What is the Gospel or the Good News? According to Romans 10:9-10, a man must confess Jesus as Lord and believe that Jesus was both crucified for our sins and raised from the dead. This is the Gospel in a nutshell!
I’m working my way through Galatians at the present time, and I am considering what Paul says about perverting that Gospel. Notice:
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 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. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10 KJVR)
Paul had some trouble with folks coming after him and seeking to undo what he had done. During his first missionary journey, he had raised up several churches in Galatia. Not long after he left, however, some people came in to tell the new believers, they had to obey the Law of Moses. Paul wrote back to say, this whole idea is a perversion of the Gospel. Paul is saying that God has become flesh in order to deliver us from this world. We cannot be delivered from the world through law—any kind of law. Obedience to law can only make us better citizens of this world. Paul says that Jesus came to make us citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Now there is nothing wrong with the Law of Moses, it just cannot save us from our sins. It has power to condemn us for our sins, but it has absolutely no power to redeem us from our sins or deliver us from this world. Jesus, on the other hand, has the power to do both. What Paul was so uptight about was men came in after him to say Jesus + Law is what saves us, and not Jesus alone. The Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of Grace. There is no grace in condemnation, and that is what the Law does to a sinner—it condemns the sinner. How can faith in Jesus plus a debt to obey the Law be the Gospel of Grace? If one still sinned, though he confessed Christ and believed God raised Jesus from the dead, that one would be condemned—not saved—because the Law condemns the sinner. In other words the Law had power to trump Jesus. That is a perversion of the Gospel!
Jesus said he didn’t come to call the righteous, but he has come to call sinners (Matthew 9:13). When a sinner comes to Christ, he confesses him as his Lord. In other words, by faith, he claims his own human nature is no longer lord and master of his life, but Jesus has come into his person and is now Lord over his life. So, it is no longer “I” who is seeking to control, but Jesus who is given control. This was Adam’s rebellion in Eden, which led to the world that exists today. Adam was to rule over everything God created, but God was to be a Participator. God was to be Lord over Adam—or mankind. Adam said, “No, I think I can judge right from wrong all by myself,” and he partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This was rebellion and pushed God out of our lives, which led to a world without God—this present evil world (age).
Jesus came to deliver us from our rebellion and bring us back under his Lordship. He will guide us, instruct us and help us to live as we ought. It is God’s Spirit within us that makes all the difference. We are transplanted into the Kingdom of God, even though we still live in this world. He is our only Lord, and he will never lead us to do any evil act. We don’t need the Mosaic Law, all we need is Jesus. Let him alone be our boast. Praise God!
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