False Brothers: Paul and Today

The earliest and most sustained attack upon the early ekklesia came from Judaisers - false brothers, pseudadelphoi, Paul called them (Gal. 2:4; 2 Cor. 11:26) - men who wanted to bring back the law of Moses and impose it on Gentile believers, even though Christ has fulfilled the Mosaic covenant and brought to its God-determined end, rendering it obsolete (John 1:17; Heb. 8:13). Paul, seeing the disaster to which this was already leading, confronted these law-men - one might say, single-handedly confronted them - and, in defeating their arguments, laid down for all time the one-and-only gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan, however, realising what a powerful tool he had in his hands, has never ceased to encourage new generations of law-teachers to promulgate their doctrine, which, as always, ruins the gospel, deceives sinners into false hopes about salvation, and leads believers away from Christ and into slavery. In this book, David Gay examines Paul's confrontation of the pseudadelphoi. But his concern does not stop there. Although believers today do not have Paul's authority, nevertheless they have 'to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints' (Jude 3). Law-teaching is rampant. It dominates Romanism, the Mormons, the Jehovah Witness system, the Hebrew Roots Movement, and the like. But the canker comes closer to home than that; much closer. Evangelicals are not free of law-teaching; indeed, the Reformed openly avow the law-teaching which was set in concrete by John Calvin. While not in any way questioning their motive, in publishing his book it is the Reformed that Gay especially has in mind. He has written in hope that his words might encourage at least some of them to think again. In addition, of course, he hopes it will prove helpful to believers who wish to know more of this vital matter.

An audiobook of the author reading this work can be found on his sermonaudio.com page.