S3 || Paul's Passionate Warning || Galatians 1:6-9 || Session 3 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

Are you ready to uncover the raw emotions behind Paul's letter to the Galatians and understand his fierce rebuke of the early church? We kick off our discussion by examining Galatians 1:6-10, where Paul doesn't hold back his astonishment at the Galatians' swift abandonment of the true gospel. By comparing their desertion to a military term for a deserter, Paul underscores the severity of their betrayal and the urgent need to stay grounded in the true teachings of Christ. Paul's warnings against accepting any gospel different from the apostles' original message are as pertinent today as they were back then. We highlight Paul's categorical declaration that anyone preaching a different gospel should be accursed, emphasizing the importance of knowing and adhering to the true gospel. As we conclude, we underscore the ongoing relevance of Paul's passionate plea for sound doctrine and invite you to join us next time for a continued exploration of Galatians, packed with insights to fortify your faith journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:46

Welcome to a detailed study of the book of Galatians. If you have your Bible, turn to Galatians, chapter 1. We're going to start in verse six. Last time we finished the introduction. Paul, from the very beginning, starts into exactly, very clearly, what he's trying to say. We'll be able to pick up on his high level of emotion. He pulls out all his heavy weapons to use in this next paragraph. Let's go ahead and dive right in, but you're going to need all your safety equipment because he's going to be very rough on the Galatians in this next chapter. So, steve, if you could start in Galatians, chapter 1, verse 6, and read down through verse 10.

Speaker 2 1:25

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you, by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is really not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed, as we have said before. So I say again now if a man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of man or of God, or am I striving to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Speaker 1 2:10

We have God speaking through the Apostle Paul to the churches at Galatia that had accepted a false gospel. It's very harsh. We're going to go through this in some detail. Nowhere else in the New Testament, steve, do I know of any other language where one of the apostles comes out with this strong of a statement saying that they are shocked that the church has delved into, even left, the gospel. Nowhere else do I know of he says I'm amazed that you're deserting. Any thoughts on that, steve. What's your impression when we get into this first one? He says I am amazed that you're here.

Speaker 2 2:51

when we get into this first one, he says I am amazed that you're here. Just that. That. How it strikes Paul, and really how it should strike us. If we have somebody that expresses their belief in Jesus Christ and lives a Christian life, is a pastor or a teacher, and then one of the things that are common today is known as deconstructing, they walk away from their faith. I think that we should be that way too. We should be amazed.

Speaker 2 3:20

That word amazed means to be like astonished or marveled. It's something that he is trying to convey to them. It's unbelievable that you are deserting Christ, that you're deserting the gospel. The one who called you, paul, is getting across to them at the beginning of this how he has been affected by them deserting the gospel. Through that we can get a picture of what the gospel means to him and how he thinks it affects mankind and what can come about through that gospel message Salvation, eternal life. It just amazes him that somebody can now be deserting that. That word deserting means to be transported from one place to another. They have completely gone. We get the sense here of believing what this gospel message was that Paul had taught them whenever he created these churches.

Speaker 1 4:20

What he's saying is he's amazed that they did it so quickly. They didn't just gradually, over a long period of time, steer away from the truth, they did it quickly. And he says how could you have walked away so quickly from the truth? The term there that our translation says deserting, or some of the translations say turning away, it's a military term, or at least it's used in a military sense, for a deserter. If you're in wartime you have soldiers, some of them get afraid and they want to run from the battle. They will desert. They're called deserters. They run away from the army or run away from the battle. In most wartimes if someone is caught as a deserter, they're executed Simply because you left your friends. You left your fellow soldiers out there battling the enemy and you ran away. You helped cause the death of your friends. That's the term he's using. A deserter has left what they are supposed to be. Again, look at it in verse 6. I'm amazed that you're so quickly deserting him. Who are they deserting? They're deserting Christ. He says you are walking away from Christ. Again.

Speaker 1 5:39

This word deserting a couple of other places. That's used in the New Testament, acts 2.20,. It's used for turning the sun into darkness. It's a radical change. It's not just a slight difference. It's not okay. The sun's going down. No, it's turning the sun into darkness or over. In James 4.9, that same word is used for turning laughter into grief. You're leaving for something totally opposite. You're deserting Jesus for something that's very non-Jesus. This isn't just another Christian denomination that you're walking off to, or another slightly different variation of Christian teaching. You are leaving Christ. He says that when the first sentence of the body of the letter he says you're a deserter of Christ. It's really tough to kind of get across the strength and the severity of what he's trying to say. Imagine people have been bought by the blood of Christ, walking away and leaving Christ, deserting him for a cheap fake. That's what he's saying. He's already being very rough with the Galatian churches.

