Sola Feels?

In keeping with yesterday's Reformation theme, I hope you are familiar with the 5 Solas of the Reformation. These are Sola Fide (by faith alone), Sola Scriptura (by scripture alone), Solus Christus (through Christ alone), Sola Gratia (by grace alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone).

In our increasingly postmodern, truth-hating society the above Five Solas are not valued. This is not surprising for a God-despising culture. What is surprising and troubling is that a significant number of Christians are now making decisions not based in fact and truth, but in feeling. This is a great danger for the body of Christ.

Babylon Bee has done it again. This piece of satire entitled "Sola Feels" introduces us to this new doctrine in the church. Yikes!

Theology Matters

Happy Reformation Day!

The Protestant Reformation was not a perfect movement, but it certainly did a lot of good. Specifically, God used it to wrench the biblical Gospel out into the open. The Roman Catholic Church was no longer allowed to shroud the Gospel of grace under its false, works-based teachings.

Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany was a significant event. It occurred on October 31st, 1517 (as an aside, next year will hold lots of 500 year celebrations of Luther's act). However, it wasn't the most important thing to happen. Rather than one big thing, the Reformation was a conglomeration of many different, semi-related little things that happened over the span of a few hundred years. In the end, the true Gospel was freed from the clutches of those who hate it.

If not for the Reformation, I doubt that I would know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That's why I cherish the Reformation.

On Misunderstanding God's Sovereignty and the Resulting Loss of Hope

Most Christ-followers believe that God is sovereign. I know I do, and I imagine you do as well.

How we define and understand the sovereignty of God are important. If we make an error in this it can lead to a deep sense of hopelessness.

God is indeed sovereign. The Bible shows us that God controls all things. Nothing happens that is outside his divine omnipotence. This wonderful truth ought to give us both hope and peace. It would be an awful and terrifying thing to think of something beyond God's control. If that could happen, then God would not in fact be God at all.

It is easy to cherish the sovereignty of God when things are generally going well in our lives. However, when the trials come (problems related to family, job, money, etc.) doubts may begin to creep in. This is where the danger exists. If we define God's sovereignty as God answering our prayers in the way we want him to, then we are in trouble. This is because God knows much better than we do what we need. We generally desire for God to take away various unpleasant things in our lives. After all, we like comfort. God, however, often uses discomfort to both train us and draw us closer to him.

When God answers differently from what we ask for this does not mean that he has failed to be sovereign. He cannot do that because his sovereignty is one of his unchanging attributes. God applies his sovereignty according to his omniscience. He knows all things, including what is best for us. We are the ones who fail to fully understand how God works out his sovereignty in our lives for his glory. While he may apply it one way, we sometimes think that bad things that happen to us mean God failed in his sovereignty. We are incorrect.

In Romans 8:28 we read, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." God works to bring about what we need, not necessarily what we want. We must not make the mistake of over applying God's sovereignty to areas of our lives in such a way that limits God; we must avoid putting God in a box. More specifically, we have to avoid thinking, "God has to answer my prayer in such-and-such a way or he is not sovereign after all." That simply shows ignorance on our part.

God is fully sovereign. He will act according to his perfect character, will, and goodness. When he responds to our prayers in ways we do not like, let's not fall into hopelessness. God has not abandoned us. Rather, he is helping our sanctification process.

God's sovereignty is a reason for great hope. Let's avoid defining and comprehending that sovereignty in ways that God has not.

Linking: Is the Reformation Over?

Does justification by faith alone matter anymore? Is the Reformation over?

R.C. Sproul provides excellent answers to these questions as he deals with the critical topic of justification. Sproul is correct in saying that justification by faith alone is a core attribute of the biblical gospel. He points out how the Roman Catholic Church has steadfastly rejected the notion that faith is enough for salvation. Please read the post. It is relatively short and worth your time.


(HT: Arthur)

Happy Reformation Day!

Reformed on Salvation. Anabaptist on the Church.

