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No Other Gospel
INTRODUCTION
The Epistle to the Galatians is an extremely important book, for it was written in response to news that some brethren were deserting the teaching of the Apostles and they would be facing devastating consequences. Some of the central themes of the book concern the freedom of believers, as well as their unity in Christ or what it means to have Christ living in them.
It is critically important for us today to frankly face up to, recognize and reject false teaching, for a significant part of the teaching in the history of Christianity is in effect a departure from the gospel by which we have been saved.
Our study will look at several critically important issues such as: -the foundation of authority -the irreplaceable apostolic position -the position of God the Father and his gracious action through his Son Jesus -the work of Jesus and its meaning -the core message of the Gospel -the abhorrent nature of deviations from the Gospel -the dreadful condemnation that will come to those who mislead the people of God -the amazing folly of people who claim to believe in Jesus and yet succumb to error -the importance of pleasing God, obedience, and clinging to God, and more.
Paul will discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in making us children of God and leading us into unity, and away from divisions. His discussion has had a deep impact on Christian thinking and behavior. In this letter there is an exceptionally strong protest against those who brought “another gospel” into the Church and whose tenets nullified the teachings of the “true gospel”.
We must remember that the writings of the Apostle Paul sought to deal with and correct the many and various evils that sprung up in the churches that he and others had planted. The Book of Galatians is no exception in this regard.
The Book was written in defense of Apostolic preaching and teaching. Some people had come and corrupted the Church with a series of false but attractive doctrines. Paul was most indignant and alarmed at this and dealt with the matter in a forceful and direct way.
Paul's discussion about the nature of the true gospel, as well as the themes of the freedom of believers and unity in Christ, was bound to arouse controversy. The truth always creates controversy.
This controversy has extended down to the present day, for many believers have used matters in this Book to propose several doctrines which we believe rest on erroneous presuppositions. Their construct raise supposed and continuing doctrinal conflicts between the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, other Apostles and James the brother of Jesus, the head of the Jerusalem Church.
The suggestion that there was this conflict raises the question as to whether all the Apostles were inspired by the same Holy Spirit. True believers know that there is no such conflict and therefore reject any interpretation which suggests that the Apostles including Paul, were not in total agreement. This of course does not mean that the Apostles could not disagree and were not capable of committing sins, for they all certainly did and they did not preach that they were sinless. When they behaved inappropriately, the Apostles were certainly receptive to correction, we see this both in the case of Peter, and in the case of Paul. However in matters of doctrine inspired by God, there is no error or conflict.
People who presume that there was conflict between Apostolic teaching, base their position on a false dichotomy between the Old Testament and the New Testament teachings.
The problem arises mainly because Paul condemned certain people who brought in what he condemned as “false doctrines”. The question arises as to who these people were, what did they believe and precisely what in their beliefs was Paul condemning.
The identity of these “trouble makers” has been the subject of extensive discussions and disagreement. Their identity is of course important, for it has to do with whether or not these “trouble makers” were Jewish, or Jewish Christians, or gentile Christians.
Some have assumed that they were Jewish Christians who taught that it was necessary to belong to the Jewish nation in order to be saved and receive the blessings of God. They believed that these people taught that Gentiles had to keep the Mosaic Law, which of course included the requirement of circumcision, Sabbath observance, respecting food laws, and so on.
They would argue that Paul taught that Sabbath observance, respecting food laws and all elements of the Mosaic law had no relevance for Gentile Christians or to anyone for that matter. They openly read into the Books of Paul his alleged open hostility to his fellow Jews and complete condemnation of everything Jewish. This however is far from Paul's true position.
Since they have already come to the writings of Paul with defined views on the alleged irrelevance of “Jewish” or Mosaic regulations, they use Galatians to bolster their arguments in support of their preconceptions, without proper regard to what Paul might actually have meant. They would create hostility and disagreement between the Apostles, without proper regard to what this means for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The unfortunate side effect of this is of course significant anti-Jewish sentiments that have infected the Christian Church, though this type of view and position is expressly forbidden by Scripture. There is more to this that meets the eye, despite the traditional interpretations by many of those who reject the Seventh Day Sabbath, food laws, and other instructions in the Scriptures.
