The only truth we need is Jesus! We hold to His gifts of Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of these is God’s LOVE. John 3:16-17
Unbelief is a form of idolatry and is the only thing that can separate us from God. In order to receive the truth of our risen Savior we need to believe that He is and that God is a rewarder of those who trust in Him. He is in control.
Hosea 1:2
When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For the land has committed great harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”
Hosea took an idolatrous wife from among the Israelites. God hates idolatry. In their time in Egypt the Israelites were surrounded by pagan gods. It was their introduction to idolatry and their pagan gods.
Hosea 1:5 It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away. 7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the Lord their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen.”
2 Kings 17:7-12 For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, 8 and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9 Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, 12 for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.” 13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” 14 Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. 16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
The land was covered with idols. God’s chosen people were steeped in idolatry. Only Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, could restore our relationship with God. Only by His shed blood could God see Him in us and His righteousness and not our sins. We are hidden in abiding in God’s love for His creation.
Hebrews 1:2-4 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Only through the work of the Cross of Jesus the Christ can we be saved. He took on the sins of the world. The perfection of the work of the Cross saves. We are saved not by our works but His. In Jesus Christ alone we are redeemed. Repentance is the u-turn that allows God to work in our lives. It is in Holy Spirit in our lives that we can be changed. He takes the very truth of Jesus and precept by precept we are changed.
Colossians 3:5-11 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Ephesians 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Coveting is the root cause of idolatry.
Galatians 1:6-12 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul was the chosen vessel to bring the truth to the world that in Christ alone are we saved. This was not his gospel but the Gospel of Jesus Christ from his personal encounter with the risen Lord of lords and King of kings, Jesus. Carla
Those who would establish any other way to heaven than what the gospel of Christ reveals, will find themselves wretchedly mistaken. The apostle presses upon the Galatians a due sense of their guilt in forsaking the gospel way of justification; yet he reproves with tenderness, and represents them as drawn into it by the arts of some that troubled them. In reproving others, we should be faithful, and yet endeavour to restore them in the spirit of meekness. Some would set up the works of the law in the place of Christ’s righteousness, and thus they corrupted Christianity. The apostle solemnly denounces, as accursed, every one who attempts to lay so false a foundation. All other gospels than that of the grace of Christ, whether more flattering to self-righteous pride, or more favourable to worldly lusts, are devices of Satan. And while we declare that to reject the moral law as a rule of life, tends to dishonour Christ, and destroy true religion, we must also declare, that all dependence for justification on good works, whether real or supposed, is as fatal to those who persist in it. While we are zealous for good works, let us be careful not to put them in the place of Christ’s righteousness, and not to advance any thing which may betray others into so dreadful a delusion. In preaching the gospel, the apostle sought to bring persons to the obedience, not of men, but of God. But Paul would not attempt to alter the doctrine of Christ, either to gain their favour, or to avoid their fury. In so important a matter we must not fear the frowns of men, nor seek their favour, by using words of men’s wisdom. Concerning the manner wherein he received the gospel, he had it by revelation from Heaven. He was not led to Christianity, as many are, merely by education. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
The false teachers in Galatia probably presented their message as the true understanding of the gospel. According to Paul, these teachers have done more harm than good. All of Paul’s descriptions of them are negative (verses 7; 5:10, 12). The identity of these teachers is unknown, and their affiliation with the leaders of the church at Jerusalem remains uncertain. They probably are Judaizers. The term Judaizer refers to people who zealously promote a Jewish lifestyle according to the law and Jewish tradition. In this case, they were persuading the Galatians to practice circumcision (6:12), as well as observe food laws (2:12) and certain calendar cycles (4:10). 1:8 Paul probably writes hypothetically here; neither he nor an angel from heaven would ever proclaim a different gospel. The Greek word used here, anathema, refers to putting someone under God’s judgment. Since the gospel is the message of God’s salvation, God will punish those who distort it. Paul was being accused of easing the requirements of obedience to the law for Gentile believers (non-Jewish people who believed in Jesus). For example, while circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17), Paul did not require that Gentile believers be circumcised. This made his message more appealing to Gentiles while opening him to the charge of seeking to appease people. Paul’s accusers probably claimed that his independence from the leaders at Jerusalem made him a rogue minister. In this section, Paul challenges this assessment. He says that, despite his independence, the leaders at Jerusalem supported his call and gospel, confirming the legitimacy of his ministry. Paul began the letter with a defense of his apostleship—it came from God, not people. His argument here is similar, but this time it is not about himself, but his gospel. Faithlife Study Bible
The use of the word marvel reveals Paul’s ongoing shock at the Galatians’ defection from the gospel of God’s undeserved grace. The Galatians had unwittingly fallen for a different message, one which was not another true message of salvation at all. Those causing the trouble were guilty of seeking to pervert the gospel of Christ, not to present a better alternative. Paul moves from the hypothetical (verses 6, 7) to the actual in denouncing the Galatians’ perversion of the gospel. If even the apostles or an angel from heaven were to preach a false gospel, they would be accursed. That being the case, anyone who proclaimed a perversion of the message that the Galatians had received from Paul fully deserved eternal destruction. Paul’s concern for the purity of the gospel message is revealed by his assertion that he would condemn to destruction anyone who taught a false gospel. To please men was neither Paul’s motivation nor the source of his authority (verse 1). Paul continually sought the approval of God. He did not base his decisions on the opinions of other people. Instead he single-mindedly aimed at pleasing God (Philippians 3:14). As an apostle Paul was a leader, but he was always a bondservant of Christ. There was no human creativity flavoring the gospel Paul preached. Paul knew it only because he received it by special revelation from Jesus Christ at his conversion (Acts 26:12–18). The NKJV Study Bible
1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
Romans 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Galatians 1:15–16 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood
I spent a wee bit of time in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, pondering the lessons of Easter. And the fundamental reality that the "power" of the gospel--the presence of Jesus--is in everyone. Regardless of status, or standing, or sway.
All are welcome and equal.
All are worthy of grace and forgiveness and mercy.
I was reading this from Episcopal priest Adam Bucko, about being caught in the net of love. And it is worth passing on.
“Jesus called his disciples to be fishers of people—to be caught up in love and drawn out of the world’s illusions.
Have we been caught? Have we been pulled out of a system that thrives on violence, on stepping over others to climb higher? Or are we still trapped in it, confused and disoriented?
If we have been pulled out, then we must see clearly. We must commit to both inner and outer work. We must say no to violence, no to greed, no to power that exploits and destroys. And we must do it even when it costs us—because that is what it means to live in truth. That is what it means to allow ourselves to be caught in the net of love.
Returning to the gospel and tending to our spiritual lives are essential practices in times of crisis and unknowing:
It may not be in our power to determine how things will unfold, but it is in our power to decide how we respond. Jesus was clear: Love always. Bless those who persecute you. Forgive even the unforgivable. Turn the other cheek, not in surrender but in defiance of violence. Do not repay evil with evil, but overcome evil with good. This may not change the world, but sometimes it is important to do things simply because they are the right things to do. In the end, all we have is our integrity. So let us stand in it, grounded in the One who renews us each moment and calls us to a nonviolent witness of love—one that is big enough to hold both our friends and our oppressors, knowing that love endures beyond violence.” Sabbath Moments
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