Galatians 1:6-10, & 11-24

Galatians 1:6-24

Unlike the other letters from Paul, he moves directly to the reason he wrote the letter. In all of the others he offers a greeting and then a commendation or prayer.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling 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 what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him! 10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Instead of focusing on the false teaching, Paul makes the primary issue the faithlessness of the Galatians.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Oh how we are so prone to blame others for our mistakes… As Adam and Eve did in the Garden when they sinned. But, Paul makes it immediately clear that the issue lies with the Galatian church, and their acceptance of false teaching. Paul writes this to say that you should know better! Christians should know better!

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

Following wrong teaching is the same thing as turning away from Christ

You cannot separate what you believe Jesus says and wants from your commitment to Him. If you commit yourself to teaching that isn’t from Him, then you take steps away from Jesus and toward the belief and worship of something else.

There is only one gospel, so if what you believe and follow with your life isn’t true to the Word and to Jesus, then you are not following a gospel, you are following a non-gospel.

False teaching and ideas are never harmless… no philosophy, ideology, etc is harmless. And the ones that attach themselves to Christianity and slightly distort it are the ones that do the most damage.

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

You guard your life by knowing the Gospel

You cant know something is false unless you know what is true. I have heard many time over that the way to best know if something is counterfeit, is to know the original. There will always be new or multiple versions of the counterfeit. This is why we need to dedicate ourselves to knowing the real thing.

But, we don’t know the truth as much as we often want to know what we shouldn’t know.

One of the failures of the American church, and in particular the Southern Baptist Church is that we haven’t learned what the Bible actually says. We have learned all kinds of applications and practical thoughts (or practices, systems, etc) that are based on the Bible… but we don’t really know what it says. We know a lot about what other people have said about the Bible. This is the main thrust behind our Rooted Journals. There are so many devotional books and guides out there that tell you what to think about the Word, but God wants us to hear from Him. And, to do that we need to read His Word. (we can benefit from tools, resources, teachers, etc… but they should be aiming us to interact with the actual words of God.)

One reason is… for a long time we rejected the idea of using modern English translations that we could understand in favor of a 400 year old English version that someone told us was more “right” than all the others. When in fact, it was modern in 1610… close to 1600 years after Jesus was died, resurrected, and ascended. It’s as if we haven’t realized the Bible has been faithfully translated into languages since the time of it’s writing.

Another reason is.... we haven’t learned what the Bible actually says is we have relied on the pastor to tell us what we “need to know.” We have built our faith on what we call the “have to’s” or essentials… when in fact Paul wrote these deep and profound letters to people who are new to Christ. But, being new to Christ didn’t mean that you were shallow..

In fact, coming to Christ in the Scriptures is the invitation to jump head first into the deep end of the pool… I think being shallow in understanding, and shallow in our teaching, disappoints God and goes against the whole idea of knowing Him. We don’t know him in some abstract feeling oriented way… we know Him like Paul says, through His revelation- through Christ and His Word.

Satan tempted Adam and Eve by asking them to question what God actually said. This is how he has always worked, and it is how he will continue to work. And, he will be successful in your life when you don’t know what the Lord has said.

We must know the Gospel, and the gospel is what Paul gave to the Galatians, and it is what Christ revealed to Him.

The Gospel is what God gave to Paul through Christ

In Galatians 1:11-2:10 Paul validates that the Gospel He preached to them was the true Gospel, the divine gospel. Paul is pointing out that those who are distorting the gospel are presenting a man-based message, as opposed to the divine revelation that He is giving.His Gospel was confirmed by the other apostles.

One of the primary teachings in Galatians is that we understand everything God has said through the revelation of Jesus Christ. We don’t add anything to Jesus, Jesus is the fulfillment of all that has been said and promised.

In Acts 15 Paul sought out the apostles in Jerusalem to make sure that he was preaching the true gospel, and to make sure it was rightly applied to all people- including the Gentiles.

The other apostles also condemned adding to the gospel like those in Galatia. (But we see later that even Peter struggled with the peer pressure to add to the gospel)

But, adding to the gospel and taking away from the gospel are often the result of trying to please men and not the Lord. But, you cannot guard your life in Christ and live to please others.

10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

You cannot guard your life in Christ and live to please other people

This isn’t permission to be a jerkNot living for others isn’t the same thing as not caring for people, nor is it the same thing as not caring about your reputation. I fear that many people have this wrong. (focused on themselves and embrace selfishness or pride in the name of “not caring” what others think. Putting God before all others is necessary for salvation, and it is a continuation of the commitment made upon faith.

Galatians 1:11-24

11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.

18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas,, and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

21 Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. 23 They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.