Is Paul the Chief Cornerstone?

The Bitter Fruits of Pauline Exaggerationism

1 Corinthians 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I AM OF PAUL; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, EVEN AS I ALSO AM OF CHRIST.

1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than THAT IS LAID, which is JESUS CHRIST.

Mark 9:38 And JOHN answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 43 And if THY hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

Some (such as the “Christian feminists”) seek to limit Paul, and imply that only the “words in red” are really inspired, important, etc. Yet, there is also an error on the other side. Advocates of one particular brand of Pauline dispensationalism often raise what they believe is an insurmountable objection to the teaching that THE WORDS IN RED (i.e. the words of Jesus in the Gospels) also apply to modern disciples (unless plainly changed, elsewhere). The objection is usually phrased in the following manner:

“Jesus did warn His disciples, who believed upon Him, about ‘hell.’ But this was because the Gospels must be understood dispensationally. Paul never once warned any believer in this dispensation about ‘hell.’ Show me one place where Paul, in the Epistles that teach doctrinal truth for this dispensation, ever warns a modern believer about ‘hell!’ Paul never once even used the word ‘hell.’”

For some Christians, the above objection is enough to end the matter; the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, to His disciples, are doctrinally dismissed without another thought! These Christians apparently do not realize that they have refuted their own position by their chief argument. Since Paul never once even used the word “hell,” how could he, therefore, have changed the Lord’s teachings on the subject? And since Luke travelled with Paul, and was with him in his final days (Acts 28:11, Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11), one wonders why there is not a clear statement somewhere in his Gospel that the warnings of the Lord Jesus to His disciples no longer had to be feared? Luke’s Gospel was apparently written somewhere between A.D. 63 and 68, according to Scofield. Yet, Scofield dates Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians at A.D. 64. Those who teach that the Lord’s warnings to His disciples did not have to be feared by the disciples Paul was addressing from prison, must explain how the great confusion was avoided! Imagine how the believers in A.D. 65 must have taken the following words of the Lord when they read them in Luke’s Gospel:

Luke 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

If disciples in the day that Luke wrote his Gospel did not have to fear the Lord’s warnings to His disciples, why didn’t Luke include a note telling Theophilus (and other saints) that these warnings have been set aside by new revelation? And where is the new Pauline revelation that supposedly set them aside? Where is the verse that says anything even similar to, “Beware of those who will try to exhort you to fear the warnings that the Lord Jesus gave to the Apostles during His earthly ministry!” There is no verse that says anything even similar to, “Now, the Lord Jesus commanded the Apostle John to seek the Kingdom, and fear going to hell during it (Mark 9:38, 47); but I write unto you, that you do not have to worry about such. They have passed away when my new dispensation was instituted.”

Why is it that the words of the Lord Jesus are so easily swept away? Why is there no shame in such teaching? One reason is that advocates of this view often use slippery language. They say, “Of course, I am not saying that the Lord’s words in the Gospels have NO application at all to us today; the whole Bible is given to us so we can be instructed, etc.” But if this is so, then why don’t they accept the Lord’s warnings to His disciples about possibly missing the Kingdom, and going to hell (the underworld, until after the Millennium)? And why is it that when they attempt to answer this question, they usually begin to quote promises about eternal security that THE LORD JESUS GAVE TO THE APOSTLES (the same people He gave the warnings about hell)?

We do not deny that in Matthew 10 the Lord commanded His disciples to preach only to the lost sheep of Israel. But we also know that in Matthew 28 (still in the Gospels!), this restriction was removed. And in Matthew 28, when the Lord removed the restriction, He also commands His disciples to teach the believing Gentiles the SAME teachings that He had already given to His disciples!:

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I HAVE COMMANDED YOU: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

And notice that the words in verse 20 teach us that the Lord’s teachings (as recorded in the Gospels) will continue until the “end of the world.” Unless we define that phrase as the heretical Preterist does (pretending that it only means until the Roman Titus comes to destroy the temple), we are bound to believe that the Lord’s teachings to His disciples are still applicable to His disciples today, unless there is some place that can be shown where there is a direct change (as when Matthew 28:19 changes Matthew 10:6). But there is no change that can be found in any future revelation concerning our Lord’s warnings to His disciples. As these teachers tell us, Paul never even uses the word ‘hell,’ so how could he change the warnings concerning it?

