Paul Vs. James
James says:
If you have faith, you have good works.
If you have no good works, your faith is dead.
Faith alone can't save you.
James 2:14-20
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but
does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and
filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for
the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works."
Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons
believe--and tremble!
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without
works is dead?
Paul says:
Your saved by Grace, through faith, and nothing
else. That no man may boast in his works.
Ephesians 2:1-9
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who
now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of
our flesh, fufilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
WHO IS RIGHT ???
PART I.
Now, let's cover some details about our combatants. . .
NOTE # 1:
A) James, in his family, is the second brother, not the first.
In Jewish law, when the first born son dies, the second
born son takes over the birthrights.
This same birthright law is what led to the problems of:
1) David's first born son Amnon, then Absalom and Solomon,
2) Abraham's first born son Ishmael and Isaac,
3) Isaac's first born son Esau and Jacob.
** The first born son always receives the rights and
blessings, UNLESS GOD DECIDES TO CHANGE IT!**
The three insurgents into the Islamic religion come from
this birthright struggle:
1)Ishmael
2)Esau
3)Absalom
> These are the three people that bring forward Islam! <
JAMES assumes this birthright after the death and resurrection of
Jesus and takes over control of the Jewish/Christian church
in Jersusalem,
NOT JOHN, NOT PETER,
AND NOT THE APOSTLE JAMES.
B) James never associated with non-Jews. He taught if a Gentile
wanted to be a Christian, they must follow The Law and be
circumcised (Galatians 2). James was trying to reconcile
the Old Testament Law (10 Commandments) with the New Testament
Law of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
C) James addresses his letter to those under the OLD Covenant...
those who follow the Law and NOT TO CHRIST'S CHURCH those
who are now of the NEW Covenant!
James 1:1
James a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:
After this verse, Jesus' name is never mentioned again
in the Epistle of James. The Gospel message of GRACE is
not mentioned anywhere in the the Epistle of James!
Note #2:
A) Paul is an expert on Jewish law, trained by
Gamaliel, the chief teacher of the Law, who is
the best of the best.
Jews know very well who Gemaliel and Paul are.
REMEMBER THE STORY ABOUT PAUL BEFORE HE WAS A CHRISTIAN:
a) He goes around persecuting and killing Christians.
Acts 8:1-3
1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great
persecution arose against the church which was a tJerusalem;
and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great
lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house,
and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
b) He holds the coats of the people stoning Stephen
to death.
Acts 7:57-59
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears,
and ran at him with one accord;
58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the
witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young
man named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying,
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
c) He is called into Christianity by Christ blinding
him and then Christ yells at him saying,
"Saul,why are you persecuting me?"
"Who are you?" asks Paul.
"I am Jesus Christ" answers JESUS!
Acts 9:1-9
1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the
disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus,
so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men
or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light
shone around him from heaven.
4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him,
"SAUL, SAUL, WHY ARE YOU PERSECUTING ME?"
5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said,
"I AM JESUS, WHOM YOU ARE PERSECUTING. IT IS HARD FOR YOU TO
KICK AGAINST THE GOADS."
6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You
want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "ARISE AND GO
INTO THE CITY, AND YOU WILL BE TOLD WHAT YOU MUST DO."
7 And the menwho journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing
a voice and seeing no one.
8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were
opened he saw no one. But they led him tby the hand and
brought him into Damascus.
9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor
drank.
B) Paul was not only personally called by Jesus, but Paul was
called as the 13th Apostle after Matthias who took Judas'
place.
C) All of Paul's writings are written to the Church, and written
in the voice of the New Covenant...a message of Faith in Christ
Jesus.
D) Paul did not seek a position of authority over the Church.
INSTEAD he worked at building churches by preaching the Gospels
to the Gentiles.
A THOUGHT TO REFLECT ON:
The second born will inherit the rights if the first born dies,
except when God changes His mind.
** IF CHRIST (who already ascended) TOOK THE TIME TO PERSONALLY TALK
TO PAUL, WOULD YOU AGREE THAT JESUS CHANGED HIS MIND AND MADE PAUL
HIS MESSANGER OF THE GOSPELS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD??! **
THE FACT IS: 2/3 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ENDED UP BEING THE EPISTLES
THAT PAUL WROTE WITH OUR LORD!
James thought he could inherit the position of the leader of the
Church, but did he lead? What did our Lord do with James?
PART II.
