Are There 2 Gospels?
By David J. Stewart
Romans 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
My
question to you is: Are there 2 Gospels?
- The Gospel of John MacArthur, Ray Comfort,
Kirk Cameron, Paul Washer, Jack Chick, Aiden Tozer, David Cloud, and
others, requires that a person forsake (or be willing to forsake) their
lifestyle of sin, make amends, and change their ways, as a prerequisite
to saving faith. This false gospel confuses the FRUIT of a changed life
with the ROOT of saving-faith. The sinner is required to change their
own life. Believing is not enough, the sinner must commit to forsaking
all their sins to be saved. This is a false gospel.
- The Biblical Gospel teaches that we are saved solely by Christ's righteousness, and that no self-righteousness of any kind is required, because we have none to offer (Isaiah 64:6); neither does a person have to quit any sin to be saved. A changed life is the FRUIT of genuine repentance, and not a part of the ROOT of saving-faith. We don't give up our sins to BE saved; but rather, we give up our sins because we ARE saved. God makes the changes. Our part is simply to believe, God does the rest. Romans 4:5 teaches that a person's faith is COUNTED for righteousness!
A lot of Christians have brushed the issue aside as a matter of semantics, but the difference between the 2 Gospels is day and night. One includes a certain degree of self-righteousness, which is a false Gospel; but the other is solely based upon Christ's righteousness, which is by the precious literal, physical, blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
