The Double-Talk of Duluth Bible Church

The Bible says that church leaders “must be men of dignity, not double-tongued” (1 Tim. 3:8, NASB).

The word “double-tongued” (1 Tim. 3:8, KJV) is a translation of the Greek word dilogos, which literally means “speaking double”.[1] In more colloquial or conversational English we would say “doublespeak” or “double talk”. Similar to John Bunyan’s parson Mr. Two-Tongues[2] in The Pilgrim's Progress, Duluth Bible Church is unfortunately two-tongued in regards to the most important subject in this world and the next — the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Double-Talk Example #1: According to Duluth Bible Church, the Gospel INCLUDES and EXCLUDES Christ’s burial and appearances!

• Duluth Bible Church says the Gospel INCLUDES Christ’s burial and appearances: 

“Hearing the Gospel   

In June of 1995, I met Bruce Stromberg, who is now my husband. He invited me to come out to church with him, and in July I finally got up enough courage to do that. I began attending church regularly, every Sunday and Wednesday, and slowly, over the next month, the truth of the Gospel began to sink in and make sense to me. Sometime in early August of that year, I understood the Gospel. 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, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)    

 

Saved By God’s Grace  

I truly became saved! So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)”[3]

• Duluth Bible Church says the Gospel EXCLUDES Christ’s burial and appearances: 

“Paul did not consider the burial and appearances to be part of ‘the gospel’ that he originally preached to the Corinthians (Acts 18:4-5) which he is restating in 1 Corinthians 15:1ff”.[4] 

“only the substitutionary death and bodily resurrection of Christ are elements of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, in contrast to the burial and appearances”.[5]

Double-Talk Example #2: According to Duluth Bible Church, the Gospel INCLUDES and EXCLUDES Christ’s burial!

• Duluth Bible Church says the Gospel INCLUDES Christ’s burial: 

“What is ‘the Gospel’?  

GOSPEL = ‘GOOD NEWS’ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how 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 15:3-4 … Believe the Gospel and eternal life is yours today!”[6]

 

“JESUS WAS BURIED  

Jesus Christ was buried in a tomb as stated in the Gospel (The Good News) ‘…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 Cor. 15:3-4).”[7]

• Duluth Bible Church says the Gospel EXCLUDES Christ’s burial: 

“the empirical proof of [Christ’s] death was that ‘He was buried’ [1 Cor. 15:4] – which isn’t the gospel but the proof of the gospel”.[8]

Double-Talk Example #3: According to Duluth Bible Church, the content of saving faith INCLUDES and EXCLUDES Christ’s burial!

• Duluth Bible Church says the content of saving faith INCLUDES Christ’s burial: 

“SOLE CONDITION FOR SALVATION 

We believe the only response to the Gospel of grace which saves a soul from Hell is faith alone in Christ alone, whereby the lost sinner believes that Jesus Christ died for all his sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead (Jn. 1:12; 3:15-18, 5:24, 6:32-40, 8:24; Acts 16:30-31; 1 Cor. 15:1-4, 17).”[9]

• Duluth Bible Church says the content of saving faith EXCLUDES Christ’s burial: 

“There are several slight changes within this [doctrinal] statement which you should note: ... The proposed change does not make belief in the historical fact of Christ’s burial a condition upon which a person’s eternal destiny rests.…it is therefore not absolutely essential for someone to know about it and believe it in order to go to heaven, as the original statement seemed to indicate.”[10]

Dear reader, don’t be deceived by such double-talk on the Gospel! For what does the Bible say?

“But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.” (Matthew 5:37, NASB 1995)

“But as God is faithful [reliable, trustworthy], our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you…was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.” (2 Corinthians 1:18-19, NASB 1995)

ENDNOTES:

[1] See the translator’s note (tn #12) on 1 Timothy 3:8 in the NET Bible. SCRIPTURE QUOTED BY PERMISSION. QUOTATIONS DESIGNATED (NET) ARE FROM THE NET BIBLE® COPYRIGHT © 2005 BY BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. www.bible.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

[2] See A. T. Robertson, Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:8. Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament. Broadman Press 1932, 1933, Renewal 1960. Commenting on 1 Timothy 3:8, Robertson says: “Not double-tongued (μη διλογους — mē dilogous)....Only here in N.T. One placed between two persons and saying one thing to one, another to the other. Like Bunyan's Parson ‘Mr. Two-Tongues.’”

