Galatians Bible Study

Galatians 1:8-10 Let Them Be Damned

We have set up the message of Galatians by giving a little bit of background. We know that Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia which he has established as we see in Acts 13 and 14 with an urgent warning because he is amazed at the speed in which they are departing from the Gospel of grace which he has preached to them. We have discussed the ways in which the false preachers in these times were distorting the Gospel by adding requirements like circumcision as a prerequisite for receiving grace. We then crossed the bridge to our world today where there are many distortions of grace. Many people including many of our neighbors and our friends are prisoners of religion, a system of do’s and don’ts and standards of self righteousness. My greatest desire is to know Christ and to truly understand and be a minister of this glorious gospel of grace. I want to be a conduit of this grace to others. I want to see people set free from the prison of religion by the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had the same concern as he wrote Galatians.

Galatians 1:8-9 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. 9 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.

Paul, in the strongest terms possible rejects any other Gospel throughout this book, and very strongly here. What is the Gospel that Paul has preached? Throughout his epistles He preaches a Gospel of salvation by grace alone, obtained through faith alone in Christ alone. The basics of the Gospel are found in 1 Corinthians 15, and it is centered on the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ:

1 Corinthians15:1-4 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

This fooled some of the weaker Galatian brothers, but it is not the last time in history we have seen this. The very reason for the reformation in the middle ages was the long departure from the pure Gospel. The fact is that there was a state-run religion which was a hybrid of Christianity and pagan beliefs that was heavy on works righteousness. This religion still exists today, it is called Roman Catholicism. There are many examples of this, but let us look at one case as a prime example of profiteering from false grace. In the days of Martin Luther, there was a practice in the Roman Catholic church of selling indulgences. These indulgences were based on the false belief, created by the Roman Catholic Church, that souls went to a place called purgatory upon death. This belief was fed by the fact that people died in a state of grace, yet still had a few sins that had to be purged and cleansed from their souls. The purchase of indulgences would supposedly shorten the time period a soul would have to be in purgatory. This idea is further rooted in the fact that a person has to be ‘in grace’ that is, they must have done all the religious works: been baptized into the church, received first communion, had the ability to receive the mass, participate in confession and reconciliation, and do many other various and sundry works to stay in grace. The belief is that it is not enough that Christ shed His blood to completely cleanse us from our sin. The Catholic believes he or she must add works to the finished work of Christ in order to stay in God’s grace through these religious works called sacraments and regular other good works. These works include attendance at church, marriage to another Catholic, and prayers to the saints that access the ‘treasury of merits’ and further help shorten their time in purgatory. A Catholic is ‘born again’ when he or she is baptized, ‘receives Christ’ when he or she takes communion. The things that you do on this earth, your works, determine where you will spend (or at least begin) your eternity. It is not grace; it is a religion of works. It is contrary to the simple Gospel of belief on Christ alone. And Paul states that it is another gospel which is accursed.

I am not bashing the Catholics for there are many other ‘quasi-christian’ religious systems like Mormonism, Jehovah’s witnesses, etc. and non-Christian systems like Islam and Hinduism which are all based upon works of righteousness that man does. It is human nature to be religious! We all can be guilty of these same actions and attitudes. The fact is, the gospel of non-grace feeds the pride of man. It makes man a slave to a religious system that participation in and their works makes their god pleased with them. The Gospel that the Galatians received from Paul was the pure Gospel, a Gospel based upon trusting in Christ alone for salvation. To those who are perishing, this Gospel is foolishness.

1 Corinthians 1:18-24 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

There is a better way, the way that Paul preached: Christ calls us to be slaves in the sense that we lay down all our goodness and badness, indeed all that we are at His feet and allow Him to completely save us for Himself to use us as He will to the glory of God. We access this by simply believing on His finished work and by following Him. The fact that salvation is a gift that is completely undeserved and is somehow out of the reach of man’s good works is counter-intuitive to the unregenerate mind, but to those who are called it is the power of God unto salvation. I urge you if you have not done so to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and on His finished work. This is repentance; a change of mind and direction regarding Christ. Stop believing you can save yourself through your good works. Stop believing there are no eternal consequence to your actions. If you can simply turn to Christ and receive, take to yourself the truth of the Gospel of grace, it is because God has called you, that he has changed your mind, that He has regenerated you, giving you the ability to believe. Take that faith, though it be the size of a mustard seed, and place it with Christ. He will save you as He has promised, allowing that seed of faith to grow and transform you into His image.