was not lifting up man as deserving anything from the Almighty God.