Do You Believe the Right Gospel? (Galatians 1-2)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Have you ever wondered if what you believe about God is true?

This is an issue Paul covers in the book of Galatians. Paul wrote this book in the early 50’s A.D., around fifteen years after the death of Jesus Christ. In those fifteen years, the church of Christ sprouted in regions all around the globe. John MacArthur writes,

In an ethnic sense, Galatia was the region of central Asia Minor inhabited by the Galatians. They were a Celtic people who had migrated to that region from Gaul (modern France) in the third century B.C. The Romans conquered the Galatians in 189 B.C. but allowed them to have some measure of independence until 25 B.C. when Galatia became a Roman province. In a political sense, Galatia came to describe the entire Roman province, not merely the region inhabited by the ethnic Galatians.[1]

On his first missionary journey, Paul founded churches in the southern Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconic, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 13:14-14:23). He would pass through this region in all three of his missionary journeys. The Galatians to whom Paul was writing likely included these churches and others in the northern region as well.

The reason for Paul’s letter was “to convince the Galatians that the ‘other Gospel’ of justification by Christ and law-keeping was heretical.”^[2] Paul doesn't mince words. In Chapter 1, he skips his usual warm greetings and gets straight to the point, stating in Verse 6, “I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel,” before adding “not that there is another.”

By clinging to an old system of belief, the Galatians were elevating the importance of their works and devaluing the work of Christ. The real problem with the Galatian’s position was not so much their legalism in keeping Old Testament law. The real issue was that they elevated their works as a means of personal salvation.  

Unfortunately, as Timothy Keller wrote, “The average person on the street believes that a Christian is someone who follows Christ’s teaching and example. But Paul implies that’s impossible. After all, you don’t rescue people unless they are in a lost state and a helpless condition!”^[3]

So, what is the real gospel? It’s this: Because of the sin of one man, Adam, death came into the world. The result of this death is the curse of sin rests upon every human today. We are bent with an inclination to live selfishly and independently from God.

The greater the sin, the greater the penalty, and the highest sin one can ever commit is treason against an almighty God. The penalty for such a sin is death. But through Christ’s death on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sins so that we can be forgiven. This self-sacrificial act by Christ is a free gift that can only be received by grace through faith.

That’s the gospel.