Grace Gospel

Read Galatians 1:6-9

The grace gospel is all about God's grace. Yet here in Galatians 1 Paul warns about turning away from God's grace to another gospel. The question begs to be asked - how can we tell if what's being preached is contrary to what this grace gospel is all about?

It comes down simply to this - know the word of God. You see the gospel is clearly communicated in Scripture. And while it is clear, something else is also very clear. There will be some who teach and preach a false gospel. Jesus warns about it in Matthew 7 and here in Galatians 1 Paul warns about it. One of the problems we face though is this ideology that we don't want to be people who stand up and speak up when what's being taught is not in line with the clear and sound teaching of God's holy word.

Paul proclaims in our passage a curse on anyone who would be so bold as to distort or change the true gospel. What's the true gospel? It's the gospel of grace where God gives us what we don't deserve. Christ made atonement for our sins by suffering in our place as our substitute. This atonement is the price paid to reconcile us to God because left to ourselves we'd always remain as enemies of God. Jesus took care of that when He paid the penalty for our sins. Bottom line is this - "we need this gospel to remind ourselves that our day-to-day standing with God is based on Christ's righteousness, not our performance. We need the gospel to motivate us to strive in our daily experience to be what we are in our standing before God. We need it to produce joy in our lives when we encounter the inevitable trials of living in a fallen and sin-cursed world." The Great Exchange