"Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves
be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.”
Galatians 5:2
These strong words came from the Apostle Paul around 48 years after Christ. That’s right, merely half a century later the gospel of grace was already under attack. How you might ask? Let me tell you.
The church at Galatia had been influenced by a group known as the Judaizers. These professing Christians taught that one needed not only to have faith in Christ for salvation, but to follow various works of the Old Testament law. In this specific case, the law was circumcision. The church was being taught and persuaded that not only did one need to believe in Jesus to be saved, but they needed also be circumcised. Modern day Christians may not have issues with Judaizers teaching a faith plus circumcision gospel, but we certainly have a lot of faith plus teachings going around.
Notice Paul’s words to the Galatians: If they begin circumcising themselves, Christ will mean nothing to them. How much? Nothing. What is the only way that Jesus could ever mean “nothing” to someone? If His work is not held in the absolute highest esteem imaginable. For the Galatian church it was circumcision that “outshined”, and distracted people from the grace of God. What is it for us today?
Take a few moments and think on this. What is it that distracts you from Jesus? No, I am not talking about your job or daily rituals such as reading non-Christian books or watching movies. I am talking about ANYTHING in your life that shrinks the magnificent work of Christ. What exactly are you adding to the gospel?
For me, I was adding confession for forgiveness of sins. Some of you may be thinking “Wait? Really? What kind of teacher are you?!?! We are SUPPOSED to confess our sins for forgiveness. Come on! Everyone knows 1 John 1:9!” But the reality is that if we do not believe that we are a hundred percent forgiven solely on the basis of faith in Jesus redeeming work, then we are adding to the gospel. As Andrew Farley puts it, we are “cheating on Jesus.”[1] We on one hand accept His sacrifice as totally sufficient for our sins, while one the other hand, adding “right” behavior to take care of the stuff that He neglected to take care of on the Cross.
1 John 1:9 is one of the main points of cheating on Jesus that exist today. If there was ever something that we like to add to faith, it is confession. The reality is that if this verse does talk about Christians, then we literally lose our salvation every time we sin. That’s right. Check out the language.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Catch that? Forgive us our sins, and cleanse from what? ALL unrighteousness. I’m sorry to disappoint, but this is salvation talk folks. The only people who are by definition not forgiven and cleansed are those who reject Christ, since Christians by definition are forgiven and righteous people (Romans 3:22). This makes sense when we understand that John was separating light from darkness, those who were of Christ and those who weren’t. Those who were not of God, Gnostic teachers, needed to confess (acknowledge) their sins (of which there were many) before God in order to be forgiven and cleansed. After all, we all known that step 1 to becoming a Christian is recognition of what? Sin! John was not asking Christians to ask for forgiveness. That would be like Bill Gates asking someone for a dollar. He doesn’t need it! And neither do believers in Jesus. We have everything we need in Christ.
You now know how I made Christ “of no value” to my life. What is your poison of choice? Good works? Spiritual achievements? Competition? Circumcision?
It’s time to check exactly how well we are respecting Jesus’ work. Maybe we aren’t doing as good a job as we think.
[1] Farley, Andrew. "Cheating on Jesus." The naked Gospel: the truth you may never hear in church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009. 131. Print.
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