What Did Paul Mean: "If Ye Keep In Memory What I Preached Unto You"?

1st Corinthians 15:1-2, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

That is a great question! The Apostle Paul had started several churches on his various missionary's journeys. On numerous occasions, false prophets had crept into some of those churches, after Paul moved on to other cities to preach the Gospel.

I love the Epistle of Galatians, which focuses primarily on this very problem. The Galatian churches has been corrupted by a cult of Judaizers (Galatians 1:6-9; 3:1-3; 5:4), who required keeping Moses' law to get to Heaven, in addition to faith in Jesus. So Paul writes a letter to them to rebuke them, calling them "fools" (Galatians 3:1) for being so soon removed from the Gospel (Galatians 1:6), which Paul received not of man, but directly from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12).

Having said that, when Paul wrote 1st Corinthians 15:1-4, he defines "the Gospel" and then warns the Galatians not to be led astray unto another gospel, lest they have believed in vain. We see in Matthew 7:21-23 that a group of religious people followed Jesus as their Lord. They even called Him, "Lord, Lord." There is Lordship Salvation in the Bible! They boasted of having done "many wonderful works," but they never mentioned wholly trusting in Jesus' name.

Likewise, we heard all sorts of plans of salvation today, which contradict what the Holy Bible teaches. Joel Osteen says you've got to turn away from your sinful ways, invite Christ into your life, and follow Jesus as your Lord. Joyce Meyer errantly teaches that to get to Heaven, you must let God take the driver's seat of your life, turn away from your sinful behavior, invite Christ into your life, et cetera.

Hundreds of millions of lost sinners have a false sense of security, just like feeling the calm of the storm in the eye of a hurricane. It is a false security! Pastor Max D. Younce taught me: "A demon's favorite activity is to make people feel comfortable in their false religion." Michael P. Bowen says: "Satan's favorite weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again."

I believe Paul was simply teaching in 1st Corinthians 15:2 ("By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain"), that you cannot get to Heaven if you get the Gospel wrong.

We know that Paul was NOT teaching that salvation can be lost, because the new birth is irreversible. Not one verse in the entire Bible even hints that eternal life can be forfeited; for if it could be lost, it would mean that eternal life cannot be a gift. A gift cannot be returned, because it is free.

once witnessed the Gospel to my Seventh-Day Adventist doctor. He said that he believed exactly what I believed. But I knew better than that. So I asked him if he would still be saved if he committed a very bad sin, like God forbid, murdering someone. He immediately replied, "Oh no, I wouldn't be saved anymore." I asked him why he thought that way, since we know that eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). He said, "Yes, salvation is a gift, but it can be returned to God if we choose to go into sin." Kindly said, my former doctor is WRONG!

I didn't rebuke my former doctor for speaking as a fool, but I simply told him what I believed, that I could go into gross immorality and still be 100% saved, because I am saved by God's righteousness and not my own righteousness. I then handed him a free hardcopy of Michael P. Bowen's helpful book: "I Never Knew You" (free .pdf online version - hardcopies are available at Amazon.com).

Kindly said, SDA's are a Satanic cult. They are NOT true born-again believers. SDA's are trusting in 100% Lordship Salvation. SDA's believe that keeping the Ten Commandments (i.e., keeping the LAW of God) demonstrates your love for God. So if you don't obey the Ten Commandments, SDA's say that it proves you don't really love God, and you don't have faith, so you are not really saved. This is a 100% WORKS based plan of salvation, which is really DAMNATION.

Again, I think Paul is simply saying in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 that if you hear the Gospel, but it gets confused and obscured somewhere long the way, you won't be able to receive the new birth. Jesus said in Luke 8:18, "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have." Carefully notice what Jesus said: "TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR."

As Pastor Max Younce rightly says: "RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS." It sure does. Jesus is warning everyone to be diligent to make you you hear God's Word correctly. And I think that is essentially the same thing that Paul is saying in 1st Corinthians 15:2. Paul preached the simplicity that is in Christ, which is "THE GOSPEL" (Romans 1:16; 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). It would have been VERY easy for some false prophet to creep into the church at Corinth. Also, keep in mind that the Apostle Paul penned the Epistle of Galatians approximately 5 years BEFORE he did the Epistle of 1st Corinthians. Here are the years in which each of the 66 books of the inspired Holy Bible were penned by holy men of old, as they wrote under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. 

