A few weeks ago I posted a lengthy, but juicy, quotation from Carl Trueman, who said:
…the content and efficacy of the gospel does not depend in any way whatsoever upon the moral qualities or salvific status of the individual who brings the message.
This sounds surprising. Most people, I guess, believe that if we do not ‘walk the talk’ then our witness is undermined and the gospel becomes less attractive and believable as a result. Truman seems to offer a different understanding. But, is he right? By combining verses from Galatians 1 and Philippians 1, I think we see Paul write something, not identical, but similar to what Truman wrote. Firstly, in Philippians, the apostle writes:
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. (Phil. 1:15-18, ESV)
Many people will preach the true gospel, but each person may do so with widely differing motives: envy, rivalry, good will, love, etc. Yet, whatever the motives may be, Paul can rejoice that the gospel is proclaimed. Paul seems to imply that the efficacy of the true gospel is not undermined by impure motives. If the power of the gospel is emptied by impure motives, where is the reason to rejoice? Yet, Paul does rejoice.
That’s not to say that Paul is not greatly irritated by the envy and rivalry. But, as Matthew Henry wrote, commenting on this verse: “It is God’s prerogative to judge of the principles men act upon; this is out of our line.” But, it is most certainly within our line to see that the gospel is preached, whether the heart contains pure motives or not.
On the other hand, in Galatians he writes:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:6-9, ESV)
Here, Paul condemns, in the strongest possible terms, anyone who preaches “a different gospel” - even if that person is an “angel from heaven” (surely a being which does not lack purity). So, if we ourselves are created “a little lower than the heavenly beings”, then even the best of us deserve to receive the same anathema if we preach a different gospel, no matter how pure our motives or sincere our efforts.
So, if the true gospel is preached with impure motives, we rejoice that the gospel is preached. If a different gospel is preached, but with pure motives - let that man be accursed! When it comes to saving the lost through the gospel, the motives of preaching the gospel is of secondary importance, it appears.
The important lesson is this: As we endeavour to save the lost, our grasp of the gospel is more important than our level of sanctification, ‘annointing’, or giftedness, etc. To finish with a wonderfully shocking sentence from Trueman:
…it is better to have the gospel competently preached by one who proves to be an unrepentant adulterer than to have it preached incompetently by one who has been born again, precisely because it is the Word which is efficacious not the heart of the preacher.
