Audio only:
In this episode Trent turns the tables on those who say Catholicism preaches a false Gospel.
Salvation Is From the Catholic Church by Trent Horn
Transcription:
Trent:
As a Catholic, it’s not hard to find other Christians who say my religion teaches a false gospel, and so it isn’t even Christian. Thankfully, most Protestants don’t make these unpleasant claims, which is why I call them pleasant Protestants. Their unpleasant counterparts, however, say Catholicism is not Christian because it teaches a false gospel, but unpleasant Protestants shoot themselves in the foot because they can’t consistently and biblically answer this question. What is the gospel? The word gospel comes from the Greek word Eugelion, literally good news. But in almost every case, the word is used in scripture without any explanation of what the good news is. Matthew refers to the good news of the kingdom or the good news being preached. Mark describes Jesus speaking of the good news or the good news of God. Luke shows Jesus preaching good news for the poor, and these passages also point back to verses in Isaiah proclaiming the good news of God’s victory over his enemies.
We know the gospel was preached during Christ’s earthly ministry, but what was initially preached was not a message about Christ’s death, his resurrection, or how he would redeem humanity from sin. At this point, the gospel was just the good news that God’s kingdom was entering the world and things would finally be set right. After Christ’s resurrection, we find some passages in Paul’s letters that are closer to a definition of the gospel as we know it today. Romans 1:16 says the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. In one Corinthians 15, Paul says, “Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preach to you the gospel, the good news, which you received, in which you stand, by which you were saved if you hold it fast, unless you believed in vain.” Paul then describes this good news through what many scholars identify as an early creed that was formulated just a few years after Christ’s crucifixion.
It says, “Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose three days later, and appeared to numerous people, including Paul. Notice though that there’s no description of the gospel being about our individual salvation from damnnable sin, even though that is how the gospel is often summarized. Instead, as my colleague Jimmy Akin points out …
CLIP:
The core of the gospel beginning with texts in the Old Testament is that the time for God’s kingdom has arrived and all opposing powers will be overthrown. The elaboration of the gospel is that God’s kingdom will be implemented through his son. And a happy consequence of that fact is that we can be saved through his son. The New Testament’s understanding is not about us as individuals and how we can benefit. The gospel is just not about us. Instead, the good news is about what God and his son are doing in the world, what they’re doing to their enemies like the devil and the pagan world order and how we can benefit his individuals, how we can get on board with God’s plan is a consequence of the gospel, but it’s not the essence of the good news.
Trent:
For an extended treatment of the question, what is the gospel? See Jimmy’s full video link below. So at minimum, we can say the gospel is the good news of God’s kingdom entering the world that saves God’s people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul says it is in Christ that we have the good news of our salvation. But these verses about the gospel never say the good news is about salvation through faith alone or grace alone or any other doctrinal formula. The gospel is just the salvation that comes through God’s power being implemented in his kingdom through his son. Since Catholicism affirms this truth, that means the Catholic church is not preaching a false gospel. The glossary of the catechism of the Catholic church defines the gospel as the good news of God’s mercy and love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
It is this gospel or good news that the apostles and the church following them are to proclaim to the entire world. People who say Catholicism teaches a false gospel usually arrive at this conclusion through two mistaken lines of thought. First, they assume the gospel is identical to all essential doctrines of the faith. But as we’ve seen, the Bible never defines the gospel in this way. The Trinity and Jesus’ messianic status are essential doctrines of Christianity, but scripture never says that these truths are part of the gospel or the good news. Second, these critics assume essential doctrines for their denomination must also be essential doctrines of the Christian faith, and so those doctrines must be part of the gospel as well. Consider this sermon from the late Vadi Bacham.
CLIP:
And God imputes our sinfulness to him and he nails our sinfulness to the tree and Christ dies and raises again on the third day for our justification. And there’s another imputation. The righteousness of Christ is actually imputed to us. That’s the gospel that we preach.
Trent:
But as Protestant Theologian Randall Rouser notes, this articulation of the gospel doesn’t come from the Bible. Instead, it comes from reformed theological traditions about things like the double imputation of sin and Christ righteousness. Bacham seems to have conflated his summary of the Calvinist plan of salvation with the gospel. So Rouser says-
CLIP:
But it’s not the gospel. It’s an interpretation of the gospel. The Greek danger, when people like Bacham conflate their theoretical understanding of the gospel with the gospel is, first of all, now they end up changing the gospel because now the gospel becomes essentially about proclaiming reformed theology.
Trent:
And Rauser says this approach leads to people like Bacham treating Christians who disagree with him on doctrines like the specific nature of the atonement as being less Christian than him or not even Christian at all. For example, when many people are asked to summarize the gospel in one Bible verse, they’ll often point to John 3:16, where John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Even though many Protestants say the gospel of John is sufficient to proclaim the gospel, the word gospel is not in John’s gospel. At best, this verse serves as a loose summary of the plan of salvation that flows from what the gospel is, but this verse is at least the start of a much better answer to the question, what is the gospel than what the late John MacArthur said in the following clip when he was asked to summarize the gospel in a single verse.
