I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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. 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 (Gal 1:6-9).There is, then, only one Gospel; there is not "another one". But what is that Gospel?
The context should fill you in just fine. What else does Paul focus on in this epistle? Legalism. The Gospel that Paul defends here isn't so much the "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" part, but the "what comes after" part.
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh (Gal 3:2-3)?The portion of the Gospel that covers salvation is pretty clear. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" (Gal 3:6). But it is what comes after that is in view for Paul here. It is the part that comes after that is "the Gospel". Do you know what Paul is defending here against the legalists? It's not salvation. It's sanctification!
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20).That's the Gospel. It is we who "work out your salvation" and it is we who "do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). It is we who "through love serve one another" (Gal 5:13). There is stuff we're supposed to do. All true. But it is not we who, in the final analysis, do it. It is Christ in us.
That's the Christian life. Christ in you. It is Christ's life then lived out now in you and me. The "false gospel" that Paul was fighting was salvation by works, to be sure, but it was also sanctification by works -- full-blown legalism. The Gospel is the mysterious union of Christ and His own, where the Spirit is at work in us giving us the will and power to do what God has prepared beforehand for us to do. It is the work and rest of being a believer. It is about gratefully following our Savior without being caught in "the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world" (Gal 4:9), heirs to the Father (Gal 4:7), not under the Law, but not without it. It is Christ working in you and then rewarding you for your faithfulness. That's the Gospel. That's the Good News.
2 comments:
Good Word! I try to describe the process like this. You become like those you hang out with. If you come from the west like I do, and you move to the south, well after a while you start talking like a southerner. It is just a natural process. The same with Jesus. When you focus on relationship with Him, you naturally start acting and doing the things He does. That is sactification. Set apart from your old crowd, and set to your new crowd, namely Jesus!
It's interesting. When a piano tuner tunes a room full of pianos, he doesn't tune one to another. He tunes each to a standard. And when we are walking with our Standard, it tends not only to tune us to Him, but to tune us to each other.
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