Okay, I'm not known for my dynamic titles for these posts. You'll probably see Galatians, Continued, all the way through the Bible study. I hope you can bear with me despite the lack of clever titles.
Anyway, on to Galatians. Today we will look at Galatians 1:6-10. After greeting God's people in Jesus found throughout Galatia, Paul jumps right in with his astonishment. Apparently, the Galatian Christians are coming to believe something other than the message that Paul had been sent (as an apostle) to bring to them. We will find out later in this letter some of what they are coming to believe, but for the moment, at this point in the letter, Paul is basically expressing his astonishment that they would wander so far from what he had shared with them.
Basically, Paul expresses one thing of significance here. There is only one Gospel. The literal meaning of that word is "good news". There is only one good news, that of what God had accomplished in Jesus. Anything else that got tied to that message meant that there was a different good news being taught. Paul's good news, that God had redeemed the Galatians through Jesus, was the one Gospel message, and the only Gospel message. No additions needed, and no subtractions possible, or else it isn't good news.
Along those same lines, it doesn't matter who the person is who shares the good news, or who the person is who shares something that is a different kind of good news. Okay, what do I mean by that? As humans, we can be susceptible to thinking that, the more educated or "higher up" a person is in importance, the more believable they are. While it can be shown that this simply isn't true, it's something that we can fall into. We think the word of the pastor is more believable than the word of another fellow Christian, without asking if the pastor has the necessary background to make such a determination. It's not only in this area of life, but throughout.
That's what makes what Paul says even more astonishing. Even if one of God's own messengers from the heavenly throne room were to bring a message other than Christ Jesus, he is to be seen as accursed, as put away from God. Credentials and the like simply don't matter when it comes to the sharing of the good news. Now, yes, we do want pastors who have studied the Word so that they can speak with some level of expertise on the good news. But it isn't a guarantee that, just because the pastor says it, that's how it is. That's part of the reason why our particular tradition requires a longer schooling process for training pastors, and calls for much study and reflection on the word as part of the life of the pastor.
Here's the rub, though. It can be tempting to speak about the things that people want to hear, rather than strictly focusing on what God reveals and says through His Word. I hear, from time to time, people say that there are topics or events of which they would like to hear from the pulpit. While Paul isn't directly addressing that situation, he does make it clear toward the end of our little section that the preaching of the good news is for the approval of God, and not necessarily for the approval of what the hearers want to hear. Now, to be sure, there is a time and place to spend on how the life and culture around us impacts our Christian faith, and we will respond to that. However, the message that gets declared is the message of good news in Jesus, and not merely what people want to hear. To put it in a slightly different way, if the preacher only preaches what the people want to hear, he will miss so many opportunities to point the people back to the one thing that really matters: the good news of God in Jesus. That really is what matters. The Good News is the most important thing that can be proclaimed, even if it may seem boring, or if the hearers have heard it hundreds of times before. They still need to hear it again and again and again.
Anyway, on to Galatians. Today we will look at Galatians 1:6-10. After greeting God's people in Jesus found throughout Galatia, Paul jumps right in with his astonishment. Apparently, the Galatian Christians are coming to believe something other than the message that Paul had been sent (as an apostle) to bring to them. We will find out later in this letter some of what they are coming to believe, but for the moment, at this point in the letter, Paul is basically expressing his astonishment that they would wander so far from what he had shared with them.
Basically, Paul expresses one thing of significance here. There is only one Gospel. The literal meaning of that word is "good news". There is only one good news, that of what God had accomplished in Jesus. Anything else that got tied to that message meant that there was a different good news being taught. Paul's good news, that God had redeemed the Galatians through Jesus, was the one Gospel message, and the only Gospel message. No additions needed, and no subtractions possible, or else it isn't good news.
Along those same lines, it doesn't matter who the person is who shares the good news, or who the person is who shares something that is a different kind of good news. Okay, what do I mean by that? As humans, we can be susceptible to thinking that, the more educated or "higher up" a person is in importance, the more believable they are. While it can be shown that this simply isn't true, it's something that we can fall into. We think the word of the pastor is more believable than the word of another fellow Christian, without asking if the pastor has the necessary background to make such a determination. It's not only in this area of life, but throughout.
That's what makes what Paul says even more astonishing. Even if one of God's own messengers from the heavenly throne room were to bring a message other than Christ Jesus, he is to be seen as accursed, as put away from God. Credentials and the like simply don't matter when it comes to the sharing of the good news. Now, yes, we do want pastors who have studied the Word so that they can speak with some level of expertise on the good news. But it isn't a guarantee that, just because the pastor says it, that's how it is. That's part of the reason why our particular tradition requires a longer schooling process for training pastors, and calls for much study and reflection on the word as part of the life of the pastor.
Here's the rub, though. It can be tempting to speak about the things that people want to hear, rather than strictly focusing on what God reveals and says through His Word. I hear, from time to time, people say that there are topics or events of which they would like to hear from the pulpit. While Paul isn't directly addressing that situation, he does make it clear toward the end of our little section that the preaching of the good news is for the approval of God, and not necessarily for the approval of what the hearers want to hear. Now, to be sure, there is a time and place to spend on how the life and culture around us impacts our Christian faith, and we will respond to that. However, the message that gets declared is the message of good news in Jesus, and not merely what people want to hear. To put it in a slightly different way, if the preacher only preaches what the people want to hear, he will miss so many opportunities to point the people back to the one thing that really matters: the good news of God in Jesus. That really is what matters. The Good News is the most important thing that can be proclaimed, even if it may seem boring, or if the hearers have heard it hundreds of times before. They still need to hear it again and again and again.
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