CLIP:
Greatest gospel verse in the Bible. Second Corinthians 5:21. He made him who knew no sin. Sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God punished Jesus for my sin, turns right around and treats me as if I lived his life. That’s the great doctrine of substitution, and on that doctrine turned the whole reformation of the church, that is the heart of the gospel. And what you get is complete forgiveness covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When he looks at the cross, he sees you. When he looks at you, he sees Christ.
Trent:
So MacArthur said the heart of the gospel is his particular reformed interpretation of two Corinthians 5:21. This involves our sins being imputed to Christ so that God sees us on the cross and so he consequently punishes us while punishing Christ. And now God only sees Christ when he looks at us and so he rewards us with eternal life. But once again, the Bible does not say this is the gospel. Even though Eugelian is used nine times in two Corinthians, even if the passage was teaching the doctrine MacArthur thinks it’s teaching, that doesn’t make it part of the gospel. Protestants know the gospel is not identical to everything the New Testament teaches because each of the major Protestant denominations differ on what they think the New Testament teaches, but they do not anathematize every other Protestant as preaching a false gospel just because they have mistaken theology.
Well, classical Protestants don’t do this, but some evangelicals venture into this rhetoric as can be seen in this exchange between Redeem Zoomer and Ryan from needgod.net.
CLIP:
Because I think Luther was someone who did think baptism was required for salvation.
So would you say Luther is preaching a false gospel then?
If that’s what he sincerely believed, then yeah, he would be preaching a false gospel on that basis.
Trent:
Returning to MacArthur’s answer, if the heart of the gospel was a particular reformed understanding of two Corinthians 5:21, then followers of John Wesley, i.e. Many Methodists, who believe in an imparted righteousness rather than an imputed righteousness would have a false gospel. The same is true for any Christian who denies the doctrine of double imputation and believes Seton Corinthians 5:21 teaches something else. This includes believing the verse as a reference to just the incarnation or Christ coming in the form of sinful flesh, as Romans eight three says. The verse could also mean Christ became sin in the sense that Christ became a sacrificial sin offering on our behalf. Since the Hebrew word for sin is the same word for sin offering. Ironically, in another interview later in his life, MacArthur warned about expanding the concept of the gospel to include doctrines that are not a part of the good news.
CLIP:
It’s very easy to pile stuff on top of the gospel and then even eliminate the real gospel, but it has to do with the best news that anyone will ever hear, and that is you can escape eternal punishment, spend eternity in heaven.
Trent:
But we also have to be careful to not radically underdefine the gospel because it has essential elements a Christian cannot reject. In Galatians one, Paul chastises the Galatians for deserting the faith for a different gospel, which isn’t real good news, but a perversion of the true gospel. For example, Islam teaches a false gospel because its good news about salvation rejects Christ’s death and resurrection, which we’ve seen are fundamental parts of the gospel. Likewise, claiming that circumcision is necessary for salvation, as some Galatians had done, constituted a false gospel. That’s because the circumcision requirement basically said to be a Christian, you have to become a Jew first, but the good news is that through the son, God’s kingdom would be universal and not belong only to one group of people. Hence, this is why while Paul chastises other theological errors in his letters, he reserves the charge of having another gospel or a false gospel for doctrines that contradict the core message of the gospel.
So to summarize, pleasant Protestants can answer the question, what is the gospel by agreeing with Catholics and letting the Bible speak for itself. The gospel is the good news of God’s kingdom being implemented through the death and resurrection of his son. Unpleasant Protestants who say Catholics preach a false unbiblical gospel themselves rely on an unbiblical definition of the gospel in order to make that argument, which becomes obvious when you ask them where the Bible specifically says the gospel, Yugelian, is identical to their pet doctrines. However, the Christian faith, even the essential doctrines of the Christian faith involve much more than the message of the gospel. Even pleasant Protestants who believe Catholicism preaches the gospel still have to wrestle with a difficult question. Which doctrines are essential to the Christian faith and how do we know they are essential? Many Protestants believe scripture is perspicuous or that it clearly reveals the essential doctrines Christians must believe.
The Westminster confession says those things which are “necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other that not only the learned, but the unlearned in a due use of the ordinary means may attain undo a sufficient understanding of them. But isn’t it necessary for salvation to know if the largest Christian denomination in the world, Catholicism, preaches a true gospel or a false gospel? Even learned Protestants using ordinary means do not have agreement on this question, as can be seen in debates between Protestants on the question of whether Catholics are Christian or if they have a false gospel. Ironically, this provides evidence that God’s authority structure for the church is not grounded in something like solo scriptura, but a living teaching office or a magisterium capable of settling disputes definitively through authoritative, universal, and infallible teachings.
Finally, I hope this episode will encourage Catholics to be able to give an elevator pitch answer to the question, what is the gospel? Many Protestants will not take you seriously if you are unable to answer this question. So as one Peter 3:15 says, always be ready to give a reason or an answer for the hope within, but with gentleness and reverence. For more on this issue, I recommend my colleague Jimmy Akin’s book, The Drama of Salvation, and my new book, Salvation is from the Catholic Church available at the links below. And if you want to meet me and over 30 other Catholic creators this spring, then register for our April 11th evangelism conference hosted right here in Dallas. Tickets are available at conferenceoftrent.com. Over half of them have been sold already, so be sure to get yours today. And if you enjoy our content and wanted to grow and expand, please support us at trenthornpodcast.com.
Thank you so much for watching and I hope you have a very blessed day.