A contrary gospel

Galatians 1 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), ² and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷ which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

¹⁰ For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

¹¹ For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. ¹⁵ But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; ²³ but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they were glorifying God because of me.

Even in the early church, there was already different doctrines being introduced. Many of these “different gospels” which Paul warns against were the result of man combining other religious and cultural influences with the gospel of Christ and the kingdom which He Himself preached. These “different gospels” also result when men add to the simplicity of Christ. In 1 Corintthians 2:1-5 Paul says:    And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.  For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,  and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  so that your faith would not  rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.      In today’s text Paul says:    For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

So the gospel Paul preached, and likewise the gospel we preach today should include these three basic elements. First and foremost the gospel is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Without the cross, nothing else we can say or do really matters. Without the cross there is no redemption from sin, no reconciliation to God and no restoration to the way God intended us to be and live, to be “on earth as it is in heaven.” The gospel also should be accompanied by “the power of God”  Jesus says:     “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)    If the faith of those who hear our message rests strictly on our words, then when another comes along with a better presentation of words, their faith can be swayed. Finally Paul says:     the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul says:    For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;  and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.    Paul had received a great deal of formal religious training. He was “extremely zealous” about his religion and his ancestral and cultural traditions. Formal religious training is a good thing, but in and of itself it is not  what saves people. There must be a revelation of Christ, both in our learning and training and in our teaching and preaching. The revelation of Christ comes by the Spirit. It too, is a demonstration of the power of God. We need to recognize that our words, our convincing arguments will not save people. Even if we can change their minds with our words, we cannot by our words change their hearts. That comes only through a revelation of Christ. Of his own revelation of Christ, his encounter with Jesus, Paul says:    God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased  to reveal His Son in me        Paul was changed, by that revelation, through the power of God, because of Christ and the cross, from a persecutor of the gospel to a preacher of the gospel.  The text says:  “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”

Paul says:   But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!   Jesus also warns that there will be those who preach false gospels. In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus says:      “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”    In Matthew 24:5 He says:  “ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”   In Luke 17:1-2, Jesus gives a stern warning:    He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

We should take care that we, and the gospel we preach, do not become stumbling blocks, misleading others. We cannot add to or take away from the true gospel, the simplicity of Christ. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The gospel is the cross of Christ for the redemption from sin, reconciliation to God and restoration to God’s plan and purpose. The gospel we preach should be accompanied by, evidence of the power of God, the power to bring the realities of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, here to earth. If we will be faithful, the He too will be faithful and those who hear and see will have a revelation of Christ, their faith will rest completely in Him and not in us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You for the gospel, Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, crucified on the cross. Thank You for the revelation and the power of God in my life. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.    Amen