Daily Bible Nugget #307, Galatians 1:8

The Nugget:

Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

My Comment:

The eleventh proof of the doctrine of the Perspicuity of Scripture is that individuals are deemed both competent and responsible to recognize false doctrine (NTSK, Topic Number 1120, page 1598).

Paul gave the Galatian churches one simple test to determine if doctrine was true or false. If it matched what he had already taught them, it was true. If teaching they heard did not match what he had already taught, it was false.

Today we have the record of what the apostles taught in the New Testament. Any teaching that does not agree with or match what is contained in the Old and New Testament is false doctrine.

This is why it is so important to know your Bible. It is important to both read and study the Bible. Churches, pastors, and Sunday school teachers need to equip those they teach with a good knowledge of Bible doctrine, and the answers to false doctrine. Knowing the answers to false doctrines taught by various groups is part of what is involved in the study of apologetics. This is part and parcel of what is involved in spiritual warfare.

If you have read very far on this site about Real Bible Study you know I frequently address false doctrine, no matter who might be teaching it. To be teaching (or learning/believing) false doctrine is a very serious matter. It can lead you right into apostasy, the aspect I have called doctrinal apostasy. Doctrinal apostasy can lead to loss of salvation as surely as moral apostasy.

The Jews in the time of Jesus were guilty of doctrinal apostasy. Jesus told the Jews, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).

To have a wrong idea of who Jesus is, something the Jews did not understand (John 8:43) or believe (John 5:43, 46), is a most serious failing. In our day, the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny who Jesus really is. They have made a mistake similar to what the Jews made, or perhaps worse. Jehovah’s Witnesses are preaching what Paul called “another gospel”(Galatians 1:6). They are preaching “another Jesus,” whom they equate with the archangel Michael. To believe such error, to follow such error, is to come under the double curse Paul gave in Galatians 1:8, 9. Those who believe and teach such mistaken views of Christ do not possess the kind of saving faith that brings eternal life.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses I have spoken to claim to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but they deny that Jesus is God the Son. They argue that Jesus is never in the Bible called “God the Son.” That is true. The precise words “God the Son” are not to be found in the Bible. But the teaching that Jesus is God the Son most certainly is. Is Jesus ever called God’s son? Yes–God Himself spoke the very words from heaven (Matthew 3:17). Is Jesus ever called God? Yes. Thomas called Jesus God and was neither corrected nor rebuked for doing so, but commended (John 20:28, 29). So in the New Testament, Jesus is clearly called God and is also identified by God Himself as God’s Son. Therefore, by necessary inference, Jesus must be God the Son as well as the Son of God.

If Jesus is the Son of God in a higher sense than any other person or being, Jesus logically must possess the nature of God His Father–that is, a Divine Nature. Paul says a number of things which bear this out, where in Philippians 2:6, where Paul speaks of Jesus being in the form of God, and Philippians 2:7, where Paul speaks of Jesus being made in the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Thus, Jesus had two natures in one Person, a human nature and a divine nature, in whom, Paul writes, dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9).

When we know the Gospel as it was taught by the original Apostles and Christ Himself–all preserved in the New Testament record for us to study and learn–we can spot a false gospel, another gospel, as soon as it rears its satanic head. This proves the Perspicuity of Scripture, for by it ordinary believers are expected and required to know the difference between true and false doctrine by comparing it to the original doctrine contained in Scripture, the eleventh Biblical proof of the doctrine of the Perspicuity of Scripture.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1347 for Galatians 1:8.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1367 or in Logos 5 Bible software for Galatians 1:8.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Galatians 1:8. though we. or, even if we. FS102C, +Mt 5:29. FS185B, +Ga 6:1. ver. Ga 1:9. Is 9:15. Je 16:20. *Je 23:16. 1 Cor 16:22. *2 Cor 11:13, 14. 1 Tim 1:19, 20. Titus 3:10. **Re 22:18, 19. an angel. *1 K 13:18n. +*Ro 8:38. **2 Cor 11:14, 15. preach any other. T#1120. Individual Christian believers are here deemed competent to judge the doctrinal correctness of the preaching of an inspired apostle or even an angel from heaven, a very clear assertion of the Bible doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture (Ps 119:104, 105. Pr 8:9. +Mt 12:3). This doctrine holds that, in all essential matters pertaining to faith and practice (Ps 19:7. 119:9, 11), the Bible is clearly understandable upon careful study to even the humblest believer (Ps 119:99, 100), without the interposition of an institutional or ecclesiastical authority to interpret the Scriptures for him (1 J 2:20, 27). Closely allied to this is the doctrine of the right and necessity of private judgment (Ac 17:11. 1 Cor 14:29. **1 Th 5:21n), which holds that the individual is responsible directly to God for his beliefs (Ro 14:12), and that God will hold him responsible only to believe what is taught in Scripture (Is 8:20), apart from the teachings of humanly devised creeds and institutions, or unwritten traditions however hoary with age. The doctrines of perspicuity and private judgment having been clearly established as scriptural (see the following reference passages and their notes), the conclusion to be drawn is that the ultimate authority in spiritual or doctrinal matters is the written word of God found in the Bible, not the teachings of any man or group of men. Thus there can be no “one true church,” for any church is only “true” insofar as its teachings rest squarely upon and are in accordance with the teachings of the inerrant and infallible verbally inspired word of God in the Bible. +Ps 102:18 (T#49). **Ps 119:105, 130. +*Pr 8:9. +**Is 8:20n. +*Je 23:28n. +*Da 11:33n. Mt 7:15. +*Mt 15:14. Mk 7:7-9. +Lk 12:57 (T#420). +**Jn 5:39n. 16:13n. Ac 8:31n. 15:15. +**Ac 17:11. **Ro 14:12. +*Ro 15:4. 1 Cor 10:15. 14:29. 2 Cor 3:14. +*Ep 4:14. +*Col 1:23. 2:18. **1 Th 5:21. +**2 Tim 3:15-17. **2 P 1:19, 20n. *1 J 2:20, 27. **1 J 4:1, 2. +*2 J 1:10. gospel. 1 Th 1:5. 1 P 5:12. than that. or, contrary to that. *Dt 4:2. *Dt 12:32. *Dt 13:8. Jsh 1:7. +*Pr 30:6. 2 Cor 11:4. **Re 22:18, 19. have preached. FS147A, +Ge 50:24. 1 K 13:20n, 21. let him. Ga 3:10, 13. 5:12n. Ge 9:25. +*Le 15:8. +*Dt 27:15-26. Jsh 9:23. 1 S 26:19. *Ne 13:25. Pr 28:10. +**Je 10:25. +*Mt 15:14. 25:41. 2 P 2:14. accursed. Gr. anathema (S#331g, Ac 23:14). Ga 3:10, 13. Jsh 7:1, 12. Mk 14:71. Ac 23:14. +Ro 9:3. +*1 Cor 12:3n. *1 Cor 16:22g.

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One Response to Daily Bible Nugget #307, Galatians 1:8

  1. ken sagely says:

    gal 1.8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
    than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

    cross refs.
    gal 1.4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
    evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
    gal 1.5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. amen

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