NOTE: Since my own knowledge and understanding of the Word has grown considerably since this Bible study was written, concern for doctrinal soundness compels me to go over it and update those statements I now believe to be erroneous. However, I HAVEN'T DONE THIS YET! So, be warned, until this note is removed, there might still be the odd theological misstatement peppered throughout this essay. Μαρτυς Jan 2012.
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εὐαγγελίζηται ὑμῖν παρ᾽ ὃ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω.
—ΠΡΟΣ ΓΑΛΑΤΑΣ 1:8*
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
—Galatians 1:8**
Immunity against “Another Gospel”
The genesis of this Bible study was a review I wrote of the book The Secret of Forgiveness and Being Born Again by popular Korean Preacher Ock Soo Park . I’d been asked to review the book by a friend, a Northland Pastor, who was concerned about what she’d heard of Park’s teachings from a member of her church. My friend asked me to read the book and assess the doctrines laid out in it and, if they proved to be every bit as heretical as they sounded to her, to refute them using Scripture. To make a long story short, I read the book, saw that Park was teaching what the Apostle Paul in the KJV version of the Epistle to the Galatians called “another gospel” (v.1:8), and then wrote a review refuting his teachings with arguments from Scripture.
[By the way, I said “in the English version” because, in the original Greek, Paul doesn’t use the words “another Gospel”, but actually says that if we or an angel out of heaven “evangelize” something other than (literally “beside”) what he “evangelized”, let him be anathema.]
While reading the book and marshalling my arguments against its teachings, I learned two important things about what makes some believers susceptible to “anther gospel” and what makes other believers immune. Wanting to share these two things, and what I see as the way to make sure we are immune believers, is the purpose of this Bible study.
The first important thing I learned regarding a believer’s susceptibility to “another gospel” is that immunity comes from having a high degree of certainty of the particulars of the gospel one currently believes and being able to back up this belief with Scripture. Those who know their gospel well are immune to another gospel; those who are in any way unclear on the details of, and Biblical verifications for, their gospel are sitting ducks.
The second important thing I learned about a believer’s susceptibility to “another gospel” is that a believer’s immunity, if he has it, is not dependant on his gospel being the actual Gospel of Christ; he just has to be convinced it is! In other words, a believer will not be taken away by “another gospel”, if he is already firmly convinced of the validity of “another gospel”.
So, what we have then, with regards to The Gospel and “another gospel”, are three kinds of believers:
1. Those who are susceptible to another gospel because they don’t know their own well enough and can’t back it up with Scripture.That list should provoke each of you to ask yourself two questions: “Which one of those three kinds of believer am I?” And either, “Am I sure I’m a number 3?” or “If I’m not, how can I become one?”
2. Those who are immune by virtue of their belief in another gospel.
3. Those who are immune by virtue of their belief in the true Gospel of Christ.
The Gospel of Christ
Well, I’m glad you asked (if you didn’t; start praying!)…
It seems to me that the best way to answer those two questions is to make sure that, by examining what the Scriptures say about it, we all know exactly what the Gospel of God is.
To begin with, let’s make sure everyone is clear on what I mean by “the Gospel”. We use that word in a couple of different ways. For instance, it can be an adjective meaning “unimpeachable truth”, as in the phrase, “It’s the gospel truth!” or “It’s gospel!”
The word “gospel” can also refer to one of the eyewitness accounts of the earthly ministry of Jesus—the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John.
Those two meanings, however, are related to the primary meaning, the meaning of Gospel that this study is concerned with, which is the εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion), the “Good News” of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the Apostle Paul defines this meaning of gospel for us. Let’s turn there now:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:Not so long ago, I would’ve read this passage and, in my haste, jumped from the word “gospel” in verse 1 all the way to the word “Christ”, stopped at the end of verse 4, then went away happy in the knowledge that I knew the Gospel…and into my pocket it would’ve went.
But that was then; this is now. And now, having been slowed down when I read the Bible by the Holy Spirit, I take my time and go through passages like this verse by verse; sentence by sentence; and word by word—which is how I saw that, in these four verses, Paul gives us a lot more than a simple definition of the Gospel.
Let’s look at the first sentence:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;The first thing we notice here is that the Corinthians Paul is talking to are believers—he calls them ἀδελφοι (adelphoi), “brethren”, or “brothers”. In the NT, the Apostle’s only address believers as “brothers” and “sisters”. He further proves this by saying that they have already had the Gospel of Christ preached to them and that they “received” it. He adds that they “stand in it” now—meaning the Gospel is the basis of their being, the thing that defines them as people. He’s reminding them of how central the Gospel is (or should be) in the believer’s life.
