Scripture Alone

Galatians 1:

⁶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

⁷ Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

⁸ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

What is the gospel? Is it one specific message and can it be replicated at the drop of a hat like reciting the Apostles Creed or a favourite poem or lyrics from a Hymn? We think that the answer to these questions is so very important; and we believe this because of our scripture verses above, especially verse 8. Which says that if we are preaching a gospel that is not straight then we should be looked upon as one who is cursed. So, we are persuaded that to know the gospel and what it is actually, is of the utmost importance. And, verse 7 makes clear beyond obscurity that there is indeed a single, one, particular, definite gospel; a gospel that was preached by the apostles, a gospel given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ, and a gospel that effectually works in the lives of those who are the believers of this gospel.

This gospel, the gospel that the apostle describes as the only one and true gospel, is the gospel that is beyond his very own authority; lest someone should accuse the apostle Paul with being high on his own power as an apostle chosen by the risen Lord and that the apostle would change his own mind on some little thing or introduce ideas and doctrines of his own inventions. Hence, he calls the angels of God, for whom it is impossible that they should lie against God, as witnesses to the very same fact that the apostle too is constrained to preach, namely, that which is true of God and Christ. He tells these Galatians that he, the apostle Paul, cannot, will not, and if he does, preach something contrary to what he preached to them at the beginning of his ministry to them, then they should look upon him as someone who is cursed! So, the apostle confirms that there is nothing added nor subtracted from what he preached and taught to the churches in this region of Galatia between the time he first established the churches there and now, and that there never will be anything different in his teachings on the matters of the christian faith.

So why, with over 500 years of having the scriptures open to us in our own language, are pastors and lay people alike so confused as to what the gospel is? Some might say for this reason or that reason and some might, and should, turn to history for some clues or an acceptable answer to this question; and, then again, there might be others who say “what do you mean what is the gospel? It’s clear as day!”. Well, we need not put on our strongest spectacles to be able to see that there is indeed confusion, misunderstanding, and yes, bravado pride when it comes to what the gospel exactly is. And, there is one place we would like to go to show why this is the case. In fact, Paul tells us exactly why pastors, teachers, lay people, and, by continuance, the world at large in its unbelief are not able to grasp this necessary fact of what the gospel is.

The answer to our question is in verse 7, “but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”. There is no other gospel, if we think there is another gospel then we fool ourselves. If an historical investigation and trial were to be pursued, then our evidence and deliberation should return to us a guilty verdict upon these ‘gospel perverts’, and then we could brand them and condemn them to the jail of heresy, of where they truly belong. The apostle has no sympathy with gospel perverts; (that word ‘pervert’, by which in this century is more akin to sexual deviance, in the immediate context of our verse means a person who takes something that is straight and makes it crooked.) he calls the church at Rome to also mark and avoid these very same crooked teachers (Rom 16:17). And, the other apostles mention the same problems from these gospel perverts coming from the world into the churches and teaching all sorts of false doctrines; merely read 2Peter chapter 2, Jude, first John, Hebrews chapter 10; and add to these nearly every epistle by Paul and you will find this very same theme being dealt with among the believers in the church. And, these are the very same problems the believers in the church are faced with today.

These men and women that are populating the pulpits and pews of God’s very own assemblies, or at least calling themselves by the name of God’s assemblies, are of the worst and lowest of all enemies. They are patently the children of the devil, for they work in the realm of worldly subtlety. And we must always remember that as christians our battle is not our own, but it is the Lords battle; we are slaves, soldiers, saints, and priests, we can do nothing but by the power of Lord working in us and we do not wrestle against blood and flesh, but against these evil powers of darkness that rule this world and send these false teachers among us. The object of the devil is not us, we should never have and pride in ourselves and we should never think ourselves so special as to warrant the evil affections of the devil with regards to ourselves being of any such importance; the object of the devil is God, and especially God’s honour; and, the best, and really the easiest, way that Satan can bring dishonour to God is by having God’s own saints do it for him. For Satan is a defeated foe and we, who once belonged to Satan (Eph 2:2) but have been delivered and bought by Christ through His blood, are now the targets of Satans deception that he might cause dishonour to God. And, this brings us to this one very true and profound fact, that the devil has appeared as an angel of light and now subverts the gospel in the assemblies of Christ’s people; and, by doing so we arrive where we are at this moment in the history of the church. A church that struggles to communicate that which the scriptures tells us in the most plain and clearest of language. The gospel of God!

So, we will be studying out this clear and definite message which we know as the good news of Christ; and, we will examine the scriptures that we might for a certainty say, that we as christians who have been redeemed by the blood of our Lord and Saviour, what this good news is, why it is good news, and what this means as far as we are concerned and as far as the unbelieving souls are concerned.