The Only Gospel

Gal 1:6, 7 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ”.

The verses 6 to 10 mention the singularity of the gospel where any other mix should be considered as perversion. Paul says that the gospel should not serve to even please men but please God. It is required for all true Christians to          should be the reason for their relationship with Christ. We learn many truths from God through meditation and other means but the initial invite towards Christ is the Gospel and this message should not be corrupted with any other offer.

Verse 6 clearly says that the grace of Christ is the gospel. An elaborate definition is found at 1 Cor 15:3-8. The definition says that Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose again and was seen by many people. The largest flow of grace was at the cross and our redemption can been seen only here. Paul uses the name Christ instead of Jesus and also includes the term “according to the scriptures” for both the death and resurrection. Jesus Christ, the long awaited redeemer has fulfilled the largest promise given to humanity. The biggest blessing we can ever receive is already given to us.

There is a death, a burial which is the proof of death, a resurrection and proof of resurrection in the gospel. The death shows death of the dominion of all sinful nature in man. The burial assures us that the older person and all that defines Him are gone forever. The resurrection is the birth of a newer person and the new person will be acknowledged by the whole world. This opportunity of sharing death and resurrection with Jesus is given to all of us. This is the gospel.

Now, in Galatians 1:7, Paul says that there is no other gospel. This means that there is no other news which is good to us. A truly saved person would see the gospel as the most desirable news to him. In verse 4 we read that this age is evil and we should seek to be delivered from that and not to excel in here. Worldly excellence is ridiculed strongly in the bible. Any success story or sometimes healing too is not good news and we are expected to be redeemed from here. This redemption was made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus and we should happily embrace this gospel that gives a different ambition. This is the will of the Father and we really need to be happy about this.

But people will seek to give you other news which are troublesome and are given to us with the purpose of seeking men (verse 10). The context of the book of Galatians is that some people in the church were introducing circumcision and they believed that it was required for everybody to follow Jewish standards to be saved. Circumcision is not an evil practice. But making it mandatory decreases the importance of salvation being free. Similarly, in many instances we try to mix the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus with other parameters such as prayer or worship as the requirement of salvation. Paul does not curse, but say that all men or even angels who mix the gospel with any other message are already cursed.

Fake gospels tend to please men and will be according to men. Human ambitions will be served by worldly gospels. All other religions and practices are according to men and try to please their Gods in their own ways. These practices have tried their perversion into Christianity from the first century. One very large example is the Roman Catholic Church who we ridicule only on their idol worship. The larger problem with them is that they encourage rituals to gain Christ and not Christ Himself. This perversion has entered many protestant and Pentecostal churches in different gestures. Christ has revealed to us that we need to pursue heavenly riches and glory by ignoring the world and its illusions.

In Mark 8:34-36, we read Jesus valuing the Gospel more than our life. If we value our life more and try to preach a pleasing gospel, we will lose it. For any preacher, self-denial is mandatory. And this denial will produce a clean message to others towards Christ. It is possible to gain the whole world by pleasing everybody without being saved.

We can be ashamed in preaching the Gospel and that also can cause us to mix up a different message. We read this also in Romans 1:16. We need to ask God for courage in keeping up the purity of the Gospel. We read a lot of verses in Acts (ex: 9:28, 13:46, 14:3 etc) that they spoke with boldness. This is required for ministry and we should ask God for this boldness (Acts 4:29). Also, the message itself is the power of God and so we need not hesitate anywhere.

In 1 Cor 1:22-23 Paul places signs and wisdom as opposites to the gospel. When people come looking for signs or knowledge only, we cannot satisfy them as what they seek is different. But those who are called, because of their faith they understand. Serving signs and wisdom alone is not giving the Christ to them. These can elevate ourselves when we preach, but if we need to bring people to Christ, we need to promote the sacrifice at the cross only. The word “called” is seen both in 1 Cor 1:24 and also in Galatians 1:6. This calling (as we know is towards holiness and glory) demands that we focus in the message of the cross only.  

But in Romans 15:18-19, we see that signs and wonders should be used to preach the gospel only. Miracles are required for others to understand how loving and kind Jesus is. But this miracle is not why Jesus had paid His life for. We need to be very precise about our preaching that the message of the cross reaches the audience properly.

In Mark 8:35 and 10:29 we can see Jesus asking us to give important to the gospel as much as to Jesus Himself.  We need to give the same treatment to the Gospel so that it does not get perverted with any other message. The focus on every Christian should be on the cross as we live only by that incident. 

