This paper will attempt to ask and answer two very important questions relevant to the gospel.  Both questions are a reflection of much thinking that is extant in the evangelical community today. They are important because an incorrect answer to either will lead one into false views concerning the gospel,  even to the point of discovering whether or not one is truly saved.  The questions are;

1.  Can a person say words with his mouth which he really does not believe?

It is easy to see how the two have a direct relationship to each other. For example,  if it is true that a person can say words with his mouth that he really does not believe then we can see how someone who is regenerate can confess a false gospel and still be saved because what he confesses with his mouth is not what he really believes in his heart. People say this about Arminians.

 Conversely, if what a person says with his mouth is an indication of what he really believes then for someone to confess a false gospel would indicate that such a person is not a Christian. Yet we have evidence in Scripture that true believers can and did "say words with his mouth which he really does not believe" which showed that they were "confessing a false gospel".

1.  Can a person say words with his mouth which he really does not believe?

Many who call themselves Calvinists believe that a person can say words with his mouth which he really does not believe. They claim that a man can say one thing with his mouth while at the same time he really believes something else in his heart. This notion is applied to Arminians by saying  that the Arminian is an Arminian on his feet but a Calvinist on his knees!  This is simply another way of saying that a man can say one thing with his mouth while he really believes something else in his heart.

"On his feet"  says the Calvinist, "the Arminian  SAYS  one thing while on his knees he does, in actuality,  believe something contrary to what he confesses on his feet with his mouth." In other words, an Arminian is a self-contradictory entity!  

Such cannot possibly be the product of the work of God in the Gospel folks. God does not save a man and turn him into a creature of self-contradiction. He's already that in his lost condition and Christian Salvation Changes people.

This idea is blatantly anti biblical. It's nothing but subtle deception that allows men to speak peace to unbelieving Arminians.  The Bible makes it clear that what a man says with his mouth is a reflection of what he really believes in his heart. Two passages which clearly demonstrate this;

Mt 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

In this passage the Pharisees had issued a verbal accusation against the Lord Jesus and said that He was casting out demons by Satan. Vs 24.  Upon hearing what they said with their mouth the Lord Jesus teaches us that,  by their spoken words they were openly advertising the fact that their hearts were full of blasphemy.  The principle is obvious, as given to us by the Son of God Himself,  that what a man says with his mouth clearly indicates what is in his heart.   Therefore,  those who maintain that a man can say one thing with his mouth while at the same time he really believes something else in his heart are in clear opposition to the Son of God.

Lu 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart  brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Here again  Christ tells us that a man's words come from that place where his deepest convictions dwell and his words are a reflection of those very convictions. But there is an additional, very important point in this verse.  Christ is telling us that not only do a man's words reflect what is IN his heart... they also indicate... what KIND of a heart the man has.  Therefore, based on this verse,  if a man confesses a false gospel it tells us that he still has an evil heart of unbelief.  Heb 3:12

Scripture clearly teaches that a man's ~words~ are a reflection of what he ~believes~ which is to say... what Doctrine the man holds to.  And it is on the basis of a man's Doctrine that believers are ~commanded~  to judge saved and lost.  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Scripture commands all true Christians to make judgments concerning saved & lost.  How can we make such judgments except by what a man professes he believes about the truth with his mouth?  The Arminian notion that a man can say one thing with his mouth and not really  believe what he is saying  completely destroys one of the two  Biblical grounds upon which all believers are to judge whether or not a person is a true Christian or a false prophet.  This Biblical ground of judgment are the ~words~  a man uses to express what he believes.  [The other is one's Life.]  Just one of many passages to demonstrate;

1Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

And how are we to 'try'  or test the spirits in order to ascertain whether a person who  ~says~ he is a Christian really is?

  2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that ~confesses~ that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
  3  And every spirit that ~confesses not~ that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

No one needs to go to Bible seminary to see the obvious force of such a passage.  It is upon the basis of what a man ~says~ that we are to make judgment. To say that a man can say... or  *confess*  one thing with his mouth while he really believes something else is to destroy the central meaning of such a passage and leave believers to the mercy of all false prophets. It destroys our only defense against the spirit of antichrist!

