April 25, 2023 | Be On Mission
No Other Gospel
Scripture: Galatians 1 (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.
Devotional
We again depart from the narrative of Acts, where Paul and Barnabas were ministering in the region of Galatia. Paul would return to that region in both his second and third missionary journeys, but he wrote this letter to them after his first trip, when he was expelled from Antioch, plotted against in Iconium, and stoned in Lystra.
While ministering in those cities, he came face to face with Judaizers, a group of Jewish converts to Christianity who taught that non-Jewish Gentiles had to obey all the Jewish law as well as believe in Jesus. Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Galatia to refute the false teachings of the Judaizers, and remind the believers that they had complete freedom in Christ.
Here in Galatians 1, Paul gives himself street cred by letting them know of his pre-Jesus life of extreme Jewish zealousness. He wanted those who were being influenced by the false teachings of the Judaizers to know that he understood what they were hearing. He too had tried to earn his way to God by good works, until he discovered that only the grace of Jesus could save him.
That is why he wrote to them, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7).
It’s always been tempting to make up our own gospel, or to follow someone else’s false gospel. The tendency is to gravitate to either legalism (stacks of manmade rules) or lawlessness (no moral standards at all). Throughout this letter, Paul says that freedom from sin in Christ does not allow either extreme.
He opened the letter with this in mind: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:3-5).
What are some ways you have seen people trying to pervert the true gospel of Jesus Christ? Are there any ways this different gospel has confused you? What steps can you take to return to the authentic gospel of grace in Christ Jesus?
Poem
The Present Evil
Heinous evil
Vicious, depraved
Wickedness grievous
Stench of the grave
Brother kills brother
Denial, betray
Lies are abundant
All friends fall away
Quickly deserting
Truth traded for lies
Gospel distorted
Lord of the flies
Gossip a-spreading
Full slander amuck
The cursing of others
Minds mired in muck
Enslavement of others
For selfish desires
Approval of others
The closing of eyes
Lives spent bogged in violence
The killing of souls
Destroying the innocent
The spreading of mold
As serpents do slither
As poison is giv’n
As backs are all broken
While others ascend
The nations rise up
And set race against race
The darkness is deaf’ning
As gags find their place
O LORD, give us courage
The gospel to bear
To stand against evil
Your pleasure, our share
