Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia begins with a staunch defense of the gospel and its truth. The gospel should not, and must not, be changed or compromised.
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. (Galatians 1:8)
This is something a lot of people today find frustrating with Paul. We value everybody’s opinions and this sounds like arrogance of the highest degree. Who’s to say that Paul’s idea of God is correct? “Why isn’t mine more valid?” “Or mine?” “Or mine?”
Today it is popular to think that when it comes to religion we must figure out everything for ourselves and form our own opinions, thoughts, ideas, just like we do for everything else in the world. We analyze politics and form our opinions and believe we are right, we do the same with art, movies, books…
I would argue that most people carry more arrogance about their own opinions of, for example, the Republicans or the Democrats, Jackson Pollack or Leonardo da Vinci, than Paul does about the gospel and Christ. If you’ve ever been in a political debate with friends or family before you never see someone admit they’re wrong, or change their opinion (unless they didn’t have much of one before). No, our political opinion is, in a way, a testament to our intelligence and our ability to see and discern the controversial issues of our times. To admit defeat would be to admit we are wrong, that we were not smart enough to figure things out.
We see none of this spirit in Paul. If anything, we see humility. Paul says even if I return to you and modify what I’ve said before do not listen to me! There is no way I can progress or grow intellectually that would present a different gospel! Paul doesn’t care about his opinions, he cares about the truth and giving God the glory.
So back to what we think about God today. In many conversations I’ve had about God a lot of people are interested in God and want more of Him but often say something like “The thing that really sucks about religion is the people who insist that they are right.” I felt this way for a long time too! It looked to me like people who claimed their religion as correct were claiming to have answers to what I saw as unanswerable questions. If God is only something we can conjecture about, something we can only meditate on and then debate about – just like politics or art – then it is extremely arrogant to say “I’m right” on the foundation that you are a superior human being with a greater intellect than most. ‘Everyone but me is wrong’.
Listen to what Paul has to say about the spirit in which he writes:
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. (Gal. 1:10)
Now we say in response, “Okay, okay” and become more sympathetic to Paul. He believes he’s doing what he’s doing for God, and we admire people who stand up for what they believe in. But we still don’t like the exclusivity of what he has to say. Again, we say, “What makes you more right than me?”
If you look at history you see that ideas change. What was believed about the sun and the earth in the 1300’s is different than what we believe today. Ideas of science, culture, ethics, etc., are often fashionable and changeable as time continues. It’s also common for the latest age to believe it is correct in its beliefs – that is, in comparison to ages before it. We have an incredible generational arrogance today because we believe our science is more correct than before – now I’m not knocking science, I love science – but who knows if in two-, three-, four-hundred years we will still believe the same things that we do today? We simply don’t know.
Growing up I saw human history as one of constant progress – every age and generation discovering new things and bringing new light to all areas of knowledge. Now in some ways this progress is true – our scientific knowledge is considerably greater than that of even one hundred years ago – but look at ideas and philosophies and life itself. Those things have not changed in substance – maybe in form, for example, the way a man built a house in the 1700’s is different than today, but the fact that man needs shelter has not changed. It’s the same with our ideas, as “new” as we think they are. King Solomon wrote more than 2,000 years ago that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The “radical” views of the 1960’s were maybe new in form but not in substance or content. Or look at other movements that have seemed fresh and different, like transcendentalism: what is it but a mixture of deism and pantheism and nature worship? We give these ideas new names and call it progress but they are just the last generation’s recycled garbage:
Is there a thing of which it is said,
"See, this is new"?
It has been already
in the ages before us. (Ecc. 1:10)
My point is that we are very tempted to do the same thing with Christianity: to apply our modern ways of thinking and discerning; expecting to find fault with “old” ideas because they are “old” and believed by a more “ignorant” generation.
Paul saw this happening in his churches and fought against temptations to change. He opens his letter with the gospel:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Gal. 1:3-5)
Then Paul warns that people will try to change it:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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. 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. (Gal. 1:6-9)
1) What is the gospel? How can Paul make the claims he does?
2) How do people try to change the gospel today?
3) How should we as Christians respond?
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