The Gospel from God that is Pleasing to God
The Apostle Paul rebuked the churches of Galatia for departing from the Gospel of grace he had preached to them on his first missionary journey in the late A.D. 40’s. False brethren had infiltrated the churches. These false teachers claimed to have come from Jerusalem with a gospel that was no Gospel at all. There is only one true Gospel of God that was received from God by the Apostles. The Apostle Paul had received God’s message from Christ Himself.
Saul of Tarsus was converted by the true and living Christ on his journey to persecute Christians at Damascus (Acts 9). It was the risen and enthroned King of glory who gave the calling and mission to this most unlikely Pharisee of the Jews. The rest of Paul’s life and ministry was spent being found faithful to the Word of God he had received to take to the Gentiles. The false brethren insisted that new converts to Christianity must become Jews first. The sign of the covenant community had been the rite of circumcision. In fulfillment of the Law of God, Jesus Christ became the one-time circumcision. He was cut and the veil of separation was removed under the New Covenant. He was the promised seed of Abraham, planted in the good soil of men’s hearts (Mt 13:8; Jas 1:21).
For the Judaizers who had followed Paul’s missionary team into the churches, the problem was not identifying Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, it was the addition of Jesus plus something else for true salvation. False teachers throughout history have always added or subtracted something from the Person and work of the Son of God who became the Son of Man in order to save His people from their sins. (Mt 1:21).
Paul defended the origin of his receipt of the Gospel to demonstrate that he did not receive it from men, especially the church leaders at Jerusalem. The false brethren were charging Paul with distorting the gospel they were preaching and had purportedly received from the church leaders at Jerusalem. It was a different “gospel” that was not truly sourced from the Judean church leaders. Paul needed to prove that fact to the newly birthed congregations.
Paul’s resume in Galatians chapter one was an essential apologetic. Following his conversion and receipt of the Gospel message from our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul spent very little time at Jerusalem conferring with the leadership there. Still, they knew Paul and the radical transformation God performed on him. Paul was a new man, really a new creation (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 5:17).
Paul later came to Jerusalem; and the Gospel he preached to the Gentiles was the same message being preached by the Apostles to the Jews. Paul received the right hand of fellowship. Titus, Paul’s Greek traveling companion was in the midst and was not pressured to be circumcised. Paul pointed this out to the Galatians. Paul’s confrontation with Peter at Antioch of Syria also served to demonstrate that the Judaizers were wrong. Paul had been very stern with Peter in the same way, he was now writing to the Galatian churches.
The Gospel preached by the Apostles of the early church is our Gospel, today. Nothing in church history has altered God’s message to the early church. We are blessed with timeless truth. Simply put, we do not need to live like the Jew under the Law. No one except Jesus Christ has ever lived in righteousness before God. What the Galatians needed to repent to was the grace of Christ’s imputed righteousness.
The substitutionary, sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary was for God’s elect to be redeemed and reconciled to right standing before God. It was when we were without hope, being without God in the world, that God sent the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel of Christ and cause us to be born again by the implanted seed of God’s Word in our hearts.
The life-giving Spirit made us alive with the living Word of the true and living God. It was not our will, but God’s will for this to happen to us (Jn 1:12–13). God had mercy upon those He had given to Christ before the foundation of the world. It was God’s good pleasure to give each elect, redeemed soul faith in Christ as a gift of His grace (Eph 2:8–9).
Today’s false gospels still press Christians to “do” something to make salvation effectual. False brethren are always pressuring people to become judges of Jesus’ worthiness. No one is in the position to accept or reject Him. Jesus is the Judge of the living and the dead, not vice-versa. We are not the decision makers. The parent chooses the orphan for adoption, not the other way around. The heir does not choose his inheritance; he is chosen to receive it.
The Gospel of sovereign grace is pleasing to God because it ascribes all honor and glory and praise to our Triune God. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have done great things to purpose, plan, and execute our salvation from beginning to end. May it never be that we burden others in any way. We herald news of our most merciful burden bearer.
Examine yourself in this matter. Are you telling others what God has done; or, are you telling them they must do something that actually makes them the savior of themselves?
God is pleased with His Gospel preached to people through faithful stewards. He is not pleased with those who tell others there is more to do than what Christ has done for us.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 25, 2023
