You need to purchase a Bible! Preferably; King James or The New
King James (My preference)
Would a Majority Text of the Greek Bible be OK??
then, sit down and pray to God the
Father that, He will have the Holy Spirit give you knowledge and
wisdom for what you're about to read?
That is how I begin every reading of Holy Writ...
Every day and every night...
Start with Romans through
Philemon. (The writings of the Apostle Paul) It is "Paul's Gospel
that will teach you about the Grace Message and the "Dispensation
of Grace!"[/quote]
These are not Gospels, but are instead Pastoral Epistles addressed to particular Churches which Paul established and which have particular, and not necessarily universal, pastoral needs...
Let me repeat: These Pauline Epistles, including Hebrews, are addressing particular pastoral needs in specific worship communities...
What is common among them is the WEANING of the Faithful from the Jews persecuting Christ and their Jewish customary Laws, which cannot give Salvation... THAT was the BIG issue of that time, and it was addressed by Peter and Paul and James and ALL the Jewish Christian Elders in the Council at Jerusalem...
The closest thing that Paul wrote to being a Gospel is his Epistle to the Hebrews... And this work you deny being written by Paul... Yet Paul himself wrote that he became ALL things to ALL, tat he might save SOME...
Anything I say to you, won't be received by you because,
you've been indoctrinated by your "Eastern Orthodox religion" and
that's all you know! Purchase the Bible, and go from there!!
The Gospels are Four, and the Epistles are More...
You are trying to turn the Epistles of Paul into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which they are not. They are addressing specific problems arising in specific Churches, and the general issue of the Jewishness of Christianity - To wit: "Does one have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian?" Paul wrote against this idea that the circumcision parties proclaimed, and Paul's view prevailed when James ruled in the Council at Jerusalem...
THAT is the historical and Biblical record...
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Faith has been teaching it for 2000 years, and preserved the Greek Texts in MANUAL printing until you received, finally, your very own copies in printed and translated formats AFTER the invention of the printing presses one thousand five hundred years AFTER the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ...
Arsenios
