Acts 20:27-28 English Standard Version

²⁷ for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. ²⁸ Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,^{[of the Lord]} which he obtained with his own blood.

If the gospel was not so simple then we must look to the other matters which are within God’s plans for this life Christ to be more complicated.

Here Paul addresses the overseers, those entrust with tending the flock of God. They are responsible to clarify such matters that are good for everyone. The prime issue here is in taking into consideration the whole counsels of God and not to lay so much weight on any one scripture that we ignore the whole truth.

Psalm 94:1 English Standard Version (ESV) O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!

Psalm 86:15 English Standard Version (ESV) But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

So which is it? Is God vengeful or is He merciful? We should never allow one line of scripture weight so heavily upon us that it places a false impression about the quality and character of our God.

Discipleship classes should cover these issues in order to allow new disciples the opportunity to hear pastors and teachers speak on broad issues without being misled of God’s plans for them.

This is one reason that teachers are held to a much higher standard than the laity. It is the responsibility of the leadership of our churches to test the soundness of anyone’s beliefs before they are allowed to instruct others.

On that note, if we are unsure about a teaching we have heard, it is a good idea to ask a trusted friend what they heard. Avoid laying false accusations at the feet of a teacher. If there are still questions, ask someone in leadership and let them clarify what is right or in need of correction.

Romans 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Believing with the heart leads to justification. Confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. That is two different acts with two different outcomes.

Justification is a bookkeeping term in which debts are recorded in red. Most of us do not understand that we are indebted because of sin and that is why most of us did not associated justification with becoming debt free.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 English Standard Version

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

The process for taking the debt ledger from red to black, and cancelling out debt is called reconciliation. It is balancing the books.

Romans 6:23 English Standard Version (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our sins have earned us a death penalty. Faith in Christ has set us free from that death penalty.

That is a declared state of being for eternity. Salvation is different in that it is a life affirming condition that is renewed daily. Salvation starts the minute we repent of our sins, confess our condition and seek forgiveness. Since sin has not been removed from our lives we should confess those sins in order to obtain forgiveness while we need it

If we only care to be justified, we can obtain that. We will however have to live with the consequences of sin. Consequences of sin do not go away just because we are justified.