When I went over to a Far East country to share the gospel, our group went to an outside shopping market with vendors of all kinds selling Rolex watches to top of the line products.
The only problem is that they weren’t originals. They were knockoffs at knockoff prices. You could buy a fake Rolex watch, Louis Vuitton purse, or Polo shirt for one-tenth of the price of the original.
But when it comes to sharing the gospel, there are no knockoffs. There is only one gospel message; all the others are cheap imitations, and we must be careful not to buy into them.
This was the Apostle Paul’s emphasis to the church in Galatia. There were those who came promoting “another gospel which is not another.” (Galatians 1: 6b-7a)
Actually Paul called it a ‘heteros’ gospel that isn’t an ‘allos’ gospel. ‘Heteros’ denotes a qualitative difference, while ‘allos’ denotes a numerical difference.
A heteros gospel not only means a different kind, but also has a sense of being evil. It’s where we get our English word, heterodoxy meaning “false doctrine.”
An allos gospel means it’s not the gospel at all. There can’t be two good news, only one. This is the problem of religion and thinking there is more than one way to heaven.
Paul is saying there are no knockoffs when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another.” (Galatians 1:6-7a)
What’s disturbing is how easy false teaching is presented in the church. A little addition and subtraction here and there distorts the purity of God’s word and the gospel message.
Therefore we must be careful and guard against the knockoffs.
The Apostle John says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)
