Galations 1:6-10
…opening question…
1. In high school, how loyal were your friends to you? How loyal were you to them?
2. In major purchases (like vehicles), do you typically switch manufacturers or stay with the same one?
3. When you’re upset with someone, do you usually give them a long lecture, a “piece of your mind,” or the “silent treat-ment”?
Galatians 1:6-10 – ESV
6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7. not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8. 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. 10. For 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.
Summary
Summary. Paul points out that there is only one version of the Gospel and he is astounded that the Galatians should depart from it, regardless of who the proclaimer might be. Such distorters are worthy of condemnation. For his part, he refuses to tailor his message to the whims of the audience.
1. How would you feel if a preacher began a sermon the way Paul begins the heart of this letter?
2. What kind of “gospel” was being preached by those who Paul contends had led the Galatians astray?
Paul was furious and he didn’t care who knew it. “You foolish Galatians!” he cried, “who has bewitched you?” (3:1). He felt so strongly because the issue he was addressing in this letter was not a minor matter of church policy. It struck right to the heart of the Gospel.
Apparently some legalistic Jewish-Christians (Judaizers) had been stirring up trouble. They had twisted the Gospel into something Jesus never intended, and then they had cast aspersions on Paul. “Who is that fellow, anyway? He wasn’t one of the Twelve. He is a self-appointed apostle. No wonder he left out some crucial parts of the message. Let us set you straight….” And the Galatians were taken in, so it seems. Paul wrote, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (1:6).
What were the Judaizers saying? At first glance, they seemed to be adding only a little to the message. “Believe in Christ,” they were saying (they were Christians), “but also be circum-cised” (6:12). Now to be circumcised was not such a high requirement, but Paul saw the implications. If the Galatians let themselves be circumcised, it would be but the first step back to keeping the whole Law (5:3). This is slavery (4:9). This is bondage (5:1). This is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that salvation is a free gift, by grace. If you add anything else to grace, salvation is no longer free. It then becomes a matter of doing the “other thing.”
3. How does Paul feel about the Judaizers’ message that God still requires Christians to keep the Old Testament Law, such as circumcision (see vv. 6-7)?
V 6 – I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
1:6 astonished. Typically at this place in a letter, Paul would commend the church (e.g., Rom. 1:8; Phil. 1:3). But here he skips the praise altogether and launches straight into his remonstration, expressing indignation at the news that they have been persuaded by the teaching of the Judaizers.
so quickly. Paul has scarcely returned from his first missionary journey and already the Galatians are turning away from the truth.
deserting. The word means, literally, a removal from one place to another, as for example the bones of Abraham from Egypt to Shechem (Acts 7:16). The word can also be used for those that “change sides” – example, army deserters.
called. It was God who beckoned them to salvation and from whom they are now defecting (though Paul’s opponents would not have seen it that way, preferring to think that they were calling people to the true way).
grace. This pinpoints the nature of their turning— from a gospel of unmerited favor to a gospel of works.
gospel. The proclamation of the good news that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the kingdom of God has been made manifest and is open to all who by faith trust in his atoning work on the cross.
V7 – not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
1:7 no gospel. A different gospel is really no gospel at all. It does not merit description as “good news.” To be thrown back into bondage to the Law is, indeed, “bad news.”
throwing you into confusion. Some people are
“troubling” the Galatians, “disturbing the peace” that ought to be found in the Gospel. The root word probably means seditious activity that would lead to desertion.
pervert. The nature of the perversion will be made clear in chapter 5: Male Gentile converts are being urged to be circumcised as a precondition for acceptance by God. “This word means to transfer to a different opinion, hence to change the essential character of a thing. … The idea is not merely a twisting of the Gospel, but of giving it an emphasis which is virtually transformed into something else” (Guthrie).
4. What does Paul say will happen to anyone who promotes and teaches a “gospel” other than that which Paul preached the good news of grace (vv. 8-9)?
8. 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.