Furthermore,  a true believer is recognized by the fact that what he says with his mouth and what he believes in his heart are both in full agreement with each other.  Notice;

Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  
 10  For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

This passage teaches that in order for salvation to be present in a person he needs to have both... a proper verbal confession with the mouth... and a proper belief of the gospel in the heart and they ~both must agree~!
On this one passage alone we are clearly taught that if what a  person confesses with his mouth  does not agree with what he believes in his heart then we may properly judge such a person as not being a Christian.  You see then the great importance of words?  Words,  according to God,  carry a tremendous amount of weight especially with respect to the gospel and salvation.  As a matter of fact,  it is upon the basis of  words that God not only communicates the gospel to dying men but also... how God imparts eternal life to them. Notice;

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the  *words*  that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the *words* of eternal life.
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

And apart from hearing God's words and believing them no man has eternal life dwelling in Him. Why the very Bible itself is the  ~Word~   of God.  And Jesus Christ is called... what?

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1Jo 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we  have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

The Son of God Himself is  The  Word  of Life.  This alone is enough to teach us how much weight God Himself places on words.  Therefore,  anybody who says that a man's words carry little or no weight because he can say something that does not reflect what he believes in his heart is in clear opposition to the God of Scripture.  In fact,  God testifies that words are so important that a man's destiny hangs on the words he uses...

Mt 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Additionally it is a popular Arminian notion,  with which many Calvinists would agree... that one is not saved by doctrine but by a Person. So when we attempt to present the gospel in terms of propositional truth... words... that must be believed in order to be saved,  they use this ploy to destroy the necessity of knowing and believing propositional truth whereby the gospel is conveyed.  Such people 'know they are saved'  because of some experience they had which does not require the need to know propositional truth. This is of course a major tenant of Arminianism.  It is also blatantly anti Biblical. Notice;

Mr 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me ~and of my words~  in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be  ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

I could give many real life examples of both Arminians and Calvinists who utterly reject the necessity of correct doctrine in order to be a Christian. They ~say~  they are 'trusting in Jesus' and they think they mean the real Christ of Scripture but in rejecting the necessity of right doctrine they are rejecting the true Christ and the verse just cited testifies against them. That which characterizes such people is the notion that it really does not matter what your doctrine is... or what you confess... as long as you are "trusting Christ"; believing that He died for YOU.   But in so doing they are showing that they are ashamed of the words of the true Christ.

Not even an unregenerate man can engage in such a contradictory practice as to 'confess' something with his mouth that he really does not believe to be true... unless he is purposely lying... in which case it would not be a matter of saying one thing with the mouth while believing something else in the heart.   I have met many people back in the 60s  who engaged in such a practice...  while they were tripping on LSD!  But you will be hard pressed to find an unregenerate person in a normal mental condition who will 'confess with his mouth something he really does not believe'  unless, as I say he is purposely lying.

A man's words are an indication of both the state of his heart and the doctrine he holds to.  Therefore,  anyone who,  with his mouth, confesses a false gospel, is showing that he has an evil heart of unbelief and is not a Christian.  And anyone who maintains that a person can confess a false gospel and still be a Christian on the premise that he can say something with his mouth that he really does not believe in his heart... is in clear opposition to the God of Truth.

Next question;

2.  Can a person who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God confess a false gospel? And the answer to this question is... Yes! This is exactly what the book of Galatians is all about.

But now wait-a-minit; if a person ~cannot~ say something with his mouth that he does not believe in his heart... how do we account for Peter and the Galatian believers... for you see this is ~exactly~ what they were doing.
The answer to this question is right in the book of Galatians itself.

The answer to this question is...  Yes;  This is exactly what Peter & the Galatians were doing!

Galatians 1:
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

The Galatian believers,  along with Peter and Barnabas, were 'removed... unto another gospel'.  The phrase 'another gospel'  is synonymous with the term  'false gospel'. Of course any notion of a 'false gospel'  is no gospel at all since there is only one true gospel;  and so Paul says...  'which is not another gospel'  but is really a perversion of the true gospel.  Paul continues by placing people who go about preaching a perverted gospel  under the curse of God.  Now...  it is evident that the Judaizers who were bringing their perverted gospel did not come with a sign on their lapel saying...  'We are false prophets propagating a false gospel'.  Nor did they speak blatant false doctrine that would not fool anyone.  What they did was come in through the 'back door'  as it were.  They introduced subtle error that actually constituted another, false gospel but which the Galatians did not recognize as such,  and by this subtle error they were perverting the gospel of salvation through justification by faith... into salvation by the works of the law.  Gal 2:16;  3:2,5,10. Since the Galatians failed to recognize this subtle error, and the Judaizers made it sound good,  the Galatians bought into it and in so doing fell into the sin of believing false doctrine which ultimately leads to a perversion of the gospel. In a word, they were "bewitched". Now if we were to ask the  question again;

