Transcription
I know, right? Another new video, and it hasn't even been 2 months since the last one. How is this possible?
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Now, we've got a comment from grungemeer6029, or maybe it's 6029, or 6029. Could also be 629, or 6029, 5 hours later, or possibly 629. Anyway, they say, "James White and Jeff Durban have really been going after Catholics again recently. Jeff just posted a video of him attempting to critique Tim Staples. That might give you some good material."
Well, grungemeer, you were not wrong. Again, this is the first of three new videos on the way, so thank you for this comment, grungemeer. And I like how you wrote that Jeff posted a video of himself attempting to critique Tim Staples, because that's really the most accurate way to put it. Jeff did make an attempt. He failed, but he did make that attempt.
But for all of you watching, don't just take my word for it. I could be lying to you. As we say here over and over again, don't trust us, test us. Listen to what we have to say, see if it makes any sense. Simple as that. Let's get to it.
I'm a Bible-believing Christian, and our Protestant for the day is Mr. Jeff Durban of Apologia Studios. Maybe that's Apologia Studios, five more hours later, of Apologia Studios. This is Christian versus Protestant on Romans 3.
Now, in his video, Jeff Durban makes a bunch of mistakes. First off, he doesn't acknowledge that there's a difference between works of the law and works in general. Like, in the Bible, there's works of the law, there's works of the flesh, there's works of God, there's good works, also known as works of love. These are all different categories of works that the Bible discusses. But in Jeff's video, he just ignores that completely.
Now, we already have a video on this topic of works and works of the law. So, if you don't know about that, or you just want to suffer through me talking about it, you can click the link in the description or up there in the card. It's not important that you know that for this video, but it is something important to know if you're going to read the Bible, 'cause you do want to know what these different categories are.
Another mistake Jeff makes in his video is he cherry-picks verses from the Bible. Like, Jeff talks about Romans chapter 4, but he only shows people verses 1-4, and he mentions a couple of other things from the chapter, but he doesn't read the whole thing. Which would be fine, except for the fact that Jeff is trying to change the meaning of what is being taught in that passage. This is commonly referred to as cherry-picking or proof-texting. Basically, Jeff is just pulling verses out of context to try to make it sound like the Bible is teaching something that it isn't actually teaching.
On top of pulling verses out of context, he's also adding words to the verses. So that's a whole different problem. But anyway, we're going to look at that in the next video. Funny thing is, what Jeff is trying to say that Romans 4 teaches is actually refuted if you just read all of Romans 4.
Now, if you don't want to wait a week to see the next video, you can always check out these videos we did, which go through all of Romans 3 and all of Romans 4. We've got a link to that in the description and up there in the card.
Now, another mistake that Jeff makes in his video is he doesn't seem to understand how a person can be justified by both faith and works, with salvation remaining a free gift from God. But we're not going to go over that in this video, because again, we have a video on this topic. So, if you want to learn more about that, you could find the link in the description and, as you may have guessed, right on up there in the card.
If you watch these four videos and then watch Jeff's video, then you should be able to see the obvious flaws in Jeff's arguments. Now, you don't have to watch these videos in order to understand today's video, next week's video, and the week after that video. We're going to be going through Jeff's arguments piece by piece in these three videos. But if you want to check these out, it's supplemental learning material. Get your Bibles out and follow along.
What we want to do in this video, though, is point out a huge mistake that Jeff Dervan makes when he's reading the Bible. And this is a mistake that several Protestants have made, so it is good to be aware of this. Now, this is not an issue of Jeff Durban having one interpretation and me having another one. This is an issue of Jeff Durban having a huge flaw in his logic.
I do know that Jeff understands logic because I've seen him use it. Jeff Durban has done some really great work protecting the lives of the unborn, and in that process, he tends to use logic very well. What's strange, though, is while Jeff can be great at applying logic to the personal beliefs of others, when it comes to his own personal beliefs, he will often times fail to even attempt to apply logic. You'll see what I mean.
"Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold, and here it is, that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." Did you hear that? The inspired Apostle couldn't be clearer. Everyone's under sin. The law can justify nobody. It is through faith in Christ. It is a gracious gift of God through the redemption that's in Jesus. And then he says, "For we hold, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." What is faith apart from the works of the law? It is faith over here by itself. It is faith alone. Faith alone taught by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:28. It's very important to recognize that the Apostle Paul says, "we hold," so it is the teaching of the Apostles, it's the inspired revelation of God, it is the teaching of the early Christians. "We maintain, we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." So he does not say faith in tandem with the works of the law. It is faith apart from the works of the law. It is faith by itself.
