Warnings Against a Fake Gospel
I got this email:
“Dear Jose,
Your help would be very much appreciated. My name is Prince Bolongo. I would like to transfer all of my fortune out of my country, but my account is frozen.
If you kindly send me a few thousand dollars, I would be able to unfreeze my account and transfer all my money out. Once done, I will repay your kindness by depositing a million dollars to your account.
Please contact me immediately to proceed with this urgent matter” [end of email]
One million dollars! In exchange for a small amount, while also helping this nice prince. Sounds like a really good deal. I mean, I could do a few things with a million dollars. What do you think? Should I contact the prince and accept his enticing offer?
No! This is a scam. The email is fake, it is a fraud. It is deceptive and many people have fallen into the trap and lost money.
Maybe this seems like an obvious scam to you, because it is well known. But these scams are becoming more and more sophisticated and harmful. They offer you something very good, they present some good news hard to resist, when in reality they are part of an infamous scheme that will end up in a loss.
Now, what does this story have anything to do with the passage we are studying today?
When Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians, there were some individuals who, like Prince Bolongo, were presenting the Galatians an attractive, but fake gospel, an imitation of the true gospel that was nicely packaged in a way that made it look reasonable, even appealing. The Galatians thought they were getting a good deal, but in reality they were being defrauded and deceived, unaware of the dangers of following this fake gospel.
That’s why Paul writes this passionate letter, defending the true and only gospel. And in the passage that we are about to read, he strongly warns the Galatians about the deadly dangers of embracing a fake, distorted gospel. You and I have the same propensity as the Galatians to turn to a fake gospel, so we will do well in paying attention to Paul’s warnings against a fake gospel. Please read with me.
Galatians 1:6-10
6 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— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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. 9 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.
10 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.
Let’s pray
In this passage, Paul warns the Galatians about the dangers of turning to a different gospel. A fake gospel that seems appealing, but that in reality is a scam, a dangerous fraud. Paul teaches about:
- The human tendency to turn to a fake gospel (1:6-7)
- The fatal consequence of preaching a fake gospel (1:8-9)
- The wrong motivations for embracing a fake gospel (1:10)
So that is how we are going to organize this message. We will let Paul teach us about these 3 warnings against a fake gospel. Let’s start with point #1
1. The human tendency to turn to a fake gospel (1:6-7)
Galatians 1:6 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.
Paul is astonished and perplexed. Why would the Galatians choose to turn to a different, fake gospel? It makes no sense. They had recently heard the good news of the gospel and accepted it, but now they are quickly turning to a different one. Why would they do that?
Maybe they had a bad memory and forgot about the essence of the true gospel. Maybe they were too naive and easy to fool, unable to discern between the true gospel and a fake one. Perhaps they were too ignorant or just plain foolish, as Paul calls them in chapter 3, foolish enough to turn to a different, fake gospel.
Additionally, here Paul presents two simultaneous actions, read with me verse 6 again: “you are so quickly deserting him who called you”, that is God, “AND”, that is the connection, “are turning to a different gospel”. They desert, abandon God AND they turn to a different gospel. They do both at the same time. When they do one, they do the other. They go together.
You cannot say I am with God and reject his gospel. If you reject his gospel, you reject his message, you reject his grace, you reject him, the only one who can save you!
It is as if a powerful king sends you a peace treaty, and you dismiss the treaty. When you do that you are also rejecting the mighty king.
It is really astonishing that the Galatians would hear and receive the gospel and then quickly turn to a different one, while deserting God at the same time. Is this something that only the foolish Galatians would do? Or is it something that others would be inclined to do as well? Can you think of other stories where people are graciously saved by God, just to quickly turn away from him and reject him? Anyone?
Yes, the Israelites did exactly that when they were saved from Egypt. God powerfully redeemed them, and just a few days later, they were worshiping a golden calf, an idol. They were deserting God as their savior, like the Galatians. So this is not an isolated case.
Could it be that you and I also tend to choose our own way to relate to God and in doing so we desert him and turn to a different gospel?
The problem is that there are not many gospels. There is only one!
Galatians 1:7a not that there is another one
There are not many gospels, there are not several ways to relate to God, there are not different ways to be saved. There is not another gospel. There is one and only one true gospel!
Now that may sound rigid or even intolerant. You may not like that idea and yet that is what Paul states here, and what ultimately God states clearly here and throughout Scripture. There is only one gospel and the rest are a distortion of the gospel!
Galatians 1:7b but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
So what’s going on here? There were some people who were troubling the Galatians by teaching them a distorted gospel. They were disturbing them, agitating them back and forth, shaking them away from the true gospel, and offering instead a distortion of the gospel that was deceiving and deadly.