Speaker 2 6:52

What comes to my mind, glenn, whenever he's talking about leaving them so quickly, is what he writes over in Ephesians. In Ephesians 4.14, he says this about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, they've left the gospel so quickly. A new doctrine has come along, a new wind is blowing in doctrine and they've gone along with that wind of doctrine. That, I think, is a flavor of what he's talking about here, that these people in Galatians have done.

Speaker 1 7:30

That's exactly the flavor. Look again at the verse. I'm amazed that you were so quickly deserting him. That's leaving Jesus, who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel. He's saying that deserting is leaving Christ, who called you by the grace. You're deserting the grace of Christ. How severe can that be? Is people that are leaving, abandoning the grace of Christ? Again, the examples I gave before sun to darkness, laughter to grief. You're leaving the grace of the Lord Jesus for something that's the opposite of that. You're leaving it for something very, very different than salvation by grace, through faith. You have something that's a totally different kind of thing. And he keeps emphasizing that with the next couple of phrases. He uses Again look at the end of verse six For a different gospel, which is really not another. A different gospel, which is really not another. So different gospel, which is really not another. So, Steve, what do we know from those phrases?

Speaker 2 8:37

Gospel, the good news? What is the good news? The good news is that Jesus Christ has come, died, buried, resurrected, so that we might have reconciliation with God. That's the gospel here. He's talking about that they're falling for a different gospel, another gospel. Well, there is no other gospel. That's really what he's saying here. There is only one gospel that they should believe in.

False Teachings in the Church

Speaker 1 9:03

He's saying, these people are abandoning the grace of Christ for a different gospel. Let's turn that into a question for us today. Steve, Is it possible for people in the church I'm asking this theologically somebody that has professed Christ, that has gone through whatever a church would require, to be a member that professes to be a disciple of Christ? Is it possible for a person like that to start out in Christianity and start out well, but then leave it for something completely different? Is that possible today?

Speaker 2 9:43

I put it this way, Glenn If they have true saving faith to begin with, I do not think they would ever walk away from the faith. Now there are people that sometimes that say that they walk away from the faith. People are different. They have different things that happen in their lives. They might step away from the faith for a period of time and then come back to it. But I think scripture is clear you have saving faith and you are forgiven by God, then you can't be plucked out of his hand. You won't get to that point that you'll turn your back on Jesus Christ, the one who gave you that salvation. I think it's a question sometimes has to do with whether or not that person really truly believed. Some people get upset with that, but I think if a person who has truly been saved, they're a believer, I believe that they know that they have been saved. I think that type of a person doesn't really turn their back on Jesus Christ or the one that has saved them.

Speaker 1 10:50

I would agree. The way I would put it is that I think that in Christianity, there are people that would believe like I do, which says once you're truly regenerated, then you're a child of God, adopted by the king and you can't lose your salvation. There's other respectful, good-hearted Christians that would say, yeah, it's possible to be so lost at that point that you would lose your salvation Another topic for another day. We dealt with some of that when we dealt with Colossians. What we do see, though and I think that's what this verse deals with, and I think all people would agree that if you hang around churches long enough, what you're going to see is people that, on one day, profess the name of Christ and on another day, they follow some false teaching and leave and fall away, and I think that happens.

Speaker 1 11:39

That's what he's dealing with here. Is that the teachings you're following? A teaching that is a very different kind of thing. If you keep going down this path, people are going to be drawn away from Christ. That's what he's saying here, whether or not theologically again, different topic for a different day. Whether we can lose our salvation, I don't think we can, but I think it's common, or at least fairly common to see people in a church that in one year are professing Christ and another year they walk away into very non-Christian things. That's what he's worried about, and in our day the church has hemorrhaged people because of false doctrines.

Speaker 2 12:21

Let me add to what you're saying there, glenn. First of all, what is this gospel that Paul is talking about? If we look over in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, the very first few verses, there he says I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you. And then in verses three and four, he says that I delivered to you of first importance, that I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. So that is the gospel. That's the gospel message that he's talking about here.

Speaker 2 13:01

They're abandoning these very basic ideas of Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection, ideas of Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Paul is just saying I'm amazed that so quickly you're going away from that. The point that I want to get to is that it's human nature that there has to be something else added to it. That's exactly what these false teachers were doing. They were adding something to this gospel message that Paul has been preaching to all of these churches that he's founding all throughout the Asia and Greece areas. This is the gospel and they're wanting to add something to it. Paul is talking about something that is very simple, but I think human nature says it can't be that simple, but it really can be.

