Hebrews 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, (NASB)

An inauguration is the beginning of a new system, policy or period. What Jesus Christ did on the cross was to inaugurate the beginning of the church age. Mind you, the church age, not the religious age. True and false religions have been around far longer than the church.

Religions are worship practices to God and gods. There are many and none of them are the church. The church consists of many parts which belong to a whole who is the Bride. The bride is betrothed to Christ and as such belongs to Him in unity. His bond to her is unbreakable.

Now religions try and exercise control over its members in like fashion except they are not God, they are not Jesus Christ and they have no real power to bind except that which is given by their members. When asked what they are, they will often state they are this religion rather than state their relationship with Christ.

Now I do not have a problem with people saying I am Buddhist, Islamist, Hindu, Baptist, Methodist, or even non-denominational. I do however have a problem with a religion that says “If you are not one of us, you are lost and going to hell.” That is wrong, false teaching and binding people to an administration rather than to Christ himself.

1 Corinthians 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

You are free to move from administration to administration as is deemed fit until the Lord has placed you where He can use you. I do not have a problem with that. In doing so however, I would warn you against joining yourself to any which says if you leave them you are in danger of losing your soul, salvation, or doomed to damnation.

That’s religion at its worst.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Sadly some who read this verse only get to hear the part that declares “I can do all things.” It is not true, but some believe it as if it were gospel. Here is what I understand in that statement.

Go ahead and sin all you want. If you are declaring that you can do all things, then isn’t sinning a part of all things? Let me go a little further with that thought. If you can sin all you want, you have a bigger problem than your sin. If you can sin all you want then the Holy Spirit has not been given unto you and you are dead in your sins. One of the prime properties of the Holy Spirit is holiness. His presence drives you to want to be holy. He will convict you of sin. His responsibility is the chastening.

Please note the word which in the verse. It is used rather than who. The Greek word is ho and is a demonstrative pronoun. This is used to indicate that the demonstration, the actual act of obedience of faith in Christ is what strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ is a faith based response to what Christ is doing in you. It is that exercise of faith which strengthen your faith.

A proper understanding of the Word helps unite the verse to accomplish all that is intended. That will keep us from parsing statements and quoting only the part that does not stand alone in context. We often hear others quote scriptures out of context and the only protection we have in not being drawn into error is a sound familiarity with the Word in meaning and context.