The longer I live the more thankful I am for the Reformers. As we near October 31st, the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door in 1517, I can't help but muse upon just how much we owe those who came before us. For hundreds of years prior to the Protestant Reformation the Gospel had been largely locked away behind the pomp and circumstance of the Roman Catholic Church. The average person on the street had no access to the truth of the Biblical Gospel. Most people couldn't read, and even if they could they would not have had any way to read the scriptures in their first language (since the Bible was stuck in the Latin Vulgate at that time).

Enter the Magisterial Reformers. Men such as John Wycliffe, Jan Huss, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, William Tyndale, John Calvin and many more literally risked their lives for Biblical truth. Some, like Huss, lost theirs at the stake. These men, who were able to read the Bible, saw that the Gospel is all of grace. They understood that Jesus Christ's work is complete. It is about Christ and Christ alone. God used the Reformers greatly to proclaim the wonderful news that Jesus accomplished all that was required.

Secondarily, I agree wholeheartedly with the Refomers' strong belief in the absolute sovereignty of God when it comes to salvation. I love both the 5 Solas and the Doctrines of Grace; I love them because I believe they are scriptural.

The Reformers stuck to the Bible when it came to the Gospel. For this I am indebted.

And yet...

When it comes to church life, the Reformers dropped the ball - at least where the Bible is concerned. Frankly, the Reformers did very little to alter the church from what it was (and still is) in Catholicism. The priests simply became pastors. The mass was replaced with a new sacrament: the sermon. The big buildings hardly changed at all. Because of this, I reject the Reformers' model of church life.

Enter the Anabaptists. While the Reformers deviated little from the Roman model of church, the Anabaptists embraced not only the Biblical Gospel but also the Biblical model of church life. They kept things simple. They emulated what they saw in the Bible. They rejected unbiblical concepts such as salaried clergy, special buildings, and worship services. They also saw the church as free, unencumbered by a cozy relationship with the state. It was this rejection of the church-state alliance that brought persecution and death to many of them. Almost all of their early leaders were slaughtered, either by Catholics or Protestants.

It is the Anabaptist model of church, which is basically just the Biblical model of church, that I embrace. This is not to suggest that either A) the Anabaptists had everything figured out perfectly, or B) that all Anabaptists were the same. However, they generally attempted to allow scripture to inform what they believed and how they acted as it pertains to living out church life.

For this, I'm deeply indebted to the Anabaptists.

In the end, this leaves me in the somewhat odd situation of being Reformed on salvation, but Anabaptist on the church. So be it.

A Fun Reformed Meme

This meme may have been out for a while, but I still find it funny. Part of what makes it so humorous is that it is accurate. I've been through all stages myself.

Having been raised in a Wesleyan-Armininan church, the idea of God's sovereignty over salvation seemed nearly abhorrent to me. However, once confronted with scripture (this about 10-15 years ago while in seminary) I quickly entered the shock and then denial stages. After a few difficult months, I moved on to realization and acceptance. Unfortunately, shortly after that I began that very annoying phase where I tried to convince other unsuspecting Christians that predestination is true. I was, as they say, a bit of a jerk. A cage would have been a good place for me.

I don't know about that last stage. I've never been much of a sage about anything.

A word of clarification: while I strongly hold to Reformed thinking as it pertains to salvation, I disagree with much of it regarding the life and function of the church. Therefore, I'm not really Reformed. Rather, I just love the Doctrines of Grace.

Why Is the Lord's Supper More Often Like a Funeral Than a Celebration?

Almost all of us have been through it before: the institutional Lord's Supper / Communion / Eucharist.

We know how it goes. Most of the folks sit somberly in pews. One person in the front leads a ceremony that feels like a funeral. Everybody is instructed to focus upon their sins and upon Christ's death. No one except the leader speaks. Everyone eats a small cracker or bite of bread. Everybody sips wine or juice. No fun is had.

The above, with small variations, occurs in almost all churches in the USA throughout the year. This would be fine if it was based in scripture. The problem is that it is not. Nothing like what I've described exists in the bible, especially not in the New Testament. If you search the New Covenant people to see what their Lord's Suppers looked like, you will find large family celebrations with full meals. Now that sounds like fun.

So how did we get to this point? Why would the church trade in a family celebration for a funeral-like ceremony?

