Another Gospel in Disguise: Intellectualism vs Dispensationalism (Ep. 820, 12-22-2025)

Alan Smith and Jeff Rowland

A message can sound Christian, quote the Bible, and still move your trust off of Jesus. That’s what makes another gospel so dangerous. It doesn’t always arrive with obvious heresy. Sometimes it arrives with a scholarly tone, a confident system, and a promise of “clarity” that feels safe.

Episode 820 (12-22-2025) raises a needed warning: not every “gospel” that sounds smart is the real gospel.

This article keeps it simple and pastoral. You’ll learn what counts as “another gospel,” how intellectual pride can replace trust, where dispensationalism can help, where it can distort, and how to test any teaching so you stay anchored to Christ.

What counts as “another gospel” and why it is so serious

When the New Testament warns about a “different” or “other” gospel, it’s not talking about minor disagreements. It’s talking about any message that changes the center of salvation. The danger is not just false facts, it’s false trust.

Another gospel can change at least one of these core pieces:

• The source of salvation: Is salvation from God’s grace, or from human effort and merit?
• The object of faith: Are you told to trust Christ, or to trust something else (your knowledge, your works, your group, your experience)?
• The finished work of Christ: Is the cross and resurrection treated as complete, or treated as a starting line that needs to be topped up?

A person can keep Christian words and still swap the meaning. “Grace” can become “God helps the ones who help themselves.” “Faith” can become “agreeing with the right ideas.” “Obedience” can become “earning your place.”

The results show up fast. Confusion replaces clarity. Pride grows, or fear grows, sometimes both. The cross gets blurred. People learn to perform, posture, and argue, but they stop resting in Christ.

The real gospel in one clear paragraph

God is holy, and we’re not. We sin in what we do, what we want, and what we ignore. Jesus Christ lived the life we could not live, died for sinners, and rose again. Salvation is God’s gift, received by grace through faith, not earned by works or intelligence. Real faith unites us to Christ and changes us, producing repentance, love, and obedience over time.

Here’s a quick checklist you can keep in your head:

• Who saves: God saves, not me.
• What saves: Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, not my record.
• How it is received: by faith, not by climbing.
• What it produces: a changed life, not a polished mask.

Common ways people sneak a new message into old words

False gospels rarely announce themselves. They blend in. Watch for patterns like these:

• Adding a gatekeeper: Only the “trained” or “inside” people can truly get it.
• Adding a ladder: You start with Jesus, but you stay saved by steps, rituals, or rules.
• Moving assurance off Christ: Your peace rises and falls with performance, feelings, or knowledge.
• Making prophecy charts the main point: The Bible becomes a codebook, not a story that leads to Christ.
• Treating the cross as entry-level: The cross is for beginners, and the “serious” people move on.
• Replacing repentance with identity: You’re “right” because of the tribe you’re in, not because you’ve been forgiven.

Not all bad teaching looks angry. Some of it looks tidy. Some of it looks “deep.” That’s why the test is not tone, it’s content and fruit.

Intellectualism in the church, when “being right” replaces trusting Christ

Intellectualism isn’t the same as being educated. It’s a heart posture. It’s when the mind becomes the altar, and being seen as right becomes a kind of righteousness.

God calls Christians to love Him with the mind. Study matters. Clear doctrine matters. Careful reading matters. But intellectualism turns gifts into idols. It tempts people to think, “If I can explain it, I must be safe.” It replaces childlike trust with a constant need to win.

It also reshapes how you treat people. Instead of patience, you become sharp. Instead of joy, you become restless. Instead of confession, you become defensive. That’s not spiritual maturity. That’s pride wearing a theology hoodie.

Healthy Bible study vs prideful “head-only” faith

Healthy study sounds like worship. Prideful study sounds like performance. The difference is often visible in ordinary habits.

Healthy study usually shows these markers:

• Humility before God, shown in prayer
• Willingness to repent when Scripture corrects you
• Growing love for people, including “simple” believers
• A desire to obey, not just to explain
• Comfort with saying, “I don’t know yet”

Prideful, head-only faith often shows these markers:

• Showing off knowledge, dropping facts to impress
• Mocking other Christians, especially those outside your camp
• Constant debate, with little prayer and little repentance
• Refusing correction, even from Scripture
• A cold heart toward ordinary church life

A short self-check can help. Ask yourself:

• Do I pray as much as I read?
• Do I confess sin, or mostly critique others?
• Do I serve people, or mostly grade them?
• When I’m corrected, do I soften, or do I sharpen?

Knowledge is a tool. It makes a terrible savior.

