For Paul, the only way for sinful men and women to stand before the Holy God in the judgment yet to come is to possess the merits of Jesus through faith. So, it would figure that this would be the place where Satan would direct his attacks—rarely in frontal assaults, more often in subtle re-definition. For the gospel as taught by Paul is “all of Christ.” But Satan will find a way to make it “some of Christ and some of me.” Yet a gospel that is “some of Christ and some of me,” is a different gospel from that which Paul proclaimed, and tragically, is no gospel at all.

Paul’s warnings to the Galatians should ring in our ears today. To his amazement, a false gospel arose in the Galatian churches almost immediately after Paul left the area and was widely accepted in same churches in which Paul and Barnabas had preached in person. Grounded in wide-spread Jewish customs and practices, the false message was so compelling that even Peter and Barnabas were taken in for a time. Just as no counterfeiter would make purple seven dollar bills with Mickey Mouse’s likeness on them, neither does a false teacher show up and announce, “Hi, everyone, I’m a false teacher.” They always have a hook. Luther understood well how such deception works

The ministers of Satan insinuate themselves into people’s minds by promising them something better. They admit that those who preached the gospel to them made a good start but say that this is not enough . . . . They confirm true doctrine but then go on to point out where it needs to be improved. This was how the false apostles gained access to the Galatians.

We should not be surprised when theologians, pastors, and elders, fall from grace and begin teaching another gospel. Sad to say, we should expect this to happen. It is not a matter of if, but when. Paul exhortation to the Galatians reminds us to always be on our guard against those who teach that the death of Jesus Christ is not sufficient in and of itself to save us from God’s wrath in the judgment yet to come. The false gospel–Christ plus something we do–makes a great deal of sense to those who think that religion in general, and Christianity in particular, is primarily about ethics (conduct), and that sound doctrine is secondary to proper behavior. This hook is often used by contemporary false teachers.

The reason why this happens is rather obvious. If someone believes that Christianity is essentially about making bad people into good people, or making good people into better people, then Paul’s stress upon Christ crucified for sinners, will sound odd, or even seem offensive. The biblical writers tell us that the cross is foolishness to the Greek and a stumbling block to the Jew (1 Corinthians 1:23). It is both to modern Americans. The generic American civil religion is the religion of Cain; “do what is right in your own eyes” (Genesis 4:3). This is grounded in the sentiment that people are intrinsically good and fully capable of coming up with something on their own which they think will be acceptable to God. “All God wants is our best,” is Cain’s motto. No, what God demands of us under the law–perfect obedience–he freely grants to us in the gospel, which Paul defines as the good news of the death, resurrection, and obedience of Jesus, for us and in our place.

There will always be those in our midst urging us to soften the offense of the cross, or perhaps, to remove the offense altogether. Given Paul’s view of sin (“there is no one who seeks God”–Romans 3:11), it is important to remind ourselves that it is God who seeks sinners as seen Paul’s emphasis upon calling as God’s initiative, made effectual by the Holy Spirit working in and through the preached gospel. It is through the proclamation of the gospel, but only through the proclamation of that gospel, that God calls men and women to faith in Jesus. We must never entertain the thought of changing or “softening” our gospel to make it more inclusive and less offensive, lest our gospel become no gospel at all and we fall under Paul’s anathema.

It is also clear from Paul’s opening words to the Galatians that the issue here is the content of what is preached, not the reputation or the abilities of the preacher. A preacher’s credentials should have little to do with how charismatic or compelling he may be, but with whether or not he preaches the gospel faithfully. Faithfulness to the gospel is the standard by which a minister of word and sacrament in Christ’s church will be judged by the Lord of the church. Granted, there is no excuse for boring preaching. Nor is there any excuse for preaching which is poorly organized, confusing, difficult to understand, or otherwise not compelling. In an entertainment-based social media driven culture such as ours, we have been thoroughly trained to evaluate things by how they make us feel, or by how they hold our diminished attention spans, or even worse, by whether or not we are entertained. This is not a good thing because these things are obstacles to the “hearing with faith.”

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