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(Mis)Understanding The Gospel: Where It Starts, Where It Leads
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(Mis)Understanding The Gospel: Where It Starts, Where It Leads
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14 NIV)
Only One Gospel
In every book Paul writes he offers a greeting, followed by lots of good and positive things about the people to whom he is writing. Then he reminds them of the gospel. Finally, he tells them how to apply the gospel, and how to allow it to shape their lives so they can be more like Christ.
But not in Galatians. He gives his greeting, but then where he usually says “I give thanks for you,” Paul says “I am astonished!”
Your Bible might say “I marvel” which means “I am shocked.” It’s a rare term for Paul; a word used for when people see a miracle (2 Thess 1:10). He is genuinely shocked and bewildered by what has happened to the churches. He hardly has vocabulary for it. If you look over at Galatians 3:1, you’ll see another rare word in Paul’s repertoire. It’s as if someone has “bewitched” or “cast a spell” over them. And it’s happened “so soon.” He is saying to the Galatians, “I just saw you guys! What is going on here?!!”
They are “turning away” or “deserting.” The Greek word here means “to transfer your allegiance.” Paul calls them religious turncoats! Spiritual deserters! You can’t help but recall Exodus 32 where the first Israelites (like these first Christians) abandon the covenant almost before it has even been ratified…by building an idol for themselves.
And what are they turning away from? He doesn’t say “you are turning away from the Gospel.” He says “you are turning away from God!” This is why Paul is so astonished! The Christians are turning away from God! Paul is charging them with breaking the first commandment! It is impossible to forsake the gospel without forsaking God! Paul says “you are abandoning a relationship with God—because there can be no lasting relationship with God if it is not found in the cross of Jesus Christ!”
And He called you “in grace”! Paul is saying “when you didn’t deserve it; when you couldn’t earn it; God chose you out of his unmerited grace.” Everything having to do with salvation has to do with the grace of God (2 Cor 5:18). Turning away from the gospel is turning away from God, and it’s turning away from grace.
And what could possibly have been bewitching enough to take the place of God, of grace, of the gospel in their life? Paul says (literally in the Greek), “you’ve turn to another thing.” I can’t help but notice how Paul capitalizes on the pathetic nature of the move. They have left someONE behind in exchange for someTHING. That is worse than adultery! Imagine leaving your relationship with your spouse for a new car or something.
And what is this other thing they’ve left God and his grace for? Paul calls it “another gospel.” They have turned from the GOD who called them in GRACE to another announcement of saving hope and life-defining news. And what in the world could that be?
It doesn’t matter that much what that other “gospel” was. In this case, it turns out to be the addition of elements from Moses’ law (5:4). What really matters is what happens when you distort or change the gospel by taking from or adding to the finished work of Christ. Scot McKnight says that they have opted for “a system in which grace was not crucial and in which Christ’s work was not sufficient.” They thought that Moses’ law finishes out and fills in the gaps from what Christ has begun; that we must finish Christ’s unfinished work! Can you imagine moving from the grace of God—to that story?
Well, that story is nothing close to the gospel, so Paul says “that’s not even a gospel!” There is only one gospel! And it can’t be added to! But “some” are seeking to “trouble you.” Paul’s going right back to the wilderness and the Old Testament. For people who want to add Moses’ law to Jesus, they are acting like the bad guys in the Hebrew Bible—like Achar, who was called “the troubler of Israel” (1 Chr 2:7).
And how are these false teachers troubling God’s people? They are turning the gospel of Christ into something else. Distorting the gospel. It’s a term of radical change—water-into-blood; daylight-into-dark kind of radical change. It means “to turn about or change completely.” And it has a sinister tinge to it. Some versions say “pervert,” but it could be translated “reverse!” John Chrysostom, a preacher in the 400’s, says even the slightest change to the gospel is to pervert the whole thing. You can’t modify the gospel without changing it! And if we are looking for some application, here it is: troubling the church and changing the gospel are related. The church lives by the gospel. The church’s greatest troublemakers are those from the inside who try to change the gospel. They trouble the church. You get the gospel wrong, and you don’t get God! It is not a coincidence that they were first distorting the gospel, and then, as Paul says, they were deserting the gospel.
