Another Jesus. Another gospel. Another Spirit.
Paul not only preached the gospel but at times had to defend it, to re-affirm it to believers so that their faith would be resting in the right object, and they would be confirmed or strong in grace unto the coming of the Lord. He wrote in Philippians 1:17, “I am set for the defense of the gospel.” The defense of the gospel is necessary because of the work of the enemy. According to 2 Corinthians 11, Satan, the master of disguises, counterfeits “another Jesus,” “another gospel,” and “another spirit” so believers might be seduced from being purely devoted to the Lord Jesus.
Let’s briefly consider these three aspects of the gospel and the basic truths that are under attack. Sometimes it needs to be reconfirmed to the believer, even a Peter.
The attack on the Person of Christ
Down through the centuries, the question of who Jesus is has been perverted. His virgin birth has been denied, making Jesus a child of Adam—a sinner, albeit an ethical one. This lie of course strips His sacrifice of its efficacy (substitutionary power to pay for our sins) for He would then be dying for His own sin, not another’s.
His deity has been denied. Others might acknowledge Him as a prophet but not God. Some present the Lord as just a good teacher or as the offspring (son) of God in a generic way, just as we are created by God but not actually God Himself in the flesh. This lie affects the veracity of what He said and, therefore, His authority over us. It lets every man determine what is right in his own eyes, becoming God himself. Thus the Word of God is neither binding nor accurate.
His inability to sin (impeccability) is questioned, putting His eternal promises at risk. For, if He could have sinned then as man on earth, could He now sin as man and nullify salvation’s promises?
His character has been twisted into a gracious, loving person who tolerated everything and condemned nothing. Heaven but not hell: forgiveness but not fear; love but not obedience; care but not censure; grace but not truth; joy but not judging; acceptance but not repentance; praise but not punishment. Jesus is presented as the contrast to a hard, legalistic God. Thus the nature of God—which He, as the Word, revealed (Jn. 1:14, 18)—is corrupted.
The attack on the gospel of Christ
The Bible’s teaching of what man must do to be saved is also constantly under attack. Here, the question is not the person of the Saviour, but the terms on which the Saviour saves sinners. It has to do with the performance necessary to fully obtain salvation: are we saved by our own performance or by Christ’s blood sacrifice and subsequent resurrection? Grace or law? Faith or works—or faith and works (a bit of both)? God’s gospel is faith alone, but it is a faith that works.
In Acts 1-5, the issue is the person of Christ: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
However, in Acts 15, the issue is the conditions on which God saves. “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved,” was the new criteria being presented. These were people who believed in the person of Christ Jesus (v. 6) but proclaimed that more than faith in Christ was necessary to obtain final salvation. It was not a denial of Christ but an addition to His work. The formula for salvation was faith in Christ + something else = salvation.
How much difference does it make to add works to faith as a requirement for salvation? Can one change the nature of something by adding to it? Consider the atomic world. The number of protons in the nucleus determines which element it is and is that element’s atomic number. The oxygen atom, which is essential to life, is 8. Add just one little proton (if you could) and it changes into fluorine. Add one more and it is neon, a gas that will not give life if inhaled but death. Add 23 more and you have arsenic. Gold is 79. Add 3 more protons and you have lead.
To add man’s work to faith in Christ and His performance on the cross and resurrection is not a minor adjustment. It completely changes the nature of salvation. It is now works and not grace (Rom. 11:6). This gospel will save no one but keeps men condemned in unbelief. It is another gospel and, thus, false. This is a major argument of the defense of the gospel in Galatians.
Peter counters the argument of adding works to faith and grace by pointing out the witness of God Himself in giving the uncircumcised Gentile believers the Holy Spirit before baptism or any kind of works. God does not put His Spirit in one who is still dirty in his sins. But the fact that God gave the believing Gentile sinners the Spirit instantly when they placed heart-faith in Christ Jesus (Acts 10:43-48) was proof that “purifying their hearts” had already taken place by faith alone (Acts 15:8, 9). Otherwise they wouldn’t have been given the Spirit by God.
God is satisfied with Christ’s performance alone. Are we? This is grace (faith alone to be saved)—the terms of God’s true salvation (Acts 15:11; Rom. 9-11). But as we will see in the next perversion, faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone: it demonstrates itself by works (Jas. 2).
The attack on the Spirit of Christ
Living the Christian life has also come under attack. If, in adding to the gospel we have legalism, then here we have the opposite error, liberalism. Here the grace of God is not added to, but subtracted from, its purpose. It is “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [liberty to do evil]” (Jude 4).
Paul also had to defend this type of corruption which causes the Name of God and Christ to be blasphemed in the world and blinds men to the true gospel. As he said in Romans 3:8, “And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.” Also in Romans 6:1f, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!”
The gospel also teaches that when a heart is purified by faith, the Holy Spirit enters (Gal. 4:4-6). The Spirit, though invisible, is not a silent resident. He manifests His presence in many ways: a new walk, love, joy, works of righteousness, understanding God in the Scriptures, the ability to serve God, warring against the sinful flesh, etc. (See Eph. 2:10; 5:9; Rom. 8; Gal. 5; 1 Cor. 2, 12; etc.)
Therefore, the Bible’s teaching concerning the Spirit and the gospel does not present the gospel as just some cold creed to claim. Rather, we are taught that when the Lord of the gospel is trusted, the dynamic of the Spirit will follow with works. God’s gospel is indeed righteous (Rom. 1:17). These Spirit works are not done in order to obtain God’s salvation but are the natural fruit of it, just like cherries do not make a tree a cherry tree but are simply the natural fruit from a planted cherry seed.
Yet today we see the work of the Spirit being replaced with political ideology, drug therapy, psychological counseling, cultural trends, professional training programs, music, and, of course, religious tradition and rituals. These novelties, rather than the Spirit of the living God, are what are now promised to produce behavioral change and spiritual growth.
Yes, the gospel in all three aspects still needs to be defended and confirmed today.