In this thought-provoking episode, we dive deep into longstanding doctrinal debates that have divided believers for centuries. With a focus on both historical and contemporary theological challenges, we aim to unravel the mysteries that have puzzled Christians and non-Christians alike. Our insights offer a new perspective on how the Apostles themselves navigated these turbulent waters, pinpointing the very core of these disagreements and seeking ultimate clarity through a singular Biblical understanding.
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country Every time I step into this studio, I feel the weight of these moments, these memories, because for so many years, this place has been our home, and you, our listeners, have been our family. Together, we’ve laughed, we’ve learned, we’ve celebrated God’s victories, and we’ve faced life’s hardest moments together. You’ve prayed for us. You’ve supported us. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you. But here’s the sweet part of the bittersweet ending. Our ministry is not ending. In fact, it is accelerating. Through the Enyart Theology YouTube channel, we are approaching 5 million total views. Real Science Radio on YouTube is closing in on 3 million views, and that’s just recently. And our daily podcast at kgov.com has reached hundreds of thousands of listeners over the years, taking the gospel far beyond what radio alone could ever do. God is opening doors for us to reach millions of people worldwide, edifying believers and sharing the gospel with unbelievers who may never have tuned in to Christian radio, for example. I want to invite you to come with us on this next chapter. You can listen to our daily shows at kgov.com. Explore all of our Bible studies by visiting www.anyart.shop. That’s E-N-Y-A-R-T dot S-H-O-P. And follow us on YouTube, right? Check out the Anyart Theology and Real Science Radio YouTube channels. High quality video production. to reach millions it is costly so if you at all can help out please consider subscribing donating one time or monthly at anyart.shop or just by praying for us as we continue to grow prayer is the most powerful gift and as a parting gift speaking of gifts We are airing the Plot Bible Overview. That is the life’s work of my father, Pastor Bob Enyart. It has changed countless lives by helping Christians see the Bible as one unified story as it helps them to understand grace. Yesterday, we began this journey together, and today we continue with the second segment. Let’s jump right into it.
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Study the Bible and the way Christians come to the Bible. Often, somebody starts reading the Bible and they start on page 847 right here. You know, that’s where Matthew starts. Other people start with John on page 932. That’s a good place to start reading a book, page 932. Even worse, some people say, you know, it’s really John 3.16. that you need, so start on page 935 and read one sentence in the middle of the page, and then you’ll understand. But that’s not the way human beings learn. That’s not the way we endeavor to comprehend any other topic or issue or discipline other than the Bible. We come to the Bible with less structure and discipline than we come to any other endeavor in life, generally. So we want to undo that today. Ten doctrinal debates divide millions of believers. Ten. I’m going to give you a list of these ten, and you could click off in your mind which ones of these have caused division between you and other Christians you know, between your church and other churches. And these ten doctrinal debates, as I mention them, you’ll recognize that, boy, people disagree with these often. But you can ask yourself, are these debates, are they based on details in the Bible or the overview plot of the Bible? Which are they? And you’ll realize these are all details. And people fiercely debate the details, while if you ask them to step back and state the plot of the Bible, and if there are any overall plot twists, they’d be dumbfounded. Well, some believe that you can lose your salvation. Others say you cannot. That’s a detail. That’s some detail that should be answered somewhere in this big book. Some believe baptism is necessary. Others believe baptism is not needed for salvation. Some believe that you should speak in tongues. Others, that believers do not speak in tongues. Some say God will answer prayers of faith Others say good prayers go unanswered. That’s the way things are. Some say miracles and healing are assured. Others say miracles are not assured. Some say there is no pre-tribulation rapture. Others say that the rapture is before the tribulation and believers in the body of Christ will not go through the trib. Some say believers must keep the law. Others say we are not under the law. Some say salvation by faith requires works. Others say salvation requires faith and not works. Some say believers must keep the Sabbath. Others say no, the Sabbath observance is unnecessary. Some say unclean foods are prohibited. And others say all foods are clean to those of us in the body of Christ. Most of the people who debate these doctrines cannot state the plot of the Bible in any major plot twist. They can’t do that, but they become somewhat proficient about arguing over the details. To resolve these 10 doctrinal debates, these are pretty important questions. Whichever side you come down on each of these, it’s going to affect your life in some way, your ministry, your family, your church. So it would be really great if God could just reveal, you know, bring down an overhead and just answer the questions. That would be wonderful. But that is most likely not going to happen. So then how do we figure it out? How do we resolve these 10 disputes? This is a daunting