Okay, so first of all, the passage that Jeff is reading does not use the phrase "faith alone." The passage says, "we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." It does not say that one is justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. So why is Mr. Durban claiming that Paul is teaching faith alone here? "Faith alone taught by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:28. It's very important to recognize that the Apostle Paul says, 'we hold,' so it is the teaching of the Apostles, it's the inspired revelation of God, it is the teaching of the early Christians. We maintain, we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." So he does not say faith in tandem with the works of the law. It is faith apart from the works of the law. It is faith by itself.
Now, as mentioned, we already have a video on the difference between works and works of the law. All works of the law are works, but not all works are works of the law. The Bible has several different categories of works: there's works of God, works of love, or good works, works of the flesh, works of the law. These are various categories of works. But, just like you can't say works of the flesh are equal to all human works, you can't say works of the law are equal to all human works.
That being said, Jeff Durban is going to completely ignore these categories. Jeff is going to assume that works of the law refer to all human works that are good. Now, to be clear, there's absolutely nothing in the entire Bible that tells Jeff to do this. But Jeff's a Protestant. Protestants just make up whatever they want and they call it Christianity. That's not actually how Christianity works. Christians actually respect these categories that the Bible lays out.
That all being said, though, for this portion of the video, we're going to do as the Durban does and we're going to pretend that works of the law equals all human works that are good. And the reason why we're going to temporarily adhere to this nonsense is because we want to show you that even if we use Jeff's definition of works of the law, Jeff's logic still fails. Jeff is trying to claim that Paul is teaching faith alone here, but the text clearly does not say "faith alone." It just says "faith."
So let's listen once more to hear how Jeff tries to insert the word "alone" into this passage. He says, "For we hold, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." What is faith apart from the works of the law? Oh, is that a question? Uh, what is faith apart from works of the law? Let's see. Oh, that's easy. Faith apart from works of the law is faith without works of the law, right? Jeff, it is faith over here by itself. It is faith alone. Excuse me for a second while I make an announcement here on my imaginary intercom. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Calvinist kind.
Where the heck is he getting "faith alone" from? Just because the faith is apart from works of the law, that doesn't mean that the faith is now alone. It just means that the faith is apart from works of the law. Like, if I go to the mall with my parents and I wander into Hot Topic to get a sweet new t-shirt with Han Solo on it, but my dad doesn't accompany me. Instead, he's going to go to Dick's because he quote, "wouldn't be caught dead in Hot Topic." "It's not for girls, Dad. They have boy stuff too." Anyway, yeah, while I'm in Hot Topic, I'm apart from my dad. But just because I'm apart from my dad, that doesn't mean I'm alone. It just means I'm apart from my dad.
And as I mentioned previously, I went to the mall with my parents. So, yeah, Dad's a dick, but Mommy's not afraid to go shopping with her little boy. I'm not by myself. I have my mommy with me. It's not Ferris alone in Hot Topic. It's Ferris and his mommy in Hot Topic. The only way that being apart from my dad would automatically equal being alone would be if the only two things in existence were me and my dad. If the only two things in existence are me and my dad, then yes, if I'm apart from my dad, then I'm alone. But my dad and me are not the only two things in existence. Again, I have my mommy.
Likewise, the only way Jeff Durban's logic makes sense is if all we have to work with are faith and works of the law. Meaning, I don't exist, you don't exist, this pillow doesn't exist, this camera lens cap doesn't exist, this board game doesn't exist. I dug this up at the beach, by the way. I'm going to play it later. None of that exists. The only way Jeff Durban's logic makes sense is if the only two things in existence are faith and works of the law. But look around you. We already know that's not true. There's way more than just faith and works of the law.
There's works of God. Jeff doesn't consider those to be works of the law. Jeff tries to shove good works under works of the law, but he doesn't try to shove God's works under there too. There's also things like love and hope. Paul even tells the Corinthians about this. He says, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three." Love and hope do not qualify as faith. Durban can't shove love and hope underneath works of the law. Love and hope are not things that qualify as faith, and they're not things that qualify as works of the law.
So let's get a visual representation of what's going on here. We got Jar Jar Binks here. He's going to represent works of the law because nobody likes works of the law. And Luke Skywalker here. He's faith. Jar Jar, stay standing. You are nothing but a disappointment. So we've got faith and works of the law.
Now, in order for Jeff Durban's logic to make sense, faith and works of the law are all that we can have. Like, nothing else can exist. Again, I can't exist, you can exist, God's works can't exist, God can't exist. In order for Jeff Durban's logic to make sense, the only things that can be in existence are faith and works of the law. Because then, if faith is apart from works of the law, if we got rid of works of the law, faith is by itself. It's alone. Faith is alone. That's the only way that Jeff's logic will work. If the only things in existence are faith and works of the law.
