True Gospel

Galatians 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.

Often we consider this warning as not applicable to us since we believe the Gospel as preached in the Word. However, everything is written in the Word for our edification and teaching.

Apostle Paul gives strong warning to those who preach the Gospel. Preachers of the Gospel must have real understanding about the Gospel. For this we must have in-depth understanding of what Paul preached about the Gospel in Romans and Galatians to avoid this self-inflicted curse. Can Christians come under curse? Answer it yourself from the above verse.

The Gospel
The word Gospel came from the Greek word “Euaggelion”, which means Good tidings or Good news. It is found seventy-four times in the New Testament and has been translated interchangeably as Grace or Gospel.

Often people preach the Judgment and hell-fire scaring the people in the pretext of preaching the Gospel. There is a place for these subjects in our preaching, but CROSS and its power in our life is central to Gospel. Our ‘good intentions’ are just that -‘our intentions’. It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance (Romans 2:4) and not the fear of hell or Judgment.

Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.’

Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The goodness of God is revealed only in the Gospel. The Old Testament revealed the wrath of God, God’s nature to judge the sin, man’s inability to save himself and the need for a savior. It is the nature of God to judge sin and He will judge every sin, whether it is small, medium or big. God demands a payment for every sin we commit and we cannot escape from that payment. We either have to pay ourselves or somebody else has to pay for us.

The Gospel is the good news about the payment for sins, paid by Jesus.

Jesus died on the CROSS for the sin payment of the whole world [All people, All sins and All time]. Thru the Cross, Sin, the stumbling block between man and God, has been removed [John 12:32].

The CROSS was God’s idea of sin payment for the whole world. No man can measure himself up to God’s standard of holiness. God’s standard of holiness is Jesus, we either have to be perfect like Jesus or surrender ourselves into the hands of our savior Jesus. So God himself designed a way for man to escape from this judgment. This way is the CROSS of Jesus. People go to hell, not because of their sin, but because of their rejection of God’s idea of sin payment through the Cross.

All religions speak of the wrath of God and judgment of God to some extent. All are looking for a way to escape from this coming judgment of God. For this reason, whether a person is born as a Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain or some other world religion, they are knocking at every door known to them based on the knowledge they have received from their family, traditions etc. Hindus goes to pilgrim places such as Varanasi, Sabarimala, etc. while Muslim’s goes to Mecca. Satan, the god of this world, has blinded the minds of these unbelievers, and unless the light of the glorious gospel of Christ is preached [2 Cor 4:4], they will keep on knocking at all the wrong doors to escape from the coming judgment of God.

As the body of Christ, it is our duty to lead the unsaved to Jesus, the only door. The creative work of God (intuitive knowledge) in every man [Romans 1:18-32] and Ministry of the Holy Spirit [John 16:8-9] are doing their job perfectly making our job easy and effective to spread the Gospel. However, we must preach the Gospel the way Paul preached.

Through this two-fold ministry, intuitive knowledge and the Ministry of the Holy Spirit, people already know that they are sinners and there is a judgment for their sins. Therefore, we don’t have to make them guilty again.

The good news to be preached

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Most evangelists today emphasize the first part of the verse – “For the wages of sin is death” – and calls it the Gospel.

(Let us remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees, [Mat 23:4] They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.)

These judgment preachers have magnified the sin and the works of the devil more than the grace of God and the new nature of a born again believer. They could not even live up to the standard of holiness what they are recommending. They ignorantly think that they can reach the standard of Holiness that God has set for man. God’s standard of Holiness is Jesus, which is very high and no man by his own effort can attain that. There is an effect on these kind of preaching and thousands of people get saved out fear of hell and the judgment of God, but this kind of salvation does not last long, until somebody teaches them about the Love of God. God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe [1 Corinthians 1:21b].

The actual Gospel is the second part of the verse – “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. The present day ministry of the body of Christ is to preach this gift of God which is God’s Grace and our new nature. When a man understands the unconditional love of God and the nature of born again spirit, he will unintentionally lead a holy life. Holiness is the fruit of salvation, not the root to salvation. The knowledge about the unconditional love of God and the new nature of the born again spirit will release us from all sins.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

This speaks not only about our condition before we are born again; but also of our condition outside Christ. The condition outside Christ is same for believers and unbelievers alike. We have nothing to boast about, other than what we have in Christ.