V -8 What is crucial is the message, not the messenger. No matter who the messenger may be, that person and that message is to be rejected if it is different from that which brought salvation to the Galatians. It is the Gospel of Christ, not the Gospel of Paul or anyone else.
eternally condemned. The Greek word is anathema and is related to the Hebrew idea of the “ban,” i.e., that which is set apart to God, usually for destruction. It stands as the direct opposite to God’s grace, and is used by Paul as a solemn calling down of judgment on these Judaizers.
5. How concerned is Paul about the effect of his strong words on these churches in Galatia, which he had previously founded (v. 10)?
10. For 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.
V – 10 now … still. There is an implied criticism of Paul here. Apparently he was being charged with vacillation-saying one thing here, another there; acting this way now, but in a different fashion else-where. “Who can trust that sort of person?” the Judaizers would have been saying. But as Paul points out, his anathema in verse 9 is certainly not the language of a man-pleaser!
win the approval. Literally, “persuade.” In fact, Paul understood his mission to be one of persuasion (see 2 Cor. 5:11), and to urge individuals to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). But while it was his rent. God was God and his will reigned. Only religious charlatans claimed to a superstitious audience that they could change God’s mind.
please men. Men-pleasing (i.e., shifting his message and methods to gain their approval) was abhorrent to Paul (1 Thess. 2:4-6). So what Paul is saying is “that he persuades men, not God, and pleases God, not men; indeed, he pleases God by persuading men” (Bruce).
6. Who has been an “apostle Paul” in your life— someone who has made a significant contribution to your spiritual beginning or growth?
7. Did your “apostle” ever need to straighten you out? What were the circumstances? How did you respond?
8. Have you ever “deserted” God-“the one who called you by the grace of Christ”? What happened?
9. How faithful to Christ and his Gospel are you now?
The Problem of Righteousness
For many first-century people THE ISSUE in life was how to get on the right side of the gods. The gods were understood to be powerful. They could bring great wealth, happiness, or success—or they could destroy you in the twinkling of an eye. And their power extended to the afterlife.
Gentiles sought the favor of the gods via a confusing host of religious systems, including the so-called “mystery religions” with their secret and bloody rites. Jews sought the favor of Jehovah via a complex system of behaviors and rituals. But neither Jew nor Greek had much confidence that they had succeeded in befriending God. The Jews, for example, would only know on the Judgment Day itself whether they had really kept more laws than they broke. It was in terror that they would approach the judgment seat of God.
This is why Paul is so excited about the Gospel. All the anxiety is now gone. The good news is out that a person does not have to do anything to win God’s favor-neither behavioral nor ritual. Right standing before God is a gift. One merely has to accept it; i.e., to believe that via the death and resurrection of Jesus this gift is offered and to trust that when God says we have right standing that indeed we do. The Christian, therefore, approaches the judgment seat with confidence and love because the verdict has already been rendered. He/She has been pardoned. This news is still as astonishing today as it was in the first century.
Audience:
Paul tells us he is writing “to the churches in Galatia” (1:2). But where are these churches located? This is a problem, because in 25 B.C. the Romans created a new imperial province that they named Galatia. This new province was made up of the original kingdom of Galatia plus a new region to the south, forged out of territory originally belonging to six other regions. So when a first-century writer speaks of Galatia, it is not always clear whether he is referring to the original territory in the north, or the new province extending southward. In these notes, though scholarly opinion is divided at this point, the view is taken that Paul was writing to the churches he planted in South Galatia (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe) during his first missionary journey described in Acts
13-14.
Date:
The date of Paul’s epistle depends on whether he was writing to churches in North or South Galatia. If Paul had been writing to congregations in North Galatia, the letter could not have been written before his third missionary expedition (after the journey mentioned in Acts 16:6 and 18:23, around A.D. 55). On the other hand, if Paul were writing to the churches in the southern region, as we are assuming, the epistle to the Galatians is his earliest letter (written in A.D. 48 or 49), possibly while he was in Syrian Antioch just prior to the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:6-21).