When
speaking of people in the faith movement, opponents will use the phrase
"another gospel".
They reason that because faith teachers include the blessings of healing and
health as part of the Gospel, that they are teaching another gospel.
The phrase is drawn from Gal 1:6:
Gala 1
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you
into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
It is the
contention that the gospel taught by faith is "another gospel" and
no gospel at all. This accusation is odd indeed, in view of the context of
the book of Galatians, which is a defense of salvation of _by faith_, without
works.
Gala 2
16 Knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified.
Further, those who oppose the
faith movement continue and accuse it of not placing trust in God and Christ,
and having "faith in their own faith". This same book of Galatians
contains the proof text of the doctrine of identification. Identification
teaches that when we are born again, our old fallen nature passes away and we
are made now creatures. (2 Corin 5:1) This new creature in us is the spirit
of Christ. It is in Him that we live and move and exist. (Acts 17:38).
Gala 2
20 I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me.
When we say that we have faith, we
are saying that it is Christ that is having faith in us. It is not us, it is
the spirit of Christ in us that is loving, having faith, living, moving,
breathing, and existing. We no longer exist, as children of the devil with
his fallen nature.
The true irony of the attack against
the faith movement is seen as one reads further in Galatians concerning the
nature of the "other gospel".
Gala 3:
1 O foolish Galatians, who
hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes
Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn
of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by THE HEARING OF
FAITH?
3 Are ye so foolish? having
begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
(((the implication here is that
"beginning in the spirit" is beginning in FAITH, AND we are
completed by the spirit (OR BY FAITH))))
5 He therefore that
ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, [doeth he it]
by the works of the law, or by the HEARING OF FAITH?
Again, it is FAITH that is going
to begin our spiritual development, complete our spiritual development,
minister the Holy Spirit to us, and work miracle among us. It is
"another gospel" that departs from this HEARING OF FAITH.
Gala 3
6 Even as Abraham BELIEVED
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that
they which are of FAITH, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through FAITH, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be
blessed.
9 So then they which be of
FAITH are blessed with faithful Abraham.
That is me, I am of FAITH and so
am blessed with FAITHFUL Abraham!
Gala 3:11
But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, [it is] evident: for, The just
shall live by FAITH.
THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!
Those who do not live by faith have been deceived by another gospel.
Opponents of the faith movement
refute the concept that healing and health are a part of the gospel. Yet the
very book from which they draw the phrase "another gospel" states
the following:
Gal 3
13 Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:
Reading Deut 28 reveal the curses
and blessings of the law. Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
and purchased the blessings for us through His obedience. Those who deny
these verses are preaching a gutted, perverted gospel.
Gala 3:26
For ye are all the children
of God by FAITH in Christ Jesus.
Gala 5
6 For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but FAITH WHICH
WORKETH BY LOVE.
7 Ye did run well; who did
hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
To depart from "faith works
by love" are following another gospel.
Gal 6
15 For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature.
It is the new creature that
availeth. Those who refute this are following a false gospel.
In view of this. It is truly ironic
that foes of the FAITH movement would draw from the epistle of faith to
attack faith.
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