In the last post, we have looked at some general facts about the letter, and we also analyzed what Paul writes from verses 1 to 5. As we have seen, this letter has a tone of urgency and wonder. Paul seeks to confront the false teaching that has come to his brothers in Christ. We will discuss this matter in more detail.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed! Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Let's see two issues in this portion:
1) Paul's reaction to what was happening in the Galatian churches.
a) He writes: I am astonished , a word that denotes amazement and sadness. Writes James Dunn, referring to the word 'marvel': 'it is probably an expression of the genuine sense of shock that the news from Galatia had brought him. It was not God's grace and its effect that surprised him, but the perversity of the human response to that grace. " The Galatians were accepting something very harmful to them, leading them to enormous ingratitude to the Lord
This was not just any matter. It was about the centrality of the Christian life. The lives of their brothers in Christ in those Galatian churches were in imminent danger, as they embraced the error that these agitators were promoting in the name of truth.
b) That is why Paul does not waste time and directly confronts them for receiving the deception of these agitators as something better than the gospel that he preached to them.
2) A different gospel.
a) The apostle Paul is in shock, because the Galatians have abandoned not the apostolic council properly but because they have abandoned the Lord. For Paul, the fact that they accept what the agitators promote is an evidence that they are moving away from the Lord, in order to return to the shadows of the law. Writes Dr. Phil Long: “The troublemakers are out of reach of what it means to be a Christian and the gospel they preach is not the gospel of Paul at all. They are troublemakers who pervert the gospel, making it no longer the gospel that Paul first delivered to Galatia. But the Galatians are not changing from one theological group to another; they are deserting whoever called them. To follow the teaching of the Judaizers is to abandon God Himself! "
i) It is interesting to note that the word different, in the original, tells us that it is not a gospel of the same nature or that it shares some similarities, but that it is totally alien to one another. What the Judaizers were doing was promoting a gospel that mixed some Christian principles with Jewish practices, especially circumcision. They said that if you wanted to be truly saved, you had to be circumcised, and keep what the law demands. Martin Luther writes: “It seems easy to mix law and gospel, faith and works together, but it does more harm than human reason can conceive, because it takes away Christ with all His benefits and demolishes the gospel, as Paul says. . The cause of this great evil is our flesh, which, submerged in sin, does not see how to get out, but through works. Therefore, he would live in the justice of the law and would rest in the confidence of his own works. "
ii) This false gospel is not only estranged from God but is also a perversion.
iii) Therefore, Paul says that this gospel is not only a perversion that distances itself from God and grace in Christ Jesus, but is also a matter worthy of divine judgment. Paul says that if even an angel or any person preaches a different gospel, be cursed, that is, be judged by God. The apostle insists that anyone who alters or modifies the truth of the gospel deserves condemnation. Legalistic attachments to the gospel so alter your character that they don't make it a gospel. Those who add such requirements to the work of Jesus deserve God's curse. The apostle is also not content to make a statement, no matter how strong it is.
Finally, Paul asks two rhetorical questions in response to the accusations against his character and ministry. Do I now seek the favor of men or of God? Or do I strive to please men? Evidently, the Judaizing faction accused Paul of carrying out his ministry to win converts by pleasing men. Perhaps they offered their gospel of free grace as evidence of a desire to gain adherents, even at the cost of compromising a Judaizing "gospel." After all, a gospel without the fulfillment of the law, the Judaizers might argue, could only be preached for the purpose of pleasing men. Perhaps other circumstances similar to Paul's later circumcision of Timothy (Acts 16) were used as an attempt to show that Paul preached different messages depending on the occasion. However, in view of Paul's restrictions and uncompromising language, he is able to fulfill his claim that men do not like him. Therefore, he responds, if he were still seeking to please men, he would not be a slave of Christ. Paul does not seek to please men, but is Christ's doulos (slave), His servant, His willing slave. Paul is not autonomous, nor can he determine the content of the gospel of Christ. The slave answers to his master, he gives himself to his service. The gospel liberates Paul in such a way that he does not constantly look over his shoulder to determine what others think of him or his message. In this way he avoided the trap that the church often falls into, desiring to become popular, to win men over at the expense of fidelity to the gospel message, instead of being faithful, truthful, and loyal to the message of grace. Calvin rightly reminds us that "those who make up their minds to serve Christ faithfully must bravely despise the favor of men."
Undoubtedly, in this portion we find a lot of wealth, but I want to close with some ideas:
- Let us not accept or seek expositors or preaching that tell us what we want to hear. Let's look for what brings us closer to the truth of the Scriptures.
- Salvation is totally by grace, but this same grace will lead us to live in service to the one who rescued us.
- Let's proclaim the gospel. In our environment, there are people who may be hearing a false gospel.
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