task. Well, what are you going to do to solve them? We could start out by preparing 10 arguments. one for each issue, and each argument would evaluate the pros and cons on both sides. And for certain disputes, maybe only a few dozen verses would be required to master. For others, hundreds of passages. It would be a good idea to look at some scholarly books, People dealing with the tribulation or with the Sabbath or with speaking in tongues and miracles and can you lose your salvation? So let’s pick a scholarly book. Let’s limit ourselves to just one book for each issue on each side. So one book we’re going to get that teaches you can lose your salvation. Another teaches you can’t. And we’ll get it by some expert and we’ll read those books for each. So that’s 20 books we’re going to read. And After doing this, and we could consume many years of our lives. In fact, I know people who’ve done this for 30 years, 40 years. And I’ve asked them in seminars like this, well, what percent do you think you’ve gotten right? There’s 10 issues here. What do you think? And some very honest Christians have said, 50-50. You might as well just throw darts because it’s a really difficult task. after such a colossal effort? Well, what if we can answer these questions through a different approach? Imagine for the moment that you could resolve all 10 questions, these 10, simply by learning, and I say this with fear and trepidation because some people will think that’s absurd and I’ll lose about 4% of you right here. But what if you could resolve all this difficulty with a single Bible verse? What if one verse could answer all these disputes? That’s ridiculous. How could that be? But what if we were to ask God? If we were to ask God, Lord, can you resolve these debates clearly for us in one statement? Could you give us some insight, some piece of truth that would resolve all our confusion on these issues? Could the Lord do that? If he could, then perhaps he put that statement in his word. One verse. I don’t mean a verse like, just love God and it doesn’t matter what you believe. I don’t mean a verse like that. Because a verse like that doesn’t exist. It’s not in the Bible. I mean a specific passage detailing some of the Bible’s historic events. A verse that presents the plot of the Bible and answers all these doctrinal debates in just the explanation of the plot of the Bible in a plot twist. That’s what we’re looking for today. You know, these doctrinal debates, it turns out that they are tied together by a common theological thread that runs through these issues. And if we trace back through Christian history, well, when did these theology debates, when did we first spot them? You know, was it in the 1920s? Christians generally agreed with each other until the 1920s, and now they disagree. No, you have to go back before that. The 1830s? No. Calvin? Martin Luther? No, you got to go back. Thomas Aquinas? How about Augustine? No, keep going back. How about Polycarp? No, keep going back. Till when? When did the Bible disputes over doctrine first appear in history among Christians? It’s in the New Testament among the apostles. The 12 apostles and Paul would get together and they would struggle over doctrinal differences. and they had the task of resolving those differences. We’re going to look at that material this morning, and we’ll get to the one verse that helps us put it all in context late this afternoon. Sorry. If we were to ask Christians about the plot of the New Testament, most could take a stab at the first four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because they tell the same story over four times, and that repetition is helpful, and people sort of get the story in the Gospels. But then the debates and the confusion, when Jesus was here, he was the authority. And any confusion that surfaced, Christ would resolve it right then and there for his followers. But after Christ ascended into heaven, the next books that lay out the history of what happened with the apostles, if we take the next five books, Acts through Galatians, Christians often have a hard time explaining what happens in the book of Acts, why that book exists, why it’s in the Bible, and what story does it tell? And is there a plot twist? And there’s a huge plot twist in those books. It turns out that Paul rebuked Peter. He rebuked Peter. Now, when I talk about the apostles having some doctrinal tension and debates, Christians often think, now, wait a minute, they were the apostles. They were inspired by God, but they were human. You know, Peter had denied Christ. King David had committed terrible wickedness. The 12 apostles and Paul, they had some difficulties that they had to overcome. And we’re going to look at those difficulties today. In Antioch, Paul had terribly confronted Peter, called him a hypocrite, and we’ll see that. But 10 years later, Peter wrote an epistle. And in the epistle, he mentions Paul. Now, this is the Paul who had rebuked him earlier. But in 2 Peter 3, 15 and 16, he wrote, this is Peter the apostle, wrote about Paul. He said, Paul has written in his epistles some things that are hard to understand. Now, why would Peter write that? Why would Peter? Peter had been with Christ for three years on earth. Then it was about a year or so before Paul got saved. Peter had been filled with the Holy Spirit. He was their early leader in Jerusalem. Paul sort of came on afterward. Why would Peter say that Paul is writing things that are hard to understand? That’s peculiar. So we’d like to try to understand that. In fact, the church generally today doesn’t realize that Paul and the 12 had struggled with doctrinal disputes. I’ll give you an example out of the book of Acts chapter 21. Luke writes that when we had come to Jerusalem, he and Paul, that Paul went