Further to this, in mentioning that they’ve heard it before, he’s confirming that this mention of the Gospel is a reiteration, a second telling. Clearly there can be a need to remind Christians of the Gospel. (Which, if nothing else, is a good justification for this study.)
Now the next clause:
By which also ye are saved...The next thing we notice is that the Gospel is the thing “by which [they] also are saved”. So, the Gospel is not only the thing which defines believers, it is the thing by which they are saved. It is the vehicle, or the process, through which (the Greek word translated “by” is literally “through”) we come to eventual salvation; which leads to the next two clauses…
…if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you…Here is a condition on the saving effects of the Gospel. It has to be “keep in memory”.
The phrase “keep in memory” is translated from a single Greek word κατέχω (katecho), which means “to hold down fast”—the sense being stronger than the modern use of the English “keep”; more like the older sense of the noun form of that word; “a stronghold” or “safe”.
The “what” of “what I preached unto you” is from “whatever word—λόγος (logos)” I preached—which itself seems fairly significant, too, seeing as that’s another name for the Lord. So we have to “hold down the word in a stronghold, a keep” in our minds, if we want the saving effect of the Gospel.
By the way, this idea of negative consequences coming from failing to remember is reminiscent of 2 Peter 1:9, where Peter is enumerating the seven things we have to “add to our faith” and writes:
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.…but more on that later; let’s go to the next clause of our passage:
…unless ye have believed in vain.The word “unless” here is not a second condition; Paul is not saying, “The Gospel will save you, if you remember it and if you didn’t believe in vain”. He is using “unless…in vain” here as a sarcastic reference to the larger point he is making in the rest of the epistle regarding the idea that Jesus wasn’t resurrected (making believing in Him pointless, “in vain”).
So, let’s recap what Paul has told us so far about the Gospel: The Gospel is the ground upon which a Christian stands and the process through which he is saved if he keeps secure the word as Paul preached”.
Keeping that in mind—held down fast in your keeps—let’s reread the rest of the verse:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:The word for “delivered” is an interesting choice here. It is παραδίδωμι (paradidomi) and means “to surrender”, “to yield up”, “to put in prison” or “betray”—yes, the same word is used to describe the betraying of Jesus by Judas. The word “received” is παραλαμβάνω (paralambano), and this has the sense of “receiving familiarly” or “intimately”. Note that both Greek words begin with “para”. This is a preposition meaning “beside”; hence the familiar relationship of the two words to Paul—to deliver, paradidomi, is “to give up something from beside ones self”; “to receive”, paralambano, is to take to beside ones self”. Paul is saying that he surrendered to the Corinthians this valuable, dear-to-him thing called the “Gospel”, which he received from the Lord, in order for them to put it into their mental prisons (their keeps!)—all of which felt to him like a betrayal, so intimately did he hold it, and so unknowable was what they would do with it (I wonder if this is perhaps how it is supposed to feel to us when we evangelise).
In any case, let’s note the fact that Paul is re-evangelizing to Christians—passing on the Gospel which Christ Himself evangelized to him; and that the first thing he ever did was give them the Gospel. This is something we are certainly supposed to emulate.
According to the Scriptures
Now the next three things Paul mentions make up his definition of the Gospel. Here they are:
1. Christ died for our sins according to the ScripturesNow, obviously, the Scriptures Paul is talking about are the books of the Old Testament—the Torah of the Jews. Let’s quickly review the verses he’s talking about.
2. He was buried
3. He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
That He died for our sins is found in Daniel 9:26:
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated “cut off” is כרת (karath). Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance tells us that in the tense it is used here (Niphal), it means “to be cut off, cut down, to be chewed (makes one think of the roman scourges!)”, or “to cut off, fail”. However, this is the exact same word used when talking of the cutting involved in making a covenant—a testament. In the OT, when a covenant was made, the two parties would cut an animal in two to seal the deal (see God’s land covenant with Abraham in Gen 15:8-21).
[Btw, that last clause is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which occurred 40 years after the Lord’s Ascension, in 70AD.]
In Chapter 53, verses 5, 10, 11, and 12, Isaiah tells us Christ will die for our sins; here is verse 5:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.That He was buried is found in Isaiah 53:9:
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;That He rose again on the third day is found in Jonah 1:17:
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.Now, that this last verse isn’t as explicit as the others above shouldn’t trouble us, because we know for a fact that it is a reference to Jesus.
