“I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel” Gal1:6
The Greek word ‘thaumazo’ translated ‘marvel’ in this verse
is translated I am amazed (TLB), I am astonished (NIV), I am surprised at you
(TEV) and denotes an absolute astonishment at what they had done. In today’s
speech we would say it was unbelievable.
The Message says this;
“I can’t believe your
fickleness – how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the
grace of Christ by embracing a variant message!”
The Last Days Bible says this;
“But I’m utterly
shocked and amazed at you people! How is
it that you’ve so quickly deserted our God, who called you to Himself by means
of the undeserved love and mercy He so graciously offers you thru Christ? Instead, you are now accepting a different
“great news”!”
Paul was very surprised because these Galatians were not
just deserting some doctrine of theology that he had taught them but rather,
they were deserting GOD HIMSELF. Whenever we remove ourselves from the grace
that is revealed in Christ, we are deserting God Himself.
The idea of removing themselves had to do with a literal
desertion or defection. It was treason! This was a serious charge! This word (metatithēmi)
was used of those who betrayed their allegiance to a community, becoming
deserters, defectors, or turncoats. We see God describing Israel in the same
way when they deserted Him and replaced Him with a golden calf;
“They have turned
aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a
molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said,
These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt.” Ex32:8
These Galatians wouldn’t have been happy to hear Paul describing their
actions in similar manner.
And yet their actions were the result of personal choice.
Though they may have been duped and deceived they were to be held personally
responsible for their choices
The gospel is not some doctrine or theological ideology or
school of thought that we can agree to or choose to reject as we wish. It is a
personal message of a loving God who sends His Son as Lord and Savior to
personally reconcile mankind to Himself. Through a personal calling and drawing
of His Holy Spirit to the hearts of men we are enabled to accept and receive
this close intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith so that He
His Spirit personally indwells our spirit.
Grace is the personal and divine action of God in the person
of Jesus Christ. It is the activity and working of the risen Lord Jesus through
the Holy Spirit functioning to be all and to do all in the Christian.
Grace is in direct opposition to any performance of law by
which we may seek to please God, or to appease God or to lay a hold of God and
obtain something desired.
The Old Covenant law was a document without life, a purpose
with no provision, a regulation with no resource, and letters with no life.
In deserting grace, the Galatians were going backwards from
the greater to the lesser, from the superior to the inferior, from relationship
to religion, from freedom to bondage, from sons to slaves, from wives to maids.
So we see that the problem was not that the Galatians were
abandoning one theological ideology for another, rather, they were deserting
their close intimate personal relationship with God who had ‘called’ each one
of them into this love relationship. They were not removed from some message,
they were removed from a person, God Himself who called them. This is what
surprised Paul very much. How could they do such a foolish thing? To trade a
relationship with God for a set of rules and regulations.
Paul uses the words ‘grace’ and ‘gospel’ interchangeably in
this verse. The grace of God is the gospel as we are told in Acts20:24 “But none of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God.”
This is an important point to understand. There are many
people who believe that grace is just a part of the gospel or that it is a
topic that we study and then move on to something else. This is not the case.
Grace is the gospel. These Galatians had abandoned the true gospel of grace for
‘another gospel’
There are two different Greek words used in verses 6 and 7
for the word ‘another.’ In verse 6 the word heteros (another of a different
kind) is used. The ESV translates this phrase as "turning to a different
gospel." In verse 7 the Greek word ‘allos’ (another of the same kind, a
twin, an exact copy) is used. In other words, the Galatians didn’t turn from
the grace of God unto a similar (allos) gospel. Instead they turned to another
(heteros) message of an entirely different kind. A perverse twisted distorted
gospel which "is really no gospel at
all" (NIV).
In Romans 11:6 we are told that we are either saved by grace
or by works, but not by a combination of the two. Therefore any addition of
works to grace means that it is no longer grace. “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works;
otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”
So, any gospel that combines works of the law with grace for
justification is no longer the same gospel. There is no room for additions or
corrections to the gospel of grace which he preached. It is perfect as
presented. ANY change perverts it.
“Which is not another;
but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Gal1:7
These false teachers may have been claiming that their
gospel was not really different from that preached and taught by Paul, but that
there were a few things or keys or principles which Paul had missed. They were
thus just explaining these additional ‘truths’ of the gospel which could take
Christians to a higher level of spirituality.
There was no way Paul was going to accept this baloney. The gospel
of grace in Jesus Christ is complete and leaves no space for additions or
improvements and will never serve as an addition to anything else. It stands
alone as nothing more and nothing less than Jesus Christ. There is no other
gospel!