into James and James was the elder in Jerusalem who was presiding over the church. Not James, the brother of John. He had been murdered by Herod. But this is another James. And Paul went into James, and James said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. Now this is going to tie in through the seminar. So James is saying to Paul, because Paul was out there saying, you’re not under the law. You don’t have to be circumcised. You don’t have to keep the law. But in Jerusalem, the Christians in Jerusalem seemed to be doing something different. So there was confusion and conflict. And Paul now comes to Jerusalem and James wants to resolve any troubles before they start. So he says, you see, brother Paul, how many thousands of Jews who have believed in Jesus and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they should not circumcise their children nor walk according to the law. What then the assembly must certainly meet for they will hear that you have come. Therefore, do what we tell you. You see the setup in the story? Paul’s out among the Gentiles telling them, you don’t have to circumcise. You don’t have to keep the Sabbath. You don’t have to keep the dietary law. You’re not under the law. You live by faith and you’re saved by grace. But back in Jerusalem, the 12 apostles were presiding over their converts and they were all zealous for the law. So James says, Paul, now that you’ve come, they’re going to hear that you’ve come and there’s going to be a problem because they hear that you’re out there teaching people don’t keep the law. And especially that you’re telling the Jews to do that. There’s going to be a problem with our followers here. Oy vey, what are we going to do? This is what I want you to do. Therefore, do what we tell you, that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing but that you yourself keep the law. So they’re saying, Paul, James is saying, now that you’re here in Jerusalem, we want you to keep the law so that our Christians here will see that you yourself keep the law, but concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing. Now there’s some confusion here. Paul is out there telling the Gentiles, you don’t have to keep the law. But then he comes to Jerusalem and they say, hey, Paul, we want to show our followers that you yourself are willing to keep the law. We want to show them that. Although, okay, it’s granted. In fact, we even wrote a letter and we told the Gentiles, you guys don’t have to keep the law. But Paul, now you’re here with the 12 apostles in Jerusalem, with our converts. We’re all zealous for keeping the law. Would you please keep the law? And Paul says, okay. So what’s going on? If they wrote a letter to the Gentiles saying, you do not have to observe the law, why are they trying to get Paul to observe the law? That’s an indicator of doctrinal tension and a degree of confusion. And in the New Testament, it’s resolved. How is it resolved? If we learn how these difficulties are resolved, then we’ll be able to resolve our doctrinal disputes today. If we ignore these difficulties, make believe they’re not there because they’re a little confusing to get your mind around and to understand, and so we just blow them off, we’re not going to benefit from the lesson God put in the New Testament to teach us how to resolve doctrinal disputes. In Acts chapter 10, remember God told Peter to go to Cornelius’ household? And Peter was very resistant because Cornelius was a Gentile. In fact, in Acts 10.28, God got him there. He really had to urge him to go. With a vision, he had to give him three times. But when he finally got there, this is a year after Christ had risen from the dead. Peter said in Acts 10.28 that it is unlawful for any Jewish man to go to a Gentile’s home. Cornelius was thankful that Peter came and Peter said, it’s unlawful for me to be here, but I’m here. But he was confused about why. Jesus told him to go. Jesus explained to him that he was going to consider the Gentiles who were uncircumcised to be clean. Now that blew Peter’s mind. because the uncircumcised were unclean. And circumcision was a symbol that you had entered into a covenant with God. And Jesus Christ was circumcised and the apostles were circumcised. The Gentiles who had come to God had been circumcised. So why would God now say, go into the home of an uncircumcised Gentile? That blew Peter’s mind. And he said, this is unlawful for me to be here. You know what that means? In his mind, he was under the law. That’s why he hesitated to go. But God dragged him there. Okay. So then, Paul records a little bit of history in Galatians 2. And it has to do with the same issue that Peter wrestled with in Acts. And that the whole church in a Jerusalem council came to an agreement with in Acts. But years later, Peter was still struggling with the same confusion about how should he treat Gentiles. According to the law or according to grace? How should he do it? So I’m going to read to you Galatians 2, verse 11. When Peter had come to Antioch, and remember that it’s Antioch, okay? When Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. That’s pretty strong words. Here’s the Apostle Paul speaking of Peter. This is the Peter of the Peter, James, and John fame. This is one of the 12 of the inner circle, the three, Peter, James, and John. And here’s Paul, a newcomer, sort of an outsider. And he says, when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, and then he blasted Peter. Those are harsh words. What if something like this happened today? And James Dobson went on the radio, and he was talking about Jerry Falwell. And he said, Jerry Falwell was there and I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. Every radio would be tuned in. Every Christian would say, did you hear