Speaker 1 13:49

The end of verse six says for a different gospel which is not another, and there's two different Greek words used there. The word translated different means of a totally other type, a totally other category, a completely different type of thing. The word translated another means one more of the same kind, one more in the same category. Some of the other translations might be helpful. The New English translation says quote, not that there really is another gospel. Or the NIV says, which is really no gospel at all. Or the NIV says, which is really no gospel at all. So what God is saying here through the Apostle Paul, is that the Galatians had adopted a belief system that was not one more additional Christian denomination. You're not another of the same kind. You didn't adopt one more type of Christianity. What you've adopted is a totally different type of thing. It's a totally different religion. It's a completely other category of thing. It's not even Christian at all. It's not a gospel. When he says it's a different gospel, which is not another, what he's saying is that it's a completely, totally, entirely different kind of a thing than a gospel. It's not another one of the same kind. To take it in our day, he's saying you're not just going down the street to another Christian denomination, you're leaving the faith entirely. That's what he's saying is whatever you've adopted and he'll get into it in detail, which is what you had mentioned a while ago, steve adding to the gospel that salvation by faith is insufficient. That's what they're saying. That is adding to salvation by faith is a different gospel. It's a completely other kind of a thing and that's really no gospel at all. So says the NIV. He's using strong language here. Imagine coming into a church and walking up to the podium on a Sunday morning and saying your leaders are teaching non-Christian doctrine and you have left the faith with this teaching. This is a completely different type of thing. That is not a Christian teaching at all. That's what he's saying here. He's very strong. The Galatians had come to believe was non-Christian. It was a different thing than the true Christian gospel.

Speaker 1 16:18

At the end of verse 7, paul uses even more strong language, saying that the Galatians have distorted the gospel. Here the word distort means to change something into the opposite. He's using several terms here. He says it's not one more Christian teaching. It's not a different shade of Christianity. It's a different type of thing that has distorted itself into something that's very, very different than Christian and Steve. He's saying this right out of the chute, right at the top of the body of the letter. He's hitting with as strong of a language as he can use and it's just going to get worse in the following sentences. Why is he hitting it so hard?

Speaker 2 17:04

so quick Because there, in verse 7, he also uses the word disturbing, which means to stir up trouble. These are people that he names there as some who are coming in. They're wanting to stir up trouble or they are stirring up trouble by giving you this distorted, twisted gospel. That is actually not the gospel that we began with. It's something else that you've just been talking about. So this is serious. Paul is serious on what it is that they had adopted. We're going to see exactly some of the things that they are, and I think that it has bearing on our time today, and I encourage our audience to continue listening because it's going to have an application to the lives that we live today.

Speaker 1 17:58

One more time. Look at verse 7, what Steve just talked about. Only, there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. He says they want to distort the gospel of Christ. So don't misunderstand what Paul's saying. He's being very direct here. He's saying these people that have come in with the specific intention of wanting to change the gospel into something else, this was no accident. These weren't people that, oh, I'm just in my Bible study here and came to this conclusion. No, these people come in with the specific intention of teaching a false gospel, of teaching a very different category of thing. It's not even really Christian. They've distorted the Word of God. They've distorted essential Christian teachings into something very different.

Speaker 1 18:51

The language here is severe. To him to use the word accursed is at the end of verse 8 and the end of verse 9. The word there is anathema. The church has taken this in over the centuries to be something that is the strongest condemnation that can be used in Christianity. He repeats it twice. He says basically the same thing in two verses in a row. He says anybody comes in and teaches this type of thing that's different from the gospel that you already received from us. Let them be anathema, let them be accursed. This is damned to hell is the strongest language he had available to him. He is pulling no punches. He is hitting them with as strong of a condemnation as anything he could do. I find this interesting Again. Look at 8. He says even if we or an angel from heaven, who's the we there? When he says even if we come in with a different teaching, well, who's the?

Speaker 2 20:13

we, the we are the apostles. He started out this letter saying I am an apostle. I think that he's including we being the apostles. If they come in with something that is different than what they've been teaching, then they are to be accursed as well.

Speaker 1 20:31

Exactly. He includes himself in this. He says even if we, the apostles, come up with some other teaching that's different from the one we already gave you, the one that God gave you through us Even us, let us be accursed. Think of this, steve. He's saying that even if a head of the church, a head of the church, were to come in and teach something different, they are to be anathema. He's laying very strong language here. There's no way to get it any stronger. He repeats it. The first version of it, in verse eight, says an angel from heaven. So, steve, we live in a day.

Warning Against False Teachings in Church

Speaker 1 21:11

Over the centuries, there have been different groups that have claimed that, oh, an angel appeared to us, or some heavenly being. Or I've met people in different parts of the world. That says their ancestors came and told them things. There have been people that have had apparitions of Mary. There have been people that have claimed to have talked to Jesus himself. There have been people that have claimed that different heavenly beings came, angels, and gave them messages. What does Paul say in Galatians 1.8 about messages?

