The Love Gospel

Published September 4, 2011

The Love Gospel

What is the Love Gospel?

The Love Gospel is an erroneous view by professing Christians of how God expects His people to present His plan of salvation to the world. It is usually a two-pronged fork that presents these two major unbiblical premises:

Premise 1: God loves everybody.

Premise 2: You need to “love” people into the Kingdom Of Heaven.

This second premise means that you either preach to people by your actions alone or you don’t preach to anyone until you become their friend or do something “nice” for them, etc. And be sure that you don’t tell people anything about the Bible or Christ until your good deeds prompt a person to ask you why you are so nice.

Where does the idea of the Love Gospel come from?

The first idea (God loves everybody) comes from an erroneous view of the character and nature of God. This false view of God is associated with a false gospel known as Arminianism… which is sometimes referred to as the free-will gospel – a gospel that is so popular today and that is being rapidly spread by everyone on down from leaders of huge ministries to the pastors of little home-town churches. Please refer to our article “What The Gospel Is and Is Not” for a clarification on this issue. But in a nutshell, those who promote the false “love” gospel claim that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. However, it isn’t SIN that God sends to hell – it is the SINNER. And the Bible actually DOES SAY that God hates the sinner in several places including Psalm 5:5 – “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity”.

The second idea (Love people into heaven by our good deeds) is based upon man’s idea of what love is and not God’s idea. God’s primary means for His people to show LOVE towards a lost and dying world, is to PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THEM, that is, to DECLARE TO THEM that all people are ungodly sinners (Romans 5:6) who repeatedly violate the laws of an infinitely holy God. And then, God’s people are to show their love for the lost by WARNING THEM to flea the coming wrath of God before its too late. And the DEPTH OF OUR LOVE for sinners will be truly manifested as we turn the other cheek and go the extra mile for these people, even AS THEY PERSECUTE US for having had the nerve to open our mouths and tell them the true Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

Those who adhere to the Love Gospel, use a method called “friendship evangelism” to spread their message. See our article “A Look At Friendship Evangelism” for more information on that subject.

If we truly understand how God wants His children to act and to interact with the unsaved, then we will see that the Love Gospel is contrary to Scripture. We see that here in Matthew chapter 10:

“16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Preaching the TRUE Gospel, starts with preaching God’s law, to show sinners that they are LAW-BREAKERS:

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the LAW is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20

Sinners who think they are good enough to get to heaven on their own merits, need to be told that they fall far short of the glory of God:

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

Summary

The writer of this article has no problem agreeing with people and with Scripture that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are to perform acts of kindness and charity for the unsaved that INCLUDE ministering to them in material and practical ways. BUT even Christ, the great Shepherd of the Church and the Great Physician, NEVER HESITATED to point out people’s sins and to COMMAND them to “repent” and “go and sin no more”. It was not Christ’s acts of kindness that prompted the Jewish religious authorities to have him crucified. IT WAS HIS WORDS! He dared to testify to the truth:

“The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” [John 7:7]

May God grant you the desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth and to examine – in the light of Scripture – what you were taught about this subject. — RM Kane

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