Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[Double Life]

Analyzing faith and deeds in Christianity, how do they relate to each other? What comes first and is most important.

Describe even the way to salvation in Christianity.

What is paradise? Who is supposed to turn up there?

Who are Matthew, Marc, Luke and John? What did they write? Can you compare their books? How can you critize them? Are they more historical than, for instance, the story about Moses in the desert?

[jimwalton]

Hmm. A wide gamut of questions. I'll answer them briefly, but none of the answers will be really thorough, because of time and space concerns.

"Faith and deeds." Faith comes first. Good deeds are not how we get saved (we don't earn favor with God, score points, or do anything to deserve his blessing). Even our best deeds aren't good enough to earn anything. Like swimming across the Pacific Ocean. Some of us are better swimmers than others, but what is required to accomplish the task is beyond any of us. We are saved by grace, not by anything we do or how good we are.

But after we are saved, good works should be evidence of our new life in Christ. And if somebody is not a good person, then there's every reason to doubt they are saved (Matt. 7:15-23; James 2:14-20).

"Describe the way of salvation in Christianity." Recognize that you are separated from God by your sins. Repent of those sins (do a 180-degree about face) and turn away from them. Acknowledge that Jesus is God, that he died for your sins in your place, and that he wants to give you life. Give your life to God because you love him and want a relationship with him. God does a miracle in you and makes you a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:3). He gives you the nature of Jesus instead of your sin nature that you were born with. He will forgive your sins and send the Holy Spirit to live inside of you. Now you are saved.

"What is paradise?" Do you mean heaven? Those who go to heaven are those people who have the nature of Jesus in them rather than the sin nature.

"Who are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?" They are the four men who wrote the four Gospels—the accounts we have of Jesus' life at the beginning of the New Testament. Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus, Mark and Luke were not. There is much debate over whether these four men actually wrote the four Gospels. The testimony of all historical records that we have is unanimous in saying they were. The evidence is strong that they were. But a collection of modern scholars says they were not the writers, and they present their cases against the traditional position. the debates about it will never cease.

"Can you compare their books?" Yes, the books can be compared. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have many similarities but are widely different in their theses and what they choose to include. With all the passages in common, all three have many unique passages as well. The Gospel of John is completely different, with a different purpose in writing, though his Gospel has some overlap with the other three.

"How can you criticize them?" The same way we do any ancient writing. Historicity, style of writing, external evidences, internal assessments, etc.

"Are they more historical than for instance the story about Moses in the desert?" I would say they're equally historical, but there is much debate about the story of Moses. The Gospels have more historical corroboration than the story of Moses, mostly because it is 1300 years more recent, but there is still a lot of historical corroboration for the story about Moses.

These are pretty short answers to your questions. Feel free to ask further about various pieces that you want to pursue more deeply.