ANOTHER GOSPEL

ANOTHER GOSPEL

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Galatians [ESV]1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 

  WOW! Paul penned very harsh words of condemnation for those that adulterate the pure gospel. But what is the gospel he speaks for and the ones he speaks against. (An additional lesson here is that it’s right to judge righteously.)

  Albert Barnes commented that “another gospel [is]- A gospel which destroys the grace of Christ; which proclaims salvation on other terms than simple dependence on the merits of the Lord Jesus; and which has introduced the Jewish rites and ceremonies as essential, in order to obtain salvation. The apostle calls that scheme the “gospel,” because it pretended to be; it was preached by those who claimed to be preachers of the gospel; who alleged that they had come direct from the apostles at Jerusalem, and who pretended to declare the method of salvation. It claimed to be the gospel, and yet it was essentially unlike the plan which he had preached as constituting the gospel. That which he preached, inculcated the entire dependence of the sinner on the merits and grace of Christ; that system had introduced dependence on the observance of the rites of the Mosaic system, as necessary to salvation.”

  Living the “quickened” life of liberty according to the gospel truth of “by faith alone”, “not of works” is the critical distinction.

Quickened – Jn.3:3; Eph.2:1, 5; Col.2:13.

By faith alone – Rom.1:17; 3:22, 28, 30; 5:1, 2; 9:32; 11:20; 2Cor.1:24; 5:7; Gal.3:11, 22, 24, 26; 5:5; Eph.3:17; Phil.3:9; Heb.10:38; chapter 11 being a Hall of the Faithful; Jam.2:24.

Not of works – Mt.7:22; Rom.3:27; 4:2, 6; 9:32; 11:6; Gal.2:16; 3:2, 5, 10; Eph.2:9; 2Tim.1:9; Tit.3:5

  But what of this day? How is the true gospel corrupted?

  Though the details may seem different, they are not: We will be weighed in balance, good versus bad. You must be good. Only good people go to heaven. God only loves good people. Contrary to what you’ve heard, everyone eventually goes to heaven. There is no hell because God is love. You must keep the 10 Commandments. Live according to the Golden Rule and you’ll be OK. You must go to church. You must be baptized. You must take communion. You must tithe. You must speak in tongues. You must not drink alcohol. You must not smoke. Yes, salvation is by faith, but you’re kept by works. If you don’t feel guilty, you’re not going to heaven. And so the contrary list go on.

  As pastor and author Andrew Farley explains it’s “Jesus plus nothing. 100% natural. No additives.”

  With the Apostle Paul, I say “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”  (Gal.2:20-21)

EBB4