“…there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7)
Having greeted his readers, Paul comes to the point. He has been told that the Galatians have turned to “a different gospel”. But, Paul exclaims, there is no other gospel!
Everything contrary to the gospel preached by Paul and his companions, is a distortion of the truth. And that is very dangerous, for knowing the truth about Jesus and his salvation work is of vital importance for the Galatians’ spiritual life! Paul is not speaking about minor issues on which Christians could hold different opinions. The core of the gospel is at stake: false teachers claimed that people are not saved by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ, but that their faith should be supplemented by obedience to the law.
How important it is to Paul that the Galatians know the truth about God’s salvation plan, becomes clear from his emotional outburst in verse 9. “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed”!
How important is “knowing the truth” to you? Are you studying the Bible to find out what’s the true gospel?