"But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Chris According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death."
Today's lesson is another very important and interesting one and is, for the most part, overlooked in today's Christian conversation.
Note that Paul said; "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."
Paul said, in essence, it doesn't matter how, for what purpose, or by whom the message of eternal salvation is preached, it will serve God's purpose and that He will be honored and glorified thereby.
This lesson does NOT to imply that the many different isms of today, those who distort the true gospel of Christ by teaching all manner of contrived heresy such as Mormonism, Catholicism, Campbellism, et al, are to be respected and accepted simply because they mention the name of Jesus in their heretical doctrines. But rather TRUE Christian people should always be prepared to loudly and defiantly defend the basic tenets of the ONE pure message that Jesus Christ taught during His ministry and was passed to His chosen Apostles. Jesus' message is that eternal salvation comes as Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Paul also profoundly declared that no amount of human suffering should stop the children of God from continually proclaiming the saving grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.~
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