Let us look at the numbers in the Bible and use
our Theory of Expounding Numbers as an abstract
tool for better insight:
THE ORIGINAL QUESTION WAS :
Are you saved by Faith + works (James)
or
are you saved by Grace through faith alone? (Paul).
Let's run some numbers and see. . .
(This is an abstract lesson, feel free to ask us questions!)
Jesus' Generational Lines
The Equation to use is:
A + B = 100 = C + D
A = JOSEPH (64) C = MARY (77)
64 + 36 = 100 = 77 + 23
(We use 100 because 100 = God)
B = OLD TESTAMENT D = NEW TESTAMENT
How did we get 64 for Joseph and 77 for Mary?
A = 64 (JOSEPH) C = 77 (MARY)
OLD TESTAMENT LINE NEW TESTAMENT LINE
Old Testament Line (Joseph) New Testament Line (Mary)
64 77
1 to 63 = Joseph + Jesus = 64 1 to 76 = Mary + Jesus = 77
How we get these numbers: How we get these numbers:
Abraham's Total Generations = 22 From God to Adam to Joseph = 76
From Luke 3:23-38 From Luke 3:23-38
Generations of Abraham to David = 14 Count all of the sons in Luke
David until captivity of Babylon = 14 3:23-38
Generations after Babylon to Christ = 14 and you will get 76
Matt 1:17 add 1 for Jesus
Subtract 1 for counting Babylon. = -1 and the total is 77.
(Babylon is not a person.)
Add 1 for Jesus = +1
22 + 14 + 14 + 14 - 1 + 1 = 64 77 + D = 100
Who is D?
Remember: generations do not
count in the New Testament
because there aren't any more
after the birth of Christ.
All of the generations counted
lead up to the birth of Christ.
In the Old Testament, the man after God's So we need to know the
heart if David. number that is
David's total generations from missing in order to find
Adam to David = 36 the answer.
36 is the other number 23 is the other number
We find this number easily We don't find this number easily
(Count the 22 generations of Abraham 77 + N = 100
and then count the generations 77 + 23= 100
leading up to David) N = 23
Luke 4: 23-38
So, the Old Testament equation = So, the New Testament equation =
64 + 36 = 100 77 + 23 = 100
zero's don't count zero's don't count
64 + 36 = 1 77 + 23 = 1
64 + 36 = GOD 77 + 23 = GOD
BOTH EQUATIONS MUST ADD TO 100
JOSEPH + David = GOD or (Jesus) = MARY + 23
So we are looking for the Apostle with the number 23 associated with him.
Why? Because the number 23 was undefined in Mary's lineage!
Remember, our point is to get the reader of the Bible aware that
EVERY NUMBER given in the Bible has a purpose. These numbers
SHOULD NEVER BE IGNORED!!
23 IS A NUMBER THAT REPRESENTS CHRIST...
23 = CHRIST
(2= witness 3= Christ)
QUESTION:
WILL THIS NUMBER 23 BE WITH PAUL, PETER, OR JAMES?
Acts 27: 35-38
35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave
thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had
broken it he began to eat.
36 Then they were all encouraged, and also took food
themselves.
37 And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on
the ship.
38 So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship
and threw out the wheat into the sea.
276 total on the boat:
23 expounded = 276
We were looking for a New Testament number asssociated
with Jesus, and the number was 23.
Next, we were trying to find out which Apostle has
23 associated with them in the New Testament.
The number 23 is with Paul!
Paul is right because of the number 23
being associated with him and 23 being
a number associated with Jesus Christ.
Paul is right by the number 23!
WHY 23? Earlier in this lesson we told you:
We found a missing number in the
equation drawn from Christ's lineage through Mary.
There wasn't a number to add to 100.
To solve the unknown, we found that
X = 23. This 23 held the key to
finding the New Testament Apostle
who had that number associated with them.
Test the theory if you understand...
Find the number combinations associated
with the Apostles!
If there are questions or any confusion on what we mean
by "expounded", please click on the two links below
and read the material:
Understanding the Theory of Expounded Numbers
&
The Theory of Expounded Numbers
***THE PURPOSE OF THIS LESSON IS TO TEST THE EXPOUNDING
NUMBER THEORY AND GIVE OUR READERS A CHANCE TO SEE
HOW THE THEORY CAN BE USED TO EXPLAIN THE BIBLE IN A
MATHEMATICAL FORMAT THAT MAKES SENSE. THIS LESSON
IS VERY ABSTRACT, SO ASK US QUESTIONS OR TELL US
WHERE YOU ARE STUCK AND WE WILL HELP EXPALIN IT FURTHER***
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