(This post stems from an earlier piece entitled Sorry, But I Can't Stop Asking Questions.)

To answer these questions we must turn back the clock of church history.

As with much that is wrong with the church, the Constantinian change played a large role. When Emperor Constantine made Christianity the preferred religion of the Roman Empire (in the early 300's A.D.), many pagans flocked into the church institution. They brought their pagan sacrifices with them. In order to keep some semblance of these practices in place, the Mass was developed. Thus we have the "re-sacrificing of Christ" each time the Mass takes place.

In order for a sacrifice to happen, a priest has to be involved. Additionally, the people present must be somber in nature. After all, you cannot celebrate when someone is being sacrificed. The Roman church knew that the bread and wine had to be involved; therefore, they kept them as part of the sacrifice.

When the Reformers came along they did some things to change this. They got rid of the Mass and the priest. However, they put the sermon and the pastor in those spots. Additionally, they kept the funeral-like atmosphere. Ugh. They did not do what they should have: reverted back to the family celebrations we read about in the New Testament.

When we realize that church history and not scripture has led to the current situation, we see what we must do. Scripture must trump tradition. Family celebrations it is!

Why Do So Many Christians Gather for "Worship"?

If you ask most Christians why they gather together (usually on Sundays), they will tell you that it's for worship. If you then ask them why they get together for the purpose of worship you will likely receive a blank stare. This is because most Christians have never pondered this before. It's also because the bible gives no indication that the body of Christ comes together for worship.

In the New Testament we see the church meet for a different purpose: edification. I Corinthians 14:26 says, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." The point of the gathering was the building up of the members. No confusion there.

However, there is plenty of confusion today. How did we get into this mess? In order to find out we must look back at church history (in fact, we'll find many of the answers to these fifteen church-related questions by searching through church history).

Not long after the first century a clergy system began to form. Specialists emerged who did the bulk of the stuff as the church gathered. This gradually morphed into the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. The priests led the Mass, which became the primary gathering of the people of God.

Enter the Reformers. Men like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc. rejected the Mass for the heresy that it was (and still is). They recognized that when churches came together something other than "another sacrifice of Christ" must occur. The Reformers did a good thing by jettisoning the Mass. However, they failed to follow the biblical model when they replaced it. The Reformation saw the rise of preaching as the center point of body meetings.

Fast forward to today. The Catholic Church still performs its Mass. Protestant churches focus their gatherings on music (now known to many as "worship") and preaching. Neither group gathers specifically for edification. Over the years the Protestant versions have become known as "worship services." This is fascinating because the worship is poorly defined and no actual service takes place. Regardless, because the gatherings are known as worship services, many of the people think that they gather for worship.

The biggest problem with this situation is that it leaves the church largely unedified and spiritually immature. Gatherings are supposed to build up the body. However, in worship service ceremonies very little communication occurs or is encouraged among the people present. Edification happens mainly through the carrying out of the one anothers; this cannot happen during a ceremony. Thus, the body does not grow spiritually.

Many, many Christians think they gather for worship because they know little else. It's what they have always done. It does not stem from scriptural teachings, but rather church history. The church suffers because of it.

We do well to challenge this way of thinking.

Let's tell and show our brothers and sisters in Christ that edification occurs best in simple gatherings.

"The Reformers and Their Stepchildren"

When I was in seminary I was required to read The Reformers and Their Stepchildren. Although the book interested me at the time, I didn't give it a great deal of thought because I was reading so many different books. It quickly faded into the background of my mind as I tried to ingest all sorts of other required reading.

I'm now far removed from seminary. My views on the church have changed dramatically since those years. I decided it was time to read this book again. I'm glad I did.

The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, written by Leonard Verduin in 1964, takes a fascinating look at the stark differences between the Reformers (such as Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin) and those who were called by various names such as "Anabaptist." Both of these groups had broken away from the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church. Both held a high view of scripture. Where the two groups differed was in their view of the church. While the Reformers largely took a Constantinian view of church, the Anabaptists believed the church should be free. This led to a massive rift.

