8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.
11 For I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:8-12 (LSB)
The title of this article may surprise many. I have been in “conversation” on this topic for last several days with many who disagree that there is only one gospel. Their stance is that no one can know everything about the gospel. We must be tolerant of others’ views of salvation because the gospel is inherently unknowable. Before our Lord saved me, I may have bought that argument, but not anymore. Our God is a very precise God who does things His way in His timing and always for His glory.
The background passages I will use for this article will be mostly from the book of Galatians. However, we will look in Romans, John, Matthew, and Ephesians as well. Galatians was the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. Galatia was a region of the Roman province of Asia. This area is in modern day Turkey. This was the region of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey. They planted several churches throughout that region. However, sometime after they returned to Antioch false teachers had come to those churches preaching and teaching that faith was not enough for salvation. They contended that the Gentiles in Galatia who believed must also keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved. When Paul found out about this, he responded with the epistle or letter that we call Galatians. <Continue reading post>