What the Gospel is NOT
The Gospel is the most important message there has ever been. This message is life. It is hope. It is freedom. It is something that nothing else on earth can match.
However, that message has been turned into a lot of things that are clearly not part of the Gospel. While the Gospel is many things, it is also very specific things, so clearly stating what it is not is very important as well.
The Gospel Is Not Permission to Do Wrong
One of the most egregious teachings related to the Bible is that one is completely free from the Law. Paul writes in Romans 6:14:
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Many have been taught that they are no longer bound by the Law but are now under grace. They are now free from the penalty of sin because of the sacrifice of Jesus. This is true…to a point, but it is also entirely wrong on many levels.
The key word in this verse is “under.” In the original text, this comes from the Greek word νόμον, which means by, under, from, or among. When one looks at these words it seems to make the meaning a bit more confusing. After all, the meanings of under, among, and by are quite different in English. For example, I wouldn’t say “The fish are among the water.” They are “under” the water. My dog is not “from” the toys. She is “among” the toys.
This would seem to make a proper understanding nearly impossible, but it is actually in the variation of meanings that we are able to more fully understand this word.
To get a full understanding, let’s start with the first part of this verse. Paul tells us that we are no longer under the dominion of sin. In other words, sin no longer rules us. In this entire chapter, Paul deals with our relationship to sin.
He explains that we are no longer slaves to sin. In verses 17-18, Paul writes:
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Before Jesus, we were slaves to our sins. They ruled us. They owned us. We had no control over them because they were our masters.
We are apt to use terms like “addiction” when speaking about drugs or alcohol, even sex, but the truth is that all of us were addicted to sin. We loved it. We craved it. Our minds, bodies, and souls required it. It literally ruled us.
That may not be a happy thought, but the reality is that we were not only craving sin, but found great comfort in it. It is what Paul describes as a “stronghold” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4), a place where we took refuge because we found great comfort in it.
This is no longer the case when we accept Jesus. At least, it should not be the case. Some of these strongholds are powerful forces in our lives, but they don’t have to be. The good news is that even if we struggle with them, they do not rule us anymore.
The question is, how did we get out from under the rule of sin? Why is it no longer our master?
The reason is that Jesus paid the price for our sins. We will discuss this in much greater detail later, but when Jesus died on that cross, He paid the entire price for our sin so that we are no longer owned by it.
Now we return to the latter part of this verse. We are no longer under the law in that it no longer can be used to enslave us. Satan can make accusations against us because of our sin, and we all sin (Romans 3:23), but we are no longer indebted to sin. The grace of God – the power of God and His life-saving sacrifice – is what we are now under.
Going back to our Greek word from earlier, we see the transformation of our lives. Paul actually uses this same word to describe how we are not “under” the Law any longer, but are now “under” grace. If you apply our definition words you see that each of these applies quite well to how the sacrifice of Jesus has changed our lives.
- We once lived among sin, but now we live among grace.
- We once lived and walked by our sin, letting it lead us, but now it is the grace of God that we walk by.
- We once came from sin, it was our very nature, but now our nature is to follow Jesus, making us from Him.
The Gospel teaches us that we are transformed in many ways, and one simple word tells us a lot about that transformation.
We Are Not Free to Sin
This should be great news to us. We no longer have to fear our sin. God wants us sinless, but He is also loving enough to know that we are weak and are going to do things wrong. So, for now, He is willing to see us sin less than we used to.
Unfortunately, many have taken grace and have decided that they can sin at will. They have been taught that there is no longer any eternal punishment for their sin, so God ignores all the sins they commit. This could not be further from the truth.
To get how wrong this teaching is, one need look no further Romans 6:14-15. These two verses tell us so much about how wrong this “permission” to sin is.
In verse 14, Paul wrote that we are no longer under the Law, but then look at verse 15.
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Because you are no longer judged by the Law and are therefore no longer a slave to sin, are you free to do whatever you want? Paul says not no, but HECK NO!
You are no longer slaves to sin, but you are slaves to your new master – Jesus. The great thing about His slavery is that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). He wants you to be obedient and not sin and the great thing is that He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to do this. We don’t even have to figure this out on our own. He will do all the work for us. All we have to do is let Him.
Warping the Gospel Message as “Love”
Recently, Beato O’Rourke, who was running for president at the time, stated that any church that opposed same sex marriage should have their tax-exempt status removed. As I watched the news that day, one of the prevailing arguments for those who supported O’Rourke’s position was that they chose to “love” these same sex couples by completely supporting their choice.
As I watched this, I wondered if they really knew what love is all about. Now this is not a debate about same sex marriage. The Bible is clear on this point, so I let God be God and everyone be a liar. What this is about is a complete corruption of the word “love” to suit one’s own needs.
What is being said is that God loves it when we sin. He honestly doesn’t care that we have disregarded His commandments, because when two people love each other or someone loves something that is all that matters. After all, God is love (1 John 4:7-21). That is the “loving” thing to do.
Ok, then why stop there. Any 60-year-old man who wants to marry a 10-year-old girl should be allowed to do so, especially if that 10-year-old says she loves this man and wants to be with him. Why shouldn’t a man be allowed to have a sexual relationship with his mother if he loves her? Drug addicts should be allowed to steal, because they need the drug and it would be loving to allow them to get what they need.
I could give you endless examples of things we should give permission to, if this is truly about “love.” However, the reality is that this is not loving at all. To support someone’s choice to be enslaved to sin is never loving. We would likely do anything possible to help someone getting out of an opioid addiction, but openly support the sins of others because society says it is ok. That is not loving at all.
Love is not giving permission to sin. That is not what the Gospel is about at all. Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law at all, but to uphold it (Matthew 5:17). Paul wrote that we are not given permission to sin. God wants a holy and righteous people (1 Peter 1:16). It is time that we stop looking for permission to do wrong, and start looking to do things as God would want from His royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).