False Gospel
Galatians 1:6-9 (NASB)
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!
After his greeting to the Galatian churches, Paul tells the churches in Galatia the main reason that he wrote this letter to them. He heard that they were believing that the gospel message (God’s good news of salvation to all of us) that he had preached to them was wrong. The Galatians had some people come to them, telling them that Paul was wrong. Since then, most people have come to the conclusion that what Paul was preaching was not wrong. He was telling them the truth.
Meaning of Life
There are people who will spend their whole lives looking for the meaning of life, but never finding it. They will travel to far places, talk with people from other cultures, and read book after book, trying to find this elusive message. People will tell them that it is some deep, dark secret that only a few people know. Some people even say that there are many ways to heaven and peace in this life; we just need to be “sincere” and “good” (by their own definitions). There are many ideas of God. Who is right?
Thankfully, God gave us His book, the Bible. That’s where we can find answers to all of these questions, if we are willing to read and do what it says.
Old Testament Law
In Paul’s day, there were some people who had come to the Galatian churches, saying that the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) needed to live like the Jews, including following all of the Old Testament laws. Paul told them that was wrong.
Galatians 2:21 (NIV)
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Just like the false teachers in Paul’s day, many people today say that as long as we live a “good” life, doing more good than bad, we can make it to heaven. In essence, they think they can earn their way to heaven. If that’s the case, why did Jesus have to die? Did God make a mistake? No, God never makes mistakes, and God cannot lie.
Holy Spirit
Galatians 3:1-2 (NASB)
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
When Paul first told the people in Galatia about Jesus, they received the message and believed in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They didn’t have to do any great works or pay any money. Jesus had already paid the price for their forgiveness when He was crucified on the cross.
These false teachers were now telling the people that they might have started off by simply believing in Jesus, but now they have to do all of these other things in addition to that. Paul told them, in no uncertain terms, that was wrong.
Galatians 3:3-4 (NASB)
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?
True Gospel
What, then, is the actual, true gospel?
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Here, we see that there are two things required to be saved: confessing and believing. If we do these, we will be “saved.” Saved from what, though?
Saved From
Romans 3:23 (NASB)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
First, we see that no one ever has, or ever can, be good enough to be entitled to the glory of God.
Revelation 20:14-15 (NASB)
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the punishment that awaits everyone whose name is not in the “book of life.”
Saved To
Revelation 21:1-4 (NASB)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
This is the future reward that God has prepared for everyone who is “saved.” We hear that expression, and as we have just covered, different people have different ideas about it. Let’s go back to Romans 10:9-10.
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Confess
Romans 10:9 says that we need to “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.” In the Greek, this word for “confess” means to agree with what someone else has said. It could also mean to “profess”, or make a statement of what you believe. In other words, this is not something that we should just keep to ourselves. If we believe in Jesus, we need to tell others about this. That way, they can find this same joy. Verse 10 even says that when we do this, the end result is our salvation.
Believe
We also need to “believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.” When we think of believing something, we think that it’s a matter of knowing and acknowledging that a particular fact is true. If that’s the case, that’s easy. If we research it, we find that there are many accounts, both in the Bible and outside of the Bible, that affirm the historical fact that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead. In fact, even demons admit it.
James 2:19 (NASB)
You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
The “believe” that Paul writes about in Romans 10:9 above is more than agreeing with the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It means that we put our trust in him — we “believe in Him” by saying that we are ready to give up our old ways of thinking and living, so that we can start thinking and living differently. This is what Jesus called the “abundant life.”
John 10:10 (NASB)
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Gospel
The word “gospel” means “good news.” The good news that Paul was preaching was not a list of rules and regulations. At the same time, it was not a matter of doing whatever you want and calling that “freedom in Christ.” God expects us to live godly lives, according to the examples we have in Jesus and the apostles. If we do that, we will live the gospel; we will live the good news. We will live the abundant life with Jesus, now and for all eternity!
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