Why Woke Gospel is False Gospel

“After these things I looked, and this is what I saw: a vast multitude which no one could count, [gathered] from every nation and from all the tribes and peoples and languages [of the earth], standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Christ), dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands; and in a loud voice they cried out, saying, “Salvation [belongs] to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb [our salvation is the Trinity’s to give, and to God the Trinity we owe our deliverance].” (Revelations 7: 9-10, AMP)

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29, NIV)

We are living in an age where social justice is one of the most important aspects of society. It’s seeped into everything. If you’re interviewing for a new job position, social media posts from 10 years ago can disqualify you for candidacy. Conversely, if a company is not perfectly politically correct or deemed “woke” by mainstream culture, they may struggle to find people to put on their payroll. In schools, kids walk around endlessly barraged by political and social agenda, being led to believe that if they think differently than the mob, they’ll be rejected and hated. Don’t even think about logging onto Facebook without coming across some kind of argument or call to cancel someone else.

The fact is: everywhere you look, people are concerned with being accused of being racist bigots. And when the church becomes lenient on turning to scripture to help form a Biblical worldview, it inevitably becomes affected by the world’s view. And now, between conversations about critical race theory and “woke” culture, we have to contend with a new social justice gospel. 

In its broadest terms, a social justice gospel would focus and put Jesus’ stamp of approval on every political agenda from closing the wage gap and feminism to feeding the hungry, tackling racism, and turning a blind eye to sexual sin. After all, Jesus broke bread and associated with all walks of life: tax-collectors, prostitutes, and Pharisees alike, right? The difference is, friends, Jesus may have eaten, spent time, and taught all people from all walks of life, but He never was lenient about sin.

And yes, I can agree, there are many social justice issues that Jesus would affirm simply because it falls in line with what is righteous and holy. We should feed the poor. We should take care of widows within our communities. We should treat everyone with love and respect, no matter the race, gender, age, or economic background. But that does not mean, in any way, that Jesus would turn a blind eye to sin or cheapen God’s grace for us in the name of making mortal man feel more comfortable around Him. 

He forgave the prostitute and told her to go and sin no more (John 15), He cleansed the temple of greedy businessmen and tax collectors (Matthew 21), and He even called out the sin in His own disciples– namely Peter, countless times– when they advised Him in a way that went against God’s plan for the redemption of man and His Gospel. Why? Because the Gospel was the most important objective to Jesus. Holiness was the most important thing to maintain. Anything coming against those things was to be thrown out and corrected. 

And that’s still true for us today. So unfortunately, when there is a social justice agenda that adds to or undermines God’s sovereign word and the Gospel, we have to recognize it for what it is, regardless of the good intentions it might have: a false gospel.

So when we are faced with a “woke” agenda or critical race theory, we have to remember key points in making sure we are in line with scripture, which is a higher governance than any other in this world. So when your idea of the Bible is colored by the idea that oppressed groups are reserved certain blessings and graces from God because of shared experiences akin to the Israelites in Egypt– which is something critical race theory in Christianity endorses– your perception of the Gospel is flawed.

The truth is, there is no hierarchy to God’s grace. Through Christ’s finished work on the cross, everyone that stands under that shed blood and puts their faith in Jesus is made a child of God. There is no other designation for us to hold to. There is no more Jew and Gentile. There is no more idea that the Jewish people are exclusively God’s chosen people. From the moment Christ finished the work on the cross, that invitation into the family of God was extended to all.

That’s what Paul means when he says in Galatians 3 that if we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Because Jesus’ blood washed away that distinction and allowed anyone regardless of race, gender, job title, status, and background to be included in God’s plan for redeeming man and restoring Him back to intimacy with God.

The Israelites were not chosen or special because they were oppressed, and there is no perk or additional blessing reserved for you to receive for being similarly oppressed. Even still, in Revelation we know that every nation, tribe, people, and language will stand before God in heaven and praise God. There will be no reserved section for one group of people over another. We will all stand before God as His children, chosen people, and heirs to His promise.

And that, in and of itself, is all the irrefutable proof you need to discount social justice gospel as Gospel. The fact is, we cannot retrofit the Bible to suit whatever agenda we want to push today. We can’t retrofit Jesus into convincing people they should support a cause that is in addition to the Word He gave us. Why? Because we’re called to take that Word and let it inform our worldview, not the other way around. 

Would Jesus want us to extend His kindness and love to others? Absolutely. Has God’s heart always been for unity and against disunity? Yes. But when we add to the Gospel in order to make it what we think it should be in light of the world we live in, we lead people into a twisted idea of scripture. We have to make sure that what we are governed by lines up with the Bible, whether or not that makes us popular or “woke.” Because Jesus was never in the business of being popular, but He did purpose each and every day to calling people into righteousness and Truth.