What did Jesus mean when He said that if we forgive others, our heavenly Father will forgive us—but if we do not forgive others, neither will our Father forgive us?

In this episode of The Study Boys, Lex Lutheran and FLAME respond to the recent dialogue between Ethiopian Orthodox Deacon Mihret Melaku and Ruslan Karaoglanov (Ruslan KD) and wrestle with one of Jesus’ most challenging teachings.

Is Jesus teaching that our works contribute to our salvation? Is our forgiveness from God conditioned upon our ability to forgive others? Or is something else happening in these passages?

We explore these questions through the Law-Gospel distinction, asking what Jesus’ words reveal about God’s perfect, unmovable, and unbudgeable standard of righteousness—and what they reveal about us.

We also discuss the Christian as simultaneously sinner and saint, our ongoing need to confess our sins and pray for forgiveness, and why our true righteousness can never finally be located in our performance—even our performance of forgiveness—but only in Jesus Christ and His righteousness for us.

How do we take Jesus’ warning with full seriousness without turning the Gospel into a system of salvation by works?

Let’s study. 📖

Every Christian good isn't the gospel.

Obedience is good. Loving your neighbor is good. Prayer is good. Justice is good. Mercy is good. Holiness is good. Faithfulness is good. But none of these are the gospel.

So what is the gospel?

In this episode of The Study Boys, FLAME and Lex Lutheran tackle one of the most important—and most confused—questions in Christianity. Drawing from Dr. Michael Horton's work as a springboard, they examine why the gospel is something specific, objective, and unique: the announcement of what God has accomplished for sinners through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Why does it matter to distinguish the gospel from the law? What happens when every Christian virtue, command, or good work is called "the gospel"? How does this confusion affect preaching, assurance, sanctification, and the Christian life?

Join us as we recover the biblical distinction between Law and Gospel and ask a simple but vital question:

If that's not the gospel… what is?

Can we really all be one simply because we use the name Jesus and identify as Christian? Or does Christian unity require something deeper?

In this episode of The Study Boys, Lex Lutheran and myself (FLAME) tackle one of Christianity's most pressing questions: Can’t we all be one in Christ Jesus and get along?

Together, we wrestle with the biblical call to unity while also asking whether there are times when division is not only unavoidable, but faithful. Looking closely at Matthew 13, we discuss Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds, considering what it means to let them grow together until the harvest without abandoning the Church's responsibility to distinguish truth from error.

Is every disagreement worth dividing over? Can Christians simply rally around the name of Jesus? Where do we draw the line between charitable disagreement and doctrinal compromise?

Join us as we explore biblical unity, necessary division, Christian charity, and why truth and love must always go hand in hand.