Each person’s belief in the Gospel is influenced and shaped by their exposure to it, by the extent to which their mind has been renewed and unfortunately also by the earthly traditions they still hold on to.
Mar 7:13 making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have delivered. (KJV)
Paul the apostle, who wrote most of the New Testament, preached a gospel that was revealed to him directly from God.
Gal 1:11 And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. 12 For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it except by a revelation of Jesus Christ. (KJV)
This Gospel is known as the Gospel of Grace.
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (KJV, emphasis added)
Gal 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel. (KJV, emphasis added)
Phil 1:7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. (KJV, emphasis added)
Acts 14:3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (KJV, emphasis added)
Acts 20:32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (KJV, emphasis added)
There is a flood of Grace hitting our planet at the moment, with millions and millions of people waking up to the truth that we are not justified by observing the law or living up to some moral standard, but simply by believing in Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. (KJV)
Just like Paul the apostle prophesied in Galatians 4 however, those who believe in this Gospel of Grace will be persecuted by those who want to be justified by their own works.
Gal 4:29 But then even as he born according to flesh (Ishmael the son born out of the flesh, which represents the works of the law) persecuted him born according to the Spirit (Isaac the son born out of the promise, which represents Grace), so it is also now. (KJV, annotations added)
And here is the true test of the Gospel of Grace: If the gospel you are preaching does not put you in danger of being misunderstood by the legalists (people who claim that your level of righteousness depends on your level of law-obedience), in that they might think you are saying that people can just go out and sin as much as they want, then you are not preaching Grace to the extent that Paul was preaching it. Because true Grace lifts the law off believers so completely that according to the legalists, it sets us free in more ways than it SHOULD.
Legalists believe that the moment you lift the law off a believer, that he or she will simply run out and begin to live in full blown depravity and fall into all kinds of wickedness. But they forget that we have a born again spirit on the inside of us that DOES NOT WANT TO live like that!
Paul had to defend the gospel of Grace in the same way. We can see from the “question and answer manner” in which much of the book of Romans was written, that he was countering many of the questions that the religious crowd of the day was throwing at him. They were probably accusing him of preaching that the believers, because they weren’t under the law anymore, could go out and sin as much as they want! Here was Paul’s reply:
Rom 3:8 Why not say, then, “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Some people, indeed, have insulted me by accusing me of saying this very thing! They will be condemned, as they should be (GNB).
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? 2 Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (KJV)
Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be! (KJV)
Gal 5:13 As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another (GNB).
Therefore if Paul, the champion apostle of the New Testament (that was preaching the true Gospel of Grace) had to defend the Gospel against these accusations and was persecuted by the legalists for preaching this Gospel, then we should be considering that perhaps something is wrong if our Gospel is NOT making the legalists of our day rise up against us!