Galatians 1:1-10
1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through 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 the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Only One Gospel
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
Paul knew his calling was God’s work and not something he worked to earn or aspire to. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He had persecuted and handed over those who were in Christ to be tortured and executed and fought against the gospel message and words of Jesus Christ as a devout religious man. His authority came in humble hands from this past and was thankful for the grace to forgive him and empower the gospel to be ministered through those blood-stained hands to bring healing reconciliation and peace with God through his new purpose and aim of a rebirth from spiritual death to eternal life, just as the resurrection had reminded the apostle of his own new life. He wrote to the churches in Galatia to offer this same grace from the Lord and peace with God in His Son. He reminded them that Jesus sacrificed Himself for the forgiveness of our sins by taking our punishment which we all deserve in order to deliver us from this present evil age of a fallen creation world. He did this by His will and not ours to gain all the glory and honor for our salvation and not allow us to wrongfully take credit for choosing Him to be saved from the certain judgment only God has the power to deliver us out of. God alone deserves the honor and glory for our deliverance from just wrath on our sin. Paul had to then wake them up by asking how in the world could some of them turn away from this certain merciful hope of infinite grace to some other pseudo gospel. There were influencers who had been trying to pervert the gospel by requiring works of the Law to earn salvation as necessary conditions contrary to the grace which was God’s work in Christ alone without the works and efforts of man to earn or keep any part of their salvation. This is akin to the current Arminian effort to make salvation man’s work to choose instead of God’s grace to work for us as John 6:29 answered the matter already. It is through faith in the work of the Lamb of God our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7) which keeps the destroyer of judgment and wrath for our sin from condemning us as the children of Israel being released from their bondage in Egypt by God’s work for them (Exodus 12:27, Romans 3:23, 26). Those who added to the conditions for salvation troubled those hearing the gospel to turn them away from grace to their own ways. The scriptures here make it clear that to do this is to be cursed because it is a doctrine of demons in the guise of an angelic messenger (2 Corinthians 10:13-15) as we see in Islam and others like the Mormons who falsify the gospel with visions of fallen angels and their messages contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God revealed and clearly spoken to us. Those who preach such faux gospels are cursed by God Himself for deceiving many and even making the elect doubt (Mark 13:22-23) at times. These follow the example of their deceptive father the devil who twisted the clear word of God and introduced the sin of disobedience and disbelief into this world. We therefore as God’s servants speak these things clearly and straight without hiding motives or secret agendas or messages in veiled appearances of the true gospel. We are called to consider those who speak contrary to the scriptures with false gospel messages and not to listen to them or doubt the word spoken to us from God as Eve had done when deceived and agreed to by Adam afterwards. This is the warning given here as to those in Galatia. Let us please the God of all grace through taking Him at His word by faith and following the only gospel of grace without adulteration of our works or twisting (2 Peter 3:16) difficult things contrary to the word delivered to us and recorded as the complete and finished word of God in the Bible we now have. Beware and be aware! Study to know the truth (2 Timothy 2:15) that sets us free and identity truth from error as we have the example here.
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