The Gospel Delusion
A review of John MacArthur's The Gospel According To Jesus 20th Anniversary Edition
Part 6: A Cross Examination
Please begin reading this series at Part 1: The Obligatory Introduction
In Part 5 I discussed how the Gospel is fundamental to our walk as Christians, that we are saved by reception of this declared Good News of Jesus Christ, and showed how Dr. MacArthur says that “all the years of [his] ministry” (1) were about learning what the Gospel actually is.
The fruit of the doctor’s long search is summed up in his statement “What we need is a complete reexamination of the gospel.” (2). He says that his work of pasturing includes re-baptizing people who once made a decision but who later come to a true conversion. He says that they hear testimonies of people in this situation nearly every week at his church. That truly is a sad state of affairs.
He states the purpose of his writing as “… to deal with the biblical accounts of Jesus major evangelistic encounters and His teaching on the way of salvation.” He goes on to state several questions that will be answered in the accomplishing of his purpose and finishes with “…they are not theological trivia.” I would fully agree, there is nothing about the Gospel that is trivia.
Though Dr. MacArthur to this point in the book has not actually defined this “Gospel According To Jesus” he makes several statements that can allow us to have some idea of what it is. He says that Jesus called sinners to a “submissive surrender to the truth, including the truth of His Lordship.” (3). He also calls a gospel that “makes no moral demands” a “new gospel.” (4) So, we can infer that the gospel the doctor wants us to know about would be about a submissive surrender to the Lordship of Christ that makes moral demands. Since the topic of this work is about Eternal Salvation it’s clear that Dr MacArthur’s “Gospel According To Jesus” is one which states the Sinner must meet the demands of God in order to attain that Eternal Salvation.
Scripture stands in stark contrast to this I have inferred the doctor is presenting. For Scripture in Romans 6:32 says;
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Some translations go so far as to render the Greek χάρισμα as the “free gift of God.” Even if we leave out the word free what does giving someone a gift have to do with demanding something of them. If Scripture describes Eternal Life in Christ Jesus Our Lord as a gift, how can we make the offer of this gift a demand? For if one meets conditions for a gift is it really a gift?
Think of how fast food establishments advertise offers as free when they really are not. If you buy this special package then you’ll get a free cookie. Well the cookie isn’t free because you had to buy the package to get it. Fast food establishments get away with this because they are not perfectly holy. The Lord Our God cannot even give the appearance of evil. What He says is free, truly is.
Dr. MacArthur plainly states the seriousness of the consequences of how we handle the Gospel of Christ by quoting Galatians 1:6-9. He quotes this passage, and I think I should do the same.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
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.
As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Before we go on, let us consider the Apostle’s words carefully. He states that if anyone preaches another gospel other than the one the Apostle preached, and they received let such a one be accursed. Which Gospel is the Apostle speaking of? Well he summarizes it in the verses just before those the Doctor quotes. Galatians 1:3-5 NKJV
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
But we have the Gospel that all the Apostles preached, and all Christians must receive declared word for word in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 NKJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Be, sure that when the Apostle said even if an angel of light were to come and preach another gospel other than the one he had been given from Christ to preach, and all Christians must receive that we must let him be accursed.
Sadly, this must include someone who devises a message and uses our Lord’s name as an appeal to authority to give it credence which is different than the message the Apostle preached and anyone who would preach a “new gospel.”
The Gospel that Paul preached as of “first importance” was also the standard by which he instructed Pastors to evaluate the teachings of men. We read in 1 Timothy 1:3-11 NKJV
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this:
that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Of Galatians 1:6-9 the Doctor notes “That is a sober warning of eternal damnation to those who would tamper with the message of salvation and corrupt it to make it a ‘different gospel.’” I would argue that we are to see one as accursed, not that we have the power to actually have one be so. I do not say, nor do I believe the Word of God says, that one who preaches a different gospel must be eternally damned.
Dr. MacArthur recognizes that some opponents to “Lordship Salvation” have labeled it as “another gospel” and says this has led him to be serious in his study. He rightly says that “We cannot confidently point people to the way of life unless we get the gospel right.” (5) He is right about this. The Gospel is of “first importance” 1 Cor 15:3 there is no life without it. Though many of those who respond to the Lordship Salvation gospel truly do, do their fleshly best to look alive without receiving that life.
In this installment of The Gospel Delusion series I have repeated some information, but only because Dr. MacArthur used Galatians 1:6-9 for his purposes. In the last installment we saw how the Doctor sought to look elsewhere than Scripture to find his “Gospel According To Jesus” and in this installment we applied the same standard he uses to evaluate his gospel.
His message of Salvation through surrender evidenced by works is not the Gospel preached by the Apostles. By definition then it is another gospel. I have tried not to let this be a “cross” examination by keeping my own self-righteous anger out of it. Instead I’ve endeavored to have it be a “Cross” examination because the Gospel is the Good News of what Christ accomplished at the Cross. It is not a demand of what we must accomplish in order to have our part in it.
References:
All references (unless otherwise stated) are from The Gospel According To Jesus: What is authentic faith? Revised & Expanded Anniversary Edition By John MacArthur Copyright 2008
1. Pg 19
2. Pg 21
3. Pg 11
4. Pg 20
5. Pg 22
