March 18, 2025
One True Gospel – Galatians 2:3-9 Submitted by Kay Crumley
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia where he had been in his missionary journeys. The people, mostly Gentiles, had accepted the truth Paul taught and became believers. However, after Paul left, others came to these churches and began to teach an altered gospel. These men distorted the gospel, one that caused confusion among the believers.
Even today we hear of those who would alter the gospel in ways that confuse and cause immature believers to veer away from the one true gospel. We must know His Word so that we are not easily led astray by false teachings.
Paul opened this letter in verses 1-2 declaring his credentials, an apostle of Christ. It was Jesus Christ the resurrected Son of God who sent him to teach the truth, not any man or group of men. His authority is solely from God through Jesus. Anytime we hear Spiritual teaching, we must check its authority based on Scripture rather than taking the word of men alone.
In verses 3-5, below, Paul greets them with a reminder of who our common Lord and Savior is, what He has done for us, and His plan to rescue us from evil in this present time. He ends this passage with ‘Amen’ which is confirmation of the truth he has told.
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
I can almost hear Paul’s voice as his frustration is so evident in the next passage. Those who he taught are being turned to a different or false gospel, one that is no gospel at all. Gospel means the revelation of Christ. When that is modified in any way from the message of Jesus it is no longer gospel.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Paul is adamant that there is only one gospel, the one he taught/preached to them. That is the one he received from Jesus Himself. Paul is assuring them that regardless of how credible the false teacher may seem, they have no validity if it is different from the gospel he preached. There is only one gospel. Those who alter the truth are to be under God’s curse. The Galatians, as well as all of us today must stop listening to any person who perverts or distorts the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul then restates the origin of the gospel he is preaching, that he presented to the churches in Galatia.
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
The message he taught is not from other men but was received directly as a revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus stopped Paul in his tracks and gave him the truth of who He is and then commissioned Paul to take that revelation to the Gentile world.
One gospel, one truth, only one way to Jesus. John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” There is no action we can take, no work we can perform, nothing we can do to get to the Father except to accept Jesus as Savior. We are then filled with the Spirit of God and become a new creation, a chosen race, and a Holy priesthood. We are one with Him, have direct access to Him, and are forever His. One Gospel, One Truth.