But that's not the case. Because as even the Bible says, we have love. Vader here is going to be representing love. And we also have hope, which will be played by C-3PO. And I know Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been a better casting choice for the character of hope. You know, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only..." You get it. I don't have to say it. I understand that this is a major miss here, but I don't have an Obi-Wan Kenobi, so get off my case about it, okay? Don't, don't you dare. Don't you go into the comments and write that hope should have been played by Obi-Wan Kenobi. If there's hundreds and hundreds of comments saying that hope should have been played by Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm going to be so upset. So don't everyone go rush into the comments to point out that major missed opportunity.
Anyway, we got faith, we got hope, we got love, and we got works of the law. Now, Paul is saying that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. For some reason, Jeff Durban and Protestants like him think that "faith apart from works of the law" means "faith alone."
But let's try something here. Let's make it so that faith is apart from works of the law, and we're going to do that by just misplacing, getting rid of works of the law. The general consensus online is that nobody wants Jar Jar here anyway. All right, so faith is now apart from works of the law, just like the verse says, "faith apart from works of the law." But does faith being apart from works of the law mean that faith is now alone? Faith is most certainly not alone. I am here, and faith. I am love. Oh, and I am here as well. I am hope. Oh, so we got faith here. We got hope, and we got love. I'm not alone. I'm not alone. No, faith, you are not alone. The gang's right. Just because faith is apart from works of the law, that doesn't mean faith is alone. There can still be other things with the faith.
Now, I'm not saying that this verse in Romans tells us that the faith is there with hope and love. Just like the verse doesn't say "alone," the verse also doesn't say that the faith has hope and love with it. What the verse tells us here is that the faith is apart from works of the law. It doesn't say it's alone, and it also doesn't say that it's not alone. So Jeff shouldn't be adding his word to this verse, and I shouldn't be adding any words to the verse either, which is why I'm not. I'm just saying that the verse allows for this possibility because logically it does. Just because faith is apart from works, that doesn't mean it's alone. So when we read this verse, we should just take it for what it says: "one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
If we want to learn whether a person is justified by faith alone or not, then we have to look somewhere else to see if that's taught anywhere. And hey, how about that? There is a part of the Bible that talks about faith alone. This is actually the only time that the Bible ever uses the phrase "faith alone," and it is to say that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Now, again, this is James chapter 2. We're going to look at that two videos from now. We are going to read through all of James chapter 2 in the upcoming video. But just be aware, this is the only time that the phrase "faith alone" appears in the Bible, and it's to say that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Now, just to give a little preview, this word "works" here is referring to good works, or works of love. Works such as feeding the hungry or clothing people who are in need. So James 2 is talking about these type of works. Romans 3 is talking about these type of works. But we'll get back to that in a couple of videos. Right now, we're living in Jeff's delusion and we're shoving good works under works of the law. Because even using Jeff's flawed definition of works of the law, we can still prove that what Jeff is saying is incorrect.
Because it's not just faith and works that justify. If you go to Romans chapter 8, Paul says, "It is God who justifies." So this Sand Trooper here, that's going to be God. We'll bring Jar Jar back for a minute. I feel neglected. So, roll call. We got love, we got faith, we got God, we got hope, we got works of the law. We get rid of works of the law, and we have faith apart from works of the law. But is faith alone? No. Even if we take hope and love out of here, and we just leave these two, which we've already seen, the Bible says, "It is God who justifies." The Bible says we are justified by faith. If we just leave those two, faith is apart from works, but faith is still not alone. There's God there. There's God and faith. That's two things that justify us. Three, if you include works. Four, if you include the blood of Christ. Five, if you include words. The point is, Jeff Durban doesn't have any logical reason for adding the word "alone" here.
Now, Jeff is making the claim that Paul taught this "faith alone" taught by the Apostle Paul. But first of all, as we can see in the text, Paul did not teach that. He didn't have the word "alone" in there. If he did have the word "alone" in there, it wouldn't make sense when he gets to chapter 8 and said that God justifies. Because then he'd be telling people of a second thing that justifies us, even though he already got done saying that the only thing that justifies us is faith. It can't be faith alone that justifies and also God justifies us. It just doesn't work mathematically. If it's alone, it's alone. If it's both faith and God that justifies us, then guess what? It's not faith alone.
Welcome to a special presentation of How to Be Christian Theater, featuring Jeff Durban. "What is faith apart from the works of the law?" "Oh, that's an easy one. That just means I'm not with the works of the law. It is faith over here by itself." "H no, no, I'm not by myself. I said I'm not with the works of the law. I didn't say I'm by myself. It is faith alone." "I'm not alone. I'm just not with the works of the law." "Must of faith is here with friends. Yeah, God's here too, by the way. Could you stop editing my book? Faith alone taught by the Apostle Paul." "Paul never taught that, sir. I too would have to agree. I am fluent in many languages, and the word 'alone' is not where you say it is. Have you tried reading the actual passage? The Apostle Paul says, 'we hold,' so it is the teaching of the Apostles, it's the inspired revelation of God. Don't put my name on this, Jeff. 'We maintain, we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.'" "Yes, and just because I'm apart from works of the law, that doesn't mean I'm alone." "So he does not say faith in tandem with the works of the law." "No one is saying I'm in tandem with works of the law. I am, however, in tandem with other things. It is faith apart from the works of the law." "Correct. You got it. I'm apart from works of the law." "It is faith by itself." "I'm not by myself. Where are you getting this? Who is letting this guy teach?" "Yes, he seems to be struggling with reading comprehension."
