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You’ve probably heard statements like this: “You were someone worth dying for.” According to this line of thinking, Christ came to save us because we were so valuable to God.

This teaching sounds very attractive (and it is true that humans have innate worth and value), but in the end, it more closely resembles ancient Gnosticism than biblical Christianity.

“The Lost Sheep” in The Gospel of Thomas

A good example comes from comparing the parable of the Lost Sheep in the Gospel of Luke and the gnostic Gospel of Thomas (written long after our canonical Gospels). Luke’s version of Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep goes like this:

“What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don’t need repentance.(Luke 15:4-7).

Notice the version found in the non-biblical Gospel of Thomas:

Jesus said, “The Kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest went astray. He left the ninety-nine and sought the one until he found it. After he had gone to this trouble, he said to the sheep, “I love you more than the ninety-nine.”

What’s the difference between Luke’s version of this parable and the version that appears in the Gospel of Thomas?

In the non-biblical version, the author has made the parable about the worth of the sheep instead of the work of the shepherd. The second version imagines that the sheep was sought because it was so valuable.

But Scripture tells us something different.

I Am Valuable Because God Loves Me

The point of salvation is not that God loves us because we are valuable. The point of salvation is that God is the greatest, and in His mercy, he has chosen to give us worth by loving us when we had nothing in us deserving salvation.

The therapeutic gospel leaves us thinking, “Lord, thanks for recognizing my worth and loving me!” The biblical gospel leaves us on our knees in profound gratitude, crying, “Thank you, God, that even though my heart is more like a defaced rock than a precious jewel, you saw fit to love me.”

The therapeutic gospel says, “I am valuable, and that’s why God loves me.” The biblical gospel says, “I am valuable because God loves me!”

Once you grasp the truth that there is nothing intrinsically worthy in yourself that would cause God to act on your behalf, you are overwhelmed by grace flowing from a God who chose to reach down and deliver you anyway. And all you can repeat through tears is, Why me? Why me? Why me? Amazing grace… why would he save a wretch like me?

The therapeutic gospel makes grace expected. The biblical gospel makes grace amazing.

– adapted from Counterfeit Gospels59-61.

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