One illustrious bible teacher says the following of the
gospel “The gospel is Christ! Christ is the gospel! It is not the gospel about
or concerning Christ, nor simply the gospel introduced and preached by Christ,
but it is the gospel of which Christ is the ontological essence.”
Any attempt to change
or alter or add on to the gospel of Jesus Christ Himself, will inevitably transform
the message into something other than gospel. When we distort the gospel we destroy it. When
we attempt to modify the gospel to fit our context or our religions we mutilate
the gospel.
When we attempt to revise the gospel so as to fit our 21st
century we are saying that we reject it as it is. When we attempt to improve
the gospel we invalidate it. The gospel is what it is because of Who Jesus is.
Any attempt to change or adjust it is an attempt to change or adjust Christ
Himself.
The perversion of the gospel that Paul is referring to here
is not just a mere distortion or slight modification of doctrines or
theological concepts about Christ. The Greek word used (metastrepho) denotes
turning something into its opposite and was used to describe the sun turning
into darkness in Acts2:20 “The sun shall
be turned into darkness”
Or laughter turning into mourning and joy into heaviness in
James4:9 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness”
When we attempt to change, modify or improve the gospel we
end up turning it into something other than the life of Jesus Christ. The
essential nature of our message is turned 180 degrees from gospel to religion,
from grace to law, from faith to works, from God to Satan, from life to death.
This is why Paul is absolutely shocked and stunned at these people.
These people didn’t completely deny the gospel, they just mixed it with
their works. They added to it. We are told that the way they perverted the gospel was by;
(1) Believing that righteousness could be obtained by the
strength and ability of their own flesh (Gal. 3:3).
(2) Observing special days (sabbaths), months, seasons and
years (Gal. 4:10);
(3) Demanding circumcision along with belief in Jesus for
salvation (Gal. 5:2)
(4) Thinking that part of their righteousness came through
observing the law (Gal. 5:4)
Today, most of us don't observe these same rituals that the
Galatians did, so we miss the comparison between what the Galatians were doing
and what most, of us are doing. Now we believe that we have to believe in Jesus
AND then also pray, fast, go to church, read the Bible, tithe, wear long
dresses, keep short hair, witness to the lost etc. so as to please God and be
righteous. That is as much a perversion of the gospel as what the Galatians
were doing. This is what the false teachers told the Galatians. That believing
in Jesus wasn’t enough. That they had to add on other works before God would
accept and bless them.
The problem is not the works themselves. Remember we said
earlier that dead works and good works are the same actions. Observance of
these things is encouraged but not required in order to obtain righteousness
and acceptance with God. God will accept and justify you even if you do not do
them.
Matthew5:16 tells us that our good works glorify our father
who is in heaven and our light is able to shine bright as we do works of
righteousness. “Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.”
We should do those things. However, when these things become
mandatory and we preach or believe that we must do them for God to accept us
and give us righteousness (justification), we pervert the gospel.
“But 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.” Gal1:8
The purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be maintained
regardless of the messenger. It doesn’t matter who is preaching, how big their
ministry is, how long they have been in the ministry, or how anointed they are.
The mistake we make in our society today is to esteem men higher than the
message. We assume that because of people’s experience, qualifications, gifts,
successes, how big their ministries are etc. they cannot be wrong. We should
know better. Respect no man more than you respect the gospel. Esteem no man
more than you esteem the gospel. If anybody changes, adds to, subtracts from or
modifies the gospel, they are wrong. Regardless of who they are.
Any addition to the gospel of Jesus Christ implies the
insufficiency of Christ (and yet He is all-sufficient), and is therefore at
loggerheads and antithetical to the gospel.
Paul is not even concerned about himself here, all he cares
about is the unshakable certainty, the unchangeable and immutable truth of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
The great reformer and father of the protestant movement, Martin
Luther wrote, “That which does not teach Christ is not apostolic, even if Peter and
Paul be the teachers. On the other hand, that which does teach Christ is
apostolic, even if Judas, Annas, Pilate or Herod should propound it.”
This is what Paul is saying. That nobody, including himself
and all of his co-laborers in ministry are qualified to alter the gospel of
Christ. Not even the great Michael or Gabriel or any other angels of heaven can
change the gospel without the most severe consequence.
