Truth matters. How can you discern truth from error? Is life just a set of opinions or experiences, or is there something more concrete that guides? As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we proclaim that truth has a name. We proclaim truth has come to us through Jesus, who himself is the way, the truth, and the life.
How do we know that truth has come to us? What happens if we encounter what Paul warned in Galatians 1:7, those who come preaching a distorted gospel to trouble you? They will come to you. Sometimes they come knocking on your door. Sometimes it is as subtle as your thinking salvation comes through what you can do or what you will do other than what Christ has done.
We turn our attention to a biographical section of Galatians where Paul gives us details about his call and conversion. He was not always an apostle. Before being an apostle, Paul was a Pharisee. A Pharisee was a zealous interpreter and adherent to the Judaism which was a teaching derived from the Old Testament. Paul encountered the resurrected Christ on the way to persecute Christians and was forever changed. The man who went to terrorize the church became the church's earliest and greatest missionary. Paul's story is one of amazing grace.
Paul wants to ensure the Galatians of the source and substance of his message, the source and substance of the Christian faith, and to do so he tells his story.
Our Gospel Comes Through Revelation
In other words, the gospel is something that exists outside of us and above us and is not the product of our cleverness. The gospel is something that we receive, something that we believe. This wonderful message of salvation through Christ's coming, living, dying, rising, ascending, and coming again is something that happened from God to us that works from God in us. The true gospel is received and believed.
This gospel is through revelation as opposed to coming from man. The Bible takes great concern to ensure that we understand this is:
Our Gospel is Not Man's Gospel
Galatians 1:11 elaborates on the same phrase from verse 1, not from men nor through man. In other words, the gospel Paul preaches is of divine origin. Since it speaks from a position outside of of and above us (transcendent position) it is authoritative and infallible. The danger the Galatians face is not a rejection of Paul but a rejection of God's self-communication through revelation.
Pay attention to the words of verse 1, not from men nor through man. Since it is not from men, the authority is vested in something other than man. Since it is not through man, it is able to save to the uttermost those who trust in Jesus.
Man's gospel is accursed, anathema, that is, damnable, consecrated, or set aside for, destruction.
The gospel revealed to us is a gospel of grace.
Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We can't earn it, we don't deserve it, and therefore we cant lose it. Salvation is a gift of God's grace.
Galatians 1:15 presents so much mystery. He set me apart before I was born, called me by his grace, pleased to reveal. All of these words highlight amazing grace. God took the initiative to save Paul. He arrested him on the road to Damascus and set him apart for his purpose, but Paul says God's purpose for him began long ago - before he was born.
Explain that? You explain that! So many have tried and usually get tangled in the weeds instead of delighting in the Psalmist delight, Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was not of them. Then the Psalmist continues, How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. (Psalm 139:16-18)
You can read more about amazing grace in places like Ephesians 1-2, where we learn it was grace that sought us, grace that bought us, and grace that sustains us. The gospel is not from men, not through men but from God who set us apart for Himself, saved us, and calls us his very own.