The gospel is the truth. We should be careful not to be swayed by those that wish to distort the truth for their own gain.
“4Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—5to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” – Galatians 2:4-5 (ESV)
There are false Christians in our midst each and every day. As a believer and attendee of the Baptist religion, I distinctly remember the “guidance” that we did not drink, dance, or listen to loud music as it was against the religion to do so. As I grew older and became more aware of scripture, I realized that this was simply a legalized view of the gospel and in fact, scripture did not prohibit those items, only that I should be careful not to cause another to stumble through my actions.
Now I am not saying that those teaching me those things that were “against” the religion were false Christians. What I am saying is that I have to be on the lookout for those that make such claims to build themselves up or bring others down. In the example of scripture here, circumcision was not “required” as a condition of Christianity. It was a legalistic view of submission to the law. If one chose circumcision, it was a choice and not something that was preached or “required” to be or become a believer.
I have to remember to ground myself in scripture and in doing so, I will avoid the pitfalls of the legalistic views. I will stay true to the gospel and thereby will have he strength to overcome the false Christians that seek to build themselves up and/or bring me down.
How much do you rely on the truth of the gospel? Are you being influenced by those that may be intentionally or unintentionally distorting the truth? Are you seeking to understand and live the truth?
Trevor's Thoughts 