And so Paul calls down some fiery anathema. In the Old Testament, to call something “accursed” is to call down the curse of God’s wrath on the darkest of evils that runs counter to the light of God (Deut 30:7). “If anyone (me, we, or even an angel) proclaims a gospel to you contrary to what you received, let them be accursed.” He doesn’t want struggling, sinful people to be lost; he is highlighting the devilish nature of false teaching and the harm it does, for they are doing harm to God himself! The glory of Christ and the good of men’s souls are at stake. As John Piper notes, we should hear these words with the force of an earthquake or the sound of thunder. If we cared as much as Paul, we could not bear the corruption of the gospel.
One Pattern For Living
At the same time, readers of Galatians might do a double-take when they get to the last two chapters. There, Paul lists a number of sinful practices and lifestyles that reflect a wanton disregard of the example of Christ or the commandments of God. Paul then warns Christians—twice, in fact—that “that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:21). Instead, there is a new pattern of life that is characterized by spiritual fruit that the Holy Spirit gives (Gal 5:22-25).
In chapter 6, Paul calls on the church to consider their lifestyle once again. There he speaks of the possibility of “destruction,” urges them to continue “doing good,” and offers the plea: “do not give up” (Gal 6:7-9).
What are we to make of this? I’d like to suggest a Trinitarian reading of the gospel—one that sees the gospel as grounded in God’s free gift of grace, rooted in the all-sufficient finished work of Christ on the cross, and producing a harvest of righteousness as people, transformed by the Spirit, growing in holiness and love, “walk in line with the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:14).
A Freeing Gospel
Gospel is good news, which is freeing news. But sometimes we don’t seem to get it. This 2000-year-old teaching is still brand new for some of us. And the problem can be illustrated by the parable of the Good Samaritan. I love the way Tim Keller puts it. The gospel is tough to hear for older brothers who think the gospel is really about me and rely on our performance rather than the finished work of Christ. Do you remember what the older brother thought?
(1) My track record of surrender should get me into the kingdom and deserving of a party. (Religion is about good deeds and controlling my own future.)
(2) My record is head-and-shoulders better than my brother’s record and if I’m better than him, then I deserve to get into the kingdom and have a party in my honor. (Religion is about constant comparison with others.)
(3) Unless God gives me a blessing, I won’t go in. (Religion is about seeking something, not someone.)
The problem with the older brother scenario, says Keller, is that it is not seeking God for salvation; it is trying to use God to earn our salvation. But the gospel is not about receiving something; it’s about receiving someone who did the only fully-accomplishing thing. When I believe this gracious truth and move my allegiance to him, it shows in my life.
If the gospel is tough to hear for the older brothers among us, it’s also something tough to hear for prodigals enjoying their prodigal life. For people caught up in worldliness, the gospel sounds like some legalistic code—because it claims we have sins that need forgiven, it demands total surrender to Jesus as Lord, and it proclaims one and only one way to live forever.
But do you know who hears the gospel right, receives it right, and rejoices in it? The prodigal who wants to come home. That’s the gospel’s target audience. You see, the gospel is freeing—but that doesn’t mean it’s call is easy. An addict who wants to get well knows that the path to recovery is hard and long. But for an addict who wants to get well, there is nothing sweeter than hearing the news “I’m here to get you out of your addiction. You don’t have what it takes. But I do.” A freeing message is good news for those seeking a way out; even when “freeing” also means “costly” in a way that demands everything.
Two Misunderstandings
Is that hard for us? Is it hard for us to keep these two truths in our minds at the same time?
(1) Salvation is free, and yet (2) Salvation is never cheap.
(1) The Gospel is about what God, in Christ, has done and is doing for you, and yet (2) God’s work will be in you and through you?
(1) God saves you from the prison of sin not through your own righteous deeds but through his righteous deed, and yet (2) He saves you for a new way of life, full of fruit-bearing, as God’s Spirit transforms every single part of your life?
This is the age-old dilemma of how to pair faith and works, acceptance and action, the gospel as something to receive, and the gospel as something to obey.
There are two ways to misunderstand this, one has to do with where you start, the other is where you end up.
