What the Gospel is NOT

There are many things that many people refer to as the good news of Jesus Christ, and not all of them pass Biblical or even intellectual muster. How can we tell the difference between what is real and what is not?

There are a few things that come to mind immediately. The gospel is not for gain. The Gospel is not for our own selfishness. The Gospel is not for emotionalism. The Gospel does not take a series of seminars to explain. I can say it in a paragraph of writing in simple enough terms for a child to understand. (Jesus died in our place to make a way back to God when we did not have one because we gave it up a long time ago, and when we ask forgiveness from God, he makes us holy like He is so we can follow Him.)

There is a litany of other things that fall into that category. There are what some have called “Jesus-plus” gospels, where Christ’s work has to have something added for it to be real. (One of the biggest of these that I’ve seen is that we must also be baptized to be saved, but that stems from a misunderstanding of the difference between justification and sanctification and is the topic for another article.) There are others that claim they are an alternative to Jesus, making Jesus less than God (like calling Him a mere prophet or Teacher) or that He is not necessary at all to the process of our “enlightenment,” or “ascension,” or whatever other spiritual name they give it.

After all that, the absolute best way to defend the truth against these “other Gospels” that Paul references in Galatians 1 is to first KNOW the truth. When an officer for the Canadian Mint or the US Treasury examines a currency note and finds it to be counterfeit, it is because they have studied the real thing so closely that all the fakes announce themselves.

The next step to that is to PRACTICE the truth, or walk with the Lord Jesus, or follow Him, however you want to identify yourself as being His disciple. As you do this, God will begin, through His Holy Spirit, to reveal truth to you. That truth will ALWAYS be verifiable by His word, read in context. There will be no need to attend a 5-part seminar or take a trip to wherever to understand it.

God bless you as you seek, find, and share His truth for everyone.

About Post Author

Gerry

Gerry gave his life to Jesus Christ in June of 1985 through the witness of a man who was a member of the Charismatic movement. He first attended a Pentacostal church in his hometown during his final year of high school (1985-1986). After that, he went to university and studied Biology (Entomology/Ecology), graduating with an Honours degree in 1992. During this time, he attended a non-denominational gathering that was much in form like a Brethren assembly, leaving that place in 2004. In 2005, he and his young family began attending a local Baptist church in the city where he lives today. He serves there as the chair of the Christian Education, Missions, and Outreach commission, the coordinator for the Deacons-at-Large, and as the Deacon of the Pastor of the congregation.

His love of the Scriptures began the very night he became a Christian, and has continued to the present day. It is his desire that everyone that comes accross this site would become a careful reader of the Scriptures, even if they disagree with his own opinions about what they say, because he believes that the testimony to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy – and that the main goal of all Christians everywhere should be to follow Jesus to the best of their ability, with a spirit of devotion to the Lord, not just commitment to doctrinal positions. To this end, he has self-published an eBook titled “Practical Discipleship,” available on Amazon.com for the Kindle reader.

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