It is therefore important for us to see who these “trouble makers” might have been, so we can look properly at what Paul was condemning and avoid reading into his writings.
In other words, we believe that a proper look at Paul in the Book of Galatians, as well as in his other writings, will dispel the “lonely Apostle” notion about Paul. This idea of Paul being a “lonely Apostle” is ridiculous, for all the Apostles knew and taught the truth, despite their occasion lapses in behavior.
As we look at these comments let us note that the traditional interpretations which have been made to condemn what is defined as “keeping of the Law”, rests on shaky ground academically. Though we do not advocate keeping of the Law in the way that the Scriptures denounce, there is a proper keeping of the Law, which those who are truly in Christ and directed by the Holy Spirit will do. Those led by the Spirit will without apology be found in obedience to the commandments of God. Being a true and obedient Christian does not mean that we are without “Law”, for those understand that the Law is holy, just, and good.
It must be understood that the early Church faced opponents from all sectors, both Jew and Gentile. These people were used by Satan to confuse and to resist the truth. The same movement in all its complex varieties continued through the centuries, finally being formalized in a powerful but false system of worship.
This apostate Church has influenced many churches today, and has continued the teaching which draws a false dichotomy between true Judaism and Christianity, for it rejects that true Judaism, established by God himself, is the mother of Christianity, and that God himself through the work of Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition between both.
There is much discussion about a new perspective on Paul which directly challenges the traditional interpretation of the Book of Galatians and other writings. Some comments on the traditional interpretation follow: “ The key questions involve Paul’s view(s) of the Law and the meaning of the controversy in which Paul was engaged. Paul strongly argued that we are “justified by faith in Christ (or “ the faith of Christ”) and not by doing the works of the Law” (Galatians 2:16b). Since the time of Martin Luther, this has been understood as an indictment of legalistic efforts to merit favor before God. In fact Judaism in general have come to be construed as the very anthithesis of Christianity. Judaism is earthly, carnal, proud; Christianity is heavenly, spiritual, humble. It is a tragic irony that all of Judaism has come to be viewed in terms of the worst vices of the 16th century institutionalized Church. Traditional Protestant soteriology (this word means the doctrine of salvation), focused as it is on the plight of the conscience smitten individual before a Holy God, must be carved out of the rock of human pretentiousness in order to be cogent. Thus it is no accident that the Reformers interpreted the burning issues of Paul's day in light of their struggle against legalism. “ The Reformers interpretation of Paul,” writes Krister Stendahl, “ rests on an analogism when Pauline statements about Faith and Works, Law and Gospel, Jews and Gentiles are read in the framework of late medieval piety. The Law, the Torah, with its specific requirements of circumcision and food restrictions becomes a general principle of ‘legalism’ in religious matters.” The growing consensus about the nature of first century Palestinian Judaism and the agreement that Judaism was never a religion of legalism has generally been followed by the observation that whatever else Paul was protesting, he was not protesting self-righteous efforts to merit favor before God. Nor was Paul grappling with the Western question of the introspective conscience. The tide of opinion has clearly turned against the Lutheran-Weberian interpretation of the role and function of the Law within Judaism. Protestants can no longer assume that Paul was up against a legalistic Judaism which taught that salvation was to be “merited” or “earned” by self-reliance. Nor were Paul's opponents against faith, grace, and forgiveness. The sticking point of the Judaizing controversy must be located elsewhere.”
It is a pity that the great reformers of the so-called and frequently talk about Reformation period were so anti-Semitic. They showed a certain blindness, in that they did not totally reject the teaching of Rome, see through the effects of their cultural views and return to authentic Christianity that recognized the Seventh Day as the Sabbath of the Lord, as well as many other commandments of God.
