Galatians 1:3-10

We are continuing our study of the gospel through the letter to the Galatians. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it is important that we feel no need to rush through this text, nor a need to follow a preformatted structure beyond what the text brings us.

The reason for this is quite simple: if the Bible is about God’s self-revelation to mankind as He chose to come to us and communicate and disclose Himself to us, and not simply musings or thoughts about God from humans trying to reach Him, then we need to come humbly before Him and inquire from within the Scriptures. We do this by traveling verse by verse through the text and allowing God to speak to us by His choosing of the next topic, not the preacher choosing his favorite pet verses. The benefit to this type of exercise is that we will need to work through issues and topics that we might not otherwise pursue.

This part of the letter is significant, because it is the first offensive shot that Paul fires at the professing Christians in this region. Usually, in a letter of great urgency and concern, the first major topic the author chooses demonstrates its significance and importance. For Paul, it is no less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so eager to get to the issue at hand that he pens no warm nicety in his salutation, and instead jumps right into the problem and uncovers the errors of the thinking and application of the gospel.

Now, as I mentioned last week, we can’t miss the forest for the trees. The big “E” on the eye chart is that Paul is writing this letter to a group of people who profess to love Christ and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. They do not deny that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. They are not in what we would consider open or blatant sin like the Church in Corinth. The issue isn’t their morality; it is the motivation behind their morality. The issue isn’t their commitment to their religion; it is the motivation behind their commitment. Paul wrote this letter to the “churches of Galatia” rather than to the issues of one particular church. We know that this letter applies to all churches because it is not about a specific context of behavioral sin as much as it is about doctrine and getting the gospel right. This letter is essentially written to professing Christians who think they understand the gospel but don’t. They think they have rightly applied the gospel but haven’t. They assume they know it well enough, but in so doing prove they don’t. This is the entire thrust of the letter, so we have to approach it the same way for our church. If the gospel no longer shocks you and surprises you in its depth and richness, you probably don’t understand it. If you assume that you have it all down, you are proving you really don’t. If you are coming to a place where you feel that you are just beginning to see the gospel afresh for the first time, you are proving that you are getting it. If you are saying to yourself, “I have barely understood this,” you are demonstrating you are beginning to understand. The problem with the Galatians, and the problem with us, is that we think more highly of our understanding and comprehension of the gospel than we ought. We have it all down and can move on to more important topics, thus proving that we don’t really understand its significance. How can I say that you and I don’t really get the gospel in the way that Paul is commending? Because we still sin! The fact that we sin means that we really haven’t fully unpacked the gospel and applied it to our hearts. The fact that we treat each other poorly is proof that we have not understood how the gospel applies to our behavior and treatment of one another. The fact that we have dry spells in our walk with Christ is proof that we have not connected how the gospel affects our emotions. The fact that we have selfish tendencies in our giving and service demonstrates that we really haven’t understood how the gospel affects our motivations. It is fair to say that we simultaneously understand the gospel while not really understanding the gospel. We believe the gospel, while at the same time disbelieve it.

Each time we sin, we are proving that something is at work in our hearts and minds other than the gospel. Moreover, as we will hear from Paul, our tendency is to create another gospel, which really is no gospel at all. So, it becomes a necessity that we test ourselves to see if we really understand and are applying the gospel in our lives, and I pray that this passage brings us to such a place of introspection. This passage not only tests us to see if we understand it, it also teaches us different aspects of the gospel.

STUDY

Listen to how many times Paul mentions the gospel in this short passage. Paul obviously thinks this is the most important truth for you and me to understand. He then repeats himself in a different way in verse 9 by saying, “as we have said before so now I say again,” and then refers back to verse 8 so that we understand this is not merely someone loosing his cool, but someone who has thought this through and wants to focus your attention on the most important point: to not preach or believe a false gospel. What is he so concerned about? The gospel.

Paul mentions 4 characteristics of the gospel for us to consider as he reminds the Galatians what it is, what is has done, and what it does, and why it is so important that they understand it.