Can a person who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God confess a false gospel?

we would address that question with another question which is;

Is it possible for a  saved,  regenerated person, to fall into the sin of embracing and believing false doctrine that constitutes another gospel? Well.. Isn't that exactly what Peter, Barnabas & the Galatian believers were doing? Absolutely Yes!
Put it another way;
Is it possible for a true Christian, one who is regenerate, to ~unwittingly be deceived~ into thinking false doctrine is true. This is Absolutely and Exactly what Peter & co. were doing folks. There are people out there who try to deny this because they don't like this because it refutes their false doctrine that a saved person ~cannot~ commit such a sin but you see... GOD says they can... and do commit it. And when they do they need to be confronted with their sin and called to repentance and that is Exactly what Paul in Galatians is all about! Anybody who denies this is simply fighting against God!

 A Christian can fall into the sin of believing false doctrine... which will ultimately cause him to 'confess a false gospel'  and when he does he is indeed sinning and needs to be corrected as Paul corrected the Galatians. If anyone doubts this all they have to do is ask themselves...  Did Peter and the Galatians *believe* what the Judaizers were preaching?  Of course they did.  The were carried away from the true gospel by it. Was what they believed true or false doctrine?  Obviously it was false doctrine which was really a false gospel and in order to correct them Paul had to remind them of the basis of the true gospel which was justification by faith and not by the works of the law.  The Judaizers were preaching doctrine that ultimately ended up in justification by the works of the law... which indeed is another gospel. And this was not an isolated incident.  These Judaizers were quite busy characters making the rounds within the church peddling their wares in an attempt to lead true believers away from the gospel. Notice in the book of Acts;

Ac 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, [and said], Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Here they are again ladies and gentlemen... the same old Judaizers spreading their same old false doctrine... the necessity of circumcision and the law of Moses in order to be saved. Notice again in vs 5
 5  But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses.

You will notice very carefully that it says that these Pharisees were believers! These believers bought into the false gospel being set forth by those who came down from Judaea and taught their false gospel of justificatrion by works of the law. They were 'bewitched' into believing that circumcision and Moses were necessary for salvation.  and they were so taken in by it that it was necessary for the Apostles to write and send letters. Here is a clear example of  ~believers~  who went all the way and bought into the false doctrine that teaches justification by Moses !!!  Could words be any clearer?  ~Believers~ can fall into the sin of embracing and believing a false gospel.  And the thing that makes this heresy so insidious folks is that it is based on... the Bible!  So what else is new?  Didn't Satan try to quote Scripture against the Lord Jesus Christ?   This false doctrine was the basis for the famous  'Jerusalem council'  depicted here in Acts 15.  The result was that the believers were 'troubled'...  vs 24  Why were they so troubled?  Simply because they were persuaded by what the Judaizers were preaching.  And so the Apostles had to send letters of correction and comfort... which when the letters were read, did produce much joy. vs 31.  Now... is anyone prepared to say that,  before the letters were read these people were  unregenerate  because they were... 'confessing a false gospel'?  If so then let him take note that these people were called, in verse one  ~brethren~! Here again the point is made that it is possible for a true believer to be persuaded to embrace and believe a false gospel.  Here again correction was the order of the day and we see that false doctrine was abandoned and the truth embraced once again.

Now someone might ask in back of all this...  Does this mean that folks can go around saying and believing anything they want to about the gospel... and even false doctrine... and still claim to be saved based on what is said in  Acts and Galatians?  Absolutely not.  Let me close this paper with one more question to this effect;

How do we tell the difference between a lost person who is confessing a false gospel and a true Christian who has sinfully embraced false doctrine which leads to a false gospel?  The answer is one's   " Starting  Point."

If a person Starts... by hearing and believing another gospel, which is not another, and never hears the truth, or hears it and rejects it... such a person is clearly not a Christian.  There are probably millions of people in this category because the false gospel of Arminianism is exceedingly rampant.

But if a person  Starts...  by hearing, understanding and believing the truth and has manifested true fruits of repentance,  just like Peter and the Galatians and those in Acts 15... and we ~know~ that such are true believers,  then we can be sure that when such people succumb to false doctrine and are corrected and give heed to such correction and turn again to the truth of the gospel that such people were true believers all along.   Such is the testimony of the Living God in His Book,  the  Scriptures of Truth.

Prove  All Things