After the horrifying experience of what happened to the Galatian churches, when they were deceived to follow false prophets (wolves in sheep's clothing who brought in another gospel), Paul was being extra careful to warn the church at Corinth. Paul remembered the horror story of what happened to the churches of Galatia. The apostle had preached a clear Gospel presentation to them, but after he left town to go preach in another city, word later came back to Paul that the churches of Galatia were now cults, requiring WORKS (keeping the law) to get to Heaven. Paul was alarmed! The Greek word word “marvel” means that the Apostle Paul was “astonished.” ...

Galatians 1:6-9, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

I humbly think that in 1st Corinthians 15:2, Paul is simply telling them that if they get deceived by the Devil to believe another gospel after he leaves town, they won't go to Heaven. Paul is telling them to guard the accurate of THE GOSPEL which he is preaching to them. I love Paul for that!!! Revelation 3:2, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” Jude 1:3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

It is the solemn duty of every Christian man who is learned and skilled in the Word of God to contend for the faith. Titus was NOT an apostle of Jesus, yet Paul told him in Titus 1:13-14, “This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” Lordship Salvation is the commandments of men, not the free grace Gospel taught in the Holy Scriptures.

Corrupt preachers who wickedly tell lost sinners that they must "turn away from your sinful ways" to be saved, are pulling on the same rope as the Devil. They are preaching another gospel. They are sinfully requiring people to keep the LAW as a prerequisite to putting their childlike faith in CHRIST. Romans 3:20 teaches that by the LAW is THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN. That is, the Law shows us our need for redemption, and then brings us to CHRIST to be saved by grace through faith alone. ...

“The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.“ —Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935)

That is what I am doing, day and night as a preacher, warning everybody not to be led away from the simplicity that is in Christ, which is THE GOSPEL. It is a full-time job! False prophets are crawling out of every nook and cranny like cockroaches! 2nd Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."

Dear reader, it is IMPOSSIBLE to lose God's free gift of eternal life. If you couldn't get saved by GOOD WORKS, then how could you ever lose it by BAD WORKS? Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Please don't miss that: REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS!!!

Ungodly ERV Changes Plan of Salvation By Corrupting Hebrews 6:1

If you look at the modern Devil's Bible revisions, you'll see that they corrupted the Word of God. Now my friend, you are about to read the ungodly, wicked, blasphemous, PERversion, rendered in the “Easy-To-Read Version” (ERV) of the Bible . . .

EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — “So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God.” [emphasis added]

Here again is Hebrews 6:1 in the beloved, correct, King James Bible . . .

KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.” [emphasis added]

Do you see how the new corrupt Bible versions are horribly changing theology in the churches? The King James Bible teaches that we must repent from our DEAD WORKS to be saved; but the ERV teaches that we must stop living a life of deliberate sin (evil) to be saved. The Alexandrian Greek is of the Devil, teaching a works-based plan of salvation. Salvation is NOT by works (Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:5-6). The doctrine of the imputed righteousness of God silences all the critics.

A baby believer won't see the major theological differences between the ERV verses the KJB, but I tell you that there are THOUSANDS!!! They've butchered the Words of God!!! Hebrews 6:1 in the ERV sinfully changes the entire plan of salvation, which now requires partial faith in Christ + human effort! No wonder our churches are so messed-up nowadays.

The really tragic thing is that many churches use the ERV piece of crap, using the lame excuse that BI-LINGUAL church members need an easier-to-read Bible. In reality, all the church has done is hand some easy-to-read satanic heresy to the victim. The doctrinal soundness of the Holy Scriptures is GONE, GONE, GONE in the ERV! The built-in dictionary is gone! God's Word is special, it is unique, it cannot be watered-down and simplified without ruining its power. I'm telling the truth, the Luciferian-worshipping occult want to bring spirituality into the churches and eliminate theology. It should be obvious to you that this is exactly what the modern corrupted Bible versions are doing.

The reason why they need to do this is to infiltrate, corrupt and take control over the churches, so that they'll all receive the Antichrist when he comes. If you think that could never happen, you are deceived already. The mystery religion which began in ancient Egypt (which is at the core of New Age) teaches to love God and your fellow mankind, which means rejecting Christianity and the King James Bible, because they are [they say] bigoted, hateful and prejudiced. Of course, Luciferians promote a phony type of ecumenical love, which sinfully embraces unrepentant homosexuals, unbelievers and all apostate religious faiths.

I believe that when the Lord appears at the Rapture to catch away the saints, 97% of the churches will be unaffected (because they are not saved). Lordship Salvation is a false plan of salvation, just as Seventh-Day Adventists, Greek Orthodox, Episcopalians, Church of Christ and Lutherans teach a false plan of salvation. Whether you add water baptism or forsaking sinful living to be saved, it is a false plan of works salvation.

Biblical salvation is based solely upon what Christ did for us, and not what we can do for Him. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.