The first thing Paul mentions is in verse 6.

1- The Power of the Gospel (Existential/Personal/Experiential)

Verse 6- “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called (gk. kaleo- means called) you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—”

In contrast to “a different gospel” is the true gospel. But instead of saying, “true gospel,” here Paul uses the term, “called you by the grace of Christ.” This is synonymous with the gospel and demonstrates its power.

God’s call is power. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). The order of God’s call and acceptance of us is important. In religions, we are required to give God something in order for Him to accept us. His call is not important, because it is we who are essentially calling Him and showing our good works.

With God, the call is the power. Unlike you and me, when we call out to someone or something, there is essentially no power in our calling. Try this out on your pets or children. When you call out to them, do they do as you asked without fail? The reason is that we can call, but we really don’t have the power in our words to effect what we’ve said. In other words, our call is nothing more than that, a call. There is a difference between calling our kids and getting our kids. If I call my daughter to wake-up in the morning, I usually have to go in and wake her up. For little children, when you call them to come eat (if they are focused on a particular toy) they might not come the moment you call them to the table, you may have to call again or go get them. The hearer can choose to come or not based upon their own resources or disposition. Your calling of your child is an expression of your desire and nothing more. You can’t make something happen by your mere call. This is not so with God. When God calls, it is an action and something happens. God’s call is a deed. When He calls all things into existence, immediately they exist. When He says, “let there be light,” He doesn’t then have to go and get it; light appears. When Jesus says to the storm, “peace be still,” He doesn’t then have to go still it, to call it to still is to still it. When Jesus says, “Lazarus come forth,” He doesn’t then give CPR to revive Lazarus. The call for Lazarus to come forth is the power, is the action, is the deed. The word of God is power. The gospel is the call of God by grace.

This is how you can tell if the gospel is at work in you—you have sensed a power at work in your life. If you have not sensed an outside power dealing with you at any time in your life, you haven’t experienced the power of the gospel. This is why Romans says that the “gospel is the power of God.” It doesn’t say it has the power, it says it is the power of God for salvation. It is the power of God in verbal form. If the gospel is in your life there has been a disruption, an intervention in your life. Have you sensed something getting to you and working on you? If you haven’t sensed the gospel power dealing with you, you haven’t gotten it.

This doesn’t mean that it has to be some great and traumatic event. But, something is there, something is going on, even if it isn’t explosive and traumatic. When you meet God, when you encounter Him through His gospel, you are not the same. From Saul to Peter, Jacob to Israel, Abram to Abraham, are all examples of being changed by encountering God. You’re not yourself anymore, yet, you really are your true self now. When you become a Christian you almost can’t describe yourself anymore. There is something new and different that wasn’t there previously. Has that happened in your life? Has there been a power at work acting upon you and in you?

2- The Content of the Gospel (Normative/Doctrinal/Truth)

Look with me at verses 6-9:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different (gk. heteros- something strange, altered) gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert (gk. metastrepho- turn inside out, transmute, reverse, corrupt) the gospel of Christ. 8 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. 9 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.

Paul is saying that to pervert the gospel is to not simply distort it a little bit, but to turn it inside out, to reverse it. Paul says that to pervert the gospel is to not simply distort it a little, but to reverse the whole thing and turn it inside out. Paul is saying that there is truth and content to the gospel and the error is to reverse it. This is what is wrong with the false teachers of this false gospel.

“For there is no middle ground between Christian righteousness and works-righteousness. There is no alternative to Christian righteousness but works-righteousness; if you do not build your confidence on the work of Christ you must build your confidence on your own work”

-Martin Luther

If you add anything to Christ as a basis for your salvation and acceptance with God, you completely reverse and pervert the order of the gospel and make it useless. This is why Paul is saying they have created a “different gospel,” which is no gospel at all. The change it in the least degree is to totally lose it and miss it, and therefore to miss Christ.

