BIG IDEA:
ANY PERVERSION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST DESERVES GOD’S STRONGEST CONDEMNATION
INTRODUCTION:
George Brunk: In our section (1:6-10) Paul wastes no time in getting straight to the point. He indicates his state of mind, clarifies what is at stake in the problem, and says what the Galatians need to do about it. The verses therefore serve to introduce the main body of the letter. The author is deeply disturbed and strongly moved by the situation in Galatia. The problem is that persons from outside the congregation are seeking to persuade the believers to revise their previous understandings of the gospel. Paul is convinced that this is no mere revision: instead, it amounts to an abandonment of the gospel! Paul’s approach in responding to the crisis is
(1) to set the issue in stark terms as incompatible options;
(2) to clarify the true nature of the gospel; and
(3) to defend his own person as a servant of Christ.
David deSilva: If Paul were to have opened with some thanksgiving or blessing or other such device at this point, he would have put himself in the position of trying to please people, speaking so as to win them over by the customary practice. Instead, he opens the body of his letter in a manner that could not be understood as guided by such considerations, but rather that demonstrated the opposite, namely, his freedom from people-pleasing and thus his ability to be constant in standing up for God and God’s interests in any given situation. The opening is thus consistent with the claim Paul will make at the end of this paragraph about his absolute integrity as one who seeks to please him who had commissioned (even conscripted!) Paul for this work.
David Platt: Main Idea: Amazed by the Galatian believers’ turn from the gospel of Christ, Paul explains why such a decision is problematic.
I. The Galatians’ Departure (1:6-7a)
A. The nature of turning from the gospel
B. What we learn about the gospel
II. The False Teachers’ Distortion (1:7b)
III. The Universal Warning (1:8-9)
IV. The Apostle’s Ambition (1:10)
Timothy George: The transition from doxology in v. 5 to rebuke in v. 6 is especially harsh, almost unparalleled in its jarring dissonance. However, Paul reserved his heaviest fire not for the Galatian defectors but rather their pernicious seducers. They were the real perverters of Christ’s gospel. Against them he hurled an uncompromising anathema. Where we would normally expect to find an apostolic blessing, we hear instead an apostolic curse.
John MacArthur: In Galatians 1:6-9 the apostle gives three features involved in his strong opposition to that grave and damning heresy [of the false teachers = Judaizers]: his wonder, his wisdom, and his warning.
Thomas Schreiner: The body of the letter commences with an expression of astonishment (“I am astonished” [θαυμάζω]) that the Galatians are departing so quickly from the gospel of grace for another gospel (1:6). Verses 7–9 explain, starting with a relative clause, why the new gospel is not a gospel at all. The intruders into the Galatian churches are not proclaiming the gospel truly but are altering the gospel. Nevertheless, Paul dogmatically insists in 1:8–9 with two conditional clauses that the gospel cannot be changed. Indeed, even if Paul or an angel were to proclaim a new gospel, they would be cursed by God. Verse 10 represents a transitional verse in the argument and functions as an inference from vv. 8–9. The pronouncement of a curse on those who proclaim a false gospel demonstrates that Paul does not please people. In 1:10c Paul explains why it is clear that he is not pleasing people, for if such were his goal, he would never have become a slave of Jesus Christ.
I. (:6-7) GOSPEL PERVERTERS ENTICE GOSPEL DESERTERS
A. Susceptibility to Fundamental Error is Shocking
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you“
“Deserter” is a nasty label; religious turncoats
Note the emphasis on the sovereignty of God in the concept of “calling“.
Bruce Barton: The verb is in the present tense, “are . . . deserting” (metatithesthe), and was used in military circles to indicate that a soldier was AWOL (absent without leave). The process of desertion, of turning away from the faith, was happening as Paul wrote. This desertion connoted apostasy. Those who turned to this different gospel would no longer be Christians. Because it was in process, Paul was warning them against apostasy. Paul hoped to stop it immediately because desertion from the faith held dire consequences. Part of Paul’s astonishment focused on how quickly the believers were deserting—that is, so soon after Paul’s last visit and/or so soon after the false teachers had begun their destructive work. Apparently, it wasn’t taking much for the Galatians to be led away from the faith and to become enthusiastic about this different gospel.
Philip Ryken: The British have a good expression for Paul’s attitude. They would say that he was “gob-smacked.” “Gob” is slang for “mouth.” To be smacked is to be slapped with an open hand. So someone who is “gob-smacked” opens his mouth, claps his hand over it, and lifts his eyebrows in amazement. Paul was gob-smacked. He was amazed and astonished. He was shocked and outraged. Thus the body of his letter seethes with righteous indignation.
