The Kingdom of God is not a place, such as Heaven. The Kingdom of God is the new creation formed by Christ being created in us. The new creation, the transformed personality, is the Kingdom of God. The Father and the Son have their eternal throne in those who keep the Words of Christ. Of such is the new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven.

If we put our trust in Christ and do what He tells us to do we will go to Paradise when we die. But this is not the Kingdom of God, neither is it eternal life. The Kingdom of God and eternal life are the new creation that is formed by the increase of Christ in us.

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29)

The above verse would appear to support the belief that if an individual professes faith in Christ he has performed the requirements of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, insuring his entrance into the new Jerusalem. The verses that follow reveal such is not the case.

The setting of John 6:29 is not that of Gentiles who are being instructed to profess belief in Christ so they will go to Heaven when they die. The setting is that of Jews who were debating in their minds whether to follow Moses or Christ.

Whenever Jesus or Paul spoke of "works," as opposed to "faith," they were referring to the works of the Law of Moses. They were teaching that Christ has come and we are not to labor under the Law as though He had not come.

We Gentiles, not having had the experience of trying to save ourselves by keeping the Law of Moses, have interpreted the statements of Jesus and of Paul to mean righteous behavior is of little consequence in the Christian salvation, in the Kingdom of God. (Somehow we must know in ourselves this cannot be, but religion has a tendency to pervert our conscience and common sense!)

Because of our misunderstanding of the term works we have, on the one hand, Paul instructing us that redemption is the gift of God apart from "works." On the other hand, Paul is keeping us from the Kingdom of God if we are covetous.

The answer to the seeming contradiction is that by "works" Paul means the works of the Law of Moses, including circumcision (see the Book of Galatians, for example, where we have Paul rejecting the Law of Moses while at the same time demanding righteous behavior through the Spirit of God).

We can enter the Kingdom of God without observing the ordinances of Judaism. We cannot enter the Kingdom of God without observing the eternal moral law of God—the law that condemns adultery, stealing, and covetousness.

A person cannot earn God's approval by overcoming covetousness, or any other sin, by his own efforts, leaving Christ hanging vainly on the cross of Calvary. However, the Scriptures in many places, both Old Testament and New Testament, do reveal that God recognizes the righteous works of people. The "alms" of Cornelius are an example—Acts 10:4.

We cannot earn God's salvation by any amount of righteous works, whether of the Law of Moses or of any other moral code. We never earn salvation. Rather we receive salvation by faith, we receive Christ's nature by faith. In the meanwhile we absolutely must, through prayer and diligence, keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. If we do not do this, we are being disobedient to Christ, and we will not receive the righteous nature that is the salvation of God. God will not work with those who are disobeying him.

We can never earn salvation, but we absolutely must respond diligently to the demands of salvation if we expect to be accepted by the Lord.

To be continued.