Think about this for a moment. If a great angel of God
appeared to you in much glory and splendor in a vision or dream or whatever and
told you that there was something missing from you. That having faith in Jesus
wasn’t enough for your justification before God. But that you also have to pray
or fast or do something else in order for God to accept you. Most of us would
accept this without a shade of doubt and would immediately go to praying much
more or fasting or doing whatever. This is not what Paul would do. Paul would
curse that angel to his face straight away. He would rebuke him for attempting
to add works to God’s grace. This is how committed Paul was to God’s grace.
Paul may have been prompted to say this because some of
these false teachers were claiming to have been led by, or to have received new
revelations from angels thus their revisions and amplification of the gospel.
Even to this day men and women employ such claims of angelic revelations to
deceive us and to pervert the gospel. Some major religions have been formed on
this premise. To Paul it didn’t matter. You were accursed if you perverted the
gospel. You and the angel who revealed this perversion to you!!
The consequence of this is the curse (anathema) of God.
God’s condemnation to final doom and destruction. Thayer defines it as ‘a
person or thing doomed to destruction’. The TEV translates this verse “May he be condemned to hell!”
Paul is not sitting in God’s seat of judgment to condemn
others as we may be led to think, rather, his statement is based on the fact
that God’s anathema curse is the opposite of His blessing as he shall reveal
later in the third chapter. God has already provided His blessing in the
finished work of the Cross proclaimed by the gospel of grace (Eph1:3). The only
alternative then for those who have refused to accept the finished work of the
Cross through the gospel of grace is to experience and live under the curse of
God for thinking that they can in their own strength and commitment and
obedience finish off God’s work and be blessed thereby.
What a damning indictment on so much of our Christian
religion today that rejects the finished work of the Cross and promotes ethical
duties and religious observances in addition to the grace of God in Christ. Women
are told to wear long dresses, not to wear trousers, not to wear make-up, to
keep their hair natural. Men are told to keep their hair short and shave their
beard. We are told to pray and read our bible every day, to fast regularly, win
a soul every so often and so on and so forth. We are told this will make us
righteous and holy as God is. That it will make us acceptable before God and He
will bless us. Today we call it living holy. Some who want to sound spiritual
and deep call it returning to holiness or to our first love or sanctification
and consecration. And yet it is an
abandonment and desertion of the grace of God and a return to our own works.
These works are dead works. They are what we need to repent from.
It is also interesting to note that of all people, the one
who issues this damnation of religion is none other than Paul himself
previously known as Saul. Formerly a self-righteous Pharisee who went about
glorying in his shame and inadequacy in times past. In Philippians 3 he refers
to his qualifications and works as rubbish and dung.
Phillipians3
4 Though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he
might trust in the flesh, I more:
5 Circumcised the
eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the
Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6 Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.
7 But what things were
gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
What is very interesting is that in verse 8 he uses a very
vulgar and offensive word to refer to his accomplishments and works in the
flesh. It is the strongest word Paul ever uses in all his writings.
“Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung…”
This word dung (skubalon) only used in this verse in the
whole bible was translated in various translations as refuse, dung ,filth or
more politely as rubbish or garbage to mean that his dead works were valueless,
unpleasant and disgusting. However none of these translations accurately
translates this term to its modern English equivalent. The word means excrement
either of an animal or human, feces or stool. The Aramaic Bible in Plain
English (ABPE) translates it as dung heap
and The Message says dog dung, the CEB
says sewer trash (sewage), The VOICE
Bible says pile of waste.
The reason
this is important is because there are alternative Greek words that Paul could
have used. Instead he chose a word that was considered dirty, an expletive, profane,
or vulgar to describe his religious works. A perfect English equivalent to this
is the word ‘shit’ or ‘crap’. This would have been absolutely shocking for the
readers of his letter. And it would have achieved his goal or communicating to
them just how offensive and disgusting our dead works are to God.
Paul above all knew the bankruptcy and uselessness of religion,
and would under no circumstances allow its encroachment upon the true gospel of
grace.
Paul's curse in verses 8-9 comprises the strongest
statements he makes in scripture against those who opposed his gospel. Some
points of doctrine were negotiable, i.e. non-essential for salvation, but the
grace of God could not be compromised.
“As we said before,
so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye
have received, let him be accursed.” Gal1:9
Paul's statement in the previous verse was so strong and so
startling to the Galatians that someone could have thought, ‘Surely, he doesn’t
mean that.’ So, to leave no doubt, he says it again; if anyone preaches A
GOSPEL TO YOU THAT IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I PREACHED TO YOU, let him be
accursed.
The Last Days Bible (TLDB) says this “So you will know that I mean what I’ve just said, I say it again: If anyone preaches any great news to you
other than the Great News I already brought you, may he be damned!”
