No Other Gospel: Part 3

The River - Trying to save yourself

Flannery O’Connor may be one of the greatest short story writers in American history, and one theme permeates through her stories: The South is haunted by Christ.

While none of her stories are necessarily Christian stories or Gospel-centered, she captures the air of Christianity in Southern culture throughout her writing. One of the most haunting stories is a short story titled “The River” where a young boy named Harry Ashfeld is taken by his new babysitter to see the healing preacher Bevel Summers. Harry has grown up in a house where everything is a joke so when his babysitter asks his name, he says it is Bevel, like the preachers, which she takes as a coincidence that cannot be ignored. So, the babysitter takes Harry to see Reverend Bevel Summers, where the Reverend preaches a message about being baptised in the river of blood that you may be swept off to paradise. Harry gets baptized in that river, but later when his parents find out about it, they treat it like some sort of joke or lunacy that their babysitter put into his young head. So in the morning, Harry is upset and he doesn’t want to live in a joke anymore. He steals a coin from his mother’s purse and takes a cab to the babysitter’s home, where he proceeds to walk from her home down to the river, where he proceeds to walk into the water to baptize himself. From the shore, an old man named Mr. Paradise tries to call him back to shore, but as Harry baptizes himself, he is swept away by the current and as Mr. Paradise runs in to attempt to save him, he is swept away by the river.

In light of today’s passage, here is how I read that story. Harry was baptized by the preacher, but it wasn’t something that Harry actively did. He received the baptism into the river of Jesus blood, and he does not understand the significance of his baptism. The result is that Harry tries to save himself through his own self-baptism, which results in his demise. Ironically, Mr. Paradise stands on the shore that he entered the water from with a peppermint stick to give him. Paradise was on the shore, not in the water, because even if the healer was a fraud as Mr. Paradise claimed, baptism is a gift of God.

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In the Westminster Shorter Catechism we are asked in Q. 91 “How do the sacraments become effectual for salvation? To which the answer is:

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“The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in the one who administers them; but only in the blessing of Christ, and the working of his Spirit in them that by faith receive them.”

Harry’s baptism is a grace from God, and not a work of the one who administered it, yet Harry does not understand, and he attempts to do it on his own. In trying to save himself, he is lost. And this is the message of Paul in our passage today. Over the past three weeks, we have been studying Galatians 1:6-7 from different angles.

With that, let us pray and get into the Word of God together.

In the first week, we looked at the Christ who came, where we see that the Gospel is about Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah from God and who performs the will of God to be a true Messiah, not simply an earthly Messiah. The Gospel comes on God’s terms, not mans. Last week, we looked at the Christ who rose from the dead, which defines the Gospel is not less than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is also the news that Christ has risen for you! And this week, we look at the Christ who has reconciled. Paul’s message is that there is no other Gospel than the good news that Jesus Christ is enough, and that you do not have to add anything to receive right standing before God and salvation.

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No Other Gospel

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Galatians 1:6–7 ESV

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.

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Overview of the three parts of the series:

[Part 1 - Christ has come - Jesus was the Messiah that God willed to come, not the Messiah the people expected]

In the first week, we looked at the Christ who came, where we see that the Gospel is about Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah from God and who performs the will of God to be a true Messiah, not simply an earthly Messiah. The Gospel comes on God’s terms, not mans.

[Part 2 - Christ has Risen - Jesus did not stay dead after the crucifixion but bodily rose from the dead and lives!]

Last week, we looked at the Christ who rose from the dead, which defines the Gospel is not less than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is also the news that Christ has risen for you!

[Part 3 - Christ has Redeemed - Jesus’s work was sufficient for our salvation! Jesus has paid the full price of sin.]

And this week, we look at the Christ who has reconciled. Paul’s message is that there is no other Gospel than the good news that Jesus Christ is enough, and that you do not have to add anything to receive right standing before God and salvation.

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Please do not try to be your own salvation for it will be your undoing. Jesus Christ has called you in his grace to become a son of God. That is the good news! You can be called a son of God; you can be a child of God by adoption, not by anything in you or because of anything that you have done, but because God has called you to be His own! Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia because he is not present with them, and someone else has come in and taught an alternative Gospel that requires obedience to the Old Testament Law as a prerequisite for salvation.