The traditional stress of the Book of Galatians on the central themes of freedom and Liberty in Christ and that believers must protect their freedom is understandable, when one understands that many reformers faced a particularly enslaving and overbearing institutionalized Church. It was thus easy and tempting for them to cast ‘Jewish Law’ in the same rigid and imperious light as what they endured under the Roman Church.
It is not good enough to simply say that the commandments were done away with, twisting texts in Galatians to prove the inaccurate but traditionally accepted interpretations, keeping only as valid of course commandments relating to tithing and giving money to the Church in exchange for the blessings of God.
Both Jesus and Paul were authentically Jewish and any honest investigation of the scriptural documents will show that there are no discrepancies to be found between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Paul. Paul did not refashion the Jewish teachings of Jesus.
Paul was in every respect a well-trained intellectual, with a mind so thoroughly imbued with Jewish law, custom and thinking, that he could be the chief messenger of the Messiah among the Gentiles. He communicated a Jewish message into a Gentile setting to which he was thoroughly exposed, having actually grown up in Tarsus.
We must remember that the breach between Judaism and the movement which accepted Jesus as Messiah had taken place well before Paul's new commitment to the faith. He operated in an environment where there was enormous diversity of religious views, both Jewish and Gentile, and there were continuing pressures and corrupting influences from every conceivable quarter on the burgeoning Christian movement.
Paul, Peter, and John, as well as other writers, attacked the false ‘brethren’ who continually tried to bring in all kinds of damnable heresies into the church.
Paul was well qualified to check the threat and danger that the Gentile Christians might lose sight of the fact that their faith had a Jewish origin, (See Romans 11:20-21,23). He similarly had to remind Jews that Gentiles would be saved and that there would be a new covenant that would involve a radical change in the structure of the people of God.
There is simply no justification for assuming and accepting that Paul was condemning Judaism and its teachings in every passage. The situation was much more complicated than that, for the Apostles faced opposition from all quarters, going back all the way to the stoning of Stephen. The condemnations by Paul and the other Apostles who wrote to the churches did not condemn the Mosaic Law in the sense done by many modern Gentile commentators. WHO WERE THE GALATIANS?
Galatia was originally a part of Phrygia and neighboring areas in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The district was inhabited by Celts or Gauls, of the same ethnic group as those in France and Britain, but these had migrated to Asia and fought as mercenaries. They settled down eventually and intermarried with local people becoming really Gallogrecians or Greek speaking Galatians.
They were extremely corrupt and superstitious, and, influenced by local Phrygian culture worshipped the Phrygian goddess, the Mother of Gods, called Agdistis, as well as Zeus. The imperial cult, Emperor worship, was also established there.
Exposed to the mystic worship of Cybele and her peculiar doctrines, where the full privileges of divine union came through an elaborate system of ceremonial symbolism, one can understand more easily their attraction to any teaching that they had to be circumcised to gain a sense of belonging to a new group, and participate in the blessing of God.
There were various tribes who maintained mainly their own languages, but all who lived in this Roman province of Galatia were considered Galatians.
Ancient historians frequently commented that Galatians were intelligent, impetuous, extremely changeable or inconstant, and extremely vain. It was important for Paul to firmly re-establish his position and authority in their minds, and address forcefully their disloyalty.
Note Paul’s insistence on apostolic authority and obedience to this authority in dealing with the Galatians. Note also the insistence that there is only one true gospel, and the emphatic condemnation that comes from any deviation from this gospel. He emphasized that there could be no deviation or rejection of the Gospel, for this Gospel came from God himself, and was the only source of salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ was the only means of justification. There is nothing else.
We too had better pay close attention to these teachings, and recognize that God was not happy with the fickle and therefore disobedient Galatians, and he will not be happy with our fickle behavior.