The Anabaptists thought that each person in an area should be free to choose what he believed. This necessarily led to a composite society. The Reformers, seeking protection from the government, looked for a melding of church and state. Therefore, everyone in a given location was considered part of the church in that location. The Anabaptists wanted no part of this view. This led to severe persecution by the Reformers (and Catholics) toward the Anabaptists.

The Anabaptists were known by a wide variety of different names given to them by the Reformers and Catholics. Almost all of these were derogatory in nature (even the term "Anabaptist" was originally negative). Verduin entitled the various chapters in this book with these negative names; the chapters deal with different but related topics such as baptism, the Lord's Supper, and church-state relations. While the Reformers and the stepchildren held the same basic views of the gospel, it was their differences over the church that led to the problems.

This book is extremely well researched and detailed. At some points it bogs down a bit, but the large amount of information is needed because this book is a challenge to the Reformed view of both the Reformation and the Anabaptists. The author was forced, due to the resistance this book would face, to add a great amount of detail.

The interesting thing about this book is that, for most of us in the modern West, a free church is the norm. We cannot imagine anything other than a composite society. That was hardly the case 500 years ago. Back then the Anabaptists' hope for church life led to persecution, shunning, and death. They desired what we have.

This text is much more than a history book. It is living in the sense that the Anabaptists, or stepchildren, asked many of the questions about the church that we do today. The difference is that they often paid for it with their lives.

This book is worth your time.

My Own Personal Reformation Day

Three years ago today was my final day as a professional pastor. I still find it somewhat ironic that my last day in that capacity falls on Reformation Day. I didn't plan it that way, but I'm glad it happened.

Reformation Day, of course, celebrates in particular the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. It's also a day to celebrate the Reformation in general.

My own reaction to the Protestant Reformation is a mixed one. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that the Reformers were willing to take a stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a dangerous time that required much courage in their part. We owe much to them. On the other hand, I can't get past the thought that the Reformation didn't go far enough. While the Reformers did much to promote a biblical understanding of salvation, they did not do so for the church. The Reformation model of church life remains very similar to that of Roman Catholicism.

Regarding the church, I'm sort of a protester against at least some Protestant ideas. That should be obvious from reading this blog. However, I don't want to be all about protesting. Despite its faults, there is still a great deal of good that stems from churches that function according to the Protestant model.

My resignation signals a bit of reform in my life. It points to a time when God opened my eyes to what his church can be. At the most basic level, I read in the bible about what the church looked like. I saw the apostles, as part of the early church, giving approval to certain church forms and practices. The Holy Spirit showed me that God has given us a plan for church life. This unavoidably led to my resignation.

I imagine you have had moments like this. I'm guessing that God has from time to time brought about reform in your life when it comes to the church. This probably looks different from person to person, but in the end it comes from the Spirit's conviction. You may not have had a personal Reformation Day, but you likely have had times of reform in your life.

The main reason my last day as a salaried pastor was October 31st was because the local church asked me to stay that long. I actually announced my resignation in mid-September. They asked me to remain to help with some of the transition. I decided to stay another month and a half because I loved them and wanted to serve them as best I could. I'm happy to say that our family departed on good terms with the church body.

Each year as October 31st rolls around I'm reminded of God's great grace in our lives. He gradually reveals to us what his plans are. It marks a crossing of the Rubicon for me. After all, once you resign from being a pastor because you can't find any biblical evidence for it (and tell the church this), it's not likely that any other church will hire you at a later date.

Do you have a personal Reformation day, week, month, year, moment, etc.? I'd love to hear it.

No Longer Reformed, But I Still Love the Five Solas

A decade ago, after about a year in seminary, I became one of those newly-turned-Reformed guys that you just don't want to be around. As the saying goes, I should have been locked up in a cage for a year or so. I wanted everyone to embrace my new understanding of predestination and thought everyone should. I knew I was right and was certain of it (Steve Scott just wrote an interesting post about this entitled The Neo-Calvinist Certitude).

For a while there I even considered myself to be part of the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement.

A few years back I realized that it was all a bunch of ridiculousness. More specifically, it's an example of what occurs within Christianity when a sub-group overemphasizes one aspect of faith and/or practice. In this case the overemphasis is on God's sovereignty. If we actually let the scriptures speak, we see that while God is sovereign over salvation, man has a real, actual responsibility to repent and believe. How do these two truths fit together? I'm not sure. God is the one who knows, and that is good enough for me.

