DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- ADORNING THE GOSPEL

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – ADORNING THE GOSPEL

"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? …. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1, 3)

Bewitched! No. This is not a TV sitcom from the 60s. It is a real problem. It means speak evil of something; to charm.

The problem was set forth in the first chapter of the book. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel" (Gal. 1:6). There were smooth talkers – charmers who were perverting or distorting the Gospel, adding obligations to their faith. "There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ" (vs. 7).

Satan will always try to distort the Gospel in order to lead people away from the truth of Christ. As believers, we must always be alert to those who would distort the Gospel by teaching that we are saved by our works rather than by grace, as though we could add anything to the sacrifice of Jesus. So Paul asks the question, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (3:3). The obvious answer is no. We cannot add anything by our works to what Christ has done. Paul calls people "fools" who believe that they can make their salvation more perfect by their good works.

May our gospel always be that we are saved by grace through faith – nothing more and nothing less. Any good works we do are an expression of our salvation, and not to make our salvation more perfect. The Apostle Paul, writing to Titus, taught that we can adorn the doctrine of God (Titus 2:10). When we adorn something, we make it attractive. We do not change the basic nature, but we add to its beauty. A woman who wears jewelry does not change her natural beauty. She only enhances it by what she wears. So with the Gospel. We can add nothing to it, but we can enhance its attractiveness by our lives.

My salvation is secure based on the complete work of Jesus on the cross when He died for my sin, not because of any works of righteousness that I have done. But now I can enhance the beauty of the Gospel by my life.

Love, Dad