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 (gospel) 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 (the gospel) you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Gal. 1:1-9
I got in a discussion with a Muslim 3 days ago and asked, "How do you get to Heaven?" She responded, "By being a good person." I asked, "Are you good enough?", and she responded, "I hope so." Now if I was grading, she'd be in because she is one of the nicest people at the hospital, but unfortunately, the standard is perfection and we're all short of it. (Is that a BigTentRevival song?)
Gospel means good news. To follow a religion that can't tell you if you are going to make it but just keep trying harder and harder is not good news. It sounds like stress and anxiety to me. Actually, Islam does give you some assurance of salvation, if you die in the midst of Jihad (Quaran 3:157) I shared with her that all the religions of the world are like people climbing up different sides of a mountain to get to God. Christianity is the only one that states the mountain is insurmountable. We can't be good enough, so God came down the mountain in His Son Jesus who takes us to the top if we put ourselves in His arms. It's total faith, not works. (Eph. 2:8,9 & Titus 3:5,6) Then John says in 1John 5 that we can know that we have eternal life. That's good news.
Paul had shared this good news to the people in Galatia and they were thrilled to receive it but then it appears when he left people came in and changed the good news to good works salvation which is not good news at all. Originally gospel was associated with a herald bringing and posting a proclamation in town that a victory had been accomplished and everyone cheered. This is probably a lame illustration but since I'm a Brewer fan let's say that during the '25 season there's a night where we hang our NL Central Champion 2024 banner and Cubs fans try to tear it down or petition MLB to remove it because they won the season series against us. What's happening? The season is over. Winning the NL Central was accomplished and the proclamation and good news has been displayed. Now, someone is coming in and changing the rules or saying it takes more than that. That is how silly and infuriating what's going on in the church of Galatia is to Paul. Salvation has been won. It is finished. It's final. Why are you trying to change the rules?
I'm so glad that I don't have to be good enough to get to Heaven. I could never make it. Thanks be to Jesus who did it for me!
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