The "Other" Gospel is the Only Gospel

Paul once said to a community he founded, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel" (Galatians 1:6 NASB).

A different gospel. Well, we have multiple gospels floating around today. But the most prominent belief system about salvation is not the Gospel of Paul. It is instead the theology we are calling justification theory (see "Why is Reimagining Paul Necessary?" for a brief summary of "justification theory").

Therefore, to many people, the Gospel derived from Romans 5-8 (and which is found in 90% of Paul's writing) is the "Other" Gospel. Actually, it is an unknown Gospel, one most people have never heard of or one they might think extreme. The actual Gospel, the "Other" Gospel, is the only Gospel that matters because its the only one that is true.

But the irony is, supporters of justification theory are so convinced that this theory and this theory alone defines the true Gospel, they would use a verse like Galatians 1:6 to discredit the real Gospel!

There are number of things we could call the "Other" Gospel—the true one. Participatory. Resurrectional. Unconditional. Benevolent. Revelatory. Apocalyptic. Philo-Semitic. Christocentric.

Meanwhile, what can we say about justification theory—the warped Gospel? We could list a number of characteristics. Contractual/Conditional. Self-Deduced. Forensic. Fear-based. Delayed. Anthropocentric.

It might seem as of we are quibbling over details. I mean, all the theologians and believers of these theories agree it is about Christ, right? It's about people having a relationship with God through Christ. And yes, that is sort of true. I mean, Christendom is largely infected with justification theory, but that does not mean Christ is unknown in Christianity. Justification theory is a disease within our midst, not evidence that Christianity has died completely.

And for all the damage that justification theory has done, it has not erased the belief in the Loving God even though justification theory contradicts that love. People will uphold the truth and the lie at the same time. "God is a Retributive Judge punishing transgressions severely and he loves you, oh how he loves you!" In other words, most people who subscribe to justification theory do it imperfectly. And for that, we can all be grateful.

Problems with the Justification Theory Gospel . . .

Contractual/Conditional. According to the common (mistaken) reading of Paul, God will save you only after you have been through a process of discovering God (on your own), you have become convinced that you are guilty before God, you conclude that Jesus' death for your sins is your only hope, and you decide to believe in him. It is a contract. God only saves people who repent and believe, and they must do this on their own. Some variations of justification theory do postulate that God either helps or gifts the faith, but there is much inconsistency in these variations on the main theory.

God does not love conditionally, but unconditionally. God does not save in a contractual manner, but saves us for free (see "It's Not Free If It's a Discount" for more). In Paul's actual Gospel, God knew us before time and chose us to be in Christ. At the right time, he grants us the ability to believe in Jesus (it is not our faith that saves us, but the faith of Jesus that took him to the cross). Salvation is a free gift to undeserving recipients who have nothing to boast about.

Self-Deduced. The common reading of Paul feels compelled to say that all people are capable of knowing God, knowing moral truth, and concluding that they must repent and believe. The reason they feel compelled to believe this is because Paul says it (or seems to) in Romans 1:18-20. But for centuries commentators have noted the contradiction between some parts of Romans and the rest of Paul's writings. Anyone can read Romans 1-4 followed by reading Romans 5-8 and see a major difference. How do we explain this? See Douglas Campbell's Beyond Justification for a thorough explanation (or, if you like 1,000 page thomes, try his Deliverance of God instead). The short answer is: Paul is using "speech in character," a kind of Socratic technique and is carrying on a one-sided conversation with a rival teacher. Romans 1:18-20 is what Paul's rival believes, not what Paul believes.

The thing is, human beings are not as rational as we think we are. History and current events confirm this. We are a bundle of neurotic impulses and emotional weaknesses. We are even worse when we congregate and develop a mob mentality. We do not consistently better ourselves, but engage continually in self-destructive behaviors. Although we have the ability to reason, our reason is disabled by our passions so that we use reason only imperfectly. Furthermore, even if we were completely rational, the truth about God is not something accessible to reason in and of itself. Just as we cannot solve mysteries of the physical universe which are beyond knowing, so we cannot discern metaphysical truth unaided.

Forensic. We are used to a court system and the idea of justice with defense attorneys and prosecuting attorneys. In our system, suspects have rights and the prosecution has the burden of proving guilt. And it is easy for us to think of God as a Judge like those in our court system. And matters of guilt and innocence are at the heart of our separation from God. But this is a distortion of the truth.

God is loving. God loves sinners. God saves people while they are sinners, not after they reform themselves (see Romans 5:8).