Regarding the term "Reformed," I rejected it a few years ago. I'm done with all labels other than "Christian" or "Christ follower." "Brother" is my favorite.

One of the things that is commonly associated with the Reformed is the Five Solas of the Reformation. I still love these truths, along with the Doctrines of Grace. Therefore, while I reject the notion of being part of some sort of Reformed group within Christianity, I cherish many of the same beliefs about salvation.

The biggest issue that forces me to reject the term "Reformed" is the typical Reformed view of the church. Ironically, the Reformed view of church falls far short of Sola Scriptura. In fact, while the Reformation view of salvation broke far away from that of Rome, the Reformed view of the church itself didn't move all that much. For example, a typical Protestant worship service isn't all that different in form from a Roman Catholic Mass. The only key difference is that the Eucharist was replaced by the sermon.

On my blog I have a page entitled Five Solas. I'm keeping that because they describe much of what I believe. However, I'm no longer Reformed and never will be again. Like many of you, God has revealed to me something far greater that his church can be. I don't want to be constrained by man-created definitions. Rather, I just want to follow the Holy Spirit as he leads us to be the body of Christ as revealed in the pages of the New Testament.

Bingo!

Some of these made me laugh out loud. Enjoy.

Luther Meme

I'm not sure who created this one, but I like its simplicity.

Happy Reformation Day

Apparently Luther was a blogger, too (I knew he was a bright guy). The Reformer was labeled "divisive" by many for asking hard questions about both salvation and the church. Thank God for men like Luther who were willing to look to scripture as their guide for God's truth. While I wish Luther had taken scripture to its logical endpoint like the Anabaptists did, I'm still grateful for his efforts (and those of others) in rediscovering the true gospel.

Thinking Outside the Reformed Box

About seven years ago I began to embrace the biblical truth of God’s sovereignty over salvation. Prior to that, I had always believed that man has free will and therefore ultimately makes the decision about whether or not to surrender to Jesus Christ. After searching the scriptures for several months in 2003-2004, I came to see and love God’s sovereign choice in salvation.

I still love the doctrines of election and predestination. I also continue to embrace the Doctrines of Grace and the 5 Solas of the Reformation.

Something else has happened to me, however, during the last few years. I’ve realized that in this country amongst the Reformed there are certain topics that dominate conversations. There are also certain topics that are basically ignored. This is not healthy or balanced (and it's especially dangerous and prevalent among seminary students).

A Caution to My Reformed Brothers

I'm writing this post specifically to those Christians who are Reformed regarding salvation. I'm writing as a Reformed Christian to other Reformed Christians.

Here's my simple caution: we need to be careful. Specifically, we need to be careful that we don't confuse reading lots of books with living lives that please God.

These two things are quite obviously not mutually exclusive. However, we make a huge mistake if we confuse the two. And if you read many of the Reformed blogs and websites, you might think that the most important part of the Christian life is which Puritan from the 1600's you are currently reading.

The interesting thing about all this is that the prominent leaders of the Reformed movement (such as John Piper, John MacArthur, and R.C. Sproul) don't seem to be confused about this. They write many books and I'm sure read a lot, but when you hear them speak their focus is always who Jesus is, what He has done, and what we should do in response.

The problem lies more with those who have become Reformed within the last ten years or so. I'm in this group, so this caution applies to me as well. We all know that many good books have been written over the past 500 years or so. We may be thrilled to be almost finished reading Calvin's Institutes. We may think Jonathan Edwards was the most brilliant man ever. We may even dare to try to read some of John Owen.

What is our primary emphasis? Christianity is not an intellectual enterprise where the person with the most knowledge is the most holy.

What does Jesus care about? It's interesting in reading through the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus cares most about our attitudes and resulting actions. He says little about head knowledge.

Let's just be careful. Reading books is great as long as it's a means to an end. That end should be our sanctification that leads to God's glorification. If we become prideful about what we read, then the action of reading leads to the exact opposite of what the authors intended.