Timothy George: We are reminded here of how fragile young believers are, how susceptible to the blandishments of the evil one. Nothing delights the devil more than to disrupt and destroy, insofar as he can, a true work of God. Whenever there is a genuine moving of God’s Spirit or a major advance in missionary outreach, we can be sure Satan and his minions will have a vested interest in casting doubts, sowing discord, and wreaking havoc.
Nijay Gupta: There is, perhaps, a hint in Paul’s tone here of a Jewish theme of adultery, God’s people playing the harlot in their idolatry. How could you leave joy and power and freedom behind, in pursuit of another gospel of fear and weakness and slavery?
David Platt: The Galatians were in the process of switching teams. John Stott notes that the word turning means “to transfer one’s allegiance.” It was used of soldiers in the army who would go fight for the other side, or of politicians who would transfer to the other political party (Message of Galatians, 21). Can you imagine a Cowboys fan wearing a Redskins shirt, or a Red Sox fan wearing a Yankees cap? That is serious turning. In my world, it is amazing to think that Rick Pitino, former coach of the University of Kentucky, now coaches Louisville. But at an infinitely more important level, it is an amazing thing for Paul to think that the Galatians, who had heard the truth of the gospel, were putting on a different jersey. The Galatians had come to Christ and put on the robes of righteousness and were now trying to turn back to the trash can to retrieve their old clothes of works-based religion.
B. The Defining Characteristic of the True Gospel = The Grace of Christ
“by the grace of Christ“
John MacArthur: Because of their deception, false teachers such as the Judaizers are even more dangerous than those who openly deny “that Jesus is the Christ” and thereby clearly participate in the work of the antichrist (1 John 2:22). False systems labeled as Christianity always distort the nature and work of Jesus Christ. Those who deny Christ altogether are easily seen as the unbelievers they are; but those who claim to teach and follow Christ while undermining the gospel of His grace are immeasurably more dangerous—because they give the appearance of leading people to Christ while they are actually erecting barriers to salvation by grace.
Douglas Moo: The word χάρις (charis, grace) appears only seven times in the letter (1:3, 6, 15; 2:9, 21; 5:4; 6:18) but nevertheless touches on a key issue in Paul’s argument. God has decisively manifested himself in Christ, thus sidelining the law, and his saving work in Christ is completely a matter of grace, to which humans can only respond with faith, not works of any kind. The positive assertion that the Galatians have been “called to live in the grace of Christ” matches, as Silva (2003: 17) notes, the twofold warning in the rhetorical climax of the letter: “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (5:4). “The grace of Christ” is the touchstone of Paul’s argument against the agitators.
David Platt: Turning from the gospel is like stepping onto a performance-religion treadmill. Do you like treadmills? I don’t. I do not enjoy running for three miles only to end up exhausted and in the same place 30 minutes later! Works-based religion is a system that gets you nowhere and only leaves you worn out. While works certainly matter, we should note they are the result of true faith, not the basis for it.
Van Parunak: Grace of Christ Defined in 2 Cor. 8:9.
Four components:
1) Christ’s wealth (of righteousness)
2) Our poverty (no merit)
3) He sacrifices himself
4) We profit from it.
C. There is Really Only One True Gospel
“for a different gospel; which is really not another“
really no such thing as “another gospel”
Greek word means another of a different kind
Max Anders: In fact, a works-based, human-effort driven gospel is no gospel at all. How is a demand for impossible human achievement good news? Anyone who presents a way of salvation that depends in any way on works, rather than God, has contaminated the gospel message. They confuse honest, sincere believers. They have no gospel, no good news.
Bruce Barton: The false teachers, Judaizers, taught that to be saved, Gentile believers had to follow Jewish laws and customs, especially the rite of circumcision. Faith in Christ was not enough. Note that they may have included in their teachings the need for faith in Christ for salvation, but they taught that additional requirements had to be met before true salvation could occur. Their message was “faith plus.” This infuriated Paul because the Judaizers’ message undermined the truth of the good news that salvation is a gift, not a reward for certain works.
F. F. Bruce: The message which the Galatian Christians are disposed to accept in place of that which they received from Paul is so different from Paul’s message that it constitutes ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ‘a different “gospel” ’—and therefore, in fact, no gospel at all, since there can be no ‘other gospel’ (ἄλλο εὐαγγέλιον) in the proper sense of the word ‘gospel’ than the proclamation of justification by faith, apart from works of the law.
