Motto Text for 2010
In this text Paul makes an impassioned plea to the believers in Galatia to stand fast in the liberty of the gospel.
Paul has spent four chapters arguing in the strongest terms against those who would corrupt the gospel and preach another gospel which is not a gospel at all.
There are two different Greek words for 'another' in chapter one. 'Another' is v6 means another of a different sort. 'Another' in v7 means another of the same sort. These Judaisers were not preaching the same gospel as Paul was preaching. They were preaching a different, perverted gospel.
Having warned the Galatians about the nature of this perverted gospel Paul earnestly pleads with them to stand fast.
I want us to apply this text to our own circumstances.
We may not be afflicted by the leaven of Judaism, that legalising tendency where the emphasis is put upon a person being justified by works as much as by faith.
Nevertheless, the principles set forth in this text are applicable to us all. There is a great need to stand fast in these days. Gospel freedoms, longed enjoyed, are under threat more and more. The old paths of obedience and separation are under threat and are being forsaken. There is the rise today of a profession of Christianity that has no respect for the law of God as a rule for life. |
