Gospel vs. Religion
taken from the acts29 site
By Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29 Network
If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. – Galatians 1:9
Is your Christianity marked by a deep belief, assurance and dependency on grace through Jesus? Or is your heart bent on man-fearing, self-worshiping religiosity? Religious people are glory thieves – taking from God what is rightfully his. Even worse than resulting in personal corruption, religion spread insidiously in churches; Paul’s fiercest commands throughout his letters were always against the religious people in the church.
Grace is freedom from the curse of works (Gal. 3:10), freedom from condemnation (Gal 2:15), freedom from slavery (Gal. 5:1) and freedom to worship and obey Jesus by the power of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Religion can never love or honor Jesus – it is ashamed of and offended (Gal. 5:11) by the gospel that declares all as sinners in need of a Savior. Religion says you can save yourself. Religion is “another gospel.”
What gospel are you spreading like a wildfire in your church or life? Grace? Or Religion?
Tim Keller shows the difference between Religion and Gospel in his new publication, Gospel in Life Study Guide (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), p. 16.
Acceptance
- Religion: “I obey; therefore, I’m accepted.”
- Gospel: “I’m accepted; therefore, I obey.”
Motivation
- Religion: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
- Gospel: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
Obedience
- Religion: I obey God in order to get things from God.
- Gospel: I obey God to get God – to delight in an resemble him.
Circumstances
- Religion: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
- Gospel: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle, but I know my punishment fell on Jesus and that while God may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
Criticism
- Religion: When I am criticized, I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a “good person.” Threats to self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
- Gospel: When I am criticized, I struggle, but it is not essential for me to think of myself as a “good person.” My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ.
Prayer
- Religion: My prayer life consists largely of petition, and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
- Gospel: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with God.
Confidence
- Religion: My self-view swings things between to poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel humble but not confident – I feel like a failure.
- Gospel: My self-view is not based on my moral achievement. In Christ I am simul lustus et peccator – simultaneously sinful and lost, yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad that he had to die for me, and I am so loved that he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deep humility and confidence at the same time.
Identity
- Religion: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work, or how moral I am – and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral.
- Gospel: My identity and self worth are centered on the one who died for me. I am saved by sheer grace and I can’t look down on those who believe or practices something different from me. Only by grace am I what I am.
3 Responses
Sweet! I haven’t heard a lot about a discrepancy in religion vs. gospel; that was interesting and good to hear =) Usually, I witness debate about faith vs. religion. So I wanna ask, where do you think “faith” fits into all of this?
regarding religion, there are several definitions of it that people think about these days. one definition given on dictionary.com is :
“a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. ”
so in a sense, the focus is more on the set of beliefs and the “devotional and ritual observances” and “a moral code.” these days i believe that people see religion as a very ritualistic affair. The gospel calls us to the importance of grace and what it means in our lives. the gospel tells us that its not about what we do that pleases God but where our hearts at.
This guy in the book God Space said something like, “I hate religion. Religion is a bunch of man-made rituals and traditions designed to change you from the outside in. I’m talking about true spirituality, where God takes up residence inside of you and changes you from the inside out.”
faith in dictionary.com is defined as:
“the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.”
and in Hebrews 11:1 it is:
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
I do believe that dictionary.com but it in a pretty good way in that we have to trust in God and everything that He is. from what i feel, there really isnt any faith involved in religion because it’s about you doing stuff to save yourself. it’s all about you. we have to have faith in God and His promises.
haha i know this isnt comprehensive but this is so cool haha
So you’re saying religion is more like works-based belief in ourselves; faith is believing in the works of Someone else. Agreed! To quote Ephesians 2:8-9: it is by grace we have been saved through faith…not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Well stated =)
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