Galatians 1:6-9
Everyone wants to be blessed, but I have never met anyone who wants to be cursed. There is much advice to be found floating about the Christian community on how to be blessed and to be a blessing, and considering there are very few people lining up to be cursed, there is a surprising amount of information on why so many Christians are living under a curse.
First of all, there is no curse to be found on or around those who have accepted Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that Jesus became cursed at Calvary, so that we would be free from the curse (Galatians 3:13). Yet, there are many preachers breathing out threatenings against God’s people, warning that sin will curse them, or not giving in the offering will curse them, or their grandfather’s addictions have cursed them. Stand firm in the liberty that Jesus paid for at Calvary, and know that He took the curse so that you do not have too.
However, some may be infatuated with curses, so the Bible does provide them with a sure-fire method to operate under the oppression of a curse. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that he was amazed that it had taken so little time for them to abandon the gospel of grace in favor of some other message (Galatians 1:6). He then announced that if he himself, or an angel from heaven were to preach anything other than the original message of God’s grace and goodness, then “let him be accursed” (verse 8). He is so adamant about this, that he says it again, in the very next verse, nearly word for word.
Paul never shows this type of vehement anger in any other of his 14 epistles. To the very intelligent church at Galatia, he shows little patience. In chapter 3, he calls them “foolish”, and not for some act of atrocious sinful behavior, but rather for the fact that they are teaching that men are saved by grace and go on to growth by the works of the law (3:3). If this angered Paul, nearly 2000 years ago, when the church was small and young, how would he react in our massive churches today?
Remember, Paul received the message of the New Covenant directly from the lips of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). He was not taught his doctrine by any man, but he relied on the identification of the Spirit to show him what was to be the way of living for this new church of Jesus Christ. Never once does Paul threaten believers with eternal damnation, not even using the word “hell” in any of his writings. An edifier of believers to the very end, it is remarkable, in light of this, that Paul gets so upset with the church at Galatia.
He took the perversion of the gospel of grace very seriously. So important was pure grace to Paul, that he evokes the Greek phrase for “eternally condemned” when he uses “accursed” in Galatians 1. So important is pure grace to God, that this letter makes it into the canon of scripture, as a warning to all who dare preach a gospel of mixture, combining the beautiful grace of heaven with good deeds and works to achieve sanctification and wholeness.
What man calls balance, God calls mixture. Paul wished to see no one living or operating under the threat of a curse, but he was not afraid to call one down on those who did not take the gospel of grace seriously.
Rest today in this good news of God’s grace and know that the same message that Paul preached 2000 years ago is still alive in your heart.
Everyone wants to be blessed, but I have never met anyone who wants to be cursed. There is much advice to be found floating about the Christian community on how to be blessed and to be a blessing, and considering there are very few people lining up to be cursed, there is a surprising amount of information on why so many Christians are living under a curse.
First of all, there is no curse to be found on or around those who have accepted Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that Jesus became cursed at Calvary, so that we would be free from the curse (Galatians 3:13). Yet, there are many preachers breathing out threatenings against God’s people, warning that sin will curse them, or not giving in the offering will curse them, or their grandfather’s addictions have cursed them. Stand firm in the liberty that Jesus paid for at Calvary, and know that He took the curse so that you do not have too.
However, some may be infatuated with curses, so the Bible does provide them with a sure-fire method to operate under the oppression of a curse. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia that he was amazed that it had taken so little time for them to abandon the gospel of grace in favor of some other message (Galatians 1:6). He then announced that if he himself, or an angel from heaven were to preach anything other than the original message of God’s grace and goodness, then “let him be accursed” (verse 8). He is so adamant about this, that he says it again, in the very next verse, nearly word for word.
Paul never shows this type of vehement anger in any other of his 14 epistles. To the very intelligent church at Galatia, he shows little patience. In chapter 3, he calls them “foolish”, and not for some act of atrocious sinful behavior, but rather for the fact that they are teaching that men are saved by grace and go on to growth by the works of the law (3:3). If this angered Paul, nearly 2000 years ago, when the church was small and young, how would he react in our massive churches today?
Remember, Paul received the message of the New Covenant directly from the lips of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12). He was not taught his doctrine by any man, but he relied on the identification of the Spirit to show him what was to be the way of living for this new church of Jesus Christ. Never once does Paul threaten believers with eternal damnation, not even using the word “hell” in any of his writings. An edifier of believers to the very end, it is remarkable, in light of this, that Paul gets so upset with the church at Galatia.
He took the perversion of the gospel of grace very seriously. So important was pure grace to Paul, that he evokes the Greek phrase for “eternally condemned” when he uses “accursed” in Galatians 1. So important is pure grace to God, that this letter makes it into the canon of scripture, as a warning to all who dare preach a gospel of mixture, combining the beautiful grace of heaven with good deeds and works to achieve sanctification and wholeness.
What man calls balance, God calls mixture. Paul wished to see no one living or operating under the threat of a curse, but he was not afraid to call one down on those who did not take the gospel of grace seriously.
Rest today in this good news of God’s grace and know that the same message that Paul preached 2000 years ago is still alive in your heart.
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