Galatians 1:6 “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.”
One of the easiest things to do in the Christian faith is to desert the grace through which we were called. When I speak of deserting, I am not talking about abandoning or leaving, but rather adjusting or changing. The believers being addressed in the book of Galatians had fallen prey to teaching that centered more on what they needed to do in order to gain their salvation as opposed to focusing on what Christ had already done to secure their salvation.
When this type of influence begins to invade the hearts of believers, they often begin to look for ways to keep or maintain their faith. The saints at Galatia were being told that in order to be saved they had to be circumcised and keep the law. They were being taught that faith in Christ was not enough. As a result, they had been robbed of the freedom that they had found through faith in Christ.
Paul called this teaching a “distortion” of the gospel of Christ. He said that anyone who embraces such teaching is a deserter of God’s grace. He would later say in Galatians 1:8 that he wished that these false teachers would be “accursed.”
We must thank the Father that our salvation is not based on our works, which are inadequate, but Christ’s which were perfect. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that “…It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, 9 not as a result of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Understanding that salvation is a gift of grace as opposed to a reward for works is what sets the Christian faith apart from most religions in the world. On the subject of salvation Gospel centered teaching always focuses more on Christ, the Law-keeper, than it does on us, and our own personal law-keeping. Just as your Christian life began by Grace of God through faith in the finished work of Christ, so it must continue.
The only way that you can avoid deserting the gospel is by knowing the gospel. John 8:32 “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