Where The Gospel Starts: Grounded in Christ
The gospel starts with Jesus Christ. Most of the time, when you hear people complaining about “works salvation,” or “baptismal regeneration,” or “religiosity,” what they are rightly complaining about is any false start. I didn’t call myself to be God’s child. God called me. I didn’t offer love for his in return; He first loved me. The story starts in the Old Testament. Look at Exodus. God called a people, rescued them from slavery, and led them by the hand out of danger before he ever gave them a law. That should be a clue! When someone asks you what God’s plan of salvation is, if your first words are “you gotta do” then fill in the blank, you are starting wrong! To summarize the first few chapters of virtually every book Paul ever wrote: God is great, and you are not. You were dead, but Christ made you alive. You were enemies, bitter, and lost, but God made you, loved you, called you, and redeemed you. It might seems small, but here me carefully in this. To say “I got saved, and I know I have a home in heaven because I’ve done everything God asks me to do and I did it the right way” doesn’t sound like the New Testament at all! Scripture says repeatedly “He saved us, not by any works of righteousness which we have done!” “All have sinned and are coming short of the glory of God but now, apart from any law, the good news has been revealed.” “We are saved by grace through faith, and not from yourselves; not by works, lest anyone should boast!” “I want to be found in Him, not having a righteousness that is my own, but that which is through faith in Christ.” On our best day, said Isaiah, our righteousness is but filthy rags! We don’t have what it takes. We didn’t save ourselves. And grace is not God setting up a system by which we save ourselves! We aren’t the firemen; we are the ones trapped in the fire. God’s plan of salvation was to send his Son Jesus Christ—the rescuer, who lived the perfect life I did not, died the sacrificial death in my place, and pleads the case on my behalf that I did not and do not deserve. The gospel starts with God, in Christ, by His Spirit, rescuing and saving and changing and transforming. It’s a story about God. As one writer in the Gospel Advocate put it nearly 100 years ago: “it was a cross, not a ladder, that was erected on Calvary.” “Nothing in my hands I bring; only to thy cross I cling.” This is the gospel.
Where The Gospel Leads: Producing A Fruitful Harvest
But where does the gospel point? You see, a second misunderstanding is failing to see where the gospel leads, what the gospel creates, what develops as a result of the gospel. Can you imagine an advertisement to be “free from weight loss” where the before and after picture looked the same? In the New Testament, the gospel that frees, the gospel that saves, the gospel that redeems leads to freed, saved, redeemed people living free, saved, redeemed lives. It means recognizing not just what we were saved from, but also what we were saved for. What the gospel calls us from, and what the gospel calls us for.
Look back at some of those passages that are so remarkably strong in putting the emphasis on God and not on my works. Ephesians 2:8-9 is a great example. “We are saved by grace through faith; and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not the result of works, so that no one can boast.” There is the saved by and saved from language of the gospel. But look at the next verse: “For we are His workmanship, (Or, “we are what He has made us”), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (NRSV).
Another great example of the “from” language and the “for” language brought together is in Titus 2:11-14. Listen carefully to Paul’s language here:
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (NIV)
I think verses like these help us understand how Paul could write a book like Galatians, where in chapter 1 he makes it abundantly clear that the gospel is about what God did in Christ, not my legal additions, and to add those in is to corrupt the gospel. But then in chapters 5 & 6, he can list all kinds of ungodly behavior and give a warning—to Christians, no less—that whoever engages consistently and persistently in those practices will not inherit the kingdom of God. You see, the gospel that is all about God at work in Christ, is still a story all about God at work in Christ, when Christ moves into your life. Paul says this clearly in Philippians 2:13: “it is God at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” In Titus 1, Paul is expressing deep sadness at how people act in the world, and he says “they profess to know God, but in their works they deny him” (Titus 1:16).
This is why the New Testament, including Paul, says on several occasions that final judgement will take our works into account (Matt 16:27; 2 Cor 11:15; Gal 5:19-15; 2 Tim 4:14; James 2:14-26; 1 John 3:12; Rev 2:23, 26; 20:12, 13). Hear Jesus in the gospels: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matt 16:27). Hear Jesus again in the book of Revelation: “I will give unto every one of you according to your works” (Rev 2:23). And what does John see in Revelation 20? He sees opened the book of life “and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books” and “every man” was judged “according to their works” (Rev 20:12-13).
