"Not With Wisdom of Words"
(The Gospel doesn't need our help)
(The Gospel doesn't need our help)
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." —1st Corinthians 1:17.
I recently received an e-mail from a man inquiring how to witness to a Roman Catholic. He said he had a friend who was really having a hard time with the matter of "works" not being necessary for salvation. I shared with him the Bible's teaching on salvation, stressing that salvation is "by grace through faith" and NOT of works (Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5). I also shared with him Galatians 2:16...
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." -Galatians 2:16
He e-mailed back again, saying that "his friend" needed "proof" of exactly where the Catholic religion teaches that "works" are mandatory for salvation. I responded by referring him to the Vatican II documents of the Roman Catholic church, in which the Vatican requires baptism into the "Catholic" church, holy communion, and the keeping of the seven sacraments to go to heaven.
The man responded by saying that the Lutheran religion also requires Baptism and Holy Communion to be saved, and then he accused me of failing to expose them as I had the Catholics. I responded by assuring him that I DO expose the Lutheran religion and sent him the link to my false religions page.
The man e-mailed me again, claiming that his friend absolutely would NOT accept my innuendos and needed "proof" that the Bible didn't require works to be saved. He quoted me several verses such as Luke 13:9..."And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."
He tried to defend the heresy that "works" are necessary to salvation with such Scriptures. The Bible does NOT contradict itself, hundreds of Biblical references teach us that good "works" are a sure road to hell (Isaiah 64:6).
After e-mailing back and forth several times, the gentleman became belligerent and it was apparent to me that he was more argumentative than hungry for the truth. At this point I realized that he probably didn't have a friend and was just wanting to defend his false religion. I remembered his first e-mail which he had sent to me, asking for help witnessing to his Catholic friend. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of the following Scripture...
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." -1st Corinthians 1:17.
Whether the man was sincere or not didn't matter to me at this point... either I was trying to use the WISDOM OF WORDS to convince an unbeliever, or the man was sincerely trying to use the WISDOM OF WORDS to win his unbelieving friend to the Lord. Either way, it wasn't going to work. The Bible teaches that the GOSPEL (i.e., God's plan of salvation for mankind) is the power which saves a person; not our own eloquent words...
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." -Romans 1:16.
I kindly wrote the man back and explained 1st Corinthians 1:17 to him. I explained to him that the way you witness to a Catholic is the same way you witness to anyone... with the GOSPEL (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). We are ALL sinners deserving of hell-fire.
Jesus Christ (the Son of God) paid for our sins with His blood; Jesus DIED; Jesus was BURIED and Jesus ROSE from the dead for our justification. All we need to do for salvation is to trust upon Jesus Christ by faith to forgive our sins (Romans 3:10,23;5:8;6:23;10:9-13). Acts 10:43 states, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
The Simple Gospel, 2
