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Jay Strother is a pastor in Tennessee. He says that Jesus plus anything equals a false gospel.
The word “gospel” means good news. It is the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. He has come to us personally and victoriously to renovate and renew all things; he has come to provide forgiveness and reconciliation for his people; he has adopted us into his family; as our substitute, he has paid for our sin and gifted us with his righteousness; he has achieved peace and salvation; and he has done this through the cross and empty tomb.
If you repent of sin and believe in this good news, you have been made right with God—forever!
If we add anything to what Jesus has accomplished for us, we are diminishing his achievement. That’s what Strother’s formula is meant to show. Let me provide a few examples.
If we think that we are made right with God because we believe in Jesus and also do really nice things all the time, that’s a false gospel. It diminishes his achievement because it relies on our own good deeds.
If we think that we are made right with God because we believe in Jesus and go to church every Sunday, that’s a false gospel. It diminishes his achievement because it relies on our church attendance.
If we think that we are made right with God because we believe in Jesus but also import other religious practices (which, by the way, is to not believe in Jesus), then that’s a false gospel. It diminishes his achievement because it relies on unbiblical teachings.
Is it important to be kind and loving, and is it important to be an active part of a church community? Absolutely. Those are evidence of our faith. They bless others. Worship glorifies God, nourishes us with his grace, and builds us up as his people.
But those things do not ADD anything to what Jesus has accomplished for us.
1 Peter 3:18 says: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” That’s a whole lot of grace-given (by God) and grace-received (by you and me).
Jesus + ___________ = a false gospel.
Spiritual anxiety is a deep and often unspoken angst that you need to be perfect because Jesus is not. ‘The good news can’t really be that good, can it?’ Yes, it can. And it is.
Because you trust in what he has done for you, you can rejoice in what he has done for you, and you can rest in what he has done for you.
And be at peace.
Notes:
#gospel #falsegospel #graceofGod #salvation #JesusChrist #forgiven #reconciliation #bible #faith #dailydevotional #devotional
–*As quoted in: Alisa Childers, Another Gospel? A lifelong Christian seeks truth in response to Progressive Christianity (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2020), 104.
–Bible quotes are from the NIV.