Everything (New birth, Salvation, Healing, Blessing, prosperity etc) from the cross is by Grace through faith. We don’t have to do a single action other than believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth, to get these benefits, but we do good works such as forgiving, tithing, loving and giving as a corresponding action of our Faith on the complete work on the cross. That is why [Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38] Bible says that “The Just shall live by Faith”.

We should understand the difference between “Works of the Law” and “Works of Faith. The work of the Law is like a horse behind the cart, the work of faith is like the horse in front of the cart, where horse is the “faith” and cart is the “work”.

The work of law brings curse, while the work of faith brings blessings. These two works may look the same, but the motive behind each work is in opposition to one another. The works of the law diminish the perfect work of Jesus on the cross, the work of faith magnify the perfect work of Jesus on the cross. The work of Law reveals the person’s ignorance about the redemptive power of the cross, inability to believe, or his rebellion to submit to the perfect work on the cross.

According to God, motive is everything. We receive all these benefits from the cross by Grace through faith, but we produce the work of faith as the fruit of salvation, not as a route to salvation. Often we mistakenly think and believe that new birth is by Grace through faith, but everything else such as healing, blessing is received proportional to our performance. We will never get anything from the Cross based on our performance. So quit trying to qualify yourself, just believe on the qualifier.

Apostle Paul mentions this deception in

Galatians 3:3-4 [AMP] Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh? Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing (to no purpose)--if it really is to no purpose and in vain?

Gospel Paul preached

Paul was very confident that the Gospel he preached was according to God. We must preach the Gospel the way Paul preached, in order to avoid the curse and to release the power of the good news. If by any means, we preach a different gospel, other than what Paul preached, we fall under the curse Paul speaks in Galatians 1:8, also we could not release the power flowing from the cross.

Every time we preach the gospel the same way Paul preached, we will face the same question he faced in Romans 3:8, 6:2 and 6:15. If we have not faced this same question from our audience, then we have not preached the true gospel.

Let us study the question that Paul faced three times “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

What was Paul preaching to get a question like this? It is very clear that Paul continuously preached about the Grace of God, which we obtain through the cross of Jesus. On the Cross Jesus paid the payment for the sins of the whole world. The sin of the whole world is already dealt on the cross and no longer is God asking for a penalty for sin from man. The payment for all sins, here the word “ALL” means all sins, all time and all people.

Paul preached that God’s demand for the penalty for the sins is taken care on the cross. Jesus paid for our sins forever [Past sins, Present sins and the Future sins]. This truth, without doubt, provokes one to think that Paul is giving a license to sin.

If we preach the same gospel that Paul preached we too will face the same question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

The accuracy of our preaching can be evaluated, based on whether we have faced this question or not. If we emphasize God’s grace sufficiently, then this question is logical and must be addressed.

Faced with the question Paul answered, “God forbid”, every time. He was saying, “No, Absolutely not! Let it never be!”. The Greek language for “God forbid” Paul used might be the strongest negation without employing some type of profanity. Paul says that ‘freedom from sin and sin consciousness is not a license to do sin. It is actually the freedom and power to do lead holy life.’

Romans 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm what we say.) Let us do evil that good may come?

When Paul preached this Gospel, some slanderously reported that Paul is giving the people, license to do sin. If Paul, the man who presented the gospel in perfect balance, faced this slanderous report in the 1st century, we who are living in the 21st century, the century of the media, will face it 100 times more. So put on the Robe of righteous to face the religion, the Christian religion.

Though Paul preached this gospel in the 1st century, religion of the last 20 centuries perverted the ‘too good to be true message’ of the gospel by magnifying the sin and the devil.

The Christian religion that is under the deception of the devil will fight this truth and call us false teachers with verses such as

Mark 13:22 “For false Christ’s and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

We are not ignoring sin; rather we are magnifying the perfect work on the cross by our Lord Jesus.