Red flags that your faith is resting on knowledge, not Jesus

Intellectualism doesn’t always show up as loud arrogance. Sometimes it shows up as subtle dependence. Here are red flags that often expose where your trust has moved.

Your assurance rises and falls with how much you know. When you feel “up to date,” you feel safe. When you feel behind, you panic. That shifts trust from Christ’s finished work to your mental grip.

You feel superior to “ordinary” Christians. You might not say it out loud, but you treat faithful, humble believers as second-class because they don’t speak your language.

You chase novelty. Old truths seem boring, so you need a new angle every week. The gospel becomes “basic,” and you start searching for a new rush.

You treat pastors like influencers. Instead of honoring faithful shepherding, you shop for the most impressive mind and the hottest take.

You excuse sin because you have good arguments. You can explain why your anger is “discernment,” why your coldness is “wisdom,” why your lust is “stress.” Clever excuses don’t cleanse guilt.

Each red flag does the same thing. It turns the mind into a mediator. But only Christ mediates. Only Christ saves.

Dispensationalism, where it helps.

Dispensationalism is a framework for reading Scripture that divides redemptive history into distinct eras (or “dispensations”). Many people appreciate it because it tries to take the Bible seriously, cares about context, and wants to read prophecies with care rather than vague symbolism.

Those are good instincts. Christians should read carefully. We should notice who is being addressed. We should avoid forcing meanings into the text.

That doesn’t protect the gospel. It weakens discipleship. It trains people to treat parts of Scripture as optional, which can make sin feel safer.

A healthy approach keeps two truths together:

• God’s Word has real historical settings and audiences.
• God’s Word is also written for the church’s faith and obedience, with Christ as the center.

When any framework tempts you to move Jesus out of the middle, the framework has become a problem.

How to test any teaching, and stay anchored to the real gospel

You don’t need to be a scholar to stay safe. You need clear tests, practiced often. These tests work in sermons, podcasts, books, small groups, and short social clips where context is thin.

Start with this principle: judge teaching by its gospel center and its fruit, not by its confidence level. A speaker can sound calm and smart while pulling you away from Christ. A speaker can also sound plain while feeding you well.

Be charitable on secondary issues. Be firm on the gospel. Many faithful Christians disagree on end-times details. That’s not the same as disagreeing on how sinners are saved.

Four quick gospel tests you can use this week

1) What’s the good news here, and is Jesus the center? If the “good news” is mainly a method, a timeline, or a secret, something’s off.

2) What am I told to trust for acceptance with God? Listen for the functional savior. Is it Christ, or is it knowledge, law-keeping, group identity, or spiritual experiences?

3) What happens to repentance and holiness? A true gospel produces a new life. A false gospel either crushes you with shame, or excuses sin with slogans.

4) Does this produce humility and love, or pride and division? Truth makes people humble. Error often makes people loud. Watch what it grows in the listener.

A final reminder: being “deep” is not proof of being true. Some lies are complex on purpose.

A healthier path, love the mind, but submit it to Scripture and the church

You don’t have to choose between serious thinking and sincere faith. The healthier path is to use the mind as a servant, not a master.

Here are steady practices that keep the gospel central:

Study in order to obey. Ask, “What does this call me to believe and do?” not just “How can I explain this?”

Pray for humility before and after you read. If your study life never includes confession, it’s drifting.

Sit under faithful preaching. Not flashy, not trendy, faithful. You need a shepherd, not a commentator you can mute.

Keep baptism and the Lord’s Supper connected to the gospel. These are not props. They preach Christ to your senses and remind you that salvation is received, not achieved.

Serve ordinary people. Pride hates hidden service. Love grows when you carry burdens, visit the lonely, and forgive someone who can’t repay you.

Keep prophecy in its proper place. Let it strengthen hope and endurance. Don’t let it replace Christ’s call to take up the cross today.

If you feel stuck in debate culture, try this simple one-week reset:

• Read one Gospel (or a large portion) with a pen and a prayer.
• Do one act of quiet service that no one will praise.
• Have one hard conversation where you confess wrong, not just argue right.
• Pray one honest prayer of confession each night, short and direct.

These are not steps to earn God’s love. They are ways to return to reality. Christ is the treasure. Everything else is supporting truth, not saving truth.

Conclusion

Another gospel can wear a smart mask, and it can also wear a system mask. Intellectualism tempts you to trust your mind. Dispensationalism can tempt you to trust a framework more than the Savior. The answer is the same in both cases: return to Jesus Christ, His finished work, and the plain good news that saves sinners.

Test what you hear. Pursue humility. Keep the cross in the center, because that’s where God meets us with mercy.