Message from Scripture: 12/09/2021

 

Our message from Scripture today is Gal. 1:8: “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.”

 

How seriously does God take the word He has given to us in Scripture? In this passage of Scripture, Paul addresses one who would alter the message which was originally preached to the churches in Galatia. To add to it, or detract from it, or change it in any way, would cause them to be accursed. The word accursed comes from the Greek term anathema, which means being given up or devoted to destruction for God's sake. In the Old Testament, certain things were to be devoted to God for annihilation, due to their connection with sin, either of things or even people. The word does not denote punishment intended as discipline, but being given over or devoted to divine condemnation. For those false teachers in Galatia, adding elements of the Law of Moses to the gospel, like circumcision, brought this response from God to them. They needed to repent and return to the gospel proclaimed by Paul, given by God.

 

It's easy to want to alter the message of the gospel today as well. Some deny the importance of being immersed. Others alter the kind of lifestyle God wants from us. To alter what the gospel says about how to live does not bring God’s approval, but His condemnation instead! God’s word proceeds from His very nature as God. To alter it to suit ourselves is an affront to the nature and glory of God, and will be punished in judgment. How seriously do we take the call of the gospel?

 

Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, “As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). Today, let’s take the gospel seriously and live as God prescribes in His word. What a difference that can make to a sinful world, and to us eternally. God bless.

 

Robert