THE TEXT Verse 1. Paul begins by stating that he was a person sent with a divine commission, not a person sent from man or at the behest of man. Rather he was sent both by God the Father, and by his Son Jesus Christ, the same Jesus who had been raised from the dead.
The statement by Paul clearly denies that he was appointed by any human official body, whether in Jerusalem or in Antioch. His Apostleship was of a different order. This discussion of his credentials and his call to a divine commission and Apostolic authority is certainly a far-reaching one.
The ultimate source of his call was from God, so ‘Christ’ was placed in contrast and opposition to ‘ man’. This emphasizes that Jesus Christ is a part of the Godhead.
Paul made sure that he introduced the unique position of Jesus, stating that Jesus was raised from the dead. It was his resurrection power that was associated with the special Apostolic power that Paul and the Apostles enjoyed. Clearly Paul was operating from the divinely established position and with a message given by the risen Christ. He was called, not during the earthly ministry of Jesus, but by the resurrected Lord himself.
Paul writes with authority, saying in fact that God was the originator and author of this letter. It was to be expected then that this claim of special apostleship made in this first verse would affect everything he was to say in the Book of Galatians.
Note that Paul was not afraid to properly describe himself and put up front his extraordinary divine call. He was certainly not afraid of confronting his enemies, asserting and magnifying his office, since this was obviously very necessary on this occasion.
His description of God the Father as the one who raised Jesus from the dead, makes us fully aware that the Father was totally behind his Son, the Messiah, and that he was pleased to have his Son enthroned in his exalted state, (Isaiah 53:11-12). Jesus was in the place where he could intercede for his brethren, and join the Father in specially commissioning his servant.
Verse 2. Paul now emphasized that there were many brethren with him who shared his convictions. Consequently, he was not alone in teaching the doctrines of Christ, for there were many who were with him and who were capable of helping to build them up. Clearly then the Galatians should not think that he was a lone voice in the ministry.
Here we see Paul's great modesty and humility. His fellow workers were fellow saints and shared in whatever he did.
Paul then indicates that there were a number of churches in the region, so this was obviously a circular letter, sent to several of the churches he had planted. We know from the book of Acts that on his first mission journey he planted churches in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch but its likely there were other churches in the main cities in Galatia.
Many of these churches had been started by Paul and Barnabas and his missionary journey in Galatia provided some interesting experiences. In Lystra, on one occasion he was first welcomed and treated as a god, but later stoned and dragged outside the city and left for dead. Persecution had been the name of the game in the cities of Galatia. The churches were close to heart and when the founder of a church writes and first lays out his authority in such a context, we know that there is trouble coming.
Verse 3. Paul then salutes them, expressing both the Hebrew and Greek expressions of blessing. He gives no mention of fond memories, nor does he describe them as saints in Christ, as is common in many of his salutations.
Here he uses the same words as he did in Verse 1 where he described the source of his apostleship, reminding them of the totally undeserved bounty that flowed from God, including his ‘peace’, which would free them from the tension and anxiety that filled the world.
The Father was the fountain to him, and he gave these blessings through Jesus Christ. He pointed to the often ignored role of God the Father in our salvation and that he wants to save us. It is the will of the Father that none perish, and he has provided all the help that we need to be saved, so that we have no excuse when we are lost.
Verse 4. He then concluded his greeting with the statement that it was Jesus Christ our Lord who gave himself as a offering to rescue us from the age where sin and death reigned.
Both the Father and the Son worked together so that we would be delivered and made new creatures to inherit a new kingdom.
Clearly Jesus is our substitute and he voluntarily and willingly made a great sacrifice to atone for our sins. The present age was evil, and offensive to him, nevertheless Jesus came on a rescue mission to bear our sins.
Note carefully that Paul is presenting Jesus as the ultimate purpose of the gospel. He made clear what Jesus had done. He not only prevented them from going to certain destruction, rescuing them from hell but he delivered them in the present, from the evil world in which they lived. He had taken them out of bondage and made them his distinct people.
