Book Review: Counterfeit Gospels

Nobody likes a counterfeit. Fake money, fake jewels, fake anything is a huge disappointment. But the worst counterfeit of all has to be a counterfeit gospel because it affects eternity. Trevin Wax has exposed some of the fake gospel messages that exist in churches today in his book Counterfeit Gospels. We would do well to listen to the message of this excellent book.

Of course, knowing the real thing real well always helps to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit. That is how Wax goes about exposing the counterfeit gospels. He sees the gospel as a three-legged stool (Gospel Story, Gospel Announcement, Gospel Community) and then exposes specific fake gospel messages that are present within churches. Take away one of the “legs” and you have a stool that is not usable. All three legs are necessary.

The first leg involves the Gospel Story, which Wax identifies as the Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. It is the story of the Bible. We should see something of this message throughout all of scripture. Two different gospel messages (with variations in each) ignore important parts of the story. The Therapeutic gospel ignores the Fall, or at least downplays its importance to the gospel story. Instead, the gospel becomes a way to reach our potential. The Judgmentless gospel attacks the restoration part of the story. There is no judgment. Everyone will get to heaven. We don’t need to be concerned about God’s justice or wrath.

The second leg is about the Gospel Announcement. We can only make an announcement (the proclaimation) of the gospel if we have the gospel story down solid. As he says, “You can’t tell the gospel story without making the announcement of good news; neight can you properly make the announcement without telling the story” (pages 88-89). Two different gospels that weaken the announcement are the moralistic gospel and quietist gospel. The moralistic gospel is what it sounds like: We look at the Bible story as a lot of moralistic teaching. We teach someone how to be a good person. So a person’s life is spent trying to do something to please God. The quietist gospel is one that makes the gospel message into something that is only personal, with no impact on what is going on in the world. We only need to be concerned with evangelism, and ignore the problems that confront the world.

The third leg is the Gospel Community. This is my favorite leg, and one that is often neglected. God brings us into a family, a community. It’s called the church. It is not an option or an add-on. It’s part of God’s purpose. Gospel counterfeits that harm this “leg” include the Activist gospel where people are united around some “cause” that is extemely important to the group. We are here for social change. Then there is the Churchless gospel, which should be self-explanatory. We don’t really need the Church. We don’t need to go to the church. It’s an option. Of course, that is not what is found in the New Testament. In fact, it is the opposite: The Church is needed. Church involvement is expected and assumed. You do not find a “churchless” believer in scripture.

Counterfeit Gospels is a much-needed message for Christians today, for church leaders as well as for individual Christians. Wax does an excellent job of exposing false gospels that will deceive both churches and their members. He not only explains their false teaching, but he also provides advice on how to counteract their message. He recognizes that there are strengths in those messages, but in the end, they are providing a false hope to people who need to hear the gospel story announced. This book is well-worth a good read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.