[3] Wendy Stromberg, “God’s Grace to a Searching Agnostic,” Dennis Rokser, Editor, Trophies Of God’s Grace – Personal Testimonies of God’s Gift of Salvation #1 (Duluth: Duluth Bible Church, 2006), pp. 21-22, bold and italics original, ellipsis added. Note: Dennis Rokser is the former senior pastor of Duluth Bible Church in Duluth, Minnesota.
     Also note that the previous link (Trophies Of God's Grace - Personal Testimonies of God's Gift of Salvation #1) has been deleted on the Duluth Bible Church website. The article "God's Grace to a Searching Agnostic" originally appeared in the May/June 2000 edition of the Duluth Bible Church's print publication called The Grace Family Journal (GFJ). In the past, all the GFJ articles appeared online on the Duluth Bible Church website in the PDF format which showed the original page layout of the print publication. But now all of the online Grace Family Journal articles have been retyped (or are in the process of being retyped) and simply appear online in the HTML format, which is not the original printed layout. The current HTML edition of "God's Grace to a Searching Agnostic" on the Duluth Bible Church website has omitted part of the original article which included the phrase "and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve" (1 Cor. 15:5). Those words from the original article have been deleted in the updated article. The updated article has also changed the Scripture reference from "1 Corinthians 15:3-5" to "1 Cor. 3:3-5". 

     As I compared the original article with the updated article, I also noticed that other changes had been made to the gospel message. In the the original PDF article "God's Grace to a Searching Agnostic," it had said (on page 3): "I began attending church regularly, every Sunday and Wednesday, and slowly, over the next month, the truth of the Gospel began to sink in and make sense to me. Sometime in early August of that year, I understood the Gospel. 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, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5) I truly became saved! So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)" Whereas in the changed HTML article "God's Grace to a Searching Agnostic," it now says: "I began attending church regularly, every Sunday and Wednesday, and slowly, over the next month, the truth of the Gospel began to sink in and make sense to me. Sometime in early August of that year, I understood the Gospel. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how 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 Cor. 3:3-5) I truly became saved! So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)"

     At least three changes can be noted when comparing the two statements: (1) In the new article, the comma after the word "Scriptures" in 1 Corinthians 15:4 has been removed and changed to an artificial period. (2) The words "and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve" (1 Cor. 15:5) have been deleted, and the reference to 1 Corinthians 15:5 from the original article had also been completely removed! (3) As I mentioned above, the updated article incorrectly says "1 Cor. 3:3-5", whereas the original article had correctly said "1 Corinthians 15:3-5". These might seem like "little" changes, but the Bible says that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump"! 

    The tragedy here is that Duluth Bible Church is getting the gospel changed, and therefore they are getting the gospel wrong. By way of contrast, the apostle Paul says to the church: "hold fast the word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain." What word is it that we are to hold fast? In context, it is the word of "the gospel" (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-2). What is the gospel that Paul preached? He tells us clearly: "I declare to you the gospel...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve" (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-5).

[4] Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ (Milwaukee: Grace Gospel Press, 2009), p. 579, italics original.  Note: Tom Stegall is the former pastor of Word of Grace Bible Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Word of Grace Bible Church is a church-plant of Duluth Bible Church. Stegall is currently on staff at Duluth Bible Church.

[5] Ibid., p. 585.

[6] This statement is printed on the back cover of a gospel tract from Stegall’s former church (Word of Grace Bible Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin). The tract is titled “CHRIST HAS BRIDGED THE GULF”. Emphasis original, ellipsis added.

[7] Dennis Rokser, GOOD NEWS! – Unfolding The Answer To Life’s Greatest Puzzle! (Duluth: Duluth Bible Church, no date), p. 5, emphasis and ellipsis original. Note: The link downloads the GOOD NEWS! booklet from the archived Duluth Bible Church website. The booklet is published by Duluth Bible Church.  

[8] Dennis Rokser, “Is The Resurrection An Essential Part Of The Gospel?, Pt 2” [timestamp approx. 22 min. 30 sec.], Duluth Bible Church mid-week service, Wednesday, April 11, 2012.

[9] Word of Grace Bible Church Constitution, Article 3: Doctrinal Statement, “SOLE CONDITION FOR SALVATION” (dated: “September 7, 2003”), p. 5, emphasis original.

[10] Tom Stegall, "Proposed Change” to the “SOLE CONDITION FOR SALVATION” section of the Word of Grace Bible Church Doctrinal Statement. Word of Grace Bible Church handout (circa 2007), no page number, bold and italics original.