The letter to the Galatians is considered by many to be a “capital epistle” of the Apostle Paul, along with 1 and 2 Corinthians and Romans, because of how clearly it sets forth the Gospel. Written around AD 50, just 20 years or so after the resurrection of Christ, Galatians is called by some the Magna Carta of Christian liberty. Martin Luther loved Galatians so much he called it “Catherine von Bora,” his wife’s name, because he said, “I am married to it.” Along with Romans, Galatians is the book that launched the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s as it liberated that Catholic monk from works righteousness and helped him clearly see the doctrine of justification by faith alone. That is the central doctrine of Galatians, and in it we read, “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Do you see that? Not once, not twice, but three times in that single verse Paul insists that we cannot be justified (or, declared righteous) before the bar of God’s justice by doing the works of the law. The good news of the Gospel is only good news if it is the Gospel. Anything else, anything added, reverses the Gospel so that it becomes terrible news.
The Gospel is this. Christ “…gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.” Notice three things about that powerful truth.
The Gospel tells us who we are. We are helpless and lost in our sins. That’s what the word “deliver” implies in that verse. What do we need more than anything else? To be rescued. Delivered. Other religions were founded by people who claim to have the knowledge we need that will set us free. They are here to teach us, they say, because that’s what we need most. Was Jesus a teacher? Of course. The greatest of all teachers. But Paul in describing the Gospel in its simplest terms makes no mention of Jesus’ teaching. Because that was not as important as rescue. A man who thinks he just needs to really understand the difference between Buddhism and Christianity is not looking to be rescued. He just wants to be taught. But when a person is drowning right in front of you in a pool, they don’t want you to yell to them how to do the breaststroke or toss them a manual on swimming. They need a rope. They need someone to deliver them, to rescue them. Jesus is first our rescuer before he becomes our teacher.
The Gospel tells us what Jesus did. He “gave himself for our sins.” That is substitutionary atonement. He took our place because no one else could. Paul says it plainly also in 1 Corinthians: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” This is of first importance because there is no other hope, no other way, no other rescue. He did not die for all, but for all those who will believe. He said himself that he came to “give his life as a ransom for many.” He also did not die to just give us a “second chance” to do better, to get it right so we could be right and stay right with God. No! He did all that was needed to make us right before God, something we are helpless to do ourselves. And the Gospel means that if Jesus really paid for all of our sins we can never fall into condemnation and then have to…pay for our sins. It would be unjust for two payments to be made. Jesus paid it all. It was just for Him to die on the cross because He took our sins upon Himself. It is unjust for us to have to do anything to win God’s favor. Jesus won that for us.
Third, the Gospel tells us what the Father did in the very first verse of this book. God the Father accepted Jesus’ perfect payment for our sins by raising Him from the dead. And He gave us grace and peace that was bought by Jesus’ precious blood. Why did the Father do this? Not because of anything we have done, but “according to the will of God the Father.” The Gospel begins and continues and flourishes for eternity because of the will of God. Not because of anything we did or could ever do. Salvation is pure grace.
Are you living in and flourishing because of the Gospel? There is no other.
J. Mark Fox 