These false teachers were asking the Galatians to observe and obey the Jewish law in order to be truly justified before God. They were telling them that it was not enough just to believe in Christ, but they had to contribute their own acts of obedience to gain full forgiveness from God. The implication was putting their trust in their own effort and work, diminishing the work of Christ, making it insufficient and incomplete.
In response, Paul fiercely and ardently opposed and rejected that distorted gospel and those who preached it. That leads us to point #2
2. The fatal consequence of preaching a fake gospel (1:8-9)
Galatians 1:8-9 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. 9 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 thinks that this is so critical that he cranks up the strength of his words by repeating twice his judgment against the offenders.
The selection of his words is remarkable. First, pay attention to the action of the offenders. In both verses, they are preaching a gospel. But Paul uses a single word, it is the verb form of the word gospel, that is gospelize, or evangelize. He is speaking of those who gospelize, evangelize, preach a different, fake gospel.
Now let’s turn our attention to the actors. There are three groups of actors: we, which includes Paul and other leaders, an angel from heaven and anyone. Any of those three potentially can gospelize, preach a distorted gospel.
Next, let’s focus on the consequence of preaching a fake gospel. What is the consequence for someone who gospelizes a distorted gospel: he is to be accursed, literally anathema, under a curse, condemned, doomed, devoted to destruction, hateful, detestable, abominable. This word is used to express strong dislike of or anger toward someone, and also to express their extreme state of damnation.
What Paul is saying is:
“Even if one of us evangelizes you contrary to what we already evangelized, he is to be accursed, anathema, detestable, rejected.
Even if an angel comes flying from heaven heralding a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, he is to be accursed, anathema, detestable, rejected.
I repeat: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, he is to be accursed, anathema, detestable, rejected.”
Wow, Paul, chill out! Why are you so fiery and intense? What is the big deal?
Paul is not overreacting. He is not using hyperbolic language. He means what he is writing. He uses strong language because the stakes are high. This is not a minor theological difference with the false teachers. No! The eternity of the Galatians is at risk. If they embrace and turn to a fake gospel, if they put their trust in this fraudulent gospel, they are lost! They will die in their sins and burn eternally in hell. The stakes are high and that is why Paul declares the ones who preach a distorted gospel are to be despised, rejected, kicked out.
These verses should be sobering to all of us, but in particular the ones who have been given the responsibility to preach the gospel. Like Phillip and Roddy who have been ordained today.
The call of an elder is a noble call, but it also comes with an enormous responsibility. Elders are called to defend, preserve and faithfully proclaim the gospel of Christ as taught in the word of God. Woe to them if they are casual or flippant in the proclamation of the gospel. Woe to them if they do not strive to know and understand the gospel rightly, and seek to proclaim it pure, without distortions or alterations, without adding or subtracting from it. Phillip and Roddy, that is your main task! Take it seriously!
So church, just as Paul warned the Galatians, I warn you. If anyone ever, including one of us, proclaims a gospel different to the one God has revealed in his holy word, do not receive them, do not accept them, let them be accursed! That is the fatal consequence of preaching a fake, distorted gospel. That is point #2
Now let’s move to verse 10, where Paul talks about what motivates him to embrace the real gospel and what wrong motivations lead others to embrace a fake gospel.
3. The wrong motivations for embracing a fake gospel (1:10)
Galatians 1:10 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.
Here Paul is inviting the Galatians to reason with him so they see what motivates Paul to fiercely defend the gospel.
There are 3 actions, 3 verbs in verse 10:
- Seeking the approval of someone.
- Trying to please someone.
- Being a servant of someone.
“What do you think Galatians”, Paul says:
- Am I seeking the approval of man or God?
- Am I trying to please man or God?
- Am I a servant of man or Christ?
These actions are mutually exclusive, he cannot do both at the same time, either he is a servant of Christ and pleases God, or he is a servant of man, to please man. Either he seeks the approval of God or he seeks the approval of men. He cannot do both.
And Paul chooses God, to be a slave of Christ, to seek the approval of God. He wants to please God, and glorify him, instead of receiving the approval and praise of man, as he did before
“If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ”
So there was a time when Paul was trying to please man. He used to be a zealous Pharisee, he observed the law meticulously. He worked hard to be better than the rest. He wanted to show others how disciplined he was, how strictly he adhered to the law so he would be recognized and admired. He once was motivated by pride and was trying to please men, seeking their approval and praise. His zeal led him to persecute the church violently and destroy it.
But Jesus appeared to him and abruptly stopped his race. Jesus revealed to him his glorious gospel, and the eyes of Paul were opened. Jesus, the one who Paul was persecuting, was the one who died on the cross for him, to deliver him from his pride and his slavery to men.
