True Gospel versus False Beliefs and False Doctrines

Question: Can we learn the truth about the Lord Jesus and His Gospel from false doctrines and beliefs? How can we identify the true Gospel?

It is a common occurrence and a well-known fact, that to sell fake copies of some well-known product, the deceivers try to make the outer appearance or the presentation of the fake product as near to the genuine product as possible so that people are deceived into accepting and procuring that fake copy, in the belief that it is the actual product. It is only when people make use of that fake product, they realize that it is not what it was actually claimed to be – it’s qualities are not the same as the qualities of the actual product, neither is it as efficacious as it ought to be.

The same holds true for the true Gospel and teachings of God given in the Bible. Satan, to deceive the people, has brought into circulation many different varieties of fake copies of the Gospel and the Word of God. These fake gospels sound like the true Gospel, but they always have some errors and deviations from the true Gospel, which may not be immediately evident, but does come to the fore sooner than later. Also, to accept the contention that God warns us through false religions and false doctrines, is to say that God approves and uses falsehood and untruth to convey His message of “…the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6) – a patently false and untenable assertion, that contradicts the character and attributes of God, and is absolutely contrary to the teachings of God’s Word the Bible. In support, consider a few passages from the Bible in this context:

In Acts 16:16-18 we see that Paul casts out an evil spirit from a girl, even though the evil spirit through the girl kept saying that "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation" (Acts 16:17) – a fact, but coming through someone unacceptable to God.

James says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (James 1:13); and “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

The Apostle John in his first epistle says, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

The Bible over and over again, emphasizes God’s absolute truthfulness, unwavering honesty, irreproachable integrity, impeccable justice, i.e. a behavior and character way above any reproach or doubt. There is no way that God has, or will use false doctrines and religions to spread His Word, when He already has given His true and Living Word to mankind, and has also given His people His Holy Spirit to teach them His Word (John 14:26; 16:13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:11-14). The Lord Jesus, after His resurrection and before His ascension into heaven, in His Great Commission to His disciples has asked them to go and teach to the people of the world nothing contrived or from human wisdom, but that which is His Word (Matthew 28:18-20).

But Satan, to make his lies, false teachings and wrong doctrines etc. to be acceptable, makes his ploys appear and sound like God’s Word, cleverly disguising the wrong things behind a veneer of religiosity and seeming acceptability (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Colossians 2:4-8; 16-23). Therefore it is imperative that we firmly ground ourselves in God’s Word, and use the Bible and the Bible alone as the standard to check and judge all teachings, religions and doctrines (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Anything that is not according to God’s Word, or contradicts it in any manner; or any teaching or doctrine that does not satisfy or does not fully go along with all that is said regarding any issue or topic; or anything adopted from and incorporated from ways of the world and/or from the wisdom and practices of men (Matthew 15:3-9) into the teachings and practices of Biblical Christianity, is a false doctrine, a false religion, something displeasing and unacceptable to God, and is to be discarded, disregarded.

The true Gospel, is stated in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 – “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.” (1 Corinthians 15 is the ‘Gospel chapter’ of the Bible – study it to see and understand the various truths related to the Gospel). Please take note, the true Gospel is according to the Scriptures and is not of human ingenuity; in other words, there is nothing in the true Gospel that has not already been stated in the Scriptures.

Understand this from the Bible itself:
Hebrews 10:5-9 records the statement of the Lord Jesus just before He left heaven to come down to earth; it says: “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-- In the volume of the book it is written of Me-- To do Your will, O God.' " Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second.” The Lord Jesus is specifically stating that His work has already been recorded “In the volume of the book ” and in carrying out that which has been written, He will be fulfilling the will of God; in other words, it is already recorded; Christ Jesus did not devise anything new.
When the Lord Jesus met the two disciples returning from Jerusalem to Emmaus after His resurrection, and engaged in conversation with them, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27) – another affirmation that all that the Lord did, had already been recorded in the then available Scriptures, even before He was born or started His ministry.
The Apostle Paul too, after accepting Jesus as his savior and Lord used the Scriptures – the Old Testament texts to speak about and prove the Lord’s ministry: “vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ” and “he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 18:28; 28:23). Therefore, since there is nothing in the true Gospel that has not already been recorded in God’s Word, hence anyone preaching or teaching anything that does not already exist in the Scriptures, in the garb of the Gospel; anyone adding some new features or so called ‘new revelations’ to the Gospel is actually perverting the Gospel and is not to be believed or accepted.

