Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 163 “A Different Gospel” Galatians 1:6-10.

Our primary text for May 31 was Galatians 1:6-10. Our first reading was Romans 1:8-15. We read the thanksgiving section from Romans (1:8-15) to illustrate the contrast with Galatians.

Here in Galatians Paul did not thank God for the Galatians as he would later do for the Romans and other Christians in other letters. Here in Galatians Paul instead immediately identified the problem: “there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ”.

Paul was astonished. The Galatians were in the process of deserting God (1:6). There were heretics in Galatia who wanted to distort the gospel of Christ (1:7). Paul pronounced a double curse on each of these heretics: “let him be accursed” (1:8-9). Then Paul transitioned to his historical argument against this heresy: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?” (1:10).

We call the problem in Galatia the Galatian Heresy. We use the word heresy to categorize very serious false doctrines which if genuinely believed would prevent one from being saved. That is what deeply concerned Paul. If the Galatians taught and preached this false doctrine their own disciples could never come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And by their false teaching they would be calling their own salvation into question.

There have been heresies that distorted Creation, the Fall, the Trinity, Chalcedonian Christology, Salvation, etc. Here in Galatia the heretics distorted the Gospel. We will find more details about the particular distortion they were trying to introduce as we work on through the letter. For now we could infer the distortion by quoting Paul:

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:16, ESV

In Galatians 2:16 we see the great spiritual danger that drove Paul to write this letter: no one can be justified by works. We must diligently guard our understanding of the gospel; otherwise it will be distorted from Good News to Very Bad News.

Sermon Outline

"A Different Gospel" Galatians 1:6-10

  1. Deserting God (1:6)
  2. There Is Not Another Gospel (1:7)
  3. Let Him Be Accursed (1:8-9)
  4. Seeking the Approval of God (1:10)

Scripture References: Romans 1:8-15; Galatians 1:6-10;

1. Deserting God (1:6)

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Galatians 1:6, ESV

In verse 6 Paul wrote “I am astonished”. This is the point in most of Paul’s letters where he would thank God for the behavior or faith of the recipients. The letter to the Romans gives a good example of thanksgiving of this sort:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”

Romans 1:8, ESV

Here in Galatians Paul was instead very surprised and very disappointed because, as he wrote, they were so quickly deserting him who called them in the grace of Christ. The referent of the word him in verse 6 is most likely God the Father. The Galatians were in the process of rapidly deserting God the Father. Paul seems to be indicating that this process of desertion had started shortly after he left their churches. The verb deserting suggests that the Galatians were in the process of becoming traitors. God the Father had called them by the grace of Christ into salvation. This turning away from God would have been a serious, harmful sin. Abandoning the grace of God is always wrong and destructive.

The Galatians were turning to a different gospel. That is how they were deserting God, by turning to a different gospel. Accepting a false gospel after having been given the true gospel is desertion, rebelling against God. In the next clause (at the beginning of verse 7) Paul qualifies this characterization by asserting that “there isn’t any such thing as another gospel”. The words “deserting” and “turning”(supplied) are present tense verbs. So the Galatians were in the process of rejecting the only true gospel but they hadn’t done so as of yet.

2. There Is Not Another Gospel (1:7)

7not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:7, ESV

In verse 7 we will consider questions:

  1. Did Paul contradict himself by writing “a different gospel” and then writing “not that there is another one”?
  2. Who were the opponents?
  3. What had the opponents wanted to do?

Paul did not contradict himself by writing that the Galatians “are turning to a different gospel–not that there is another one,” The problem that Paul highlighted by these phrases is that any distortion of the gospel changes it from being the gospel to being something else. You cannot and should not change the gospel and still call it the gospel. This redefinition of key words is a common characteristic of heresies. Heretics use the same words that we use but give the words different meanings.

Paul refers to the opponents for the first time with the phrase “but there are some who trouble you”. By implication the word “some” refers to false teachers who were disturbing the Galatians. We use the term false teacher to indicate a teacher who teaches false information about Christian beliefs and practices. Paul tells us two things about these false teachers:

  1. The false teachers “trouble the Galatians”, that is, they disturb them and cause them to lose their spiritual balance.
  2. The false teachers “want to distort the gospel of Christ”, that is, they wanted to pervert the gospel.

Paul may have used the word “want” to imply that you cannot alter the gospel and then still have the gospel.

Paul has not yet said what the distortion is but he will do so later in the letter. Essentially the false teachers want to add works of the law to faith as the means of salvation. Instead of being saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone these false teachers wanted to be saved by faith and works. Here in verses 6-7 Paul has stated the basic problem in the Galatian churches. The trouble-makers have started trying to convince the Galatian believers to abandon their allegiance to God by adopting another gospel that is not a gospel. The word gospel means good news. But going from salvation through faith to salvation by works is not good news. It is instead very bad news.