In contrast to every other one of Paul’s letters, Paul does not include a thanksgiving. He does not end his introduction, with the pleasantry of “I thank God for you.” Instead, he jumps right into the rebuke with utmost urgency: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he cries out. Paul is pointing out from the start that grace and works are mutually exclusive. It is either the grace of God to call one back into his good favors through the righteousness of Jesus Christ or it is the work of man to earn God’s favor and stand in their own righteousness, but it cannot be both. Either Christ is sufficient or He isn’t.

There is only this one Gospel. Jesus himself said that I am the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him. To require the works of the law for salvation, whether that be circumcision or Torah obedience, is to deny the sufficiency of Christ’s redemptive work in his death and resurrection. The bad news was that because of sin, we have been banished and exiled from the presence of God and condemned to death. The good news of the gospel is that God’s wrath has been satisfied, the punishment of death has been paid, and have been promised a return from exile and admitted into the presence of God in Jesus Christ.

So quick to leave!

So why are the Galatians so quick to leave? Paul is describing the Galatians as spiritual turncoats, as deserters. They had been on the right side of the Gospel, and now they have departed to another, false gospel. They have departed from their position in Christ back into their position in the flesh. What is so scary about this desertion is that the source of confusion and misguidance does not come from those outside of the church, but those who are within the church. Yes, these “disturbers” of the faith are not from within the churches of Galatia, but they appear to affirm Jesus Christ as the Messiah who died and was raised. At face value, their christology appears correct, yet their teaching of the necessity of works denies the sufficiency of Christ!

John Stott wrote on that the Church and the Gospel go together. “To tamper with the gospel is always to trouble the church. You cannot touch the gospel and leave the church untouched, because the church is created and lives by the gospel. Indeed the church’s greatest troublemakers (now as then) are not those outside who oppose, ridicule and persecute it, but those inside who try to change the gospel”

We must beware anyone who claims that Christ is King, yet then attempts to make us live by the law of Moses.

And we must also be weary of leaving new converts alone to teach themselves or to be misled by false teachers! Far too often today we see churches that are so focused on making new converts with the goal of quickly leading men and women to profess faith in Jesus Christ without any intention or goal of nurturing their new faith through discipleship leaving them vulnerable to the works of the enemy.

Paul’s heart is clearly displayed for the churches of Galatia in what follows:

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The Curse

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Galatians 1:8–9 ESV

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.

Paul declares a curse upon any and all who proclaim another gospel than the sufficiency of Christ. The word for accursed here is one that is much more common in church history and in Catholicism than within contemporary churches today, and that word is anathema. If someone proclaims another Gospel, let him be anathema. Let him be eternally god-forsaken!

To be anathema is far more than being excommunicated. Excommunication is to be removed from the visible church for the purpose and hope that you will repent and be reconciled. To be anathematized is to be removed from the invisible, big C-church. It means to suffer nothing less than the eternal retribution and judgment of God.

If that sounds harsh, try to understand just how serious this error is for Paul. And remember that Paul is not writing this letter in his own authority but through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul may be the human author, but these are God’s words. This is God’s word of warning. Do not teach another Gospel or else you are my enemy.

Whether it be Paul, another apostle, or even an angel, there is no Gospel contrary to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, whose message we see preached by Paul in Acts. Yet why does Paul mention angels here? There is no sense in the text that these false teachers claim to have received a message from an angel about the necessity of works.

I believe that God inspired Paul to include this message about contrary gospels from angels here as well as the warning that the devil will masquerade as an angel of light to warn us against the teachings of Muhammed and Joseph Smith, who both received messages from angels who claimed to be giving them new revelation that was contrary to the Word of God. And with confidence we can say that those men and all who teach their teachings are accursed.

If that sounds offensive, we must remind ourselves the exclusivity of the Gospel. It is not an inclusive, pluralistic Gospel, but one that proclaims Christ alone as our hope and salvation.

To bring this point home, I want to shift to a parable of Jesus’ teaching that may not sound all that applicable, but hear me out:

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Jesus’ Parable

Matthew 18:23–35 ESV

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

First, 10,000 talents would be roughly $9 billion if we treat $45,000 as a laborers yearly income, and 100 denarii would be $16,000 based off of the same calculations. Given that information, let’s look at this parable from a law and grace lens.

With all our sin towards God, we owe him almost $10 billion, and we’re working a $20 per hour job. It would take us 20 years to pay off 1/10,000th of the debt, but God through his Son said, your debt is forgiven.

