As we begin our study in the book of Galatians it’s important that we understand that truth is not abstract or changeable. There is truth and there is untruth. Many people today believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth and that conflicting religious beliefs can be equally accepted as credible. This is simply not God’s perspective. The Christians in the region of Galatia were being spiritually seduced to a false Gospel. With this in mind, the Apostle Paul wrote…

This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.  May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.  Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.  All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.  I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Galatians 1:1-9 (NLT)

 Read our text again in the message paraphrase…

I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I’m God-commissioned.  So, I greet you with the great words, grace and peace!  We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we’re in by offering himself as a sacrificefor our sins. God’s plan is that we all experience that rescue.  Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!  I can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message!  It is not a minorvariation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head.  Letme be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven! —were to preach something other than what wepreached originally, let him be cursed.  I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.

Galatians 1:1-9 (MSG)

We must take these warnings of scripture seriously

Pastor Mike