The Two Keys
There is a special key to unlocking great understanding of the New Testament, particularly the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). There is also another important key to unlocking the epistles of Paul. Without these 2 keys much of the message of Jesus in the Gospels and the writings of Paul remain locked in a mystery. The best we can do is try to harmonize unrelated things together that should not be understood as being equal. The keys that I am speaking about are not special, secret knowledge. This is not for the purpose of obligating the student to a mystery teacher that will control their life. This is understanding that has been lying there for centuries. It has to do with different things not being the same thing. Jesus said to His disciples that they had been freely given much. Now they were to freely give it to other believers.
Note: It is alright to be supported by others so you can do your spiritual work. What is not OK is to gimmick and scam others into believing they have to rely on you for special information. Faith in Christ gives you total access. Others, even greatly gifted people, are not the source of Life. However, be careful about despising others' insight if you may not initially understand it.
I am going to give you something that will give you remarkable liberty – for free. This can be worth a long lifetime of wealth if you consider it of any value (Matt 10:41).
Different Things Are Not The Same Thing
That sounds almost too childish to be of any use. For instance, if you are at a road intersection, does it make any difference if the traffic light is red or green? It's on, isn't it? To some people, it doesn't make much difference. That is called a collision. It can be fatal. Yes, different things cannot be treated as the same thing.
If I am faithful to my wife, is that any different from having marital affairs? Is evil the same as good? Is the discipline of the Lord the same as the personal hatred the devil has? That is a very common one. I occasionally see a spiritual-sounding article from a humanistic viewpoint. They often talk about the virtues of suffering illness or how evil teaches us a valuable lesson. Basically, their message is Sin is just righteousness in disguise. If you cannot see through that kind of philosophy, I would be very concerned.
Key #1
The first “key” to making sense out of the New Testament, especially the Gospels, is understanding the difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. The purpose here is not to teach about the kingdoms. That can be a very long and involved study. The purpose here is to just highlight their difference. For a brief article about the differences in the kingdoms see The Kingdom. If you are in the Kingdom of Heaven instead of the Kingdom of God you will have no security, no liberty, no freedom, no peace, no assurance, no acceptance from God, no certainty, no eternity, and ironically, no hope of Heaven. You can be very glad they are not the same thing.
Key #2
The second “key” to making sense of the New Testament, other than the Gospels, is understanding the difference between soul and spirit, biblically. To me, the Hebrew of the Old Testament seems to be somewhat poetic but the Greek of the New Testament has surgical precision. For a rather simple dealing with the subject see the 92 page book A House Of Two Rooms. If we confuse the two aspects of the human being, soul and spirit, we mix the permanent work of God with the temporal personality of the unregenerate human. We mix eternity with time. We attempt to blend the sovereignty of God with the flaws of a ruined creation. We mix sinfulness with Absolute Perfection. We would have...just what we have today that tries to pass for Bible teaching.
Today we go through grammatical gyrations, word inference contortions, and disingenuous philosophy all to make different things sound like the same thing.
Or
We could just use the keys that the Lord has given us and walk into the room of sanity and soundness.
Oct 9, 2025