One of the hardest sentences Paul wrote appears to say a man's bad works can get him destroyed by God. Read whole, it says very nearly the opposite, and the clause most often left off the end is the one that answers it. Here is what defiling means in Paul's own vocabulary, and why the temple was never the thing in danger.

Salvation and reward are not two names for one thing. One is a free gift that cannot be earned or lost; the other is a wage for service that can be gained or forfeited, yet never touches the gift. Rightly divide the two and the trembling conscience and the careless heart are answered at once.

The deepest problem with Reformed theology is not any one of its five points but the method beneath them: a Bible read flat, without rightly dividing the word. Sort the texts — Israel's national election from the Body's election in Christ, predestination from selection, sovereignty without the caricature — and the system dissolves, leaving a God mo…

Paul's words fallen from grace are taken as proof the saved can be lost. In their setting they mean almost the opposite of misbehavior: a fall toward law, not into sin. Rightly divided, the standing in grace cannot be lost — what falls is the walk, when a believer trades grace as his operating principle for the law.

Matthew 10:33 and 2 Timothy 2:12 sound like the same threat to a trembling believer, but rightly divided they stand worlds apart. The Lord's warning belongs to Israel under the kingdom program; Paul's word to the Body touches the reward of faithful service, never his salvation, and never the reign that grace has already made his — all of which rest…

Can a saved person go on in the works of the flesh and still be saved? The question is really two: is he still saved, and what does it cost him? Paul's own warnings, the carnal Corinthians, and the answer to the Lordship lifestyle argument give a clear, rightly divided reply — security intact, walk and reward addressed honestly.

The parable of the prodigal son belongs to Israel's kingdom program, not to the Body of Christ. Rightly divided, it reframes the wayward child entirely — a saved child never loses his standing or fellowship, and a lost child needs the gospel of grace, not a works-earned homecoming.

Paul states it twice and assumes it everywhere: the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment he believes, unto the day of redemption. This study traces what the seal is, what the earnest guarantees, and what it means to grieve a Spirit who can never leave the one He has sealed.