“6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9).

     Uniquely, a large amount of the teaching of the Epistles of the New Covenant books of the Bible are written to correct perversions of what is necessary for a person to be saved from the condemnation of the curse of God upon sin. It is clear from the above statement of the Apostle Paul that there were necessary absolute truths connected to the gospel of Jesus Christ as well as absolute necessary responses to those truths before a person could truly and genuinely be “born again.”

     Every new generation of mankind seems to invent its only perversions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of those perversions, like much of what the Biblical Epistles deal with, added requirements for salvation to the finished work of the incarnate Son of God in His sinless life and penal substationary death to propitiate God’s wrath and justify believing sinners. Enormous amounts of detail in numerous texts is given to correcting these perversions of the gospel. We must conclude that correcting these perversions is extremely important to maintaining the objective facts of the gospel in order to maintain the purity of objective faith. In other words, there were absolutely certain beliefs that would “pervert the gospel” and lead people into a false faith and a false hope. If someone was misled to believe in any perversion of the gospel, that perverted gospel was leavened generating a leavened faith.

“2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 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? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:2-9).

     Obviously, the physical act of being circumcised does not affect a person in any way spiritually. Why then does Paul make such a big deal of this issue. Paul made a big deal of this issue, because he knew by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that there were Jews who had made a profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah who were requiring Gentile believers to be circumcised in order to complete their salvation. For these Jews, faith was merely the beginning of salvation. Law keeping was also necessary. In Paul’s epistle to the Colossians, he spoke specifically and definitively to this particular perversion of the gospel.

“4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:4-15).

     Adding requirements to the gospel was a perversion of the gospel by expansion. When individuals trusted in this expansionist gospel, this resulted in misplaced faith and a false hope in a false salvation. This misplaced faith is what Paul is confronting in the Epistle to the Galatians. Jews, who had made a profession of faith in Jesus as their Messiah, were adding to the gospel of salvation “by grace through faith” by making the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant necessary to salvation. Paul, by the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit of God, puts a strangled hold on this heresy and seeks to choke it to death.

     Uniquely, one of the reasons why this perversion of the Gospel got a foothold at Galatia and other places was due to Peter and Barnabas. Rather than stir up trouble among these Jews, who were professing faith in Jesus as their Messiah but requiring Law keeping to complete salvation, Peter and Barnabas allowed (tolerated) this teaching to keep peace (false unity). Paul had to confront Peter and Paul for allowing this perversion to go on without putting a stop to it.

“11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation {hypocrisy}. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 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” (Galatians 2:11-16).

     What is Paul confronting and correcting in this text? The priesthood of apostate Israel had perverted the Mosaic Covenant to make the conditions for God’s blessing the conditions for salvation. The Mosaic Covenant was a suzerain-vassal agreement, meaning it was a bilateral and conditional covenant between God and the nation of Israel (not individuals) and, therefore, was a covenant of “works,” unlike the Abrahamic Covenant, which was an unconditional covenant given “by grace” and received “through faith.”

     If National Israel would faithfully enforce the Law (Mosaic Covenant) judicially upon the children of Israel, God promised to bless the Nation of Israel. If National Israel failed to faithfully enforce the Law judicially upon the children of Israel, God promised to curse the Nation of Israel (oppose everything they tried to do).

     The Abrahamic Covenant too was a dualistic covenant with both National and Spiritual Israel. To be part of National Israel, one needed to be born a descendant of Abraham. To be part of Spiritual Israel one needed to be a “born again” descendant of Christ (the Abrahamic Covenant was typically made with Abraham, but actually made with Christ (see Gal. 3:19, 26, and 29).

     Therefore, the Mosaic Covenant was a “blessing and a curse” covenant (see Deut. 11:26-32 compared with Deut. 29:1 through 30:20). The vast majority of National Israel had been misled by the priesthood of Israel to believe that the conditional “blessing and a curse” covenant were conditions for individual salvation. In other words, the vast majority of National Israel had been misled into placing their faith in their keeping the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant in order to be saved, which to them came to mean being part of the Kingdom on earth promises of God. This was a complete misunderstanding of the “blessing and a curse” of the Mosaic Covenant (Gal. 3:19). Paul introduced the fact that Gentiles were part of the Abrahamic Covenant as early as Rom. 3:19-31 correcting the false notion that justification came through the “blessing and a curse” Mosaic Covenant. The Jews professing faith in Jesus as Messiah tried to impose this false premise upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was not going to tolerate this perversion of the gospel.

     Covenant Theology or Replacement Theology continued to propagate this expansionist perverted gospel. They replaced being part of the nation of Israel to be saved with being baptized in The Church to be saved. They replaced circumcision with infant Baptist to be saved. They replaced the priesthood of Israel through which God’s grace came to Israel through the sacrifices with ordained clergymen through which God’s grace came to Church members through participation in the sacraments. Galatians 1:6-9 applies to these corrupting forms of expansionism within professing Christianity as much as it did to the corrupting forms of the Judaist expansionism.