For example, the command in Matthew 10:28 (and others) has never been changed, and the Lord COMMANDS His disciples (after the Cross, in Matthew 28:20) to teach these earlier commands to the believing Gentiles:

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

It is a tragic mistake to assume that just because Paul expounds upon some mysteries, that he therefore lays a whole new foundation! No, the Bible plainly teaches that Paul simply built upon the foundation ALREADY laid in Jesus Christ:

1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than THAT IS LAID, which is JESUS CHRIST.

The words of the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught to the disciples in the Gospels, are not contradicted by Paul. The Lord did not warn His disciples about hell (Matthew 5:22, 10:28, 18:9; Mark 9:38,43), and then have Paul come along and say, “No, at the Judgment Seat, you can only experience ‘terror’, 2 Cor. 5:9-11. The warning about ‘hell’ has passed away.” Since Paul is building on the Lord Jesus, when Paul says ‘terror,’ he is agreeing with the Lord Jesus! This truth is plainly brought out in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This is perhaps why these teachers go to so much trouble to cast doubt on the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, and it is also why they attempt to define the Epistle as only having direct doctrinal application to the future Jewish Tribulation Period. Paul is TOO CLEAR in Hebrews (see 6:8, 10:27-29)! He doesn’t simply say “terror” or “damnation,” etc. Like the Lord Jesus, he speaks of FIRE.

In fact, Paul directly warns us (even in a later, “pastoral epistle”!), that we should beware of any teacher who tries to remove the foundation of the Lord’s words out from under us:

1 Timothy 6:3 If any man TEACH otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, EVEN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

Notice, that Paul plainly warns that the teacher that removes the foundation of the Lord’s teachings, promises and warnings from believers in this age will also be marked by DOTING (i.e. speaking in what appears to be a deranged manner), and “strifes of words,” and “railings,” and “evil surmisings” (i.e. rash judgment of motives, etc.). An earlier generation of Bible teachers reported that the more a teacher denies the application of the Lord’s words (as recorded in the Gospels) to modern Christians, the more they are marked by strifes of words, railings, evil surmisings, and deranged speech.

Do note the style and words of the following writer, named Carl W. Denson, agree with this description the Holy Ghost provides for us? He runs a website called the, “Midweek Rapture Message Board.” He believes that most of humanity has been saved by works and faith (except those under Paul, in this dispensation). He opposes my application of the Lord’s words to His disciples to modern disciples [and please know that THIS is what this is all about. I do not teach anything new. I simply apply the Lord's teachings to His disciples to modern disciples.] He denies that the Lord’s warnings in the Gospels have any direct application to modern “Pauline” believers. Read 1 Timothy 6:3-4 again, and see if the Holy Ghost did not plainly mark the rotten fruit of such teachers for all to behold. The following words of Denson have been taken from his long review of my book that he has posted on the Internet (read at your own risk!):