Augustine is said to be the first to declare the famous phrase "Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet; Vetus in Novo patet", (the) New Testament in (the) Old is concealed; (the) Old in (the) New is revealed. So many messianic references either made no sense or were completely missed until Jesus and the New Testament came along; and that Jonah’s being swallowed by the whale was a foreshadowing of the Lord’s death and resurrection was one of these references. In Matthew 12:40 the Lord tells us Himself:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.He confirms the timing in John 2:19-22
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.
When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
PART TWO
Room for “Another Gospel”
So there we have it; the Gospel of Christ as preached by the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul of Tarsus.
1. Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the ScripturesNow, do you see how the Gospel describes a closed-system? The OT proves the NT; the NT proves the OT. The Gospel of Christ is proof that the prophesies about the Messiah were true. The prophecies about the Messiah are proof that the Gospel of Christ is true. In the debating world this self-validation is called “circuitous reasoning” and, to the unbeliever, nullifies both conclusions.
2. He was buried
3. He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
The believer, however, knows it is all true because he has the “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” given to him by the Holy Spirit; his faith is not based on worldly proofs; but the inner conviction of his spirit. Remember this! The wicked cannot understand the Gospel, they are not able too—they simply lack the parts—they are blind and deaf to the things of God and Heaven (until God opens their eyes and ears). As Paul mentioned earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:23:
But we preach Christ crucified [the Gospel], unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks [Gentiles] foolishness;Being the public face of a closed systems means the Gospel is the only way to God. Any other expression of God is false, it is a lie. Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, and all the other religions and philosophies that don’t preach the Gospel are wrong; they are antichrist systems.
The Gospel also destroys the deception underpinning the phrase “The World’s Three Great Monotheistic Religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam”. There is only One Great Monotheistic Religion (and, technically, it’s not a religion ); the only one that has the Gospel. The other two came after Jesus.
Yes, it’s true, the Rabbinical Judaism of today didn’t exist until 90AD, 20 years after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. It was started as an expressly anti-Jesus form of Mosaic Judaism. The leaders of the non-believing Jews held a council to discuss what to do about the fact they couldn’t conduct the sacrifices anymore. They ended up taking away the authority over religious practices from the Priests, who had been appointed by God, and handing it over to the Rabbi’s, who were appointed by men. (Interestingly enough, the man in charge of this council was a contemporary of the Apostle Paul—both were students of the great Pharisaic teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3; & see Acts 5:34).
Now don’t confuse any of these other religions with “Another Gospel”. They are not what the Apostle Paul was warning us about in Galatians 1:8. Those are Gospel-less idolatries and, as such, are instantly dismissible. There isn’t really any need to warn us against them; they are self-evidently wrong. This is an important point to understand. A Gospel-less idolatry poses no danger to the believer.
No. The danger for us lies in the idolatries that purport to be the Gospel and aren’t. That’s what “Another Gospel” is. These are very dangerous to us.
Have you ever noticed that the biggest concern expressed in the Epistles of the NT is the danger we face from false gospels? That’s because false gospels are a deceptive mixture of Truth and Falsity. It is the truthful part that accounts for our susceptibility to them—if we don’t know the real Gospel of Christ—heads up, here comes my next point—if we don’t know the real Gospel of Christ any better than the simple three-part definition above!
Knowing that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised again on the third
day according to the Scripture is only enough Gospel knowledge to keep you immune from Gospel-less isms! It will not immunize you against False Gospels. For that, you need a deeper and clearer understanding of the three-parts of the Gospel.
In saying that, though, the last two parts of the Gospel—being buried and rising again on the third day—are fairly straight-forward and there isn’t much scope for falsification. The first part, however, is a different matter entirely. The former are factual; they either happened or they didn’t. But “Christ dying for our sins” speaks of something much less tangible, less obvious in meaning, and is therefore more open to interpretation, and, with that, comes a greater potential for error. In fact, it was just this aspect of the Gospel upon which Ock Soo Park stumbled—and is now leading many into the abyss of apostasy; and damning himself as a teacher of “Another Gospel”.
Dying For Our Sins
So, how exactly did Jesus “die for our sins”? What does this mean?
Well, to answer those questions, we have to draw a long line of reasoning through a series of. In the interest of time, I’ll have to do this quickly. Hopefully the line won’t be drawn too sketchily…
The Gospel is “Christ dying for our sins”—His death somehow “taking away” our sins—and it is the “vehicle for Salvation”. Therefore Salvation is being “saved from death”, or having “eternal life”. So, having our “sins removed” is “Salvation” which is having “eternal life”, right?