     Why spend so much time on Soteriological Expansionism when the subject of these studies is the evolution of Soteriological Reductionism? The reason I do so is because God has given us a great deal of Scripture to insure that the purity of the gospel is protected. In giving these various inspired texts dealing with perversions adding to the gospel, the details and specifics of the gospel become very defined and definite.

     By the late 1600’s liberal theological thought began a steady slide into Apostasy when a reductionist philosophical notion known as Pluralism came into religious circles. Pluralism is the teaching that says it really does not matter what you believe about God, as long as you believe in God or a god in some form.

     Pluralism denotes any metaphysical theory claiming that reality consists of a multiplicity of distinct, fundamental entities. The term was first used by Christian Wolff (1679-1754), and later popularized by William James in The Will to Believe (in 1896). As a theological term, it refers to the belief that “god” exists with many different names and within all religions. These religions worship the same “god,” only using different names and belief systems. These are commonly referred to as different faiths.

     For this type of theological reductionism, Pluralism taught that doctrine (the teachings of various religions) is secondary (sometimes totally irrelevant) to “belief” in “god,” whatever the form or practice that belief system takes. Communion between various faiths is based upon any ground of commonality while ignoring their doctrinal differences. In most cases, the only ground of commonality these faiths possess is belief in a god of some kind. Pluralism became the central basis for Ecumenicism based upon a religious philosophy of reducing theological requirements for salvation to the most reducible common denominator; i.e., belief in a god, regardless of what this god was called.

     Pluralism became the norm for those trained in Classical Theological institutions (which were more philosophical than theological). Pluralism was merely one step away from Universalism. Classical Theological education led to both Higher and Lower Criticism and, ultimately, to the Theological Liberalism of the early 1900’s.

     Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (who came to be known merely as Mahatma Gandhi; (1869-1948) was very influential in establishing Pluralism within Ecumenicism and the present day anathema upon proselytizing those of other faiths. Many theological liberals were being greatly influenced by the Eastern Mystic religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Manchurian Gnosticism during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Gandhi is quoted as saying 1 :

     “‘After long study and experience, I have come to the conclusion that (1) all religions are true; (2) all religions have some error in them; (3) all religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism, in as much as all human beings should be as dear to one as one’s own close relatives. My own veneration for other faiths is the same as that for my own faith; therefore no thought of conversion is possible.” (underling added)

     Although Fundamental Christianity (and most of Evangelical Christianity) rejected both Pluralism and its child call Ecumenicism, those calling themselves New Evangelicals and holding to a Universalist Ecclesiology (not the same as Universalist Soteriology) began to dialoged with the Liberals with the argument of seeking to maintain theological and cultural relevancy within the Christian community (“body of Christ”). This pursuit of theological and cultural relevancy by New Evangelicals has been the cause of many degrees of their continuing and gradual compromise of Truth. As a result of this dialoged, most of the participants began to try to find the most reducible form of the gospel to which they could agree in order to have a degree of unity. This soteriological reductionism came forth in three main streams within Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism by the 1950’s:

1. Easy Believism (New Evangelicalism)
2. Only Believism (Evangelicalism)
3. Easy Prayerism (much of Fundamentalism; One, Two, Three, say it after me!)

     What Paul is saying in Galatians 1:6-9 is a simple message: If the gospel is allowed to be perverted in any way, evangelism is perverted as well as the necessary faith that brings genuine salvation and conversion. These three forms of Soteriological Reductionism have filled evangelical local churches with people masquerading as “born again” Christians when in reality, most of them are nothing more than “whited sepulchers.” This reality exists because all three of these forms of Reductionism are perversions in varying degrees of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Easy Believism (New Evangelicalism)

     Easy Believism was the most extreme form of Reductionism within Evangelicalism coming out this era. The common denominator within Easy Believism was that Jesus was the Son of God incarnate and that He died for the sins of mankind. If a person believed these basic truths about Jesus, regardless of any false beliefs he might hold to, he could still claim to be “born again.” It most cases, few, if any, of the objective and definitive facts of the gospel were required to be taught or understood before a salvation decision could be asked for.

     Ian Murray, in Revivals and Revivalism2 , says that the Presbyterian Evangelist Charles Finney (1792-1875) “believed that all that was needed for conversion was a resolution signified by standing, kneeling, or coming forward, and because the Holy Spirit always acts when a sinner acts, the public resolution could be treated as ‘identical with the miraculous inward change of sudden conversion’.”

