JESUS IS NOT THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN (1)

Jesus will only save his people. 

Paul says God is “the Saviour of all men” (1 Timothy 4:10).  This statement is misleading and untrue.

John says: “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater” (1 John 5:9).  According to Jesus, God is not the Saviour of men.  With men, salvation is impossible (Mark 10:27). 

God is only the Saviour of sons of God. 

Sons of God

The angel said to Joseph about Mary’s child of promise: “You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  Jesus only saves his people (the sons of God).  “All men” are not his people.

Jesus differentiates sons of God from men (Matthew 7:15-20).  With his word, he empowers his disciples to become sons of God and cautions them: “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).  However, he called some Jews the sons of the devil (John 8:43-44).  Jesus cannot save “all men” who are of the devil.  He can only save those who are mindful of the things of God (Matthew 16:23).

By claiming God is the Saviour of all men, Paul assumes all are lost (Romans 3:23).  However, according to Jesus, only some are lost.  In Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, the brother of the prodigal was not lost.  In his parable of the lost coin, some coins were not lost.  In his parable of the lost sheep, some sheep were not lost.  Jesus says: “the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11).

While Paul maintains: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10); Jesus acknowledges the existence of the righteous (Matthew 23:35).  He says: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).  Furthermore, he insists there are “just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). 

Therefore, Jesus only gives his life as a ransom “for many” (Matthew 20:28).  He does not give his life as a ransom “for all,” as Paul declares in error (1 Timothy 2:6). 

Paulinists

In view of such obvious discrepancies between the doctrines of Jesus and Paul, why do Christians persist in basing their faith on Paul’s fallacies?

The reason is simple.  Followers of Paul are not Jesus’ sheep.  Thus, Jesus said to some Jews: “You do not believe because you are not of my sheep” (John 10:26).    

Many Christians who profess belief in Jesus are sadly not his sheep.  This explains why they prefer the word of men like Paul to the word of God.  Accordingly, Jesus told some Jews: “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (John 8:47). 

Indeed, Paulinists are confirmation that Jesus is not the Saviour of all men.  Jesus’ sheep are defined by the Good Shepherd they know and follow; and the bad shepherds they do not know and flee from.  Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).  “They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:5).    

Paul is the chief of many strangers followed by Christians who are not Jesus’ sheep.  He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15); a thief who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way (John 10:1). 

Only lovers of truth can be followers of Jesus.  Jesus says: “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (John 18:37).  However, when Christians prefer sweet lies to bitter truths, they insist Paul’s strange voice is the same as that of Jesus.

God’s sheep

The Good Shepherd does not save those who choose to be led by bad shepherds.  When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch (Luke 6:39). 

Jesus is the saviour of God’s lost sheep.  He is not the saviour of goats.  According to Jesus’ doctrine, Paul’s followers are goats.  Unlike sheep, goats are indiscriminate.  They feed on just about anything; including trash.

In the Day of Judgment, the sheep will inherit God’s kingdom, but goats will be rejected (Matthew 25:31-46).  The determining factor will be adherence to the word of Jesus (John 12:48).  The word of Paul will be irrelevant.

Jesus warns: “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you’” (Matthew 7:22-23).

Jesus’ lost sheep were his sheep before they went astray.  He does not save men he never knew.