Perversion of this Gospel had started straightaway, in the first century itself, and such was the attraction of these perversions, that within the time period of the Apostles and their ministry, the Christian Believers were already getting deceived and were falling for the wrong teachings. All the writers of the New Testament deal with these issues of wrong teachings and deceptions and Satan’s lies and deviousness in their writings, over and over again. All the epistles in the New Testament were written, and are meant to correct misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding Christ’s teachings, and to confront and nullify the wrong teachings being spread by the devil.

Once we know the characteristics of the true Gospel, we can always use them as the standard to compare every other doctrine and determine whether or not it is genuine. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul gives us some pointers to identify the wrong Gospel in Galatians 1:3-9, and warns us that other than the Gospel already stated, even if Paul himself or an angel tries to modify it or re-state it in a different manner, it is not to be accepted. 

The text of Galatians 1:3-9 is as follows:

Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 1:4 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,

Galatians 1:5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,

Galatians 1:7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:8 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 1:9 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.

We can glean the following facts and characteristics regarding the true Gospel from this passage:

Verse 3. The true Gospel brings God’s grace and peace with it; it is not a source of differences, contentions or strife. Any teaching that does not place God and the Lord Jesus as the source of all grace and peace in our lives, instead if it emphasizes on any kind of human efforts and works to attain God’s grace and peace, or asking to do something to “earn it” instead of receiving it by faith through the grace of God, is not the true Gospel. Since the peace of the Lord Jesus is already granted to every disciple of His (John 14:27; 16:33), so why would anyone have to make any efforts of his own to obtain it?

Verse 4. Any teaching or doctrine or religion that speaks of anything other than, or of anything in addition to the accomplished work on the Cross of Calvary by the Lord Jesus, to save us from our sins and to justify us before God, is a false Gospel, a false doctrine, a false teaching; and ought to be rejected outright. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not even things like Baptism, participation in the Lord’s Table, Confirmation, or any other ritual or practice can in any way supplement or supplant what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for the salvation and redemption of mankind.

Verse 5. Adherence to and following the true Gospel always glorifies God and the Lord Jesus. The true gospel never ever glorifies man; rather, it exposes the sinfulness of man, provides the grace of God as the remedy to sin, and causes the redeemed and saved by God’s grace to glorify God rather than exalt or venerate any human being in any manner, for anything related to salvation, Kingdom of God, and restoration to fellowship with God. That which glorifies any human being, or in any manner takes away from God’s glory, is not the true Gospel.

Verses 6, 7. The ‘different gospel’’ is different because instead of emphasizing and presenting the ‘grace of Christ’ as something of first and foremost importance, leads people away from this primary requirement for salvation - grace. The ‘different gospel’’ may emphasize on things like ‘good works,’ ‘pious or holy living,’ ‘working of miracles’; it may focus on worldly gains and prosperity rather than accumulating heavenly gains (Colossians 3:1-2); on alms, penances, pilgrimages, veneration of saints and other humans; on philosophy, Bible knowledge, status in Church hierarchy, etc. but the one crucial thing missing in that ‘different’ or false gospel will be the emphasis and sole necessity of the grace of Christ for being right with God, for being acceptable to God (Colossians 2). The false Gospel will eventually lead to problems, strife, contentions, hurt and broken relationships, one-upmanship, ego problems, desire and efforts for gaining temporal status and things, etc. instead of the grace and peace of God, as stated in vs. 3.

Verses 8, 9. The Gospel that has once and for all times been delivered is immutable, and cannot be added to or subtracted from, but has to be diligently defended from Satan’s devious ploys (Jude 1:3). No one, not Paul, not any angel, not anyone – howsoever accomplished or worthy of honor he or she may be, can ever make any changes or modifications to the Gospel delivered once and for all times at the beginning of the first Church (Acts 2:37-40; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Anything not found in this primary Gospel, is a ‘different gospel’ – a perversion of the true gospel that has come from the devil, and is not to be accepted or given any credence, let alone be followed. God’s Word calls the purveyors of this false or ‘different’ gospel as ‘accursed’ and it would be patently false and naïve to expect anything blessed from someone or something accursed from God.

By following Paul’s exhortation “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), and subjecting all teachings and doctrines related to God, salvation, and Christ Jesus to the above criteria (and of teachings from 1 Corinthians 15; Colossians 2 & 3), and through the help and guidance of God’s Holy Spirit the genuine can readily be separated from the false.