From that point on, Paul became a slave, a servant of Christ, and his zeal was turned towards God and his gospel. He became a preacher of the good news, and he lived to proclaim and to defend the gospel, motivated by the desire to honor and please his savior.
But that is Paul. What about us? Which path are we going to choose? Are we going to seek the praise of man or the praise of God? Are we going to be a servant of Christ or a people-pleaser?
The answer seems obvious, we should choose God! But in practice, it tends to go the other way. By nature, we tend to seek the approval and the praise of man. We are performers. We fear man, and what they think about us, we want to please man rather than fearing God and seeking to please him. And that produces all sorts of maladies, like anxiety and stress. We are inclined to please men rather than God, and therefore we follow a false gospel.
But a fake gospel is a fraud, a scam. It may be appealing because it makes you feel good about yourself and what you can do. It may be tempting to embrace the fake gospel to receive the approval of others. Those motivations are wrong, they have the wrong focus, they will lead you to a dead end.
Instead, just like Paul, let us embrace the only true gospel, seeking the approval of God, and living to please him as servants of Christ. That concludes point #3
To summarize what we learned so far:
- We all have the tendency to turn to a fake gospel
- The fatal consequence for preaching a fake gospel is to be accursed
- It is pride that motivates us to embrace a fake gospel
The thrust of the passage is to warn the Galatians against following the distorted, fraudulent, fake gospel that some false teachers were preaching to them.
But how does this apply to you and me? No one is running around pushing you to get circumcised or to observe Jewish traditions. But could it be that there are other fake, distorted gospels around us? Can you think of the false gospels of our time and culture? Here’s a few:
A gospel that offers you financial prosperity and health if you give away enough of your material possessions is a fake gospel.
A gospel that presents other mediators, besides Christ, who can appease God on your behalf is a fake gospel.
A gospel that comes from any book apart from the Bible, is a false gospel.
But perhaps the most insidious, fake gospel is the one that tells you that if you work really hard to obey God, he will love you and bless you, but if you don’t, if you fail and sin, he will be angry at you.
This is particularly dangerous in our society. Americans loudly proclaim: “If you work hard enough you will accomplish your dreams and will turn into the best version of yourself”. We often absorb that mindset and apply it to our relationship with God and we think: “If I work hard enough, I will fix myself, and God and others will be impressed and admire me”. That is the never-ending trap of salvation through obedience to the law. It represents a fake gospel, do not embrace it.
By now, I think you may have a good grasp of what a fake gospel is. But what then is the true gospel? What is the gospel?
Let me tell you a recent personal story that is leading me to remember the true gospel.
My family and I moved to a new home last month. It has been exciting and exhilarating, but also busy and challenging.
The process has raised features of my personality that were partially buried. Sometimes I become obsessive with the way I want things to be done. For instance, how the tape on the moving boxes should go, their labels, their content, how to pile them up and arrange them… all has to be done in a particular way, my way, and if not … bad luck to you. You will hear of my displeasure.
I became increasingly impatient and harsh. I had to ask forgiveness from my wife and my kids so many times. At the beginning I thought “Ok this is understandable. It is the stress of the season”. But then I did it again and again. I could not avoid it. Inevitably, I would get exasperated and say something harsh again.
I am supposed to love my wife and be patient with my children, but I often fail. Isn’t it ironic and sad that the people who you should love the most are the ones who experience the most the harmful effects of your sin?
This issue is not fully resolved. I am still in the middle of it. Often I run to a fake gospel and try to fix myself. But what I really need is the true gospel.
What exactly is the true gospel?
Galatians 1:4a
Jesus Christ … gave himself for our sins to deliver us
First, the bad news is that I am a sinner, because I often break God’s commands in every way. God, who is completely just, must reject sin and punish me as a sinner. I am in big trouble!
But the good news is that Jesus gave himself for my sins to deliver me. He came to die in my place, to pay my penalty, to remove my sins, to delete the record of accusations that stood against me.
Galatians 2:16b
we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ
It is by believing in Christ Jesus, by having faith in him alone, that I am justified before God, that I am declared innocent in the heavenly court. Not because I am innocent, but because Jesus paid for all my transgressions once and for all.
Why?
Galatians 2:20b
the Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me.
Despite my sin and transgressions, he loved me! He loved me to the extreme, he gave himself for me. He died for me, he bled for me, he paid for me. He loved me, he loved me, he loved me!
That is truly the best news one can ever hear. That is the gospel! That is what I need to hear the most.
Seeking the blessing from God through my own obedience to God is not good news at all, it is a deadly, fake gospel. Let’s not believe it. Let’s not desert God, let’s not preach a fake gospel, let’s not be proud.
Instead, let us cling to God and his gospel of grace with all we have. Let’s remember, and repeat, and relearn, and preach the gospel of Christ over and over again. Let’s seek the approval of God and his glory.