Some things you buy and then sell again when a better offer comes along. Truth is not one of them. Long before the New Testament was written, a wise man put it plainly: “Buy the truth, and sell it not” (). Truth is worth any price to gain, and once it belongs to you it is no longer for trade. That single line turns out to be one of the sharpest tests a believer ever faces, because the pressure to sell the truth almost never announces itself as a sale.
When the Pressure Comes From the Inside
The churches in Galatia had already bought the truth. The gospel had been preached to them, they had obeyed it, and they had built their lives on it. Yet the apostle Paul wrote to them astonished: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (). The word he chose for “removed” was the word used of a soldier deserting his post or a citizen changing sides. What is striking is why it happened. It was not that persecution had frightened them back into their old lives. They were quietly trading the message away to make things easier and to avoid the trouble that came with it. Selling the truth is usually far less dramatic than walking away from God. More often it looks like a series of small adjustments made to keep the peace.
Adding to the Gospel Is Still Leaving It
What makes this so sobering is that the Galatians had not denied the basic facts of the faith. If you had asked them, they would still have confessed that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (). The trouble was that teachers among them were adding a requirement God had never made, insisting that Gentile believers also keep the law of Moses (). Paul’s verdict was severe: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (). You cannot add to the gospel and still be left with the gospel. Add to it and what you hold is a different message, one that is not good news at all. That is a frightening thought, because it means a person can affirm everything that is of first importance and still turn to another gospel.
Not Ours to Rewrite
Paul refused to soften the point: “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” (). The gospel was handed down once for all, and Jude urged believers to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (). Our task is not to renegotiate the message but to guard it. That is harder than it sounds, because there is always an appetite for a message that fits the moment. Paul warned that people would “heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (), and there will never be a shortage of teachers happy to say what people want to hear. John put the danger in the plainest terms when he wrote that whoever goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God ().
The Cost of Keeping It
Holding the truth without adding to it, without subtracting from it, and without compromise will cost something. It always has. But the price of that truth was already paid for us, and the only faithful response to something bought at that price is to hold on to it. There was a time when the Galatians had bought the truth, and yet they stood on the verge of selling it for a message that could not save them. That same danger belongs to every generation, including our own. The question is never whether keeping the truth will be costly. The question is whether we will keep it when it is. “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” Once it is yours, refuse every offer to trade it away, for as long as you live.