what James Dobson is saying about Jerry Falwell? This kind of stuff goes like wildfire. And he said, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. And the rest of his ministry, they were hypocrites with him. And they were not straightforward about the gospel. So I rebuked him. Wow. Paul said these things about Peter, and then God had him put them in the Bible, in the New Testament. There was doctrinal tension. They were not arguing about how to decorate the monastery. That’s not what they were arguing about. They were arguing about fundamental doctrine in the gospel. That’s what they were arguing about. And as Christians, try this test. Go to Sunday school tomorrow and ask three or four Christians, did the apostles have heated disputes about doctrine? Does the average Christian know that the apostles heatedly disputed theology? From indications from the crowd, nods yes or no, does the average Christian know that the apostles disputed doctrine? What do you guys think? I’m seeing no’s universally. About 70 no’s or so, however many are here. No, Christians don’t know this. Why don’t they know this? Well, they don’t understand the plot of the Bible. So they take each verse as though it stood by itself as an independent entity. And they don’t have to put the whole story in any kind of overall context. And so when that’s the case, when you come across a verse like this, where Paul’s rebuking Peter, you could just blow it off. You know, that’s not very Christian of him. And then you go to the next verse and you don’t let it bother you. Well, surprisingly, Paul’s argument with Peter here in Galatians was rooted in the same doctrinal confusion which Paul had earlier tried to resolve in Acts chapter 15. And it was the same issue that Peter dealt with in Acts 10. In Acts 15, Paul prevailed. He got the apostles to write a letter to the Gentiles. And I’ll quote a little bit of that letter in a moment. But Paul prevailed with Peter’s help, with James’ help, and they convinced the Jewish leadership among the Christians in Jerusalem to write a letter to the Gentiles, that is to Paul’s converts, telling them that they did not have to keep the law. And here in Acts 15, verse 23, they wrote this letter by them, the apostles, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch. They’re writing a letter to the same place where Peter came to visit and Paul rebuked him for being a hypocrite. And it turns out that the letter that they sent to the Gentiles in Antioch had to do with the same issue upon which Paul called Peter a hypocrite. They wrote this letter by them, the apostles, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, greetings. Some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment. You see what the apostles are writing to Paul’s converts? They’re saying some went out from us Remember we just read in Galatians 2 that Paul said, Peter had been eating with the Gentiles, but then men from James came. And then he became a hypocrite and was not straightforward about the gospel. These men from James, they must have been pretty evil, huh? Who was this James? Is that another name for the Antichrist himself? Was it one of Herod’s descendants? No, James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He’s the one who presided over the Jerusalem council. He’s the one in Acts 21. Paul comes to Jerusalem. James meets with him and tells him what to do. And Paul says, okay, James is one of the good guys. In fact, he’s one of the very good guys. He’s the leader of the good guys in Jerusalem. But Paul says when men came from James, that’s when Peter became a hypocrite. Paul’s debate wasn’t with the fringe members of the Jerusalem church. It wasn’t with unbelieving Israelites in Galilee or Judea. It was with the men from James and with Peter. They were the ones he was confronting. So in Acts 15 at the Jerusalem council, at the culmination of that meeting, They wrote this letter by them, the apostles to the Gentiles in Antioch, greetings. Some who went out from us, see? Some Christian Jews who were part of the fellowship in Jerusalem went out to Antioch, to the Gentiles. Some who went out from us have troubled you with words unsettling your souls, saying you must be certain.
SPEAKER 01 :
stop the tape stop the tape that was segment two of the plot bible overview the plot is really the heart of our ministry and sharing it with you in these final days is my way of saying thank you for being with us all of these years and remember our time on kltt may be ending but this ministry is accelerating and your theology real science radio on the youtube channels uh you know combined reaching eight million views and dailypodcasts at kgov.com. They’ve reached hundreds of thousands of people, listeners all over the world, all over the globe for all these years. We are growing and we want you to be with us for the ride. You can get the full plot study and all of our Bible studies at www.nyart.shop listen to our daily podcast at kgov.com and subscribe to our youtube channels and your theology and real science radio producing content that reaches millions it takes significant resources. So if you can support us by subscribing to those channels, by donating, especially monthly, or simply by praying for this work, prayer is the most powerful tool, we would be so grateful. My email is enyarttheology at gmail.com. If you want to share any favorite memories or just reach out to talk about something, to talk about our time here on KLTT or if you have any questions about the transition of the ministry. Thank you. And again, that’s enyarttheology at gmail.com. Thank you for walking with us through these decades, and I hope you will join us for the exciting journey ahead. This is Dominic Enyart reminding you to do right and risk the consequences.