“Faust has rejected the ‘truth’ of Pauline dispensationalism. That’s fine. He came up with this heresy to replace the peculiar BIBLICAL truth that THOSE OUTSIDE of the body of Christ can ‘lose their salvation’, which WAS THE INHERITANCE. (Matt.7, 19, 24) They got burned. (Matt.3) That’s PAULINE DISPENSATIONALISM, but Faust is so stupid and obtuse BIBLICALLY, besides being arrogant, that he took the word REJECTED from Hebrews 6 applying it DOCTRINALLY to members of the body of Christ….Faust perverted the text. His statement was this. Boy is he SLICK; it is the wiles of the devil!….The poor fool now shows what kind of a bible teacher that he is for he next goes to Matthew, who’s using the kingdom of God AGAINST the kingdom of heaven as contained in his gospel….That is Baptist bologna from a bible buffoon who rejects Pauline dispensationalism….The deluded and demented biblical fool Faust THINKS those verses are addressed to Christians, MEMBERS of the body of Christ….Tsk, tsk, tsk, son….That babe has colic. We’re getting pablum puke from him….The poor ‘dud’ can’t get the CONTEXT of any passage in Hebrews, no more than he can identify to WHOM the book is written….Sorry stupid. That ain’t biblical or scriptural PAULINE DOCTRINAL TRUTH for the body….Govett couldn’t rightly divide a catfish, deer carcase, chicken legs, or a tuna fish sandwich into ‘boats’. Govett is just another heretical jackleg that Christianity has produced….[Faust is] slick, smooth, and spiritual in a Satanic sort of way…Faust is a WEAVER. (Bollweevil of Beelzebul?)….No, no, no, kiddies….Like Forest Gump’s mother said, ‘Stupid is, as stupid does.’ That’s J.D. Faust, the ‘flamboyant and foolish’ farce!….It’s all ‘stinking’ gas. No, I won’t finish that f. …What a booboo, bubba!….Phooey Faust….Faust’s statement is unmitigated stupidity….Faust’s fanciful figment is fruity….Faust is GOING BACK IN TIME. He’s NOT a TIMECOP! (Hello Muscles from Brussels!) He’s the GUY who’s trying to MAKE HISTORY ‘his way’. Jean Claude VanDamme (I like that name) had to stop the guy….Faust can no more find his way around the Holy Scriptures than a BLIND DOG can FIND his own tail. (Arf, arf, arf!)…Fine. Stay STUPID….Here is Faust quoting Govett concerning OTHERS non-belief of their falsehood, ‘BECAUSE THEY DO NOT LIKE IT’. Ah, go snip your wife’s whiskers and toenails….AGAIN, there are no verses which teach that falsehood. He’s a bible bungling blabbermouth; a bastion of bologna….That BLABBERMOUTH doesn’t believe that Matt.5:22-24 applies doctrinally to any Christian today, and IF he says he does, he’s a LYING suck egg hound (J. Frank Norris) or silly ass (Peter Ruckman)….He’s a knuckleheaded numbskull. (And I FERVENTLY say that with all disgust towards him.) This is nothing but PUKE, PIGSLOP, and PUTRID PUSS….He’s INFANTILE, IMPOTENT, and INSANE. No NT Christians are addressed in the Gospels FOR THE NT is not in effect….What else can you say about these things? The DISBELIEVING fool can’t understand the Book….This JIVIN’ JACKLEG is trying to tell you that conversion concerns a Christian’s WALK. What a ‘jive turkey’….Faust is a dirty, rotten, bible perverting, scripture distorting, DAMNABLE HERESY- teaching LIAR. And I say that will all disgust towards that ABOMINABLE APOSTATE….That egregious and erroneous egghead is TRAPPED by his own false teaching mouth….Folks; this guy is slick….Faust and his foolish, funny, fundamentalists ‘close their eyes’ to the TRUTH of these things….[George] Dollar should change his name to Halfcent. (halfsense?)….Anything else is pure hogwash from a dog….Faust continues with good points on his teaching of Hebrew and Greek words, which are definitive of hell. He is as solid as a rock on those due to his ‘professed belief’ in the Authorized Version….Faust quotes Govett. You’ve never READ a more mixed up, BIZARRE, fabrication of DEMONIAC SPEECH (Job 26, 2 Tim.3) in your life. (Govett)….They can ‘sling their crap’ all day long about I’m supposed to treat them WITH RESPECT due to them being Christian brothers, but that’s just another PILE of it. Paul didn’t treat anyone with RESPECT….Faust’s BULL is BRAZEN BOLOGNA offered to the ‘gods’ of the past. (Scholars whom he STUDIES, ADMIRES, and MIMICS-IMITATES!)….That’s right puddinghead….I say that because this ‘damnable, demoniac teaching, dummy’ goes into his spill….The only thing this TEXAS TOOPID should have opened was a ‘barf bag’ after reading Govett’s heresy….That ‘sucker’ is braindead….Again the ‘putrid pipsqueak’ has NO IDEA of the subject, facts, terms and statements of the chapter….In closing, Joeybob continues the plight of pitifulness….Boy, it sure sounds good, doesn’t it? These boys can write those good words which deceive….Watch this silly fool….DOG-VOMIT, PIG-SLOP, and COW-DUNG! Faust reminds me of the guy in Back to the Future who always LANDED in ‘crap’ everytime he tried to chase Michael J. Fox. Faust JUMPS IN IT. He doesn’t slip and fall, but runs to a BIG PILE OF IT, and ‘dives’ in, MOUTHFIRST….These boys (Pember and Faust) are Calvinists and can’t ‘strain’ that (the gnat), but SWALLOW a camel….He’s a stupid, ignorant, liar….Lord have mercy on this man. He is a ‘natural’, PATHOLOGICAL liar, as ‘sharp’ as any Church of Christ preacher that I have ever seen….See how good it sounds?….He quotes D. Martin Lloyd-Jones who can’t understand 2 Cor.5, Luke 12, and Matt.25. (Same ole, same ole.) Who cares what this fool could not get….” (carlwdenson@themidweekrapture.com)

