Five Things Jesus, Paul, and the New Testament Do Not Say

1.       Jesus did not say nothing about homosexual relations.  He reaffirmed the created order of his Father of male and female in marriage and gave no hints or loopholes for any other relationships to be so considered.  (Not a position statement on homosexuality.  Just an observation about claims made in the debate.) 

2.       Paul did not say those who do not work should not eat.  He said those who choose not to work because of belief that the return of Jesus was imminent should not eat.  Nothing about welfare eligibility here! 

3.       Grace does not negate or diminish or render optional works.  That’s a false dichotomy as are the theological conflicts built on it:  Augustine-Pelagius, Calvinist-Arminian.  Grace empowers and makes works possible and non-negotiable.  It is grace and works or perhaps even grace=works, in that order. 

4.       Heaven is not our home.  It’s a way-station for those who have died till the resurrection and our repopulation of God’s new creation (earth as it should have been) in our new bodies to take up life with God forever there. 

5.       We will not play harps and sing praises for eternity.  The last word of the last vision of our eternal destiny is that we will “reign.”  That means we will spend eternity doing that for which we were created:  protecting and caring for the creation and each other as divine image-bearers.  We will experience the life God made us for finally and fully!