God is not retributive. He does not separate himself from sinners. What separates us from God is more like an illness and he is more like a healer. God's "judging" has more to do with his governance of the world under the sun and has much to do with the natural consequences for bad behaviors that are built into creation.

In the forensic theory of salvation (also called "penal substitution"), God punished Jesus for your guilt. In Paul's Gospel, God the Father is NOT punishing God the Son. Rather, God the Son took on our condition willingly and subjected himself to sin and death. He did this to heal us. The abuse hurled at him on the cross was human evil, not divine punishment.

Fear-based. Paul's rival teachers used fear to win converts. Those who preach the justification gospel use fear. God will punish you! You need to be saved before punishment comes! Don't wait too long!

But Paul's Gospel dispels fear. You are already reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and when you meet God face to face, you will have nothing to fear, Paul says in Romans 5. God knew you before time and purposed to save you. God's way is love, not fear. You cannot miss out on the Gospel. God takes the initiative. You cannot fail to qualify. God qualified you before time.

Delayed. In the justification Gospel, you have obtained pardon for your sin based on fulfilling the contractual requirement of faith. But pardon is all you have obtained. And the rest is basically up to you.

In Paul's Gospel, your sanctification (personal transformation) is included in salvation. You are not simply pardoned, but you are "predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29 NASB). In actual experience we see many Christians who profess faith but who do not seem to have undergone much personal transformation. Many possible explanations exist, but it could be that transformation for some will be minimal prior to death and the rest will be post-mortem.

But the positive result of the Actual Gospel is that a person is given everything needed to become free from Sin and Death. As Paul says, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4 NASB). And also: "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11 NASB).

Anthropocentric. The justification Gospel is human-centered. We discover God by means of our own faculties. We choose to believe. God honors the contract made through Jesus, who was punished in our place. And once we are "in Christ," we are mostly on our own to navigate life.

Paul's Actual Gospel is theocentric, God-centered. God chose us before time. God reveals God to us. God gives the ability to believe. God transforms us. It is free, unconditional, and transforming because it is God who wills and works.

Some Features of the Actual Gospel . . .

The actual Gospel is participatory: we participate in the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ because he participated in our humanity and the Spirit incorporated us into Christ's reality.

The actual Gospel is unconditional: God sends his love to sinners, awakening them by divine gift and granting them faith.

The actual Gospel is benevolent: God loves sinners so much he experienced humiliation and death to help us while we were his enemies.

The actual Gospel is revelatory: God reveals Christ. We do not discover Christ by means of reason or education. We do not deduce what can be known about God and work from that to becoming somehow able to believe in a set of doctrines about Christ.

The actual Gospel is apocalyptic: the new reality in Christ has already begun and operates in parallel with the old reality in such a way as to overtake it in the future and transform it.

The actual Gospel is Christocentric: it is based on his sinless life, his miracles, his teachings, his humiliation, death, resurrection, ascension, and his lordship over all things to come.

The actual Gospel is philo-Semitic: God blessed a human family (Abraham's) with potent gifts, including the Torah and prophets, and Christ came to fulfill the promise of the Torah.

The actual Gospel is transformational: God does not leave us resourceless in our moral quandary, but puts us on a trajectory to become new creations.

The Other Gospel IS the Gospel . . .

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him

who called you by the grace of Christ,

for a different gospel,

which is not [just] another [account;]

but there are some who are disturbing you

and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

—Galatians 1:6-7 NASB

When Paul wrote these words, the Galatian community had begun to follow the teachings of one of Paul's rivals. They were told that salvation is only for people who follow the Jewish law, even if you're not Jewish. Paul—who kept the Jewish law before and after coming to know Christ—said that law-keeping had never been about salvation but was a matter of covenant between God and Israel. Non-Jews were always scheduled to be saved in the last days without becoming Jews—in other words, without law-keeping.

Paul's Gospel was one thing and the rival's Gospel was "a different Gospel," the "other" Gospel.

Now, in our time, there is a prevalent Gospel that is not Paul's Gospel. It is not completely false like that of the rival teacher Paul faced. But its effects are quite damaging. As we have said from the beginning here at Reimagining Paul, Christianity has a public relations problem and it has been caused by Christians themselves.

From the viewpoint of many Christians today, the Gospel Paul believed in and the one we advocate for here is another Gospel, a different Gospel. But the thing is, in this case, the "other" Gospel turns out to be the only one that truly exists. God reveals God and has revealed God in Jesus Christ who saves sinners.

The more people in the churches who begin to rid themselves of justification theology the better. We will see more humility, less boasting, more compassion, less smug superiority, more love, and less hate.