Timothy George: Here in Galatians Paul asserted that his fickle followers had embraced a heteros gospel, one drastically different in kind from what they had received from him, for there is, in fact, no other (allos) genuine gospel to be placed alongside the real thing. Perhaps the NEB comes closest to the original: “I am astonished to find you . . . following a different gospel. Not that it is in fact another gospel.”
D. Two Serious Problems Caused by Gospel Perverters
- Disturbing the Brethren
“only there are some who are disturbing you“
Kathryn Greene-McCreight: The teaching of those who “confuse” results in spiritual and moral deformity in the Galatian churches (5:16–21; cf. 1 Tim. 6:3).
- Distorting the Gospel
“and want to distort the gospel of Christ“
George Brunk: Both of the verbs, confuse and pervert, come from the political setting, carrying overtones of agitation and subversion.
David deSilva: Paul begins to create prejudice against the rival teachers by referring to them as “agitators” or “troublemakers” in the Galatians’ midst and as people whose goal is to “pervert” the good news about Christ (see also Gal 5:7, 10). He casts them as disturbers of the peace, the equivalent of rabble who stir up trouble among an otherwise harmonious and prospering community. Paul follows the convention of not naming these rivals or opponents, referring to them only in vague—and therefore disparaging and discounting—terms (here, “some people”). Creating distance between the hearers and these rival speakers, undermining the credibility of the latter, is a major goal throughout Galatians (see esp. 4:17–18; 5:7–12; 6:12–13).
Timothy George: Paul leveled two charges against them: one, with reference to their disturbance of the Galatians; the other, relating to their subversion of the gospel. The Greek verb translated “troubling you” (tarassō) means to “shake, agitate, or to excite to the point of perplexity and fear.” Here again is an indication of how vulnerable the new Christians of Galatia were to evidently impressive presentations of the false teachers. Paul’s second charge against them was that they were perverting, or rather, wanted to pervert, the gospel of Christ. As J. Stott wisely observed:
“These two go together. To tamper with the gospel is always to trouble the church. You cannot touch the gospel and leave the church untouched, because the church is created and lives by the gospel. Indeed the church’s greatest troublemakers (now as then) are not those outside who oppose, ridicule and persecute it, but those inside who try to change the gospel.”
The Greek verb for “distort” (metastrephō) means “to reverse, to change to the opposite, to twist into something different.” In the early church Jerome observed that this word carried the literal meaning of “setting behind what is in front and putting in front what is behind.” Applied to Paul’s opponents in Galatia, we can say that the gospel they preached implied a reversal of salvation history.
What they failed to realize was the decisive character of who Jesus was and what he had accomplished in his atoning death on the cross, though their Christology may have been formally correct. To Christ’s completed work they wanted to add something of their own. But the gospel of Christ is like a chemical compound to which no mixture can be added. It stands on its own. It needs no props or helps. It only asks to be its own free, unhindered, disarming self. For only then can it be good news to lost men and women imprisoned in the tyranny of sin and self.
Craig Keener: Early Christian expressions such as “good news of peace” (Acts 10:36; Eph. 2:17; 6:15), “good news of salvation” (Eph. 1:13; cf. Rom. 1:16), and “good news of God’s kingdom” or “reign” (e.g., Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:23; 9:35; Luke 8:1; Acts 8:12) evoke Isa. 52:7, presumably the original source of this language.
II. (:8-9) GOSPEL PERVERTERS DESERVE GOD’S STRONGEST CONDEMNATION
A. (:8) Pronouncement of the Curse
- Universal in Scope
“But even though we, or an angel from heaven“
Craig Keener: Many Jewish visionaries claimed to receive revelations from angels, and claims of such experiences would not be surprising in the intensely charismatic milieu of early Jewish Christianity. Claims of connections with angels also seem to have caused problems among Christians elsewhere in Phrygia (Col. 2:18). Many scholars thus suggest that these teachers claim to have received some angelic instruction, although others demur.
Richard Longenecker: The reference to ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, “an angel from heaven,” carries a note of irony. Probably it is in response to the Judaizers’ claim either (1) to have impeccable credentials as members in good standing in the Jerusalem church, or (2) to have the authority of the Jerusalem apostles supporting them—or both (cf. Paul’s rather ironic references to the Jerusalem apostles in 2:6–10 and his opposition to Peter in 2:11–14). Paul saw the preacher’s authority as derived from the gospel, and not vice versa. So he was not prepared to allow any change in the focus or content of that gospel on the basis of someone’s credentials or by an appeal to some more imposing authority.