3. Let Him Be Accursed (1:8-9)

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:8-9, ESV

Paul was very concerned about the Galatian heresy. He asserted twice that the false teachers would be punished eternally in Hell for their sins. We must keep in mind that every single person who does not believe in the Lord Jesus will also be punished eternally in Hell for their sins. We have to remind ourselves what we mean by this word believe. True, personal, saving faith consists of three aspects and only three aspects: Knowledge, Assent, and Trust (KAT). Nonetheless, verses 8-9 are very harsh.

Let’s look at verse 8 in detail and then see how verse 9 differs from verse 8.

The verb “should preach” in verse 8 (“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you …”) uses the subjunctive mood. It is highly unlikely that Paul or any “angel from heaven” would preach anything contrary to the true gospel. So Paul uses the subjunctive mood but he does include himself under this first statement of the curse.

Paul indicates the standard by which to judge whether the gospel has been corrupted by the phrase “a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you”. Paul was not setting himself up as the originator of the standard. Paul received the gospel directly from Christ and he conveyed it to others by preaching, teaching, and conversation. The standard was not Paul. The standard was the divinely imparted, revealed Word of God from the Living Word.

The verb translated “let him be” in the clause “let him be accursed” uses the imperative mood. Paul was here ordering the trouble-makers to be condemned. The noun translated “accursed” as used here by Paul indicates eternal punishment for sin in Hell. But the false teachers condemned themselves just by believing what they taught. By dragging others with them they made their sins even worse. We must note that this condemnation is really the worst thing that we could wish for anyone.

When Paul wrote “As we have said before, so now I say again:” he was probably referring to verse 8. But he certainly could have warned the Galatians in person. If he is referring to verse 8 he could be putting further emphasis on verse 9: “I just said this and it’s so important that I am saying it again!”.

In verse 9 Paul switches from subjunctive mood (“should preach”) to indicative mood (“is preaching”). Paul also changes the subject of the verb from “we or an angel from heaven” to “anyone”. Now instead of talking about unlikely problems he intensifies to the actual problems going on in Galatia right at that time. Otherwise it is the same assertion (same standard, same curse).

Why does Paul repeats himself (with intensification of mood)? Paul repeats himself to emphasize how serious this distortion of the gospel is.

4. Seeking the Approval of God (1:10)

10For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10, ESV

Now in verse 10 Paul transitions from stating the problem to making his arguments. Paul asks two rhetorical questions about himself. He begins to answer these two questions in verse 10. Why Paul is asking these questions? How he is answering them?

Paul uses the words “For” and “now” at the beginning of verse 10 to refer to what he had said in verses 8-9. He had just said about the harshest words he could say. The word “For” indicates that Paul is reasoning about something. So we should look at the rest of the sentence.

Paul wrote “For am I now seeking the approval of man, …”. It is as if he had written “So do I now sound like someone who tries to please people?”. The word “now” indicates a change (I used to please man, but not any longer). Note that last sentence of verse 10 starts with a conditional assertion that is no longer true: “If I were still trying to please man,”. It seems that the trouble-makers (heretics) had accused Paul of being a people-pleaser after his conversion. Paul is implicitly acknowledging that he had been a people-pleaser but his harsh words in verses 8-9 demonstrate that he no longer was one.

The rhetorical question provides two choices. Paul either seeks the approval of man or the approval of God. We can expand “or of God?” by reapplying the fuller wording of first clause. The first question can be answered in one way or the other way. Paul strongly asserts that he now seeks the approval of God. Paul does not mean that he is trying to earn God’s favor. He means that he strives to obey God rather than man.

The second question, “Or am I trying to please man?” is very similar the the first question. “Am I still trying to obtain the approval of people?”. “Am I still trying to please people?”. Then Paul asserts that he “would not be a servant of Christ.” if he were a people-pleaser. Paul is not still trying to please people. He had been back when he persecuted the church but not now. Now Paul is serving Christ who is God.

Since distorting the gospel is so damaging we must be careful with the gospel. We often describe 1 Corinthians 15:1ff as the core of Paul’s gospel. The first element that Paul mentions is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. We will find as we work our way through this letter that the trouble-makers (Judaizers) added works to faith alone. That addition corrupted the instrument of salvation (faith) and it distorted the atonement. If we add to faith it is no longer Christ alone who made atonement for our sins. We must be very careful about the law/gospel distinction here. Christ died for all of our sins. Christ completely atoned for all of our sins. Otherwise we would somehow have to save ourselves. But we could never do that. Let us rest in God our Savior.