"By No Means!"

By No Means! Of Course Not! 

May It Never Be! Absolutely Not! God Forbid!

All of these phrases are translated from the same words used by Paul throughout the book of Romans. Within the book he constantly counters possible objections to his teachings by posing the question that people would ask and answering it with that phrase before explaining why. (To see this take a look at Romans 3:3-4, 5-6, 9, 31, 6:1-2, 15, 7:7, 13, 9:14, and so on).

The point I want to make is this: Paul cannot stand any false idea about God. He cannot stand the idea that Gd would lie or not be faithful to his promises. He cannot stand the idea of God being unjust. He cannot stand false teaching. He stands up for the truth, and he does it boldly. 

Not only that, he also explains his reasons. Paul doesn't just say 'you're wrong', he explains why from the whole bible. We should know what we believe and be ready to explain it to people. 

1 Peter 3:15b:

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"

Obviously there are things in the bible that there is room to debate over. Things that aren't as clear as we would like and that can be debated. But these things are never central to the gospel. They are never salvation issues. We need to stand up for the gospel, for the truth, never wavering. 

For example. when we come across those who say jesus isn't God or wasn't the messiah, We need to boldly tell them that they are wrong, because God's word says he is both. Just take a read of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus fulfils every prophecy about the Messiah. Likewise Philippians 2 says that Jesus was "in very nature God".

Do we stand up unwavering for the truth?