Tag Archives: a different gospel

THS SPINOFFS OF TRUTH

Apologetics, ,

Colossians 1:22-23 NIV
[22] “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— [23] if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

How imperative it was for Paul to explain to the Colossian church the foundation truths about Jesus!Without this basis, their entire experience as children of God would topple and disintegrate. However small or apparently insignificant a deviation from the truth, the entire gospel is undermined and becomes useless.

All the realities of forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with the Father, a new standing in grace, holy and accepted, and every other blessing we enjoy, are spinoffs of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Undermine that, and we are left with nothing.

When the Corinthian church was tempted to dismiss the truth of the resurrection, Paul not only argued for the truth but also pointed out the terrible implications for God’s children if there is no resurrection of the dead. Then Jesus did not rise from the dead either, and that was unthinkable!

1 Corinthians 15:13-19 NIV
[13] “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14] And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. [15] More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if, in fact, the dead are not raised. [16] For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. [17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also, who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. [19] If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Any deviation from the details of the gospel given to us in God’s Word has serious implications for our lives now and our hope for the future.

Paul battled against different false teachers and their false teachings in different churches. For example, the Galatian believers were plagued by Jewish teachers who insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised to be saved. To Paul, this was an issue of dire significance, of life and death. Christ plus anything was “another gospel” and under God’s curse.

Galatians 1:6-9 NIV
[6]”I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— [7] which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! [9] As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

Anyone who believes the teaching that undermines faith in the sufficiency of Jesus’ death and resurrection renders the gospel useless for them.

Galatians 5:2-4 NIV
[2″Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. [3] Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. [4] You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”

These seem like harsh words, especially for us in an era when people are taught that truth is not objective or absolute. Truth is what we want it to be…our truth…my truth.

The objective truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection is a fact of history. Many have taken pains to disprove its historical fact, only to be convinced of its truth and drawn to faith in Jesus. “Who Moved the Stone?” by the lawyer, Frank Morrison, is a classical example of one who lost the battle against unbelief.

So, what is Paul saying to us?

Jesus is who He said He is, the Son of God! Jesus said He would die and rise again, and He did! Jesus gave His disciples authority and the Holy Spirit to interpret these historical facts, and they did! We have a complete record of the revelation the Spirit gave them to understand these spinoffs and their implcations for our lives. All this is proven and trustworthy.

Only one thing is left to do. Obey by believing! Outs lives depend on it!

CONFUSED!

Bible Study, ,

CONFUSED!

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be under God’s curse!” Galatians 1:6-9.

Euangellion! Gospel! Good news! What was the good news that Paul brought to the people of the province of Galatia – and everywhere else he went, and why was it good news?

The pagan world worshipped many gods, all of them capricious, unpredictable, and malevolent. To the Gentiles, Paul announced that the one true God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, because of His great love, sent His one and only Son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus lived as a perfect human being and was put to death as a sinner to pay the debt of sin, to redeem mankind from the penalty of sin, and to reconcile them to God.

To the Jew Paul preached that Jesus was the Messiah who’s coming and life were foretold in detail by the prophets. He came to fulfil the Law of Moses, which God’s people failed to obey and incurred an unpayable debt. Jesus paid the debt in full, redeeming them from the curse of the broken law and restoring them to fellowship with God.

Good news! Of course, it was good news because both Jew and Gentile were no longer bound by a multitude of laws, rituals, and prohibitions. Instead, they were enabled by the Holy Spirit to love God and their fellow men which completely fulfilled the Law. Their standing with God did not depend on their performance but on God’s grace which came to them through Christ.

Paul must surely have enlightened his hearers of the grace of God that released them from a self-help religion that did not work anyway and called them into rest in the finished work of Jesus. How on earth, then, did these Galatian believers become entangled in a system that insisted that they keep the Jewish Law to be accepted by God?

Paul expressed surprise and astonishment that they were so fickle that they turned from the gospel he had preached to them to “another gospel” which was actually bad news. How could having to keep the law be good news? It was a step backwards from freedom to bondage, from God’s grace that brought rest to self-effort when they would never know if they had done enough.

They were not abandoning a belief system as much as deserting the very Person who had bought their forgiveness of sin and set them free from guilt, shame and fear. The good news is about Jesus. In Him is bound up everything we need to be true sons and daughters of God. When God gave us His Son, He gave us everything, forgiveness, salvation, righteousness, life, hope, love, joy, peace, meaning, purpose, a new nature, and a new standing in God. Abandon Jesus for “another gospel” and you lose everything including the hope of eternal life.

“What were you thinking?” Paul demanded to know. “Were these so-called “teachers” so persuasive that you fell for their ploy?” Paul was so adamant that the gospel he preached was the real good news that he even invoked the name of God in his curse on the perpetrators of this false teaching. Not once but twice he denounced them and called down a curse on them for what they were doing – eternal damnation for spreading lies. Now that’s strong, isn’t it?

This was much more than a belief system to which Paul called people to subscribe. This was a matter of life and death – determining the eternal destiny of the people who had been persuaded to heed the false teaching and who had turned from Christ to follow their way. It was imperative that Paul explain the implications of what they had done and call them back to Jesus Christ who was their only hope.

Belief is much more than giving assent to information about God – it involves entrusting oneself to Him and submitting to His way. To “believe” in Jesus without embracing Him as Lord is worthless and futile. Faith in Him gives access to everything He is and does and reproduces His life in the believer. Only He and His way give us access to the Father.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.