Joel M Bradshaw

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But 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. 9As 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.–Galatians 1

This blog also connects with a podcast I run. We recently went through the book of Galatians. Click the link and follow the podcast to always stay updated.

The issue in Galatians was that others were preaching a different Gospel message that Paul originally did. The outward works of man were being presented as just as important as the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Essentially, the Galatians were being told to add the Law of Moses to their experience if they were to properly follow Jesus. This was a different Gospel and Paul had very strong language about that!

Here is the basic message of the Gospel contained in Romans 5…

6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Our sin renders us powerless to please God and be reconciled to him. And while we were still God’s enemies in our sinful rejection of Him, Jesus died in our place. Jesus is our substitute who in his sacrificial death satisfied the wrath of God due to be given to our sins. We have no hope other than Jesus. By his blood we now stand justified before God.

So let’s review the two basic Gospel options.

1. True Gospel. I am saved by grace through faith. I can’t earn it or deserve it. I admit my sin to God, repent of my sin and turn to God. I trust in Jesus alone for my salvation. I commit my way fully to him as his disciple and he as my Lord. His resurrection from the dead provides the basis of my hope of eternal life. My faith is in the God who chose me and sent Jesus to die in my place. My works therefore do nothing to save me. The only thing I truly bring to salvation is the sin that needs dealt with.
2. Humanistic Gospel. God looks at me and sees that I am a good person and have done enough good things to earn a spot in heaven. Salvation is centered in me and what I have done versus Jesus and what he has done. As long as my bad outweighs my good I am in. My only issue is living a good enough life as contrasted with other people. My faith essentially is in the goodness of people and especially in myself. My works essentially save me.

Galatians is about this basic either/or. So is your life. Which one are you?–JMB