As I was thinking of the difference between religion and the Gospel I began to realize that these two worldviews couldn’t be more different. If I had to define religion I think my definition would be: “Religion is a manmade worldview in which man invents a god, tries to do good works to please his god, hopes these good deeds will one day provide him with entrance to his manmade idea of heaven, and his motivation to serve his god is not based on love but on fear and insecurity.”
In contrast, I love how Billy Graham defines the Gospel: “The Gospel shows people their wounds and bestows on them love. It shows them their bondage and supplies the hammer to knock away their chains. It shows them their nakedness and provides them the garments of purity. It shows them their poverty and pours into their lives the wealth of heaven. It shows them their sins and points them to the Savior.”1
The sad reality of religion is that it is primarily focused on how we can get things from our god, where the Gospel is centered on how we can do things for God. With religion we are motivated, sadly, to be proud through what we have done. With the Gospel, however, it makes us proud of what Jesus has done. The late Pastor Tim Keller contrasts religion and Gospel as follows: “How Religion Works: If I obey, then God will love and accept me. The Gospel: I’m loved and accepted, therefore I wish to obey.”2 Religion is performance based while the Gospel is all about what Christ has done for us. Below are several other contrasts made by Pastor Tim Keller.3
Religion: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
Gospel: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
Religion: I obey God in order to get things from God.
Gospel: I obey to get God–to delight in and resemble him.
Religion: When the circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
Gospel: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle, but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while God may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
Religion: My prayer life consists largely of petition, and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
Gospel: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with God.
In the final analysis religion is man’s attempt to reach up to a god of his own invention, while the Gospel is God reaching down to man. In religion man creates god in his own image. In the Gospel, God creates man in His image. Religion brings darkness into the world. The Gospel brings light. Religion never really satisfies the heart. The Gospel always satisfies the soul. Religion is based on manmade hope. The Gospel is based on biblical certainty. And finally religion dooms man to hell. The Gospel redeems man from hell. Is it any wonder that the Gospel is called – Good News!
1 Quote by Billy Graham: “The Gospel shows people their wounds and bestow…” (goodreads.com)
2 How Religion Works… – SermonQuotes
3 These examples are from the website below:
Religion vs. the Gospel (Timothy Keller) | Anchored in Christ (kevinhalloran.net)