Thank you for watching How to Be Christian Theater. We know to return to an idiot with toys.
Now, you might be wondering, why did hope and love make an appearance in this video? I'm not showing you anything in the Bible that says hope and love justify. So why are they here? Well, if you go to 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells the Corinthians, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways."
And when do you plan on doing that, Ferris? You are playing with a child's figurine, sir. Can we just get back to the reading, please? "When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three. But the greatest of these is love.
So let's get faith back up here, 'cause Paul is saying that of faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. Yes, of the three of us, I am the greatest. Join me, Faith, and together we will rule the galaxy. Okay, you might have been onto something about the childish stuff, but think of what we just read from Paul here. Jeff Durban is saying that Paul is trying to teach people that faith alone is what justifies. "Faith alone taught by the Apostle Paul." But here we have Paul talking to the Corinthians, and he's saying, "If I have all faith, but I don't have love, I am nothing."
Now, in Paul's example here, he's saying he's got prophetic powers, he understands all mysteries and all knowledge, and he has all faith so as to remove mountains. So he doesn't just have faith alone here. He's got faith plus a bunch of other stuff. So what Paul is talking about here is a lot more than faith alone. And yet, even all faith with all this other stuff, if it doesn't have love, Paul says he's nothing. So we're supposed to believe that Paul told the Corinthians this, but then he's talking to the Romans and he's like, "You know what? You just need faith alone. That's good. Don't exchange notes with the Corinthians because I told them something totally different. But yeah, go ahead, drop the word 'alone' in here. That won't screw things up at all."
Paul never taught that we were justified by faith alone. Paul said that even if he had all faith along with all these other things, if he didn't have love, he's nothing. So, yeah, Mr. Durban is just making stuff up about Paul. Paul never taught faith alone. Paul taught about faith apart from works of the law, but that doesn't mean that faith alone justifies. We already know that's not the case because God justifies. Faith is not alone. It justifies apart from works of the law, but it doesn't justify alone.
Anyway, as a Christian, I'm going to continue to listen to the word of God and not follow the word of Durban. I hope this video was helpful to people. There are two more on the way. So remember to subscribe, click the notification bell, and all. If you're already subscribed and you want to click something, click that like button. And no one, under any circumstances, should be leaving a comment down below telling me that hope should have been played by Ben Kenobi. Nobody should do that. Definitely not all of you. All right. And Paul did say that of faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. I'm curious, does the faith alone crowd ever question that? Like, "Hey, why is Paul saying that the greatest is love? If it's faith alone that saves us, then why wouldn't Paul be like, 'No, the greatest is faith. Love's good, but like, faith alone is what saves you.'" I don't know. I never got that.
If anyone's a Protestant who believes in faith alone and you can read this verse and not have your mind blown, please explain that in the comments. I would love to know your take on this passage that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. He's saying he's got all faith, but he's nothing if he doesn't have love. And then he's telling them that the greatest thing of faith, hope, and love is love. There's, there's a lot of things that just don't make sense in Protestantism. First, you're adding the word "alone" to the Bible. It's not really there. Then, in the one place that actually talks about faith alone, and it says that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone, you just completely ignore that. You've got other Bible passages talking about how God justifies. So again, not faith alone. And you've got Paul saying that love is greater than faith. I just don't understand how anybody can remain a Protestant. It's just pure nonsense.
But anyway, this is Christian versus Protestant on How to Be Christian. Don't misinterpret the title. I'm not saying that Protestants are not also Christians. Most, if not all, Protestants are also Christians. The point of the series is to take the Christian view and compare that to the Protestant view, because hopefully one day everyone will drop the Protestantism and just keep the Christianity. We all have the same goal. We want to be followers of Christ. Jeff Durban wants to follow Christ. I want to follow Christ. We don't follow Christ by adding words to the Bible. So, Jeff, my advice to you: drop the Protestantism, keep the Christianity. Thank you all for watching. You have a great day, and don't forget to subscribe. I actually already said that like twice now.
And just who do you think you are speaking to, Love, that way? Well, I'm the host here. I'm Ferris. I can speak to you any way I want, and you can just deal with it. Oh yeah? You can deal with this. Okay, I definitely shouldn't have seen that coming. I'm s— I'm sorry. All right, I—I shouldn't have spoke to you like that. That was wrong. Loosen, loosen the grip. Oh, my Sand Trooper. This is painful.