Bewitched by a False Gospel
"Bewitched" sounds like fiction—witches, spells, fantasy. It may even remind some of the old television show. But the Apostle Paul used this very word to describe a real and present danger facing the Galatian church.
After receiving word that many in the churches of Galatia were abandoning the Gospel, the Apostle Paul wrote to them: "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" (Galatians 3:1). One translation renders it, "O you dear idiots of Galatia… who has been casting a spell over you?" (J.B. Phillips). His shock and sorrow are unmistakable. These believers had heard the Gospel through his preaching and responded with joy and faith. They believed that Jesus alone saves—not their works, not their effort, not their rule-following. Yet now they were in danger of forsaking the truth for a counterfeit gospel: Jesus + rule-keeping.
The Apostle Paul did the most loving thing he could—he rebuked them. His words were strong because his love was strong. He warned that it was as if they had fallen under a spell, deceived by a false message that nullified grace. He could not comprehend how they would trade the freedom of Christ for the chains of self-effort. Their drift from grace was not a minor error—it was spiritual bewitchment, a distortion of the Gospel itself.
For many of us, the danger is no different. We too can become bewitched. Though we know the truth, we often live as if grace is not enough. We wander. We drift toward idols that promise meaning, security, or control. We need the Lord Jesus Christ. Not our good works and Jesus. Not our parents' faith and Jesus. Not our comfort and Jesus. Not our money and Jesus. We need Jesus—and nothing more. As Charles Spurgeon once said, "Christ is not valued at all unless he is valued above all."
The truth is, we needed the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of our conversion, and we need Him every day thereafter. The Gospel is not merely the doorway into the Christian life—it is the very air we breathe. The same grace that saved us sustains us. The same Savior who redeemed us continues to intercede for us. We never move beyond our need for Him.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us, "The Christian life does not consist in looking at ourselves, but in looking at the Lord Jesus Christ."
The message of the Gospel is simple yet profound: God saved us because of His overwhelming love for us. His work alone saves. Our hearts need guarding not only from the world but also from ourselves. It's all too easy to slip into the trap of adding something to what Christ has already finished. As Sinclair Ferguson reminds us, "Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God." In a moment, we can become bewitched by empty legalism or lulled into a heartless, mechanical faith that forgets the wonder of grace.
Our defense against becoming bewitched is simple but powerful: the cross of Christ. When we remember Jesus' work on the cross, it shatters every illusion that we have earned or deserved salvation. The cross silences pride and kills self-righteousness. It proclaims that our salvation is entirely God's doing—born of His passionate pursuit and His overwhelming love for us.
So stand firm in that truth. Let the cross keep you anchored when your heart begins to wander. Where you fix your gaze determines where your heart will go. Thomas Goodwin once wrote, "Set your heart on Christ, and He will fill it. The more your heart is taken up with Christ, the less room will there be for sin."
Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ has already done what you never could. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
