One Gospel (Galatians 1) 7/1/12

Remember when you left home; when you went off to college or the military or that first job? Remember when you started sowing some oats or getting in with the wrong crowd? Remember that letter or phone call from your mother or father? You know, the one that reminded you who you were and where you came from. We all have memories like that. My parents saw where I was headed and they loved me enough to try to re-point me in the right direction. Thank God for parents who don’t meddle, but never leave us completely alone.

Several of Paul’s letters are like that, trying to re-direct his followers down the right path. Galatians is perhaps the most pointed. Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia is not an exercise in tact and diplomacy.  It is, rather, an indictment of his flock for their poor judgment.

  Galatia was a region that Paul visited during his first missionary journey. These were Gentiles brought to the saving knowledge of Christ by Paul himself. Paul loved these people and felt directly responsible for their conversion to Christianity.  The book of Galatians is an appeal to these same people to take a hard look at what, and whom, they are following.

Paul wastes no time. He states his credentials in the very first line of the letter, saying that he is an apostle called not by men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father. He says that he speaks from personal revelation, the same as the twelve apostles. He offers grace and peace to the churches on behalf of God. Having observed the niceties, Paul then skips the thanksgiving that we customarily see in his letters and goes immediately to the heart of the matter. His agitation and alarm are more apparent as the letter unfolds.

Astonished, deserting, turning away, distort, accursed. These are some of the verbs that Paul uses next to describe the state of affairs in the churches of Galatia. He is angry and hurt and perhaps even more, he is anxious for his flock. He knows that their decision to follow the Judaizers takes them away from the real gospel. To do so is a breach of faith. Paul is passionate here. He realizes that the future of this church hangs in the balance.

The Galatian churches had been infiltrated with Judaizers; people who told them they were welcome to worship with the Jews if they would submit to circumcision. Apparently, there was some merit for these so-called church leaders to bring Gentiles into worship with the Jews. On its face, that didn’t sound so bad, but the Gentiles had to submit to Jewish ritual, including circumcision, in order to come in to the church.

Perhaps these leaders actually believed what they were selling. Perhaps they were only courting the favor of the religious establishment. Either way, this infuriated Paul. Paul saw the gospel as God’s promise of justification by faith alone. For Paul and for us as well, this was the whole point of the atonement of Jesus. The thought of circumcision was to him a departure from faith. It was a return to the law, to a faith that depended on works of some kind. This was nothing short of apostasy, of betrayal of the very heart of the gospel message.

The Judaizers thought that Paul had made it too easy to become Christian. Where were the rules? Where were the rituals and regulations that set them apart from pagans? As Paul begins to speak to the issue, he first addresses his converts, the members of the Galatian churches. He calls them deserters, accusing them of turning to a different gospel.  He reminds them that there is only one gospel. He reiterates in the strongest possible terms that the only acceptable gospel is the one they received from him, the one that he received from Jesus himself.  Understand that it is not Paul’s gospel. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of Jesus Christ, to which Paul is referring.

          Paul says there are those who trouble and want to distort. Do you know anyone like that? The bookstores and newsstands are full of peddlers of half-truths. Today, the prosperity gospel is preached and hawked as though it will transform our lives to material wealth and prosperity. Others preach equally distorting messages far from the real truth of the gospel. The gospel to which Paul refers is not composed of observance of a set of don’ts. It is one of love returned for love; servanthood practices and redemption received. The grace of the Lord supplies all the entrance requirements. We have only to accept the love that has been offered.

          But what if the gospel proponents are famous politicians or university professors? What if they are religious leaders? What if they are the teacher of your class or your favorite writer? Paul says that if they say something different from what Jesus has handed down, then they are frauds. Does that happen? A seminary friend of mine told me of being welcomed into her Presbytery not too long ago. An area religious leader and Presbyterian minister called himself “Christian,” but said he didn’t believe in the resurrection. And Paul says “even if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

We don’t have to worry today about being circumcised. We don’t even consider that as a religious act. We look at it rather as a medical procedure routinely performed on infant males. But we are constantly barraged in our culture to be self-reliant, to look after number one, to save for a rainy day. Sometimes our religious practices run afoul of others’ freedoms. Sometimes democracy or science or relativism seem to become the new religion. The voices of many teachers echo through our classrooms and living rooms as we seek to find the filter that will bring us in line with the truth.

Is there still truth in the world? Of course there is. The great truths of this world are changeless and timeless. Paul reminds us the greatest truth of all is the gospel. He reminds us that while there may be many wanna-bes, there is only one gospel. The gospel is not about rules and regulations. It’s not about observation of all the ways to do wrong. It’s not about debits and credits. That’s accounting. If that is what we must do to get to God, we are lost before we start. The gospel is not really about restraint at all. It is much, much more about empowerment.  The gospel is servanthood. It is the good news of Jesus Christ, not the good news of Paul or the Pastor, and the good news of Jesus Christ is that he has already saved us if we will believe that he is who he says he is.

The Judaizers and the apostle Paul had something in common, though it was hard for them to see it at the time. They both were talking about what it takes for us to form lasting relationships between ourselves and God. How can you find peace with God? How can you live in harmony with him? The answer, as Paul correctly discerned, is through faith, not through an additional layer of  man-made requirements. The message of the gospel is simple, but the practice of it is far from easy. Which would you rather do? Be circumcised and observe a list of requirements, through which you can grade yourself and present your report card to Jesus? Or live by faith, all day, every day, never knowing what God will have you to sacrifice in his name, never knowing where he may send you, to what lengths or depths you will be called in his name. No, the gospel of which Paul talked has but one requirement, but it is far from easy. Take it from a lawyer. Legalism is not the way to God. It appeals to pride, and that gives us something to crow about. Faith, on the other hand, gets self out of the way. Then, the glory of the gospel can shine right through the cracked vessels that we call our lives.

Do you believe? Do you believe in the one gospel? It’s right here. You can read it for yourself. The message is strong and powerful and as new today as it was at Pentecost. There is but one gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him---should not perish---but have everlasting life.”