Easy Believism had four basic tenets to it:

1. A conversion experience is the only thing necessary for genuine salvation (whatever defines that experience). If a person can testify to a time he accepted/received Christ into his heart, that person has eternal security and should be given assurance of salvation. Therefore, an experience was looked for in order to give assurance that salvation had taken place. A very wide diversity of experiences were acceptable for this assurance.
2. There were no rules or standards expected within the Christian life after one was saved. Anyone saying that such things existed under grace, was a legalist.
3. Once saved and having received the Holy Spirit, the Christian is at liberty to make decisions according to the Holy Spirit’s leading of his conscience. The Word of God is not the only way God directs believers to His will. Dogmatic applications of doctrine should be avoided and personal liberty should be allowed expression.
4. Not every Christian will live a godly life and therefore the genuineness of his conversion should not be judged by outward circumstances or by external evidences of habitual carnality.

Only Believism (Evangelicalism)

     Although Only Believism is a lesser degree of Reductionism than Easy Believism, it is equally perverting. Only Believism reduces the responsibility of the believer in response to Gospel in order to be saved to only believing. In other words, all responses in obeying the gospel (Rom. 10:16) such as repentance, receiving, confessing, and calling upon the Name of Jesus are all the same as, and encapsulated in only believing. These various responses are not individual acts and are all merely aspects of believing that need not be expressed individually.

     All of these words describe aspects of a salvation decision, but these aspects cannot be reduced to only believing. In other words, repenting of sin (Luke 24:7) and “dead works”(Heb. 6:1), understanding (Matt. 13:23) and believing the objective facts of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:37; 16:31-32), publicly confessing one’s belief that Jesus is Jehovah (Rom. 10:9; “LORD,” see Joel 2:32), calling on the Name of Jesus to save (Rom. 10:13), and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 1:12) are all aspects of a proper response to the gospel in a genuine salvation decision and should be explained in the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. True Evangelism involves both the explanation of the objective facts of the gospel and the objective required responses to the gospel in order for true, supernatural “conversion” to be created. This is exemplified in Paul’s dealing with the Philippian jailer and his household.

“27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 34 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (Acts 16:27-34).

     Only Believists would stop at Acts 16:31. However, verse 32 clearly states, “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” In other words, there was a thorough explanation of the gospel, the necessary responses to the gospel involved in believing, and even the expectations of a believer once that believer trusted Christ for salvation. We know this latter fact because the Philippian jailer and “all that were in his house” believed and were “baptized.” Aquila and Priscilla did this same thing with a man name Apollas (Acts 18:24-28).

     Only Believism did not reduce the necessary objective facts of the gospel to the degree Easy Believism did. Only Believism reduced the necessary responses to those objective facts of the gospel to only believing.

Easy Prayerism (much of Fundamentalism)

     This has come to be known as One, Two, Three, say it after me! In this evangelism methodology, a quick run through of the gospel is given (five or six verses called the Roman’s Road). The person is asked if he understands and believes he is a sinner, understands and believes he needs to be saved, and if he is willing to pray and ask God to save him. Then, much like Charles Finney’s statement above, if the sinner says the Sinner’s Prayer (say these words after I say them), he is told he is eternally saved and given assurance of salvation.

     Those instructed in this methodology (and I was) are told to avoid any discussion outside of the few verses in the Roman’s Road and move the person as quickly as possible toward praying the prayer. Everything else can be dealt with after praying the prayer and getting saved.

     This methodology got a lot of people to walk the isles, get baptized and join a local church. However, the biggest task was keeping more coming in the front door than were going out the backdoor because the majority of these people made quasi and pseudo salvation decisions. This is what Christ dealt with in the parable of the Sower and the Soils (Matt. 13:1-23; take careful note of the word “understandeth” in verses 19 and 23).

“1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them {those who had already rejected the Gospel in the Law and who were now reprobate} it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them {reprobate Jews} is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear {are able to understand}. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 18 Hear ye {the explanation with understanding} therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself {due to lack of theological foundations}, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also {due to lack of theological foundations} that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:1-23).

     There MUST BE clear understanding of the objective facts of the gospel and the objective required responses to the gospel before conversion can take place in the heart (Matt. 13:15).

The Crossless Gospel

The Crossless Gospel is a merging of various aspects all three of these forms of Soteriological Reductionism. The three basic tenets of the Crossless Gospel are:
1. The only fact necessary to faith is a belief in the historical Jesus. In other words, believing He is God, or any of the other objective facts of the gospel are not necessary to be either understood or believed in order to believe in Jesus and be saved. This is as close to Universalism as one could get.
2. Therefore, only belief in Jesus is necessary to the gospel proclamation.
3. Easy Prayerism is taken to another level all together. The person must just believe in Jesus. He does not need to even ask God to save him. A mental acquiescence to the historical Jesus is all that is necessary. This mental acquiescence need not be expressed in any tangible, empirical, or external way.