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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ
and turning to a different gospelnot that there is another gospel, but there are some who
trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be
accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel
contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. Am I now seeking the favor of men,
or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant
of Christ.
The truth that underlies this passage is that there is only one gospel. Growing up out of this
truth are three statements which are very crucial for us to hear and believe, because nothing
has happened to change them between Paul's day and ours. The first is that it is astonishing
when a person hears and believes the gospel but afterward turns away from it (1:67).
The second is that if a person rejects the gospel, he stands under God's curse, whether he is
an angel or an apostle (1:8, 9). The third statement is that the servant of the gospel seeks to
please God alone, not men.
the best books in the Bible for helping us refine and clarify what the heart of the gospel is,
which can't be replaced or altered. There is a tragic pattern in churches and in history, I think.
Renewal breaks forth on a church or on an age through a fresh encounter with the gospel and
the Spirit. Hearts are filled with the love of Christ, and mouths are filled with praise. The
concern for evangelism and justice rises.
But in all the glorious stirrings of heart there begins to be an impatience with doctrinal
refinements. Clear doctrine requires thought, and thought is seen to be the enemy of feeling,
so it is resisted. There is the widespread sense that the Holy Spirit will guard the church from
all error, and so rigorous study and thought about the gospel are felt to be not only a threat to
joy but a failure of faith. The result over a generation is the emergence of a people whose
understanding of biblical teaching is so hazy and imprecise that they are sitting ducks for the
Galatian heresy. It arises right in their midst. Paul said to the elders of Ephesus inActs 20:30,
"From among your own selves will arise men speaking distorted things to draw away the
disciples after them." He says in verse 27 that he has done his part to prepare them by
"declaring the whole counsel of God." I hope to be able to say the same thing some day about
Bethlehem: "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."
So the underlying truth of the passage (Galatians 1:610) is that there is no other gospel. And
the two implications we need to hear from that are that universalism is wrong (there are not
many roads to heaven, but only one) and that rigorous attention to doctrinal clarity and
faithfulness is crucial in the long run of church life.
who don't obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus "shall suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
might." When a person rejects the gospel, the free, gracious gift of God's forgiveness and
kingship, then he remains under the divine curse for his sina terrifying prospect because of
its torment and unending length. The reason I say this curse abides on anyone who rejects the
gospel and not just on the false teachers in these verses is that Paul uses the same word in 1
Corinthians 16:22, "If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed."
Paul does not have a cotton candy concern for the gospel. He does not offer sugary smiles in
controversy and say, "To each his own." For Paul the gospel of Christ is the point at which the
awesome life of God touches the life of this foul world of sin. And when that offer of eternal
grace to utterly unworthy creatures like us is rejected or perverted to satisfy our pride,
somewhere someone must rage at the heinousness of the crime. O, how we need to meditate
on the horror of rejecting the gospel. Satan does his best with television and radio to create in
us a mind that is so trivial and banal and petty and earthly that we find ourselves incapable of
feeling what terrifying truth is in this word anathema. O, how we need to guard ourselves from
the barrage of eternity-denying entertainment. We need to cultivate a pure and childlike
imagination that hears a word like anathema the way a child hears his first peal of thunder, or
feels his first earthquake, or suffers his first storm at sea. The Bible does not reveal to us the
eternal curse of God that we may yawn and turn the page. The wrath of God is revealed to
shake unbelievers out of their stupor, and to take the swagger out of the Christian's walk and
the cocky twang out of his voice. Don't skim over verses 8 and 9 quickly. There is much
humbling and sobering and sanctifying to be had here. Ponder these things in quietness.
The most thrilling implication of verse 10 for me personally is this: The absoluteness of
Christ's lordship is gloriously liberating. It frees me from having to worry about pleasing one
person here and another person there. It brings unity and integrity to my life. When you live
to please only one person, everything you do is integrated because it relates to that one
person. Shall I go to this movie? Read this book? Make this purchase? Take this job? Go out on
this date? Marry this person? What a freeing thing it is to know that there is one person who is
to be pleased in every decision of lifeJesus. Sometimes pleasing him will please others.
Sometimes it won't, and that will hurt. But the deep joy of a single-minded life is worth it all.
In summary: The underlying truth of this passage is that there is one, and only one, gospel. It
is therefore astonishing to turn away from itaway from God who calls, and away
from grace in Christ. It is not only astonishing, it is tragic, because the person who rejects the
gospel is anathema, accursed and cut off from God. But on the other hand, if you embrace the
one true gospel, not only are all your sins forgiven by God, but a thrilling unity and integrity
and liberty come into your life because there is only one person to please, Jesus Christ, and he
only wills what is best for you.