Serious Business

Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV)
⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--
⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul speaks harshly of those who try to change the gospel message into something different than the one he preached. Even in the earliest days after Christ came, the gospel that Jesus brought faced the onslaught of man’s interpretation, modification, and desires. God’s ways often do not seem reasonable to man. Surely God didn’t mean that? I don’t believe in a God that could allow this or do that.

I read somewhere this truth: it doesn’t matter what we think of God, but what He thinks of us. His ways are not our ways. He sees where we cannot.

Paul says twice that anyone who preaches a different gospel is worthy of condemnation. Other versions translate it as accursed. In plain English, let him go to hell!

The gospel is serious business. It is not a nice idea or wishful thinking but the salvation of God. Jesus said He is the only way to God. When we receive Him, we receive God. Preaching or following another gospel will take one to another destination. Our decisions and actions will be judged on the basis of His gospel, not on ours.