One book of the New Testament that really concerns me is Galatians. I think it is very important, but it is a frightening warning. The Galatians heard the story of Jesus and believed it. They believed that Jesus died for them and was their Savior. It is safe to assume that they were baptized into Christ. They manifested the power of the Holy Spirit. But, people came around and taught that they needed to add to the gift of salvation a relatively simple act of obedience. The men had to be circumcised. And they bought it.
Paul addresses them harshly from the very beginning of the letter. In chapter 5 he says,
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Galatians 5:2-4 (ESV)
They had at least temporarily lost their salvation by following “a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6). Why was this that bad? It turned something that was an enormously valuable gift into something you earned in the end. It is like giving somebody $20 because they gifted you a Ferrari. You didn’t receive it, you cheaply paid for it. Humans aren’t saved by foreskin. They are saved because the incarnate Son of God was forsaken by His Father for them.
Are there other, disqualifying, different Gospels? I worry about the Roman Catholic teachings of “Holy Days of Obligation”, and purgatory, and seeing the Church as the middleman in passing out grace. I worry about denominations that call baptism an “ordinance”. Is that a neo-Galatian error? I worry about how some holiness churches might confuse the cause of salvation with the effect of salvation. 1 John talks about how some distort Christology and that this is not from the Spirit of God. Are Christological errors a part of a “different Gospel”? In a recent conversation within my own denominational circle, a statement was made that any doctrinal errors constitute a different Gospel. But is that a different Gospel? By saying this are we saying you are saved by grace and having your doctrine correct?
The Galatians example shows us that doctrine is not inert. Certain things can poison God’s grace to you, even when they seem “biblical” on the surface. But we are all on a journey of learning new things about God. None of us have arrived at all the truth. Where is the line?
We are dependent on God’s ongoing love, forgiveness, correction and rebuke in this life. We need to study God’s Word closely, ask questions and sometimes seriously question the answers we receive. Our goal isn’t to be “more right” than others. It is to not give Satan the opportunity to lead anyone astray into a different Gospel.
Giving Christ 