But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!
As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!
For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people?
If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:8-10)
The church in Galatia was facing a problem. Certain Jews among them were telling them that unless they followed the laws of Moses and were circumcised, they were not really saved.
But that was totally contradictory to the gospel that Paul had taught them, that they were saved by God’s grace alone.
And so Paul says, “Anyone who preaches a different ‘gospel’ is cursed by God. Our gospel comes from Jesus Christ himself. So if we change what he says, we may be pleasing the people around us, but we’re not pleasing Christ.”
I don’t think any of us would say to someone, “You need to be circumcised to be saved.” But there are other ways people are tempted to change the gospel.
Many want to say that all “good people” will go to heaven, regardless of whether they have put their faith in Christ or not. Others are avoiding talking about the need to turn from our sins.
Some are even calling what God calls sin, “good,” and calling what is good, “evil.” (Isaiah 5:20; Romans 1:24-32)
People around us might be happy to hear us sharing that kind of gospel. But we are not pleasing Christ.
I’ll be honest. It’s not always easy to be faithful in sharing Christ’s gospel message. Some people we love may not be pleased with us when we do.
But with love for God and for them, let us be faithful in preaching the gospel that Jesus gave us, the gospel through which Jesus saved us.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 