Speaker 2 21:44

from heaven. He says that if it's different than the gospel that the apostles have preached and we gave an example of what the gospel message is the good news of Jesus Christ if it's different from that, they are to be accursed. They are anathema. That's very strong language and it's very plain to me. It's a black and white. Paul's talking black and white. He's not talking about gray areas here, he's talking about black or white of what the gospel message is. If there's somebody that teaches contrary to it, that they are to be accursed. Now the word angel behind that, the word is messenger. An angel is a messenger. So he's saying here if some messenger from heaven comes and teaches another gospel, then they are to be accursed. Now there are some that have claimed that a messenger from heaven, an angel from heaven, have come and taught that Jesus Christ is not God, that Jesus Christ is the brother of Lucifer, as just one example. And Paul is very clear that's a different gospel and that those people that teach that and came up with that are accursed, are anathema.

Speaker 1 23:02

So if, not to mention any names, but if somebody like Joseph Smith were to stand up and say an angel appeared to me, maybe named Moroni, and gave me a gospel message, at the beginning of the Book of Mormon says another gospel of Jesus Christ. If somebody stands up and says I got this message from this angel and there have been others too he wasn't the only one, but it's happened by what do we measure their message?

Speaker 2 23:30

according to Galatians 1a, we measure their message based upon the gospel message that the apostles taught. That's what it's measured against, is it?

Speaker 1 23:41

possible that even a leader of the church? Because the next verse, verse 9, says any man it repeats it any man, even if it is a leader of the church? The leader of the church is it possible that a leader of the church could be wrong about the gospel? How do we tell and what do we do if they are? Well, this is what it's saying. Any man stands up and says this. He says, including us, even the apostles or the apostolic secession were to say a different gospel than what has been preached. And he's going to hammer it home throughout this book that even the leader of the church. Let them be accursed.

Speaker 1 24:22

Second, corinthians 11, 26 speaks of false brethren, which means people inside the church which are not true Christians. So it's entirely possible leaders of the church, false brethren, false leaders, could get it wrong. And what he's telling each and every Christian in the churches of Galatia is compare the teachings that you're getting to what was originally given by God through the apostles. Even if an apostle later comes along and changes it, let them be anathema, let them be accursed, let them be eternally condemned.

Speaker 2 25:00

One thing that we should get out of these verses that we've looked at so far is that we should know what the true gospel is. Paul is clear If we're believing something from somebody else that is contrary to the gospel message. Therefore, we better know what the true gospel message is. Whenever we come at a time of judgment before God and we're asked about our beliefs, it better not be based off of what somebody said or somebody else said Well, I believe what so-and-so said or I believe what this teacher said. The true gospel is in the scriptures and we need to know what that true gospel is. So I encourage our listeners find out what the true gospel is. We've already given you an example here of what Paul in 1 Corinthians that he said the true gospel is. Find out what it is, cling to it and don't deviate from it. Don't be deceived, don't be blown from the winds of these doctrines of other teachers that come in and with their schemes and their trickery and their distortion in order to change the gospel, make it into another gospel.

Speaker 1 26:20

If there's any question about what the true gospel is, Paul's going to make sure you know it before you get out of this book. So stay with us. As I warned in the beginning parts of teaching this, the audience is probably going to get tired of hearing Paul repeat himself in this book, because if you really go verse by verse through this book, he says it over and over so that we won't miss it. Even teachers wouldn't miss it, Steve, with this he says even if we were an angel from heaven, is it possible that an angel could get it wrong? Is it possible that a messenger from heaven could give a false teaching?

Continuing in Galatians

Speaker 2 26:59

Absolutely. We have fallen angels that have gone to follow Satan in a rebellion against God because, out of pride, they don't want it. So, absolutely, those angels can come and they're going to distort the gospel. They're going to try and lead people away from God. They're not going to lead people towards God. So, yes, we should be careful of any of these spiritual messengers that might come. We've got to bounce it across the scripture that we have here before us.

Speaker 1 27:34

Probably a good time to stop here, not because we're finished, because there really is more to teach in this paragraph, but our time's getting away. But come back next time because there's many more things that Paul has to tell us about what's important, about being careful with these false teachers. Steve, next time we'll talk about why is he speaking so strongly and how we can go about making sure that we have the correct teaching.

Speaker 2 28:01

We've been studying this for several weeks now and this is an important epistle. It's very important, I think, to our faith. We've kind of adopted the passion that Paul has put into it. So I encourage you to continue with this Galatians study, as always. We thank you so much for watching and listening and we hope that God will bless you on your journey.