- Measured Against a Known Standard = the Gospel Preached by Paul
“should preach to you a gospel
contrary to that which we have preached to you“
John MacArthur: Paul was, of course, speaking hypothetically. He would never have changed his teaching, and an angel who was truly from heaven (and therefore set apart from the fallen angels identified with hell) could not teach anything contrary to God’s revealed truth. But the apostle was reaching for the most fanciful possibilities imaginable to make his point that absolutely no messenger, no matter how seemingly godly and good, should be believed or followed if his teaching does not square with God-revealed apostolic doctrine. The truth outranks anyone’s credentials, and every teacher or preacher must be evaluated on the basis of what he says, not who he is.
Many false systems are attractive because they emotionally appeal to love, brotherhood, unity, and harmony. Many false teachers are popular because they seem to be warm and pleasant and claim to have great love for God and for others. It is because distortions of the gospel by such deceptive personalities are so appealing that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).
- Unwavering in its Execution
“let him be accursed“
Bruce Barton: The Curse
Paul’s repeated use of the condemnation “let that one be accursed!” (1:8-9 NRSV) conveys the most severe penalties imaginable for distorting the truth of the gospel. In the larger biblical context, “accursed” (anathema) relates to the extreme curses that were invoked and carried out against blatant sin in the Old Testament (see Exodus 17:13-16; Numbers 21:2-3; Joshua 6:17; 7:12). The deliberate repetition by Paul indicates that the curse was no angry outburst. His intent was deadly serious. And he included himself as liable to the same judgment of God if he were to be guilty of preaching an altered gospel. The matter was of such importance that Paul was willing to endure the same measure on himself that he invoked for others (Matthew 7:1-2).
Ronald Fung: The severity of the anathema is thus the measure of the significance which Paul attaches to the principle of righteousness by faith: for if any teaching at variance with the original apostolic preaching involves the messenger in the divine wrath, then only the message of justification by faith is the divinely sanctioned message, the one gospel worthy of its name.
Timothy George: To be anathematized then means far more than to be excommunicated. It means nothing less than to suffer the eternal retribution and judgment of God. The GNT comes close to capturing the essence of Paul’s tone in this passage, “May he be condemned to hell!”
John Stott: To many it is inconceivable that we should desire false teachers to fall under the curse of God and be treated as such by the church. But if we cared more for the glory of Christ and for the good of people’s souls, we too would not be able to bear the corruption of the gospel of grace.
B. (:9) Emphasis by Repetition
“As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a
gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed“
George Brunk: It needs to be emphasized that this type of curse turns the person over to the action of God for judgment. This is not Paul’s own act of revenge (cf. Rom 12:19). At the same time the curse-threat is a form of disciplinary action. Paul is exercising his apostolic authority. Paul’s response here anticipates the implied command in 4:30 that the Galatians take action to expel the false teachers from the congregations.
Scot McKnight: Let us be careful to understand that tampering with the gospel is not Christian experimentation with new ideas. The gospel is a sacred trust that remains, like Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Society and culture change; applications change; Christian lifestyle and even specific doctrinal formulations change; but the gospel of Jesus Christ does not change. We are given every freedom to explore the vast domains of life and reality that are still unknown frontiers to us.11 We are given every freedom to explore the implications of the gospel for our world today. But we are never given any freedom to alter the original gospel of the grace of God in Christ.
David deSilva: It is of special interest in these curses that Paul does not claim himself to be the final authority: the message that he had brought to the Galatians when he evangelized them, the message that the holy God confirmed by working wonders and sharing his Spirit with those who listened with trust, is the final authority. The Galatians should hold on to what they received as people who have been well grounded in the experience of Christ’s love and God’s acceptance. If a new group of teachers or Paul himself or a shining angel from heaven comes along now to tell them differently, they should not be swayed from the course on which they began, on which God himself had set them (3:1–5).
Timothy George: Most commentators, however, believe Paul repeated the anathema in order to emphasize its severity and further impress upon the Galatians the utter folly of their flirtation with false doctrine (thus Bruce, Fung, Moo, Martyn).
III. (:10) GOSPEL PERVERTERS OPERATE AS SLICK POLITICIANS
A. Paul is No Slick Politician = a Man-Pleaser
“For am I now seeking the favor of men“
“Or am I striving to please men?
If I were still trying to please men“
Douglas Moo: Probably, then, “persuade God” is Paul’s own way of saying in other words what he says in the second part of the verse and elsewhere in his letters: in his ministry, he seeks not to curry favor with people but to find approval from God himself (see esp. 1 Thess. 2:4–6; and see, for this view, Lightfoot 1881: 79; and esp. Martyn 1997: 138–40).
