A more insidious risk: pathways to another gospel (2)

The mind tends to identify more obvious suspects as proponents of another gospel.  Almost invariably, they are quite some distance from ourselves, and to be honest, make much easier targets.  

In many cases, they look and sound the part, not as fiery protagonists (despite the distinctively Anglican penchant for the ‘gadfly’ persona), but more likely through a folksy, an assured ‘voice of reason’ type of charisma. Identification as those who specialise in saying what itching ears long to hear is all too easy.

As so often the case, the more insidious threat to spiritual health and gospel integrity is closer to hand. The capacity for self-deception is far stronger than we allow, especially when exercised on a ‘group-think’ scale.

As I suggested in my previous post, we find ourselves on this pathway when we take an otherwise worthy Gospel value and make it the bottom line. There are undoubtedly valid and important exhortations in regard to hospitality and inclusion. The welcome to all, irrespective of merit or worth based on spiritual attainment, is surely a gospel imperative.

The danger comes in making such admonitions the bottom line. It is all about the welcome, the acceptance, the loving embrace of God through the depth of God’s love and grace.

The danger is not so much in what we add to the Gospel (grace + works = ‘another gospel’, as many an exposition of Galatians has rightly affirmed) – the danger is even more sinister in what we leave out.

For all the clichéd disparagement over ‘another gospel’ diatribes, it seems to me the flaws and skewed proclamation of our age is in what we are choosing to leave out. It is the consumerist mindset in the realm of personal beliefs. We gravitate to (genuine) truths that sit more comfortably with us, that are more palatable to our own ears. It is an intuitive contextualising and accommodation to our cultural mindset—again, something that has significant apostolic precedent (1 Cor. 9:19-21; compare the latitude shown in cultural matters in Romans 14 & 15).

The ‘another gospel’ of our age is much closer to home than we care to admit, and it is the gospel of selective listening. And it is just as much a reality in evangelical churches as it is elsewhere.