The One and Only True Gospel
Most believers know that the word, “gospel,” in the
New Testament, means, “good news.”
It means, “good news,” not only in the English,
but also in the original Greek.
So, THE Gospel, in every way, is GOOD news.
The Gospel is not a threat of punishment.
The Gospel is not an expression of God’s anger.
Now, that does not mean that there are not
consequences for refusing the Gospel -- because there are always consequences
for refusing good news.
But
the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ is GOOD news.
Now, I think that we tend to think of the Gospel as a
message of salvation through Jesus Christ.
That is true -- and the message of salvation IS
included in the Gospel.
But there is much more included in the Gospel.
Rather than think of the Gospel as merely a
message, think of it as a proclamation and a revelation of the Truth about a
PERSON -- Jesus Christ.
The gospel is a proclamation and a revelation of God
through his Son Jesus Christ – inclusive of His redemptive work.
So if you want to boil it down, rather than the
Gospel being simply a message in the form of words -- it is the Living Word,
Jesus Christ, and all that is revealed and accomplished from out of Him.
Paul, An Apostle
In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul addresses the
absolute essential of both believing and preach the ONE and ONLY gospel.
Paul begins the epistle by writing:
Paul, an apostle, not of man, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the
Father who raised Him from the dead.
Paul immediately makes sure that his readers
understand that no PERSON appointed him to be an apostle.
That is an important point -- because NONE of
the apostles were appointed by men.
All of them were directly chosen and appointed
by Jesus Christ.
But Paul is the only apostle that was not among
those who knew Christ when He was here as a man – yet nevertheless he was also
directly appointed by Jesus Christ.
There are those today who try to say that there were
fifteen or twenty apostles, or more.
Some who make this claim may be doing it
because they fancy themselves to be an apostle.
But there is no biblical basis for saying that
God ever intended for there to be more than twelve apostles.
Of course, Judas disqualified himself.
And the apostles tried to replace him by
drawing lots – with Matthias being chosen.
But the eleven had no business doing anything
to replace Judas.
Jesus never told them to do that.
In fact, he told them to tarry – in other
words, WAIT -- for the giving of the spirit.
Drawing lots was never how an apostle was
chosen and would never be how God would appoint an apostle.
We need to remember that the Book of Acts is not a
doctrinal book -- but is simply an honest narrative of what happened – similar
to much of the OT.
So while Acts is absolutely the inspired word
of God -- included in that inspired word of God in the Book of Acts are some
serious mistakes of the apostles.
This account of drawing lots to find the will
of God is not the only mistake by the apostles described by the book of Acts --
but it is one of them.
Paul was chosen directly by Jesus Christ to replace
Judas.
But Paul was the only apostle chosen AFTER the
resurrection of Christ – through an appearance of Jesus to Paul
Therefore, Paul is able to say, “I was chosen,
not of men, but by Jesus Christ.”
The
Judaizers
One primary reason why Paul had to proclaim his
apostleship to the Galatians was that there were a group of professing believers
– self-appointed teachers – who were continually undermining both Paul’s
teaching and his authority as an apostle.
Paul calls them, “men from James,” and, “those
of the circumcision.” They were the Judaizers – those who tried to define
Christianity as, “Judaism with Christ added.”
In short, these were former Jews who claimed to
be converted to Christ, but who demanded that Christians were still under the
law.
They had created an Old Testament version of
Christianity – and were demanding that it was the real Truth; the real gospel.
The Galatians churches had been brought into great
deception by these false teachers.
As Paul says in chapter 3, the Galatians had
been, “mesmerized,” or, “bewitched,” by these false teachers – they had been
deceived into a man-made religion that preached righteousness by the law.
You will also note that Paul says that he is writing
his epistle to the CHURCHES in Galatia.
Note the plural – there were several churches
involved.
Paul also says that his epistle is coming from,
not only himself, but from, “all the brethren which are with him.”
So there are many believers involved in this
matter – both those who know the Truth, and those who are now deceived by,
“another gospel.”
Another Gospel
Beginning in Galatians 1:6, Paul gets into the very
serious situation that has prompted his epistle to the Galatian churches.
He says, “I marvel that you are so soon
removed…”
In NT Greek, it really says, “I marvel that you
are so RAPIDLY removed….”
Indeed, Paul is really saying, “I am astonished
at how rapidly you have removed yourself from Christ -- from Him that called you
into the grace of Christ.