One writer explains:
“ This is the City of Destruction which is to be burned with fire, and Christ's business is to fetch his people out of it. Therefore he sends his evangelists to cry to them, “ Flee from the wrath to come; tarry not in the city, but escape for your lives; you are in a doomed world, which will certainly be destroyed, therefore, fly to the only shelter from the coming storm.” the Lord desires that we should be so clear of this world that, when it is condemned, we may not share in the condemnation. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world that he might deliver us from that condemnation which now rests upon all the race of Adam except those who have fled for refuge to lay hold on to hope set before them in the gospel.”
Whether we like to think of it or not, the world of Paul’s day was in a horrible state, and the world today is also in a horrible state. We tend to forget that when God looks from his viewpoint at the nations of the world as described in Nebuchadnezzar's image of various metals spoken of in Daniel 2, he describes them shortly thereafter as voracious and evil beasts in Daniel 7. The Nebuchadnezzar's image looked fabulous, but in fact it represented a steadily deteriorating and increasingly iniquity filled world.
Note that the people of God are not called on to retreat from the world, but it is implied that though they did not belong to the world they would live in the world, delivered from its condemnation and condition.
The word that is translated ‘ world’ means the ‘ age’ or the system or course of the world, which is under the control of Satan. This ‘ age’ is in contrast to the “ages of ages” which is to come, and which will be glorious.
The gospel emancipates people from slavery, delivers believers from the power of the present world system, the eternal judgment to come and places them into a glorious future. Christ redeems and delivers believers because this is according to the will of the Father.
Believers are delivered and cannot be as the people of the world, for they are clean and holy, and do not conform to the sinful habits and styles of men.
All this comes to mind when it is realized that Jesus gave himself, to die in our stead. Believers should be so grateful that they should immediately stop being like the world, reject putting themselves under the burden and slavery of the world. Sin should be hated.
This is the will of God. God performed a massive miracle to pull men out of the world from the debilitating condition of sin, renewing their minds and separating them from the world. The power that did all of this, thwarting all the purposes of hell, will accomplish its designs.
Verse 5. God is deserving of all praise and glory. He has delivered us from both the power and the presence of this evil world. The believers were accepted and brought near to the Father who loved and appointed the Son to save men. The Son loved also and was obedient even unto death, and so both properly deserve worship, adoration, honour, and glory, for they have infinite excellence.
Paul so loved the Father and his Son that his heart burned to praise them, for the amazing things that they had done. The glory belongs only to God and is not in the domain of anyone or anything else. Clearly then the work of Christ is the only basis of salvation and future glory.
With all that, it is totally astonishing that a believer would quickly forget or turn away from the only source and channel of grace, forgetting that the offering of Christ of himself secured salvation and that He alone could deliver from the power of sin, as was the will of the Father.
Verse 6. Since the Galatians had begun to depart from the faith and move over into actual doctrinal apostasy, Paul immediately rebukes them.
He expresses astonishment, which is a commonly used expression of rebuke to those not meeting expectations. His words were those of shock and horror. He was stinging and severe. This was not softened by any expression of thanksgiving that they had originally been called to the faith.
Some writers believe that the Letter was written from Corinth, in which case he would have been away from them for little more than three years. Others believe that the letter would have been written from Ephesus, in which case he would have been away from them for just about one year.
He describes their behavior of turning away as literally “deserting”, as in military desertion, a strong term.
Their desertion of God himself had been amazingly fast. It was not to be expected that they would have turned away from God so quickly after his visit and his instructions and teachings. This was serious for they had departed from God himself. He was the one that had called them by the grace of Christ.
He accused them of literally allowing themselves to be removed by seducers. Their seduction from God the Father was scandalous, for they were turning away from what was true to something that tainted. They had had such great promise, but they were proving to be easily influenced and turned away from the truth. They had placed themselves into a second and different gospel which was not a true gospel, but which was false. Their disloyalty was therefore a critical matter for them.
