Galatians 1:6 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle begins the main part of his letter with a general rebuke of these churches for wavering in the faith. He later develops this warning more fully, but here he first shows how deeply troubled he was by their turning away. He says, “I marvel,” which shows both surprise and grief.

Their sin was that they had not kept firm hold of the Christian teaching as it had been preached to them. Instead, they allowed themselves to be led away from its purity and simple truth. This was made worse by several things. First, they were turning away from the one who had called them, not only from Paul, the messenger who had brought them into the fellowship of the gospel, but from God himself, who had commanded and directed the gospel to be preached to them. In this way, they were badly abusing his kindness and mercy.

Second, they had been called into the grace of Christ, that is, into God’s free favor shown through Christ. The gospel they had heard was the clearest display of God’s grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. Through it, they had been invited to receive great blessings, such as justification, being counted right with God, reconciliation with God now, and eternal life and joy later. Jesus Christ purchased these blessings for us at the cost of his precious blood, and he freely gives them to all who sincerely receive him. So the greater their privilege, the greater their guilt in giving it up and turning from the only way to receive these blessings.

Third, they were turning away so quickly. In a very short time they lost their love for the grace of Christ, even though they had seemed to value it. They were too ready to listen to those who taught justification by the works of the law, that is, being made right with God by law-keeping. Many of these teachers had been raised with Pharisaic ideas, the beliefs of the Pharisees, and they mixed those ideas with Christ’s teaching and corrupted it. Their weakness made their fault worse.

Fourth, they were turning to another gospel, though in truth it was not another at all. Paul calls the teaching of these Jewish-Christian troublemakers “another gospel” because it offered a different way of salvation, by works and not by faith in Christ. Yet he adds that it is really no gospel at all. It is only a twisting of the gospel of Christ and a tearing down of its foundation. Anyone who tries to point people to any other way to heaven than the one Christ has revealed is badly distorting the gospel and will end up terribly mistaken.

Paul wants the Galatians to feel the seriousness of leaving the gospel way of justification. At the same time, he speaks with some gentleness. He treats them as people who were led astray by others, rather than as people who fully chose this on their own. That does not excuse them, but it does soften the blame somewhat. In this, he teaches us that when we correct others, we must be faithful but also gentle, seeking to restore them with meekness (Galatians 6:1).

Paul is also fully sure that the gospel he preached is the only true gospel. He is so certain of this that he pronounces a curse, called an anathema, on anyone who preaches a different gospel (Galatians 1:8). Then, so no one could think he was speaking in haste or from angry zeal, he repeats the warning (Galatians 1:9). This does not justify our condemning people who differ from us on minor matters. Paul is speaking only against those who invent a new gospel, overturn the foundation of God’s covenant of grace, and replace Christ’s righteousness with law-keeping, mixing Judaism with Christianity.

He even sets the matter up as a case: “If we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach another gospel, let that person be cursed.” He does not mean an angel from heaven could really bring a lie. He says it this way to make his warning stronger. If anyone, even under Paul’s name or claiming angelic authority, brings a different gospel, the Galatians must know they are being deceived. Whoever preaches another gospel brings a curse on himself, and may also bring others under it.