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Transcript 727A — Philippians 1:15-18
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Mr. Camping, in Philippians 1:15-18, where Paul is in prison, I know that through Christ he's very happy and he feels that God is using him to carry forth the Gospel. But he says that "some are preaching Christ from envy and rivalry," and then he goes on down in verse 18 and says, "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice." Now does that mean that today, well, say a church has signs and wonders, but still they do preach the Gospel. Well?
HC: Now there are two issues here. In Galatians 1, God, through the apostle Paul, is speaking about the matter of another gospel. He says in verse 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." And then, to drive home the point so that we won't miss it, in verse 9 he repeats, "As we said before, so say I now again, if any preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Another gospel is a dreadful thing.
But that is not what's in view in Philippians. It doesn't talk here about another gospel. It simply talks about the attitude of the pastor who is bringing the Gospel. Some preach the true Gospel sincerely, but others preach the Gospel (still the true Gospel) out of envy and strife. In other words, God can even use an unsaved man, who is still preaching the true Gospel. In other words, his training has been correct. But the moment that he starts changing the authority so that he believes there is more to divine truth than the Bible, then it isn't a matter of envy and strife. Then it's another gospel. Then it comes into another category altogether.
CALLER: In other words, he's just rejoicing that Christ is being proclaimed even though the man is not saved.
HC: Yes, even though the man's motivation may not be as ideal as it ought to be. Think of Jonah, for example, in the Book of Jonah. Now did he preach the Gospel to the Ninevites out of love, out of compassion – the attributes that ought to be found in a preacher of the Gospel? Absolutely not, he hated the Ninevites. And he was there under protest. But yet what he preached was exactly what God wanted him to preach, and it brought great blessing to the city of Nineveh. And that's the point, you see. Whether we are doing it sincerely or whether we're doing it out of love and compassion, or on the other hand, whether we're doing it for wrong motivation, if it is the truth it still can be used of God to bring salvation. But that's an entirely different matter than when somebody is bringing another kind of a gospel.