Verse 7. Though this innovation was called a ‘gospel’, it was not really a gospel, for there was only one Gospel. The Galatians had really deserted to a perversion, which was not good tidings, for it did not have the power to deliver people from slavery or to bring peace and blessing.
Their seducers wished to pervert the gospel, and thereby bring them trouble. Though this looked like another gospel, one could not credit this deviation with the term gospel, for there was no possibility of another gospel.
Christ was the center of the gospel, and there was no possibility of another Christ. Only one Christ came from the Father and only he would give himself for our sins, and deliver us from this present age. Any deviation from this Christ was deeply disturbing and would lead the errant believer into bondage, heartache, and spiritual death.
It is important to realize that there is only one Christ, and one gospel. Any deviation must be to a false Christ and a false gospel, even if the changes made are subtle, seemingly innocuous, and well disguised. Truth cannot be changed or modified. Any change means it is a lie and not the truth. There is no alternative gospel, and no alternative way to salvation. When men turn away from the gospel, they are turning away from grace and peace.
Verse 8. Since there was only one true gospel, the Gospel that had been delivered to them previously, there was absolutely no way that this changed ‘gospel’ could be correct.
They must therefore be adherents to the one gospel. All the Apostles would be judged by this one standard, for they could teach only the true gospel, and none other. One writer comments: “Were I to preach any other, I should incur the curse of God. If your false teachers pretend, as many in early times did, that they received their accounts by the ministry of an angel, let them be accursed; separate them from your company, and have no religious communion with them. Leave them to that God who will show his displeasure against all who corrupt, all who add to, and all who take away from the word of his revelation.”
In other words, the revelation that they had received had come from the highest possible authority. Any new revelation, even though supported by miracles, and coming with apparently supernatural support, could not be accepted if it contradicted the revelation already given by God.
Paul here supposes an impossibility to give more emphasis to his statement, when he says that even if an angel from heaven comes to them with new revelation that angel must be rejected. There can be no new revelation to replace or to go alongside the existing revelation of God. God could never contradict himself. (See Deuteronomy 13: 1-3, 1 Kings 13: 18; Matthew 24: 24; 2 Thess. 2:9).
The people that were troubling the brethren might have been many and authoritative, but they were to be rejected.
This of course is a warning to those among us with fickle tendencies who like to follow after every pretended prophet or prophetess that dreams up some new doctrine, each one more attractive than the previous.
One commentator warns that if you receive stolen goods you are as bad as the thief. Therefore if believers encourage pretended revelations, which are of course bad in the sight of God, that believer is as bad as the imposters.
This is a solemn warning, for the thief is accursed, the receiver of the stolen goods is accursed, the false prophet or prophetess is accursed and those who encourage, support, and follow them are also accursed.
Note that false gospels don't just happen, for they are carried by human agents, who might even be sincere. But the carriers of false gospel are cursed, since that which is false condemns the soul. It is a most serious matter and teachers therefore have a onerous responsibility.
Paul repeats this condemnation to give emphasis. The false teachers know what they are doing, for they are willful, and fully intend to distort the gospel of Christ, and lead others astray.
On the side of the listeners to the false gospel, Paul warns that believing error is a serious matter, for he calls it the same as forsaking God.
Verse 10. Paul then stressed that his concern was not to please men and to flatter them, but to please God. He did not want men to stay apart from Christ and be accursed. He did not shape his gospel message in order to make it attractive to those who heard it.
Paul pointed out, he consistently preached the Gospel that was given to him by God. The revelation to him was supernaturally given by Christ himself. There was no human invention or creation to it.
He is a slave of Christ, and faithfulness to Christ his master was his entire obligation. The word of God was pure and had to be transmitted in total, and not a diluted message to be given out to get status from men.
