Christ and THE Gospel
God floored me tonight in the opening verses of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Galatian church. My jaw literally dropped. Read with me:
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" (Gal 1:6, ESV).
Do you understand what Paul is saying? I don't mean in any way to condescend, as if the meaning isn't explicit. Paul, here, equates "turning to a different gospel" with "deserting him who called you" (God), in that order. A different gospel. Of course, he clarifies in v. 7 that there is no other gospel, truly. But get what he's saying. Knowing the Gospel is tantamount to knowing Christ. It's got to be the right Gospel, that is, the only true Gospel. At least insofar as this doctrine is concerned, one cannot be anything but orthodox without literally deserting Christ. But doesn't this suppose the existence of one true, orthodox Gospel? Are we up a creek without a paddle? Do we know what this Gospel is? If so, how do we know our Gospel is the orthodox Gospel, that is, the Gospel to which Paul is here referring? We must know. It is not optional, unless we don't mind deserting Christ. I don't know about you, but I mind.
The facts are in: belief in the one true Gospel of Jesus Christ is not optional for the Christian. It must be known, which presupposes either that it can be known or that God has imposed an impossible demand on us. I guess your answer depends on how you view God. I, for one, believe in God's providential love, so I must believe the former.
Now I leave you with the question. Don't leave me hanging. What is this true Gospel to which Paul is referring? Do some homework, and get back to me. Try to cite a source, say, at least as early as the 16th century. 2nd or 3rd c. would be ideal.
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" (Gal 1:6, ESV).
Do you understand what Paul is saying? I don't mean in any way to condescend, as if the meaning isn't explicit. Paul, here, equates "turning to a different gospel" with "deserting him who called you" (God), in that order. A different gospel. Of course, he clarifies in v. 7 that there is no other gospel, truly. But get what he's saying. Knowing the Gospel is tantamount to knowing Christ. It's got to be the right Gospel, that is, the only true Gospel. At least insofar as this doctrine is concerned, one cannot be anything but orthodox without literally deserting Christ. But doesn't this suppose the existence of one true, orthodox Gospel? Are we up a creek without a paddle? Do we know what this Gospel is? If so, how do we know our Gospel is the orthodox Gospel, that is, the Gospel to which Paul is here referring? We must know. It is not optional, unless we don't mind deserting Christ. I don't know about you, but I mind.
The facts are in: belief in the one true Gospel of Jesus Christ is not optional for the Christian. It must be known, which presupposes either that it can be known or that God has imposed an impossible demand on us. I guess your answer depends on how you view God. I, for one, believe in God's providential love, so I must believe the former.
Now I leave you with the question. Don't leave me hanging. What is this true Gospel to which Paul is referring? Do some homework, and get back to me. Try to cite a source, say, at least as early as the 16th century. 2nd or 3rd c. would be ideal.
Here's what St. John Chrysostom has to say in his commentary on the passage (full text at http://www.ccel.org):
ReplyDelete"Like the Jews who persecuted Christ, they imagined their observance of the Law was acceptable to the Father, and he therefore shows that in doing this they displeased not only Christ, but the Father also, for that they fell away thereby not from Christ only, but from the Father also."
Also,
"'Ye are removing;' he says not, 'ye are removed,' that is, 'I will not believe or suppose that your seduction is complete;' this is the language of one about to recover them, which further on he expresses yet more clearly in the words, 'I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded.' (Gal. v. 10.)"
The passage as such must be read in context; it is not any falling away from the Gospel, but the specific way in which the Galatians were falling away (pretty much no Pauline statement should be taken apart from its use in a given leter).
Let's take a thought experiment from this for a moment, though. The more tightly you define orthodoxy, the more difficult finding the true gospel actually is for most people. It's nice to say that God loves us evangelicals, but if we're the only ones with the true Gospel, this means that God doesn't really care enough about anyone else to help them out (or at least the majority who will never become Evangelicals, despite trying through all of their God-given resources to come to the truth). To say that God has not placed an impossible demand on us because of His love, is to also assert that He loves others in the same way; either the gospel is easily enough found for all (or maybe we'll just say for all earnestly desiring to be Christians), or there is no specific Gospel.
Alternatively, maybe God only loves us enough, though why should we think this when our reason, experience, and intensity of Biblical searching really are the same as any number of Christian groups, or even non-Christian for that matter? What gives us confidence that we're the loved ones, which others cannot also claim?
Maybe we simply have to come to grips with the fact that everything which we preach concerning the unbelieving could apply to us.
Brilliant, Michael. Thanks. The first quote really strikes at the heart of the letter: salvation by grace through faith, and not works.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right that we must not attempt to make the gospel say more than it says, nor to detail its definition so much that we isolate ourselves as the only true subscribers to the true "faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). Nevertheless, it behooves us always to refine our understanding of the gospel by God's Word, testing our understanding against the testimony of the Church throughout the ages, as well as testing the historic Church by Scripture. It's not either/or but both/and.
Looking forward to your comments on the next post.
The one true gospel is the Christ died for our sins according to the writings of the prophets (Old Testament), He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the Tanach (same as the Old). This is the gospel Paul preached (1 Cor 15:1-6), which is the gospel of Yeshua (Luke 24), and which all the apostolos give their agreement (Gal 2). Yeshua the Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
ReplyDeleteI have written many things of my understanding of the Christ and His gospel for free distribution at judgmentnwo.blogspot.com.
Daniel
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