Are you ready for some good news?
Because Paul had been a Pharisee of Pharisees, he knew firsthand how toxic every form of legalism is. The epistle to the Galatians is the clearest, most passionate defense of the Gospel. God’s grace is utterly free!
“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.” (Galatians 1:6-7)
If every day for ninety-nine days I tell my wife, “I love you,” then on the one hundredth day I say, “I’m not sure if I love you; I might leave you,” that one day of conditional love infects and poisons the other ninety-nine. She will think about that one day for all the other ninety-nine. One percent of uncertainty introduces unlimited potential for fear.
In the same way, one percent of law introduces unlimited potential for fear. Paul tells us in Galatians 1 that a Gospel that requires Jesus plus anything else won’t build faith. It will build fear. “What if you haven’t done it right? What if you haven’t done it well enough? What if you haven’t done it righteously enough?” You will never know when you’ve done enough, and Satan, the accuser, will use one percent of infection in your Gospel to accuse you night and day.
But when the Gospel is clean and clear, there is no voice left for the accuser. There is no wondering if you’ve done enough. There is no leverage for the accuser to bind your soul with worry or condemnation. When you are in Christ, nothing, absolutely nothing, is necessary to guarantee you God’s love forever. And that’s the Gospel!