Justification by Faith Alone - Romans

In many ways the letter to the Galatians is a mini-version of the letter to the Romans. Because of their similar themes, it's not surprising that Paul deals extensively with justification in writing to the Roman Christians.

Toward the end of Romans chapter three, after Paul has made an exhaustive case that all humanity is guilty before God, the apostle writes this (3:20), "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." From this we can conclude a couple of things. First, no one is justified (declared both not guilty and righteous) by works. Second, if anyone is to be justified, it will be on the basis of something other than works.

We are briefly left wondering what the basis of the justification will be.

Paul answers this question with the clear affirmation that justification comes through faith alone. In what is one of the most important paragraphs in all scripture, Paul writes (3:21-26), "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Paul tells us that we are justified by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who is our redemption and propitiation.

As if to further make his case, Paul says (3:27-28), "Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."

In Romans chapter 4, Paul points back to two important figures from the Old Testament to show that even then justification came through faith apart from the law. The two people Paul selects are two of the most prominent in both Jewish history and in the ancestry of Christ: Abraham and David.

In Romans 4:1-8, Paul writes, "What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.'"

Paul goes on to inform us that both Jew and Gentile are declared just because of faith and not works. This is all a gift of God based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Romans reads much like a lawyer making a logical case for the gospel. Step-by-step, Paul lays out God's plan before us. After seeing that all are guilty because they have all transgressed God's law, we read that no one can be justified because of the works of the law.

At first this seems like terrible news. If we can't be counted righteous by works of the law, then how can it possibly happen? This is when we read, beginning in 3:21, of the almost unbelievable truth that God declares us just because of a gift of His grace through our faith.

As in Galatians, Paul makes the clear contrast between faith and works. He leaves no room for a faith-plus-works scenario. His entire emphasis is upon justifying faith.

Both of these epistles cry out that justification comes by faith alone.

Justification by Faith Alone - Galatians

Justification by faith alone is a doctrine that most Protestants (at least those who think about theological things) love. It is the primary doctrine that the Reformation was all about. It is a doctrine that rejects all works-based theories of salvation.

But is this doctrine really all that important? Is it something worth fighting for? Is it something we should divide over? Is it simply fine to "agree to disagree" about this doctrine?

The key is whether or not justification by faith alone is a core aspect of the gospel message itself. If it is, then we should argue strongly for it. If it is not, then we can surely discuss it, but it should not be a point of contention.

As always, we must look to the bible for answers. We will first look to Paul's letter to the Galatians because this is the primary issue discussed. In Galatians, Paul is writing to churches in Galatia that he probably planted. The apostle's concern is that false teachers had crept into these churches and began teaching a false gospel based upon works of the law. Basically, they were teaching that Gentiles had to become law-abiding Jews in order to be saved.

Paul's letter is a stern rebuke of these false teachings. Right from the beginning of the epistle, Paul writes the following:

Galatians 1:6-9, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."

Paul makes it clear in the above verses that his concern is that the Galatian Christians were beginning to follow a false gospel.

In light of this, we must know what this false gospel was really all about. Paul tells us in several places in chapters two and three. The issue itself is one of justification. Paul writes:

Galatians 2:16, "...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."

Galatians 3:6, "...just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'."

Galatians 3:11, "Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"

In 2:16 we see what is probably Paul's clearest teaching on the issue. He offers us a stark contrast. Justification is based on faith in Christ. It is not based on works of the law. Although the apostle does not write "by faith alone," it is clear that this is what he means. We know this because he discounts any works.

In 3:6, Paul reminds us that Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith - long before the law even existed.

In 3:11, Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, showing that even in post-Sinai-OT justification came through faith as opposed to the law.

Why is all this so important? In this epistle, Paul ties together the very truth of the gospel with justification by faith alone. In chapter one he blasts that Galatians for turning from the gospel. In chapters two and three he explains that we are justified (declared righteous before holy God) because of faith and not works. We must not ignore this connection. Justification is at the heart of the gospel itself.

In light of this, we must come to the conclusion that justification by faith alone is a core aspect of the gospel itself. Therefore, it is worth fighting for.