Van Parunak: He sets forth the relation that he holds both to man and to God. In obedience to God, he persuades men what God says, rather than calculating a message to please men, and then persuading God that it is right. Contrast much modern theology, designing a message to please men, then twisting the Scriptures to try to get it to fit. (This verse may be better as a heading to the next section; at any event, it is strongly transitional.)
Timothy George: This verse, in which Paul’s emotions are seething just beneath the surface of the text, serves as a transitional bridge from the introductory sections (salutation and exordium), which it concludes, to the long autobiographical account that follows (1:11 – 2:14). Up to this point Paul has mentioned himself only once: his self-introduction as an apostle of Christ in 1:1. Now the spotlight falls squarely on him as he wards off the insinuations and false charges leveled by his opponents. Obviously they have attacked not only Paul’s message but also his motivation for ministry. . .
Paul set forth a vindication of his true motive for ministry: he sought to please God and not any human beings. Already in these opening verses the two key concepts in the letter have surfaced — gospel and grace. Against every inclination of disloyalty to the truth, Paul would recall for the Galatians these twin peaks of divine revelation. Paul’s concern for the grace of God and the truth of the gospel, not an obsession with peevish self-interest, led him next to recount to the Galatians the story of his conversion, calling, and early ministry.
Craig Keener: Grammatically, one could possibly answer Paul’s opening question four different ways:
- Paul seeks to please both humans and God (cf. Rom. 12:17; 2 Cor. 8:21);
- Paul seeks to persuade just humans (God not needing persuasion);
- Paul seeks to persuade God alone (human opinion being unimportant; cf. Gal. 2:6; 2 Cor. 6:8–9); or
- Paul, disdaining human rhetoric, seeks to persuade neither.
Max Anders: Paul’s critics accused him of preaching “easy believism” because he did not include the law as grounds for salvation and Christian maturity. They claimed Paul watered down the gospel, by omitting the law, to increase his popularity among the Gentiles. Through two rhetorical questions, Paul adamantly denies the charge and states clearly that his motive is to please only God. He was concerned with preserving truth not increasing his approval ratings. To please people is to desert Christ. You must choose: serve people’s fickle pleasures or serve the faithful Christ.
George Brunk: Paul’s passion for the truth and his willingness to condemn unfaithful messengers (vv. 6-9) gives him the opportunity to defend the integrity of his motivation as a servant of Christ. The sudden intrusion of this matter is evidence that Paul assumes his audience will understand why this point fits the present situation. The rhetorical character of the questions (the answer is assumed to be clear) indicates the same thing. Paul is countering a charge that someone has leveled against him. The previous curse-threats allow him to develop the counterargument at a moment of vulnerability in the reader/listener. After those strong assertions, the audience is likely wondering whether Paul is not unduly harsh with his opponents. They are not predisposed in this moment to think of Paul as a people pleaser, as his accusers apparently claim!
David deSilva: The second half of this verse expresses Paul’s clear denial of the suggestion that he is motivated by a desire to please or accommodate people, such that he either seeks their approval or, probably more to the point here, would alter the message with which he has been entrusted so as to gain a better or an easier reception among human beings. It makes the most sense to read the first half of the verse as articulating a related denial that Paul seeks to “persuade” people in the sense of “saying whatever is necessary so as to gain their support.” The verb essentially means “to persuade” or “win over by argument,” but often it carries the negative connotations of “crowd-pleasing,” “placating,” even “campaigning for favor and support.” Coupled with “people-pleasing” (1:10b), Paul gives us the picture of a speaker who will say whatever is necessary to achieve his or her ends, rather than saying only what aligns with truth—and he is not that speaker.
David Platt: If your goal in life is to be liked, then you will not be a faithful and fruitful Christian. I am not implying you should be a jerk. I am merely pointing out that followers of Jesus experience opposition. If people despised Jesus, some will despise you as His follower (see John 15:20; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Pet 4:12-19; 1 John 3:13). You need to aspire to something greater than being cool. Aspire to being faithful.
B. Paul is a True Bond-servant of Christ = a God-Pleaser
“or of God?”
“I would not be a bond-servant of Christ“
George Brunk: Of particular significance is Paul’s reference to his status as a servant of Christ. This is an early signal of how the major theme of freedom, appearing later in the letter, is to be qualified. In fundamental ways the believer is no longer a slave (4:7), yet each believer is a servant (lit. a slave) of Christ and of other believers (5:13). In other places in Galatians, Paul gives positive definition to freedom. Here he offers a negative qualification of it. Freedom is not self-centered self-determination.