The Roman Catholic Church imposed its false Trinitarian view of God upon the world by locking away the Scriptures and putting to death millions. With this false view of God and a false view of man as a spirit being that goes to heaven or hell after death, how could Martin Luther have attained the right gospel message? He understood “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17) to mean that we’re saved by faith or belief. But Habakkuk’s statement “the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness” (2:4 NET), “the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” (2:4 NIV), isn’t about our faith but His faithfulness—Christ’s faithfulness to His Father in sacrificing Himself as He had been sent. Luther didn’t restore the true gospel message but concocted a new one that’s damning multitudes.
The Protestant gospel of sola fide or faith alone is that salvation is by believing and not by anything we do. To bolster this deception, throughout the New Testament the Greek pistis has been rendered “faith” instead of “faithfulness,” pisteuo as “believe” instead of “trust,” and ergon as “works” instead of “actions.” Furthermore, a false antithesis of faith versus works was contrived from Paul’s statements, “a man is justified by faith [faithfulness] without the deeds [actions] of the law” (Rom 3:28), “a man is not justified by the works [actions] of the law, but by the faith [faithfulness] of Jesus Christ” (Gal 2:16), “For by grace are ye saved through faith [faithfulness]; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works [actions]” (Eph 2:8-9). But Paul wasn’t teaching our faith versus our works, but Christ’s faithfulness as our sacrifice versus the Levitical priests’ actions of offering animal sacrifices. We’ve also been taught to call ourselves “believers” even though the early church never did—they called themselves “servants.” Modern Bible versions mistranslate many statements such as: “In those days Peter stood up among the believers” (Act 1:15 NIV), “All the believers were together and had everything in common” (Act 2:44 NIV), “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (Act 4:32 NIV), “And all the believers used to meet together” (Act 5:12 NIV).
Protestant Trinitarians claim that “earnestly contend for the faith [faithfulness] which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jde 1:3) is that their message of faith and system of theology was delivered to the church by the apostles. But Jude was talking about the message of faithfulness delivered to God’s people in the Exodus, “the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt” (v. 5). He delivered to them faithfulness to Him, “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments” (Exo 20:6). However, many were unfaithful, “they could not enter in because of unbelief [unfaithfulness]” (Heb 3:19). As God’s people today, we’re to earnestly contend for that same faithfulness to Him.
The true gospel message of which Paul wasn’t ashamed to proclaim is the message Jesus Christ Himself preached, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth [trusts]” (Rom 1:16). Jesus preached trust in His sacrifice on the cross for our sins, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth [trusts] in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth [trusts] in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Jhn 3:14-16).
Jesus didn’t teach salvation by faith but by righteousness to the moral standard set by the law and the prophets: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets … For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:17,20), “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Mat 7:12). He requires us to hear and do the moral righteousness of the law defined by Him, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them … And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not” (Mat 7:24,26). Paul and James reiterated, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Rom 2:13), “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jas 1:22).
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17) supposedly means that we become some kind of new creature by a faith confession. But “he is” is italicized indicating it’s not in the Greek text but added. This isn’t about a person but the creation itself being renewed, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away … no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev 21:1,4). The “old things” that are passed away are death, sorrow, crying, and pain. It’s all part of the false gospel message of sola fide.
Understanding Scripture 