In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
Do we follow the Bible, or are we drawn to other extra-biblical books? We often want to fill in the gaps where Scripture is silent, or to have access to “secret knowledge” others don’t possess. Thus, non-canonical writings have a seductive appeal. Numerous supposed “biblical” books have been heartily endorsed, books that supposedly reveal the “real truth” that Scripture deliberately hides or denies.
We’ve been looking at the way the NAR and the progressives/inclusivists twist or ignore Scripture, but that is far from the only danger. Consider the endorsement of the Apocrypha by Roman Catholicism and some Anglicans. Others favor “The Gospel of Thomas,” along with other Gnostic gospels that purport to give special knowledge, viewing them as more authentic than anything recorded in the New Testament Gospels.
We also have the increasing curiosity and fascination with first, second, and third Enoch, particularly first Enoch. What are we to make of these supposed “biblical” books? After all, 1 Enoch is included in the Ethiopian Bible. Among other things it purports to give the true origin of sin and the details about how those shadowy creatures, the Nephilim, came to be. Weren’t all the other churches wrong to exclude it? It is sometimes inferred that there are all sorts of things that the Church doesn’t want us to know.
Do any of these books provide us with extra-biblical, but more authentic authoritative “truth”? We will start by looking at the Apocrypha, then “The Gospel of Thomas” along with other Gnostic writings, and close with an examination of the various books of Enoch.
Jesus. How do the NAR and the inclusivists/progressives view Jesus? Do they magnify and exalt Jesus, or do they diminish Him?
Both the NAR and the inclusivists diminish Jesus. With the NAR, the church largely replaces Jesus. The church brings about Jesus’s return. At His return, the church does the key actions, not Jesus. They justify their view by saying that since the church is Christ’s body, Christ is still glorified. But, instead of a capital “J” Jesus and a small “c” church, one ends up with a capital “C” Church and a small “j” jesus.
Think also of the role of signs and wonders within the NAR. If one isn’t constantly performing them, one isn’t a true Christian, one isn’t walking in the fulness of one’s “anointing.” Those who aren’t healed, those not performing miracles, are second class Christians. How exhausting it all becomes to have to live up to those expectations, of having to live in constant spiritual “highs.” No one talks about the spiritual “crashes” that follow. As we saw, leaders of the NAR spend much time recounting all the prophecies they’ve given or received, all the signs and wonders performed, all the things they’ve accomplished. Who can live up to that? Once again, it is all about them, not Jesus.
Even personally, with my legal blindness, sadly, I’ve run into trouble with some charismatics because my eyes were not healed. To them, my faith must therefore be lacking. Beyond that, any Christian who doesn’t speak in a heavenly tongue is also a second-class Christian. For a few, if one doesn’t speak in tongues, one isn’t even saved. While supposedly salvation is through faith—for some, not all—certain works end up becoming almost essential. A “gospel” that ends up being performance driven is no gospel at all (yes, as Ephesians 2:10 indicates, works do follow, a result of faith).
The inclusivist side is the direct opposite of the NAR. Works do not need to follow salvation as there is no “salvation” in the classic biblical sense. Since in essence God is in everyone and everything, all are included. What we do or have done doesn’t ultimately matter. The issue isn’t sin, but a wrong focus in terms of our identity: taking our identity from fallen Adam rather than recognizing we are already in the finished work of Christ.
Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins doesn’t much matter, His incarnation is everything. God became man, so man can become God, as Athanasius of Alexandria put it so long ago. As with the NAR, the inclusivists diminish the biblical Jesus. Is there any greater way to diminish Jesus than to deny the centrality of His death and resurrection for our salvation? No.
In essence the inclusivists turn Jesus into a liar. Consider John 10:14–17 (NAU): “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.”
We see Jesus stating that His death is the key. Indeed, Jesus even states that the Father loves him because of his willingness to die. The passage also tells us that Jesus also has the authority to take up his life again. His resurrection is just as important. As 1 Corinthians 15 states, if Christ was not raised, we are still lost, dead in our sins.
Better to stay with what Scripture states: Christ died on the cross for our sins; salvation through faith in Christ is essential, the only way to avoid eternal separation from God, that universal automatic salvation does not exist. Better to magnify Christ and what He has done than to be prideful in one’s own works. Better to stay within Scripture as opposed to following the siren songs of either the NAR or the inclusivists.
The Apocrypha. If there is a gray area in extra-biblical writings, it is found in the Apocrypha. How did this happen?
The Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, known as the Septuagint, in the third and second centuries BC, the apocryphal writings were tacked on as a type of appendix. For most of church history, they were viewed as being somewhat useful for devotional reading, but not considered part of Scripture.
That changed at the time of the Protestant Reformation. The Protestants asked a logical question. Were the apocryphal writings ever considered by the Jews to be part of the Old Testament canon (known validated books)? The answer was a clear, “No.” Since the writings were not considered Scripture by the Jews, there was no reason to include them as part of the Bible.
In reaction to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, at the Council of Trent in 1546, approved them as part of their biblical canon. In a couple places these writings seem to confirm Roman Catholic doctrine or tradition.
2 Esdras 9:7–8 (KJV Apocrypha): And every one that shall be saved, and shall be able to escape by his works, and by faith, whereby ye have believed, Shall be preserved from the said perils, and shall see my salvation in my land, and within my borders: for I have sanctified them for me from the beginning.
We see that 2 Esdras 9:7–8 supports the Roman insistence that salvation is by works and faith. The passage insists that people are saved and escape by both works and faith.
2 Maccabees 12:39–45 prefigures Purgatory, although Roman Catholic theologians admit that the complete doctrine is not found here:
2 Maccabees 12:39–45 (KJV Apocrypha): And upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in their fathers’ graves. Now under the coats of every one that was slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which is forbidden the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid, Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection: For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.
The Roman Catholic Church therefore had good reason to include the Apocrypha as part of their Scriptures. By doing so, they could justify some of their non-biblical teachings.
What writings are part of the Apocrypha? What do they contain? We will turn to those questions in the next post.