The Holy Communion

1 Cor 11:31 “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.”

The Lord’s Table is an important procedure every Christian has to follow throughout his life. It is always advised that we need to be sinless when we take part in this table and examine if we are worthy enough.

Being worthy for anything is an impossible task for every true Christian. We always need to remember that the perfection God has and expects from us is far above our capabilities. Paul himself says that he hasn’t attained perfection, but is working hard towards that (Phil 3:12).

But, here if we are expected to judge ourselves it is necessary that we need a standard to compare ourselves with. For this, we have the verse 2 Cor 13:5 where we need to judge if Jesus is in us. This condition is what we need to judge ourselves during the Lord’s Table and other situations. This is the only qualification that we have. The presence of Jesus in us and the love that we have towards our savior makes us worthier candidates to take part in the Holy Communion.

When Paul explains the Lord’s Table to the Corinthian church, the reason for this advice on Judgement is that they did not respect the table. (1 Cor 11:17-22) There were people who were drunk, some were hungry or greedy and eat more, some people wanted to show off their positions in the Church and they were divided also. All these problems show the negligence they had on the table and not that they were sinners.

As per verses 24,25 and 26, it is important that we proclaim the death of Jesus Christ and acknowledge that the reason for every goodness in us is because of His blood shedding. We have gained everything we have now because He lost everything including his physical body. Jesus did not ask us to be pure or holy and come take part, but do that in His remembrance. He expects us to be grateful and that love will produce holiness. We are expected to proclaim to everybody in the church and outside that it is because of Jesus’ sacrifice that we are living.

As per verse 27, if somebody unworthily takes part in the communion, he would be guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This means they are guilty of murder. The reason is understood when we look at the cross where there would be only two categories of people. Who really loved Jesus and stood by Him during the hardest time and those who murdered Him. We are not playing with any other simple event here but we are honoring the salvation we have received through His death. It needs complete submission.

So, to honor the communion, Paul advises that we should judge ourselves before taking part here. This judgement would be that are we hosting Christ properly in us. If we are hosting Jesus, we would do as Mary did by sitting at His feet and listening to Him rather than trying to please with our own ideas. Also we are expected to be changed with His presence. If there are no changes, then we are not hosting Him, but doing something of our own will.

In Mathew 5:29 and all the other three gospels it is recorded with Jesus saying that He’ll not drink the fruit of the vine till He meets us in the Father’s kingdom. The fruit of the vine is mentioned when we read Matthew 21:34 in the parable of the wicked tenants. This fruit is the purpose of Jesus’s coming and the existence of this world. We are the fruit if we are saved and changed like Jesus Christ. This is the reason Jesus says that He’ll not drink the fruit until we meet in heaven. We are not good results yet when we are saved but when we finish our race properly, we become good fruits of His vine.

We also see the fact that Jesus is thirstily waiting for his vine for 2000 plus years. He is eager to meet us, but we are not getting ready to meet Him. This is in line with the word on the cross “I am thirsty”. Now, the blood of Jesus is shed for two millenniums and He is still thirsty for the returns.

The gospel of John does not record the details of the Lord’s Table but he records another important incident which is washing of the feet. (John 13:4-17). We have been taught that this washing is a symbol of humility of God. That is completely true and there is an even higher message in this incident. Jesus told Peter that he does not have any part with Jesus unless he allows Jesus to wash. This washing is an ongoing ritual which symbolizes our daily cleansing by Jesus. We can see the emphasis here when Jesus says that “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet”.

Also when we wash each other’s feet, it symbolizes that we need to embrace suffering for others to be cleansed. This is shown in forgiving seven times seventy. Also we remember the sacrifices of martyrs who had given up their lives for our salvation. This is far higher than just humility. There should be burden for souls in all Christians.

At last, we read in 1 Cor 11:33 that we need to wait for one another. This waiting when compared with v19 where people wanted to show off their approval, we can see that there was a practice where they thought if they took part first or earlier, they are looked up as highly anointed. This happens even at our times. There should absolutely be no selfishness.

It is important that we all should grow up together. We need to wait for others to follow while we are progressing. While we are given opportunities to perform at Church, we should ensure that others get too. And there should be absolutely no showing off in anything in the Church including talents, blessings or gifts.

Thus if we honor the Lord’s Table we are gratefully remembering that it is only because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are living now. We are proclaiming to the world that Jesus died for them also. Let us do this with reverence.