“Thirdly, before you can speak peace to your heart, you not only need to be troubled by the sins of your life, and the sin of your very nature, but also for the sins of your best actions and performance before God. When a broken soul is beginning to be awakened by the terror of a Holy Lord, the poor creature, being born under the burden of their works, attempts to pacify their conscience with the works they perform. As Adam and Eve hid themselves among the trees of the garden, and sewed together fig leaves to cover their nakedness, so the broken sinner, when first awakened, may run to his actions and to his performance, to hide himself from God, in an attempt to patch up his own righteousness. He will say, “I will be good now- I will change- I will do everything I can; and Jesus Christ must certainly have mercy on me.” But before you can speak about peace in your heart, you must come to see all your actions, and all your righteousness put together are so far from God’s approval, and so far from motivating or coercing God to have mercy on you, that he sees them to be nothing more than filthy rags. God is not simply disapproving of them, He actually hates them and will send you far from him if you bring them to him in order to gain his favor…

Lastly, I’m not sure what you think, but I know that I cannot even pray without sin, I cannot preach to you or anyone else without sin. I can do nothing without sin, and my very repentance wants to be repented of, and my tears desire to be washed by the precious blood of my Savior. Our best actions are nothing more than dressed up sins. Before you can speak peace to your heart, you need to not only repent of your sin, but also of your own righteousness. There must be a deep conviction before you can be brought out of your self-righteousness. It is the last great idol to be taken from the heart. Have you ever felt the need of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and not just the forgiveness? Can you say, “Lord, you may justifiably damn me for the best works I have ever performed? If you are not brought out of yourself in this way, you my speak peace to your heart, but there is no peace. You must at last come to place of holding onto, by faith alone, the all sufficient righteousness of Jesus Christ. Then and only then, will you have peace.”

-George Whitefield

Some in our time want to convince us that truth isn’t found it propositions or facts; it’s only found in narratives and stories. We are told to find our truth in the story alone. Of course the gospel is story and narrative. Of course the gospel isn’t only propositions, but it isn’t less than propositions. Paul is very concerned with the truth, the doctrine, the normative aspect of the gospel. Paul is concerned with a right theology of the gospel. He sets this against the false doctrine and false theology of the false teachers. To use “false,” “distort,” “pervert,” “another,” “contrary,” is to make truth claims against something that is false. We can’t simply say, “it’s up to whatever you want to believe,” without Paul writing this letter to us!

We can say we’ve received God’s grace and now live a good life in response, or we’ve lived a good life and now received God’s grace. It’s either/or—the order matters! To pervert it is to change the order and reverse it and make it totally different.

Have you sensed an illumination of the gospel that at one point was not there?

3- The Drama of the Gospel (Situational/Living Out the Story)

Verses 3-4- “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age,”

When you understand the gospel, you understand that there is a greater story of history at work that includes you and the universe. This greater story is the gospel!

Everyone is in slavery and needs to be rescued. The world is under the curse and needs to be freed. When you become a Christian, you see that you and all other people are slaves and can only be rescued by Christ in the gospel. Life is no longer static; it is dynamic and dramatic. You are rescued from the present age and yet still live in it! This rescue story of freedom must be told to all.

Do you see this? Are you caught up in this drama? Is this story true to you?

4- The Acceptance of the Gospel (Existential/Identity/Personal/Value)

Verse 10- “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

If you think that God loves you for what you do, then your sense of God’s love for you will be based upon your current performance.

If you find your identity in the approval of others, your sense of value will be held captive by their opinion. Your identity will be derived by the opinion of self or of others, which ultimately places self or others in the role of Christ. They (self or others) then become your functional messiah, your acting atonement.

Do you feel approved of God based upon Christ’s performance?

1- The Power of the Gospel

Do you sense God working on you and in you with the Gospel?

2- The Content of the Gospel

Has your mind become illuminated by the truth of the Gospel?

3- The Drama of the Gospel

Do you see the drama and are you caught up in it?

4- The Acceptance of the Gospel

Do you feel approved by God based upon Christ’s performance?