In grace, we will praise God for his wonderful forgiveness and rejoice in his mercy, that when someone comes to us who owes us $16,000, we should say, “As my debt was forgiven, so I forgive you!” But if we have a works mentality, we teach that debts must be paid fully. God sees that teaching and enforces it upon the one who teaches it.

When we live life trying to earn God’s favor by works, we are telling God, Jesus was not sufficient to pay my debt, but I can be, and I will teach others the same. But you will never be enough because you are not good enough for God, and you never will be by your own effort, but Jesus Christ is enough, and He alone has made you worthy by paying your debt and calling you to be his own! In Christ alone, can you be called worthy, forgiven, and good enough!

Which brings us to Paul’s final point:

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Whom do you wish to please?

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Galatians 1:10 ESV

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.

Whom do you wish to please? God or man? Because if you want to please the most people, you can say don’t worry about the details of the Gospel, serve God however you see fit! God does not care if you get his identity right, he will honor your intentions and sincerity! Or All religions teach the same essential points with different facades. These three claims sound kind and accepting, but they condemn others to hell! How unloving can you be to not tell someone about Christ when speaking to them about faith! If someone tells you that they think all religions are equal, then you should gently and lovingly correct them that this cannot be true because Christianity claims to be exclusive as a core tenet of the faith. If Jesus Christ claimed to be God then another religion cannot claim for him to be a prophet or a good teacher. If Jesus Christ is not God, if he did not live and die and rise again, or if the Son of God did not come into His own creation then there is no Christian faith. If Christianity is true then all other religions are false. That does not mean that there cannot be truths in other faiths, but there is no salvation in other faiths.

Let’s be bold about the Gospel to please God and not water down the Gospel to something wholly other in order to earn the approval of man.

Or whom are you trying to persuade?

I would also like to propose another interpretation of this passage. The word translated as “to please” here is more commonly translated from the Greek as “to persuade.” Contextually, translators have felt that it is more appropriate to soften the meaning to please instead of persuade because man cannot and should not attempt to persuade God like the pagans do. But what if that is Paul’s point. He is rebuking the Galatians for being persuaded by false teachers that they must be circumcised and follow the Old Testament laws in addition to following Christ for salvation. If works are necessary, then works are a way for us to persuade God that we are good enough to be in his presence. I believe that Paul is concluding his argument in verses 6-9 that these false teachers are convincing them that they can persuade God and man through their works, but Paul rebukes them for their false teaching and rebukes the false charges made against him that he is not teaching works because he is a people-pleaser. Obviously, this cannot be the case because people-pleasers don’t curse false teachers and rebuke the churches they founded with such vigor, and if Paul were really a people-pleaser then he wouldn’t have suffered for Christ as a slave of Christ. Paul experiences shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment, and ultimately decapitation for the sake of Christ. It is clear throughout Acts and Paul’s epistles that he desires the approval of God and not of man. Yet Paul is willing to be gentle on non-essentials when it benefits the Gospel, but never at the cost of the Gospel.

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Application

Look to Christ alone for your salvation because he alone is sufficient. Don’t let Christ’s work become a joke to you. The moment you try to add to his work, you have left it. The moment you try to add to his work to earn your salvation you become like Harry in the river trying to baptize himself. I assure you, if you try to earn your own salvation, you will be washed away in the river. Let the power of God baptize you and bring you out of the river to salvation because only He can.

And that doesn’t mean that we cannot do anything for God, quite the opposite as James tells us that faith without works is dead, and Paul says he is filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions, meaning that Paul is out spreading the Good News of Christ’s sufficient atoning work on the cross.

Forgive one another, and do not lead one another astray through unforgiveness. Love one another as Christ has loved you. Seek to please God by living out the truth of His Gospel! Jesus Christ has bought you! He has paid your debt, so live in the freedom that He has given you by believing in Him even when it is hard, even when the world looks at you like you’re crazy or childish or naive. Seek to please God simply by believing in His Son for the forgiveness of sins and do not fall into the trap of believing that you must do more to earn that freedom. There is no leftover sin debt that you must pay, Christ paid for all your sins, past, present, and future. Praise God for the Son! Praise the Father and the Son for their Spirit through whom we are called and who equips us for every good work! Let’s live in the freedom of Christ today and live out the love of God to this broken world.