Furthermore, John 3:16 says that God gave the world Jesus so that whoever believes in him won’t die, but will have eternal life instead. Romans 1:16 says the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. So, as far as Salvation is concerned, believing in Jesus and believing in the Gospel is the same thing. To believe in the Gospel is to believe in Him; which is to believe in the Gospel, which, again, is believing in Him, right? You can’t believe in one and not the other; they are inseparable. If you believe He is who He says—God incarnate; the prophesied Messiah—you have to believe what He says, too. And He said he would die for our sins.
And if you believe in Him, you’ll want to do what He says. And He says loving God is the greatest commandment and He’s God. So, you should love him. And Jesus says “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Or as the Apostle John says in 1 John 2:3-6:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.We should walk as Jesus walked. Remember that, it’ll come up again.
So, how did Jesus say we receive eternal life? Let’s look at Mark 10:17-23:
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?So here we have an insight into the mechanism of our salvation. Here is a believer who only lacks one thing to inherit eternal life: Self-denial. His whole life has been lived for himself, to secure his own righteousness, but Jesus tells him that he has to live in a completely opposite way; as a follower of Him—to walk as He walked. Or, in other words, be a disciple.
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”. (Matt 16:24)I’m detecting a clear pattern, here. It would appear that Jesus dying for our sins is connected to denying ourselves and being a disciple—living and dying for Him, picking up our crosses, and following Him; following His example. And He wasn’t going to a picnic with that Cross….
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (ibid 10:38)
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”. (Mark 8:34)
And he said to [them] all, “If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Ibid 14:27)
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake (Phil 1:29)For His sake! How do we suffer for His sake? Be a disciple, live as He says we should, and tell everyone His Gospel; which is telling everyone about Him; which is telling everyone the Truth. He was crucified for telling the truth, right? Didn’t He say, “Now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth”, which he heard from God? (John 8:40).
So, doesn’t all this mean that Salvation (being made righteous, inheriting eternal life, entering the Kingdom, being a child of God), removal of sins, is a process that we live after we believe in Him and the Gospel?
Let’s look at Romans 7:18-25:
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.So the believer has an inner man, the spirit, which is holy and does not sin, because it obeys the law of God, and an outer man, the flesh, wherein sin lives, obeying the law of sin. These two are constantly at war with one another. But in the believer who is following the commands of Jesus to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him, the war is being won by the inner man. As we see in Romans 8:9-11:
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.But this obviously doesn’t happen instantly. As Paul tells us in verse 13-17:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God…The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.“Mortify the body and suffer with Christ”! That sound a lot like “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow [him]”.
The Apostle Peter, in his 1st Epistle, clearly ties the ideas of an inner man (our minds) affecting an outer man (our flesh) and fleshly suffering removing sin:
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. (v.4:1)The “he that hath suffered in the flesh” is clearly referring to the believer, because Christ had no sin to cease from.
And James, using different language—“trying” for “suffering”; “perfect and entire” for “ceasing from sin” and “being cleansed”, echoes the idea that suffering for the believer is a positive:
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:2-4)All of these verses speak of process and suffering as the way to remove sin from our flesh, with the end result of our being might be “glorified together” with Christ.
Again in his 1st Epistle, Peter puts it this way:
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. (vv.2:19-21)How do we “follow his steps”? Be a disciple: deny ourselves, take up our crosses and be crucified for the same reason He was: For telling the truth. The Gospel is the means of our Salvation if we believe it and emulate it…and, if you think about it, not just the being crucified bit, either. Aren’t we born anew from above? Isn’t this being resurrected?
So, our sin-soaked flesh is washed clean of sin not because of the character of our belief, but rather, it is refined over time by the quality of our witness. We must present our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), willing to endure the crucifixion of the world—the fiery trials and suffering for His name’s sake—all for the glory of God.
Let’s Give the Apostle Peter the last word on that score:
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. [If] any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. (1 Peter 4:12-16)In Conclusion
The reason for this Study was to remind us of the true Gospel, in order to make us immune to the dangers of “Another Gospel”; a false Gospels. I’d realized that we were susceptible if we didn’t know, or were unsure of what it was, or knew, but was unable to verify it through the Word of God. I hope and pray that this has been accomplished here tonight.
Thank you and God bless.
*All Greek quotations follow THE NEW TESTAMENT IN GREEK ACCORDING TO THE TEXT FOLLOWED IN THE AUTHORISED VERSION TOGETHER WITH THE VARIATIONS ADOPTED IN THE REVISED VERSION, edited by F.H.A. Scrivener; CAMBRIDGE: At the University Press 1949.
**All English quotations from the King James Version