Regardless of his scholarship, charisma, position, or any
other criteria, if “any man,” without exception, should attempt to advocate
additional requirements to the simple reception of the gospel of grace he is
accursed.
Today, it is not ‘politically correct’ to be absolute about
anything. Instead, words like "I believe; it's possible; probably; most
likely," etc. are used. The gospel is absolute. Paul wasn’t suggesting
that his message is probably the most accurate, he was saying that his message
is the only correct, accurate gospel. Any other is perverted and worthy of
condemnation and damnation.
We need to be as sure that we are preaching the true gospel
as Paul was. Then once we have no doubts, we need to be as bold in defending
the gospel as Paul was.
Now he reminds the Galatians of their own experience when
they ‘received’ the gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ. They did not just
assent to some new belief-system, or to a set of theological ideologies and
doctrines. They did not just agree to participate in a different religious
tradition with a new set of rules and regulations. They had by faith ‘received’
Christ Jesus Himself and His very Spirit took residence in them.
Having received and experienced the reality of the living
presence of God in Christ moving and dwelling in them, these Galatians should
have been able to recognize that the false teachers advocating a return to
religious rules and regulations (even though they probably claimed it was an
advancement in spirituality) were promoting an empty useless gospel devoid of
the life and power of Christ. They should have recognized immediately the lack
of grace upon this new message and rejected it.
“For do I now
persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I
should not be the servant of Christ.” Gal1:10
Apparently these false teachers had sought to discredit Paul
by casting doubts on his true intentions and motives in preaching the grace of
God the way he did. Their charge could have been that he was cheapening the
gospel into a watered-down version of ‘cheap grace’ that did not cost anything
or require anything.
Today these same religious teachers call it easy grace, greasy
grace, easy-believism, sloppy agape and so many more derogatory terms. They
could have claimed that he was presenting only one half of the gospel. That he
didn’t present the other side of the gospel. The side where you also have to
observe the commandments of the law
Religion through the centuries has attempted to discount the
grace of God as being too soft, too easy, too cheap, too free, because they
want to impose their oppressive dictates of laws and duty upon people. These
accusations are what Paul responds to here.
Having just lambasted those who distort the gospel of grace into
something other than the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and even pronouncing a
curse upon them, Paul asks whether he sounds like he is seeking the favor of
men or of God. He is making it clear that if his intention was to please people
and get their favor he wouldn’t have said the things he has just said. He would
have tried to be nice and hospitable. But he wasn’t. Instead he was rebuking
and even calling down the anathema curse of God upon them. Surely you don’t
rebuke and curse people if you want them to favor and like you.
His only concern was that the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus
Christ is clearly proclaimed and maintained. He didn’t care what they thought
of him.
Phillips Translation says this “Does that make you think now that I am seeking man’s approval or God’s? Am I trying to please men? If I were trying to win human approval I
should never be Christ’s servant”
Paul’s understanding of the gospel was nothing other than
the vitality and life of the risen Lord Jesus, “the gospel of the grace of God” Acts20:24 in Christ. There is no
different gospel. There is no other gospel. Christianity is Christ. The life
and activity of Jesus Christ is all of the gospel, or there is nothing that
deserves the name “gospel.” Everything that God has for man is in the “finished
work” of Jesus Christ, or there is no hope.
Those that attempt to add to or subtract from the gospel
have already misunderstood the essence and nature of the gospel, and turned it
into something that can be supplemented or adjusted. They have already detached
the gospel from the dynamic (working) grace of God in the finished work of
Jesus Christ.
Any attempt to alter, adapt or assimilate the gospel does
not create a valid but different gospel, rather it totally denies the gospel.
When you change the gospel, you are not just diminishing it a bit, you are
totally destroying it. When you distort the gospel, you completely dissolve it.
It ceases to exist as gospel. It becomes something else. Some perverse,
unclear, undefined message that leads to legalism and death. Only the true
gospel of grace contains God’s life. The Message Bible says this in verse 7
“It is not a minor
variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a
lie about God. Those who are provoking
this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head.”
All of this is being said to make the point that the gospel
Paul had brought to the Galatians was directly from God, not man. He elaborates
on this point all the way into the second chapter. The reasoning is that if God
truly gave Paul this message, then there could be no room for change. The Lord
is always the same and His message never changes.
Likewise, there is no room for a modern gospel today that
fits the culture we live in. It's the same gospel Paul preached, which is the
power of God unto salvation. Methods can change, but the message must remain
the same.
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