The Gospel According to Paul
“According to Paul’s own statement, when he came to Corinth to preach, he was ‘determined not to know anything among [them] except Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ (1 Cor 2:2). Later in the epistle, Paul describes his gospel as one that declared ‘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’ (15:3).”[1]
The Gospel According to Hodges
“You see, as we noted previously, the facts surrounding the gospel
message – such as the death and resurrection of Christ – are important
facts for what they tell us about the reasons for trusting Christ. But
believing these facts doesn’t save anyone. People are only saved when
they believe that Jesus gives them eternal life the moment they believe
in Him for that.”[2]
Can Two Walk Together Without Agreeing?
There is a Bible verse in the Old Testament where the question is asked, “Can two walk together without agreeing...?” (Amos 3:3). My point is simply this: the apostle Paul clearly includes Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in the gospel (Hodges even admits this!), but Hodges excludes them. The apostle Paul only preached one gospel (i.e. the biblical gospel, Gal. 1:6-9) which is therefore true, which means that Hodges’ gospel is “another gospel” and is therefore false.
And so while Zane Hodges might not have changed his view on the gospel, he did change the gospel![3]
References:
[1] Zane Hodges, “How to Lead People to Christ, Part 1: The Content of Our Message,” Journal of the Grace
Evangelical Society 13 (Autumn 2000), p. 10, italics added.
[2] Zane Hodges, “How to Lead People to Christ, Part 2: Our Invitation to Respond,” Journal of the Grace
Evangelical Society 14 (Spring 2001), p. 11, italics added.
[3] I believe that Hodges did change his view on the gospel, but my point here is that whether he did or didn’t change his view, either way his “promise-only gospel” is a distortion of Paul’s gospel, i.e. the biblical gospel. Thus Hodges’ new mini-gospel falls under the curse of God (see Gal. 1:6-9).
2 comments:
Bob Wilkin (the founder and executive director of the Grace Evangelical Society and a staunch disciple of Zane Hodges), writes the following statement which makes it clear that the gospel proclaimed by the Grace Evangelical Society is noticeably different than the gospel that Paul preached. Wilkin writes:
“Jesus made it clear that the only condition [for salvation] is being convinced that He guarantees eternal life to all who believe in Him. Add anything to that and you have a different gospel.” (Wilkin, “Saving Faith in Focus”, JOTGES, Autumn 1998, http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1998ii/J21-98d.htm)
So in Acts 16:31, the apostle Paul is adding to the gospel?! John Malone points out how proponents of the “promise-only” gospel twist Acts 16:31 and say that Paul is really talking about physical salvation. John Malone shares what was taught at a 2005 church conference he attended where Bob Wilkin and John Niemela were the keynote speakers. Malone details how Niemela twisted Acts 16:31 in order to try to make it fit with the teaching of the “promise-only” gospel:
“Niemela also said that the {Acts 16:31|Acts 16:31} had to do with the Philippian jailor wanting to know what to do to save his physical life. Because, as Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin frequently state, Jesus never disappoints those who come to Him, apparently anyone who is in danger of physical death can ask Jesus for salvation from it, and they will receive it! This isogesis, of course, was used by Niemela to sustain his (Hodges) argument that one must not simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, but must believe that ‘Jesus is the guarantor of eternal life’ whether they believe Him to be Lord or Christ or not!
Niemela’s view that Acts 16:31 pertains to salvation from impending physical death is based upon his self-willed opinion – only – in order to sustain a faulty argument against its use in bringing someone to Christ.”
(John Malone, “GES’ Bob Wilkin: A Heretic’s Vagaries and Intrigue,” biblestudy.net, https://www.biblestudy.net/2007/08/02/ges-bob-wilkin-a-heretics-vagueries-and-intrigue/)
Pastor Sensenig well summarizes the truth when he says, “People need something more to believe than just the promise of eternal life. They must also ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ [Acts 16:31],’ the only One who can give them eternal life.”
(Sensenig, “Grace Evangelical Society and the Content of Saving Faith”, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d63d5eabaa52d0001d2604f/t/623827b92299cb53d64bf53e/1647847354140/Grace+Evangelical+Society+and+the+Content+of+Saving+Faith.pdf)
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