How to identify a false gospel, and a true gospel.

[james1523]

The doctrine of non-essential and essential scripture did not start in the 19th century, it was always so from the beginning - there was no universally agreed canon of New Testament scripture in Christianity for 300 years. Well before the 19th Centuary.. even Martin Luther questioned James, Jude, Hebrews and the Book of Revelation, even calling James an "epistle of straw" due to its apparent lack of evangelical value. He even proposed removing these books from the Canon, so he did not consider them essential. For this reason these books are at the back of the German Luther bibles, and not in the usual order of other versions.

We say that Scripture is fact and absolute, and it is all essential, yet the process of deciding what is New Testament Scripture and what is not, came about over a long period of time by people deciding which writings were essential and which were non-essential. We may believe that all scripture is essential.. but what we know as 'scripture' came about from others deciding what is essential and non-essential for us. Is it essential that we know that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines... if we are taking a theology class, then probably yes.. but a child dying of starvation in Africa.. is it essential for them to know this fact? We have to consider the implications of saying 'all scripture is essential'. And then we have those who go even further, and not only declare all scripture essential, but a particular translation or version is essential.. eg the King James Version. And then in our private reading of the Scriptures.. some of us may read only the gospels, others read most of the Bible except perhaps Song of Songs or Ecclesiastes... in our private reading of the bible we unconsciously distinguish between non-essential and essential scriptures. The ones we read the least, or not at all, are probably non-essential to us. The Word of God is likened to spiritual food.. just as with real food we know that some foods like rice or bread are essential, they have the most nutrients, but other food like chocolate, sugars and sweets.. these are not essential, we can eat them rarely or not at all. It is the same when we come to the Word of God.. God has laid out this 'meal' for us, and all parts are not equal in importance or equal in nutritional value to our spirit. This is why we can save souls by preaching John 3:16... but try and save souls by preaching about dashing babies against rocks, and we will not be so successful.

 

[lawrenceb]

Then, there is the man made doctrine of "essential" and
"non-essential" New Testament doctrines. While this doctrine shows up
in the early 17th century in a statement by a German Lutheran,
Rupertus Meldenius, there probably was a much more recent beginning
for the doctrine. Rupertus Meldenius said "In necessariis unitas, in
dubitas libertas, in omnibus cartas." In English this says "In
essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things,
charity." Scripture calls for unity on all New Testament doctrines,
not liberty to accept or reject those which man has decided are the
"non-essentials."

"Till we come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4: 13

The Christian humanist mind, or the dialectic mind, can say Paul is
not talking here about unity of belief in the "non-essentials." But
there is no doctrine of "non-essentials" in scripture. The
implication of Paul's call to unity of the faith is that this is unity
on all New Testament doctrines.

The man made doctrine that there are "essential" and "non-essential"
New Testament doctrines works to protect those in doctrines which do
not agree with New Testament scriptures from fear that they may not be
saved, especially if they know and understand what Christ is saying in
Luke 13:25-27, "I know ye not whence ye are; depart from me all ye
workers of iniquity." He is not saying he does not know then were
they are geographically, but where they have positioned themselves in
their beliefs, in their doctrines. If one just decides on his own,
without Biblical support , that Christ is not talking about the
"non-essential" doctrines he believes in, which are false, then the
doctrine of "essential" and "non-essential" teachings becomes a
defense mechanism, which can be deadly.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Amen, brother.

 

[amadeus2]

just a servant wrote: You must be able to tell the difference between the false gospel and the true one - and you must be able to do so with more than a feeling. You must use prayer, scripture, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit

Yes indeed! This what Jesus meant when He said:

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Matt 11:15