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False
Gospels
False
Gospels
Maybe the most
amazing fact gleaned from Christian history appears in Galatians
1:6: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who
called you in the grace of Yahushua, to a different gospel." When
the apostle Paul penned this epistle in the early AD 50s, only two
decades had passed since the death and resurrection of Yahushua and the founding of the
church. It took only twenty years before someone perverted the gospel into
something so different that it was no longer "good news" (verse 7)!
Paul continues in
verses 11-12: "But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither
received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the
revelation of Yahushua Yahushua." The glad tidings Yahushua, Paul,
and the other apostles proclaimed throughout the world is revealed—that is, it comes
from Yahweh and can be learned only through supernatural disclosure
(Romans
16:25-26; I
Corinthians 2:10; Colossians
1:26).
The true gospel
message, then, is not readily available to all. In fact, a person
cannot even pick up the Bible and find it there! One cannot stumble
over or happen upon it. Yahweh must open one's mind to receive it
(I
Corinthians 2:7-16), "because the carnal mind is enmity against
Yahweh" (Romans
8:7). Yahushua says that He designed even His parables seemingly
simple stories with obvious lessons—to hide meaning rather than
reveal it (Matthew
13:10-17)!
In the first century,
the apostles battled two pernicious false gospels: legalism and Gnosticism. Legalism?the improper use of law—grew
primarily out of Judaism, holding that justification and salvation came through works of the law rather than by grace. Paul
preached against this deception repeatedly (see, for example, Galatians
5:1-6; Ephesians
2:8-10, etc.), affirming that salvation is by grace, though good
works form a necessary part of Christian growth and are indeed what
Yahweh is working with us to accomplish.
Gnosticism consists
of a whole group of heresies, all with the central ideas that
knowledge (gnosis) is the means to salvation, and that
spirit is good and flesh is evil. In practice, it soon devolved into
the extremes of asceticism and hedonism, as well as peculiar ideas
about the nature of Yahweh and Yahushua (see Colossians
2:8, 18, 20-23; II
Peter 2:4-22; I
John 1:5-10; 2:18-23;
etc.). Eventually, Gnostic ideas came to dominate "Christianity,"
and its modern descendants are proclaimed far and wide every Sunday.
The most pervasive false gospel today is also quite deceptive: the
gospel about Yahushua. Churches that preach this gospel
teach about the Messenger rather than the message
He brought. Certainly, we are to study Yahushua's life, for He is
our example of Christian living (I
Peter 2:21; I
John 2:6, etc.). However, when He preached the gospel, He did
not trumpet His own virtues but revealed the way to the Kingdom of Yahweh.
In commissioning His
disciples, He says: "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have
received, freely give" (Matthew
10:7-8). Nowhere does He tell them to "preach Yahushua"; His
concern is always in proclaiming Yahweh's Kingdom! He never said,
"Preach Me!" Before His ascension, He tells them "that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in [My] name to all nations" (Luke
24:47). He was so fixated on preaching the gospel of the Kingdom
and ensuring that His disciples understood it before He sent them
out to preach it?that it filled His conversation during His
post-resurrection appearances to them (Acts
1:3).
What gospel we learn
is vitally important! We need to be sure that the one we learn is
the true gospel Yahushua brought, the revelation of the imminent
Kingdom of Yahweh. Paul's warning about false gospels should give us
the proper perspective: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you,
let him be accursed!" (Galatians
1:8).
Shalom
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