I ask my readers to please forgive me for including the above language (there was more that I refrained from printing due to its vulgarity and uncleanness). But I wanted to manifest the truth of Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 6. What is it about coming face to face with the doctrine that the very same words that the Lord spoke to His disciples in the Gospels, might apply to modern disciples, that stirs up such hostility and bitterness? Why does such an idea bring so much hatred in professing Christians (though often masked)? In earlier generations, G.H. Lang rightly wondered why those who teach that Christians can lose eternal salvation are not hated in the same degree as those who teach they may be punished only during the Millennium! For example, notice a recent e-mail I received from a man named Herb Evans:

“…You really disgust me, and I feel dirty talking to you Overcomers’ Cult folks.”

This man forgets that the Lord Jesus commands us to “overcome,” not Joey Faust, Watchman Nee, D.M. Panton, Robert Govett, G.H. Pember, etc.:

Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

And Paul was not ashamed to identify himself with the Lord’s teachings on this subject:

Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

What about the objection that Jesus warned His disciples about “hell,” but PAUL never once used that word? I suppose that this sounds like a good objection. Perhaps such objectors feel that they have proven that any believer in “Pauline dispensationalism” is therefore bound to ignore the Lord’s warnings to His disciples, and declare that, “ALL things are different for believers today.” But these objectors should not get carried away. Every doctrinal teaching or conclusion will create a doctrinal precedent. The Universalists and Annihilationists (those who deny that unbelievers will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire) will be quick to pounce upon the doctrinal precedent laid down by these objectors. Notice, these objectors have stated that since Paul never mentioned ‘hell’ (like our Lord did), that this means that no present believer has to fear it (during the Millennial Kingdom age). Well, will not the Universalists (etc.) gladly take advantage of such an objection? Will they not point out that PAUL DID NOT MENTION “HELL” BY NAME, AT ALL, TO ANYONE? Not only have these objectors kept believers from having to worry about ‘hell,’ they have kept UNBELIEVERS from having to worry about it! Where is the Bible verse that says anything like, “The warnings in the Gospels still apply to UNBELIEVERS; there is no change for them in this dispensation.”

We might also ask these so-called, “Pauline Dispensationalists”: “Where did Paul even warn UNBELIEVERS about Hell?” In others words, if they will say that the only warnings that Christians must be concerned about are those of Paul, then how does one prove that UNBELIEVERS have anything to fear than the warnings given to them by Paul? And how do we know that when Paul warns unbelievers about judgment, wrath, damnation, etc., that these words actually have anything to do with HELL or the LAKE OF FIRE? In fact, where does Paul ever warn UNBELIEVERS in this age about FIRE (since they believe that Hebrews applies to the Tribulation period, and to Jews)? These objectors to Millennial Exclusion, if we pretend that their objection stands, have not only defeated Millennial Exclusion, they have strengthened the heresy of Universalism, etc. Their banner reads, “If Paul didn’t say it by exact name, then you don’t have to worry about it.” Well, Paul never warned believers or unbelievers about Hell or the Lake of Fire, by name! Therefore, this argument defeats itself.

The truth of the matter is that Paul is building upon the Gospels (the teachings of the Lord Jesus to His disciples). He therefore uses such words as fire, wrath, judgment, damnation, terror, etc., and he expects his readers to already KNOW what these words mean (2 Corinthians 5:11).

And even if it could one day be proven that we do not have to take heed to the words which the Lord spoke to His disciples (this will never happen), when are the PAULINE warnings ever REALLY taught in most modern churches? When Paul warns believers in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 about “terror” and receiving the things done in the body, where is this preached in modern pulpits? What most modern preachers try to say “terror” refers to is ridiculous. It is not “terror” at all. They turn Paul’s warnings into a picnic. No, there are Pauline warnings throughout his Epistles, and these are not taught today, by most, in any real fashion. They are watered-down or applied to others. This only shows that the real motivation behind ignoring the Lord’s warnings to His disciples is the simple fact that modern believers do not want to live under the accountability that such warnings would bring to the Christian life.