The Truth Of The Gospel -
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
Twice in Galatians 2 Paul speaks of “the truth of the gospel.” In both
cases the Apostle had been forced to speak out to defend the purity of
“the gospel of the grace of God.”
In Verses 4,5 he refers to his contest with those at Jerusalem
who would have brought the Gentile believers under the law of Moses.
Among them were “false brethren,” he says, “unawares brought in… to spy
out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us
into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour,
that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”
In the second case he refers to a controversy with Peter who,
having enjoyed blessed fellowship with Gentile Christians, had been
intimidated by some of his Jewish brethren into separating himself from
the Gentiles. Concerning this, Paul writes: “But when Peter was come to
Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed” (Ver.
11). Why was Peter to be blamed? Verse 14 answers: Because he “walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel,” i.e., “the gospel
of the grace of God,” in which believing Jews and Gentiles are “one body
in Christ.”
How we should all thank God for Paul’s vigorous defense of the
gospel of grace, under which all who trust in Christ as Savior are
baptized by the Holy Spirit into the one true Bible Church (I Cor.
12:13).
Doubtless Paul’s stand for “the gospel of the grace of God”
stemmed from the fact that he himself had experienced the truth of this
blessed message. As the chief of sinners he had been gloriously saved.
All his power and prestige as a Pharisee, all his intellectual
achievement, all his rigid Law observance meant nothing now, as in the
presence of the glorified Lord he saw himself a sinner, the chief of
sinners, and was saved by the matchless grace of God.
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Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
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