You have deserted Christ as the One in whom you
have your faith, and are now under ANOTHER gospel.”
Can we wrap our minds around the seriousness of what
had happened in Galatia?
The Galatians – who KNEW the Truth of Jesus
Christ – had fallen into deception.
They had been deceived into removing their
faith FROM Jesus Christ – and have transferred their faith over into a false
gospel.
In short, their faith was no longer solely in Christ,
but was now their own works; was now in themselves.
It is vital to note that Paul never says that the
Galatians believed that they were saved by works.
No.
The issue is the means by which we live the
Christian life.
The Galatians were trying to live the Christian
life – they were trying to walk with Christ – not on the basis of faith, but
upon the basis of their own works.
To get an idea of how serious this is we need only
turn to the end of the epistle.
There, Paul says, “Christ is of no effect to
you.”
He also says, “You have fallen from grace.”
Add this up and it is clear that these folks
are no longer walking in the Truth.
They are not living in Christ – they are living
in a false Christianity.
They
are in darkness and in spiritual deception.
Spiritual deception is MORE than doctrinal deception,
although the two eventually go together.
Spiritual deception is a false knowledge, not
merely of doctrine, but of Jesus Himself.
It results in a mind that is corrupted by error
– a mind that is, rather than renewed according to the Truth, is degraded by
error.
It is a mind in which error is at home; makes sense;
and finds an anchor in the unbelief of the one deceived.
The Galatian error, which was righteousness by works,
is able to deceive people who want their own righteousness – either because they
are ignorant of the fact that they have NO righteousness of their own, or will
not accept that they have NO righteousness.
Righteousness by works is their substitute for
the Truth.
Many Christians assume that legalism is merely,
“Christianity with a little bit too much law.”
Most don’t give it a second thought, and
casually accept it as being one expression of Christianity.
Well, read the words of Paul.
Does it sound as if this indifference reflects
the mind of God, or reflects Paul’s attitude?
No.
Paul says they are under ANOTHER gospel.
That means they are walking in a false gospel;
a false Christianity – they have, “another Jesus.”
He says those that are teaching this error are,
“accursed.”
Indeed, in chapter three, Paul says that if you
are under the law you are under a curse.
This is obviously a dire situation – a matter
of spiritual life and death.
Paul’s warned that they were under, “another gospel.”
That is a bit of a play on words -- because he
is actually saying that they are under, “another good news.”
Another good news?
Paul states directly that there is NOT,
“another good news” -- but note the play on words:
The Galatians thought that their false gospel
WAS good news.
To them, to be able to establish their own
righteousness through works WAS good news.
It was the object of their faith.
This is just how completely deceived they had
become.
They thought their false gospel was, “good news.”
Deceived people can be very happy.
They can be happy because their deception is
giving them what they want – and they are deceived into thinking that God is in
it.
Deceived folks will be at home in their deception
until God brings something to disturb it.
Then they will have to make the choice as to
whether to turn to Christ and the Truth.
Maybe we ought to ask why God took the time to see to
it that this epistle became part of His inspired Word – available to millions if
not billions?
Seems like perhaps this is a warning to all of
His people as to the possibilities in our own heart.
A
False Christ
The true gospel of Jesus Christ is a proclamation of
Christ and all He has done, but just as importantly, the gospel is all that
Christ IS -- within the believer.
In a nutshell, the gospel of Jesus Christ
includes all of the Truth of Jesus Christ – revealed in the believer and
experienced by the believer.
There is only one Truth.
That Truth is a Person. Thus, once we begin to
preach another gospel, we are not just misrepresenting a message.
We are misrepresenting Jesus Christ Himself.
Indeed, all that is not of the Truth
misrepresents Christ – whether it be doctrinal or simply conduct.
One elementary example:
The Catholics used to teach, and maybe they
still do, that if you eat meat on Friday -- and died before you made it to
confession -- you would go straight to hell. They also believed the same thing
about missing mass on Sunday.
Of course, I could name a lot of things
Protestants teach that are also nonsense.
But my point is this:
Are such teachings no more than a bad message?
Are they simply false doctrines? -- just a
misinterpretation of a Bible verse?
Well, those teachings are all of that – but in
the end they are a misrepresentation of God Himself.
For if I say that I go to hell for missing mass
once, or for eating meat on Friday, then I am saying something about the nature
and character of God.
I am describing God – I am stating how He deals
with humanity.
I am describing the kind of God that we must
follow and grow to know.