How we live matters, because we were saved so that God, in Christ, might be at work in and through you and me. I’ve always found it fascinating that in Matthew 25, Jesus presents a judgment day scene where only one question is asked. We must keep in mind that Jesus is using this as an illustration. This is not the only judgement day scene in the Bible. But He’s trying to say something important to us. A judgment day scene with only one question: Did you feed, and clothe, and visit, and help those in need? Whatever you did or didn’t do to the least of these, my brothers, you did or didn’t do to me (Matt 25). 1 John is all about God saving and redeeming sinful people by his grace and love. But even there John says if you see your brother in need and don’t care for him, how can anyone say the love of God abides in him? This is because refusing to care for others is a clear sign we don’t believe the gospel. This is why Paul says to Titus: “We are saved by his mercy, not our righteous deeds!” But in the very next breath he says: “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8 KJV).
The gospel provides an antidote for how we see ourselves. The gospel provides a new lens for how we see the world. The gospel provides a new lens for love and relationships. The gospel provides a proper lens for sex, how we see racial differences, how we do business, and how we act as neighbors. The gospel changes everything as we take on a new identity. The question for us is simply this: do we really believe it? James says “Do you believe it? I’ll believe you believe it, when I see it” (James 2).
Conclusion
So we see the twin poles of misunderstanding. If we start with ourselves, and define the good news of redemption and salvation as you and I working hard to keep a list by which we accomplish enough to get a ticket to heaven, we butcher the gospel! We are saved by grace, through faith in what God accomplished, not because of what we accomplish. But if we fail to appreciate the end of the gospel, the goal of the gospel, we will never understand that the same God who purchased salvation in the death of Christ has placed His spirit within us so that he might have a people who look and act like a redeemed kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a light in this dark world. God is still at work, working in us, with us, and through us. Which leads to this question that James asks in chapter 2 of his book: “What do we have to show for it?”
There is a long, great tradition in church history that says “the center of the gospel is salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ.” Martin Luther, against the backdrop of his own church experience where you could pay money or do some deeds to purchase forgiveness for yourself or for dead loved ones, made a rousing case for the heart of the gospel as about God doing all the work in the cross of Christ. I want to agree with his emphasis when it comes to how we start our conversation about the gospel. This is where the gospel is grounded.
But there is a second approach in church history that says “the center of the gospel is not passive, but active: it’s participation in Christ.” Notice how often Paul talks about being “conformed to the image” of Christ. Notice how the second half of all his books point out all the ways the gospel changes lives, changes behavior, and makes us different people. If we have a new identity in Christ, that means we are changed people. For authors like Michael Gorman, Matthew Bates, and John Barclay, that is also the essence of the gospel. I want to agree with this emphasis when it comes to how we talk about where the gospel leads. This is what the gospel produces.
May we develop a Trinitarian approach to the gospel: saved by the unmerited grace of God, through faith in the all-sufficient finished work of Christ, transformed by the Spirit of our God into people who show forth His praises through holy kingdom living. This is the gospel: what it is, where it is grounded, and what it produces.
Excerpts taken from two sermons preached at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) entitled “Counterfeit Gospels” and “The Demands of the Gospel.” These lessons are available to watch or listen, and appear on the Life on the West Side podcast (Season 2, Episodes 50 & 52). Available on all podcast platforms.
What’s Going On The West Side?
When we sense no purpose, we create purpose. We have to. It’s how we are wired. Without purpose, without meaning, without a sense that we are wanted and our contribution is meaningful, we die. But we know all to well that self-created purpose lasts as long as we find interest in it, and it is only as solid as your imagination allows.
What we long for, what we sense deep in our bones, what we want to be true even when nothing on earth tells us its true, is that there is something for which we were intended; there is someone for whom we were no accident. What if I told you that you were planned. Purposed. Intended. Chosen.
This is the true story of what you were made to be. This is the story of who you really are. Listed below are the lessons that have already been presented and are yet to be presented. You may follow the links to watch or listen.
Lesson 1: “Wanted” (Feb 12): Video / Podcast
Lesson 2: “Soul” (Feb 19): Video / Podcast
Lesson 3: “Body” (Feb 26): Video / Podcast
Lesson 4: “Calling” (March 5): Video / Podcast
Lesson 5: “Accepted” (March 12): Livestream at 9 AM (CST)
Lesson 6: “Destined” (March 19): Livestream at 9 AM (CST)
These lessons will be live streamed on Sundays at 9 AM (CST) on facebook or YouTube, or you can visit my website later to watch the sermons, read the transcripts, or listen to them as a podcast. If you are in the middle Arkansas area, we would love to have you join us.
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My name is Nathan Guy, and I serve as the preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of little Grace. You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. Follow me: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.