2022_02_21 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- Galatians 1-2
Today we begin Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. Paul gets down to business pretty quickly:
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Galatians 1:6-9 NLT
Paul knows that a particular group was trying to convince the new believers that in addition to receiving the Good News about Jesus, they also had other “requirements” they needed to adhere to. Paul firmly believed that salvation is found through Jesus Christ alone. It’s incredible how much this applies to us today.
Only God knows what is truly in our hearts, but scripture tells us that Christ-followers should be different from others around them. There should be evidence in their lives that Jesus has made a change. What does that evidence look like? Paul tells us further in his letter:
22But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Galatians 5:22-23 NLTWhat do you think is evidence of someone’s faith? Is it the fruit of the Spirit that Paul mentions, the way they vote, or their views on a given issue? Unfortunately, we can fall into the same trap that the Galatians did when we add anything to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus plus nothing else is what saves us. Only Jesus.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach
Executive Director of Education and Outreach