Unmasking the Other Gospel
The Apostle Paul warned repeatedly about those who would bring another gospel, different from the one he preached. He even went so far as to say in Galatians 1:8,
“Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
Clearly the peril of receiving a distorted gospel is so great that we are instructed to utterly cut off and have nothing to do with the one who willfully preaches it. (In 2 John it says not even to give him a greeting.) Often, however, those who have the ’other gospel’ are not intentionally preaching error. They are simply repeating what they have been taught. What they need is not rejection, but someone to reach out to them and show them the truth.
Imagine, then, that you have a conversation with someone and detect that his gospel is different from yours. The encounter might go something like this:
Q: I can sense from the little I know about you that you sincerely believe in Jesus. But just exactly what do you believe?
A: Well, that’s a pretty broad subject ...
Q: That’s true. I’ll try to be more specific. What, for example, do you say that a person has to do in order to be saved?
A: Hmmm ... There are Bible verses that speak of what a person must do ...
Q: Well, I think this question will help bring clarity: do you think God requires anything from you besides simply believing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins?
A: Yes, we believe that He requires more than that.
Q: That’s what I thought. Let me share with you a little bit from the Word, then. Let’s look at Ephesians 2:8-9. It says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Have you ever read that?
A: Oh, yes, definitely ...
Q: Well, you can see right here that salvation is a free gift. It’s only by grace and through faith. And so there are no works required. If there were works required, someone could boast, right?
A: Well ...
Q: John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It doesn’t say anything about doing works, does it? All you have to do is just believe. This is grace.
And Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” If there was something other than just simply believing required, then it wouldn’t be grace anymore, would it?
A: Well, that’s not the message we heard ...
Q: I didn’t think it was. But consider what happened to the Galatians. People started preaching works to them, telling them they had to be circumcised, so Paul said in Galatians 5:4, “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."
Paul warns of a great danger here. And you’d do well to pay attention. In fact, if I were you I wouldn’t pay any attention to people who say that God requires more than simply believing. Such people put you under the curse again and make you work for your salvation. You don’t want to be under a curse, do you?
A: Oh, no. Definitely not.
Q: So tell me, who are these people and what have they been telling you that you have to do?
A: Well, one thing that the apostle John tells me is that if I don’t obey the Son, I won’t see life. Could I see your Bible? It’s right here in John 3:36 (20 verses after John 3:16), “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
And then over here in Hebrews 5:9, it tells me that the Son “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.” So, I am told that He requires obedience.
Q: Yes, but you can’t just take a couple of scriptures out of context!
A: And in Acts 3:22-23, Peter quotes Moses concerning our Savior, “To Him you shall give heed in everything He says to you,” and, “every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.” So it seems like God is pretty serious about His Son being obeyed ...
Q: But you can’t take those things and start making them prerequisites to salvation. Salvation is not by works, but by faith alone — apart from any works whatsoever. You can’t earn your salvation.
A: We’re not talking about earning salvation. We’re talking about obeying the gospel.
Q: What?
A: Obeying the gospel, like it says in 2 Thessalonians 1:8, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus."
Q: But that just means obedience in the sense that when you hear the gospel, you receive it by faith and accept its terms — in other words, believe what it says.
A: Not at all! What it means is that the good news doesn’t consist of doctrines to be accepted in your mind, but rather commands to be obeyed in your experience. God has a right to expect obedience, doesn’t He? He’s not unrighteous. He doesn’t give commands that can’t be obeyed by those who walk according to the Spirit, as it says in Romans 8:4. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know God.
Q: How can you say that? Nobody has ever been able to obey the Law!
A: Our Master did.
Q: Yeah, but He was God!
A: He is MAN.
Q: Man?
A: Yes, a human being.
Q: Ohhh ... Then you’re saying that He wasn’t God? You’re saying that He was just a perfect man who kept the Law?
A: You’re asking two different questions. First, we are saying that He is the incarnate Word of God, the second person of the Trinity. But we are also saying that it wasn’t because of divinity that He was able to obey the commands of God. He came in the flesh.
