Love Jesus, love the Gospel

It does not surprise me when I find scholars who do not believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word and also have a problem with the Apostle Paul. 

But it still surprises me to find Bible-believing Christians who view Paul negatively.  For some, this is a reaction to his argumentative persona and intellectual presentation of complex truths. 

For others, the antagonism comes from the feeling that he is misogynistic or overly self-referential.

Where there is a specific criticism based on a particular passage, it helps to study that passage in its context and take into account the rest of his writings as well. But where the criticism is more a general feeling (i.e. he is too argumentative or complex), I think what helps is to try to enter into his world and see Paul in action.

At the beginning of Galatians, we find an extended biographical section that, at first glance, may appear self-congratulatory.  However, delving into Paul’s world is a worthwhile endeavour. 

Not only will we find a brilliant and articulate fighter for the truth of the gospel – perhaps even a hero of the faith –  but we will also find a motivation we can emulate. 

Maybe most of us will never be as brilliant as Paul.  But all of us could love Jesus and the truth of the Gospel as Paul did.  And if we did, perhaps the global and eternal impact would be beyond anything we have dreamt.

Let me try to give you a taste of this. On Paul’s first missionary journey, as recorded in Acts 13-14, Paul and Barnabas arrived in the region of Galatia, preached the gospel, and saw churches established. 

They were understandably excited as they headed for home base to report what God had done.  But when they arrived, they discovered that others had followed in their footsteps and sought to correct their ministry. 

The criticism?  Paul was not a full apostle, and Paul did not preach a complete gospel message.  Perhaps Paul was portrayed as well-intentioned, and his message was seen to serve as a good starting point. 

But these later teachers were promoting themselves as representatives of the Jerusalem apostles and their Law-based message as a more complete and committed version of what God expects.

Paul was livid!  He wrote Galatians to ward off this falsehood and try to win back the hearts of the believers before they were pulled away by this destructive corruption of the good news he had preached.

Why did Paul write with an edge?  (No pun intended)  Why does he seem to be shouting?  Why is Paul so sharp with them?  (Ok, that was slightly deliberate for the context!) 

The answer is that Paul loved Jesus, the Gospel, and the believers in the Galatian churches.  Like a parent shouting sharply at a child walking towards a busy road, Paul was desperate to get their attention.

In the latter verses of Chapter 1, he laid out his apostolic credentials. This was not about showing off but about exposing the lies being told about him. He did not derive his authority from Jerusalem. He had barely been there. His authority came from God himself. 

And in the opening verses of Chapter 2, he focused on his Gospel message. It was a message that he had laid before the Jerusalem apostles. 

Even under pressure from the same false teachers, Paul’s Gentile companion Titus had not been compelled to be circumcised.  The highest council of apostles, the inner circle itself, had affirmed his calling with a hearty handshake and no doctrinal caveats.

When you ponder the world Paul inhabited, it becomes clear that he was driven not by a desire to win arguments or a passion for self-promotion like an early social media influencer. 

A deep love for Jesus drove Paul, and therefore, a passion for the gospel of God’s grace that truly transforms lives from the inside out.  It was that deep love that drove Paul to travel, to preach, to be misunderstood, to be persecuted, to suffer, and eventually, to die for the Lord that he loved. 

In Galatians 2:11-14, it was that deep love that drove Paul to take a most uncomfortable step: he publicly called the great senior apostle Peter a hypocrite in front of his home crowd.

I’m not suggesting we should be looking for opportunities to poke others in the chest. I’ve seen far too much bombastic finger-wagging on social media. 

But I’ve also seen far too little courage in person when faced with character and behaviour that compromises the Gospel. Will we be willing to take uncomfortable steps in the face of compromise, or will we be willing to take uncomfortable steps in the calling of missionary need? 

We cannot give ourselves a good talking-to and suddenly generate sacrificial motivation for ministry.  Neither can we muster up Paul’s level of theological brilliance just because we start to find him inspiring. 

But we can gaze long and hard at Jesus.  We can ponder the wonder of the gospel of God’s grace in Christ deeply.  We can ask God to give us a heart-exploding glimpse into the wonder of who

Jesus is and what Jesus has done.  Because if we see Jesus for who he is, if we get a sense of the wonder of the gospel, then perhaps we will start to share in Paul’s motivation for the truth of the gospel.

Why did Paul contend for the truth of the gospel, even in the face of opposition?  Two words from Galatians 2:5 – it was so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved “for you.” 

And by extension, from Galatia down through two millennia, it was for it to be preserved for us. May we be ever more captivated by the glorious good news of God’s great love for us so that we are motivated to preserve it for others.

Peter Mead is mentor at Cor Deo and author of several books. He blogs at Biblical Preaching.