Verse 11. The gospel he preached was not from man, influenced by human ideas, or something that smart people had constructed, in order to make it persuasive and acceptable. The credentials of the one to whom the gospel belonged were impeccable. He might have begun as a man who as a zealous Pharisee tried to please men, but he was converted, made a Christian by Jesus and showed that this gospel did not originate with men. He could defend himself against anyone who would suggest that he was a man pleaser.
In refuting any such charges, Paul set about to prove this contention. He would now describe in detail his conversion and subsequent preparation by Jesus for the ministry.
Verse 12. He did not have a human teacher, but got his message from God directly. He was certain of it and was fully persuaded that he could judge the false gospels, for they were clear violations of the truth.
The summary of Paul's life shows that he could not have developed his gospel from input from human teachers, but his gospel had to come from the Lord. He was confident, for he had experienced firsthand the revelation from God. His relationship to the gospel was unique.
PAUL’S DEFENSE OF HIS PERSONAL AUTHORITY Paul then showed His faithfulness to the one true gospel given to him by God, and for which he was commissioned.
He was a prominent person in Judaism and was a member of the upper echelons. He was extremely zealous in his defense of his religion, and had dedicated his life to defending it. He persecuted the Church of God, laying it waste. He actually tried to destroy the Church of God.
He was more skilled in the traditions of his people than all his contemporaries, and was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He stood to benefit from remaining a Pharisee, and moving up into more fame and popularity among his people and among the leaders of his people. No one could accuse him of not being an expert in the doctrines of Judaism and the rabbinical traditions. He knew them better than most, and he had most to lose by moving away Judaism.
Verse 15. When God was ready however he brought him into the work that he had elected him to do. God's grace had preserved him for his work, and therefore he had no merit of his own. He did not decide on his actions. It was God who had set him apart from the day of his birth and prepared him to proclaim the gospel. As a Pharisee (a separated one) he was now really separated, and now he knew what it meant that God had actually set him apart.
It was God who had called and saved him, and he responded to this call, received Jesus Christ as his Savior, and was committed to following Jesus Christ. God's grace was the only cause for his life and his actions.
As Paul put it in Romans 8 “those God predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified”
CONCLUSION
Paul knew that he could not live to please men, and at the same time be the servant of Christ. One commentator states:
“The interest of Christ and those of the world are so opposite, that it is impossible to reconcile them; and he who attempts it shows thereby that he knows neither Christ nor the world, though so deeply immersed in the spirit of the latter. God generally confounds the expectations of men pleasing ministers; they never ultimately succeed even with men. God abhors them, and those whom they have flattered find them to be dishonest, and cease to trust them. He who is unfaithful to his God should not be trusted by man”.
Note the importance of preserving the purity of the gospel. The gospel presents the standard by which everything we do and every attitude that we have will be judged. We must believe in it and we must live according to its message.
We are warned that even when we say we believe the gospel, we can quickly forsake it by distorting it, deserting it or treating it casually.
Christianity means living in this present life not controlled by bondage to the ways of the world and its evils. It means following the Spirit now and not the flesh. It means having Christ live his life through us. In that life we will have unbelievable liberty. One writer advises us
“ All legalists sum up their faith in the same way: They say that sincerity plus activity equals life. You can test any religious experience in the world by that measure and, unless it is the gospel of the grace of God, you will find that what it says, in one way or another, boils down to that. “ Sincerity (that is ‘ faith’) plus activity equals life as God intended it to be lived-- salvation or whatever you want to call it.” But the truth is quite the opposite. It is that life + faith = activity. That is an entirely different thing. We work, not in order to be saved, nor to be blessed by God, but we work because we shared the life of Jesus Christ in us.”
Let us understand that the works of the flesh are ugly characteristics. The life of Jesus Christ has been made available to us and we should move in the direction that he wants, so that the fruit of the Spirit will be shown in us.
This is what God wants from the people of God from the days of Genesis and onward. Let us not disappoint him and be ashamed at his coming. Let us love him and keep all his commandments.
May God preserve us from those many who seek to destroy us.
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