So when we talk about another gospel, the real issue
there is not that we are preaching a wrong message.
No.
It is that we are preaching the wrong Jesus and
the wrong God.
We are preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL.
The fact is, you must take every doctrine back
to what that
doctrine says about God Himself – His nature
and His character and His dealings.
Note that Paul did not say that the Galatians had
removed themselves from a MESSAGE.
No.
he said, “I am shocked that you have so quickly
removed yourself from HIM…”
They had taken their faith off of Christ.
Not just off of a message.
This had to do with their personal relationship
with Christ Himself.
Perversion of the Gospel
Paul says there is no other gospel, “…but there be
some who trouble you.”
Those who troubled them were the Judaizers –
those who taught an OT version of Christianity.
Paul says they were, “PERVERTING the gospel of
Christ.”
Now, that word, “pervert,” in the NT Greek, means, “to
turn something around.”
It means to morph something – in this case,
Christ Himself and the Truth about Him -- into a different form.
In other words, it means to replace the Truth
with error; it means to replace the real Jesus with one that fits your
deception.
Paul then states, “If 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 which you have received, let him
be ACCURSED.”
Does that sound serious?
Well, I hope it would sound serious to us all.
I hope we would begin to see the essential of
believing the Truth, and the essential of listening to only those who teach the
Truth.
John the apostle said, “No lie is of the Truth.”
There is only one Truth because there is only
one Jesus Christ -- who IS the Truth.
And something is either Truth or it is not.
And if it is not Truth then it is a lie; error
– and it is not of Jesus Christ.
We need to understand that Truth is eternal.
It NEVER changes.
Truth is not dependent upon whether we believe
it or know it.
But what this means is that while we cannot
decide what the Truth is -- we must discover what the Truth is.
That is only possible if we are discovering
Christ Himself.
We discover Truth as God reveals Christ IN US -- by
bringing us into an inward realization of His Son.
Note that this is not merely facts or
information – but it is inward revelation.
We must keep our hearts open continually and
ask God to do whatever it takes to accomplish this purpose.
Now, a lot of folks get nervous when you begin to talk
about God’s desire to bring us into an inward realization of Jesus Christ.
They get nervous and think you are saying that
God is going to begin to reveal stuff that is not in scripture.
Some of these same people would have you
believe that the only way you can come to know God is with a Bible in your lap,
a concordance beside it, learning the meaning of Bible verses.
Now, I am all for Bible study.
We must know the Bible and believe it is the
inerrant Word of God – we need to believe it is the written Truth of God. But
what good is that going to do any of us if we do not know the One about Whom the
Bible speaks?
It is possible to be a walking encyclopedia of
biblical doctrine and not know Jesus in an inward, life changing way.
In fact, you can be a walking encyclopedia of
the Bible and not even be saved.
We must have that inward revelation.
As far as any concerns about God revealing Christ in
an inward way -- all that God reveals by His spirit will always agree with the
Bible – because, as noted earlier, there is only one Truth; one Christ; one
gospel -- and the written Truth of the Bible and the living Truth who is a
Person Who God reveals will always agree.
Now ask:
If there is only ONE TRUTH – then if I believe
something other than the Truth, then what am I believing?
Untruth – in other words, I am believing error.
Worse, I may actually walking in error.
I may have removed myself from the One who IS
the Truth.
This is what was happening in these churches in
Galatia and it was a horrible situation with which Paul had to deal.
What made it worse was that these Judiazers
were behind it all.
They were going around to different churches,
trying to undermine Paul’s preaching.
They were teaching righteous by the law –
another gospel.
So, if there is one thing we need to remember for now,
it is that there is only one Truth, one Gospel, one Jesus.
Anything we teach -- our teaching and our
doctrine -- represents that One Jesus.
And it is not OK if it is not the Truth.
It is not OK if it constitutes another gospel.
In chapter 4, Paul summarizes the solution to the
Galatian problem.
He says:
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be
formed in you.”
(Gal. 4:19)
The Greek word translated, “formed,” means, “to
inwardly realize and express.”
An inward realization or knowledge of the
Living Christ is the only solution to all error.
It certainly was the solution to the false
gospel of righteousness by works – for realizing Christ will reveal to us that
HE – by His presence in us – is our righteousness.
We need to ask God to give us discernment to be able
to know if we are getting off the track.
But more than that, we need to ask God to do
whatever it takes to reveal His Son in us, so that we may know Him and be set
free by the Truth to walk with Him now and forever.