Galatians 1:6–8

Verse 5 ends the "greeting." In Paul's other letters, a word of thanks or praise usually follows, addressed to the church he is writing to. But there is no such word here. Paul does not call the Galatians "saints." It is the only letter of Paul in which this word does not appear. He does not call them "faithful brothers" or "holy brothers" as he does other Christians. But again and again he calls them "brothers." That shows the burning love that filled his heart as he wrote these severe and stern rebukes.

His heart was too agitated not to go at once to the point of their danger. So he adds no further introduction. He stays ominously silent about their state, for it really could not be spoken of. He begins at once.

"So soon removed" seems to me a somewhat stronger expression than the one the Spirit of God uses. It means, in the process of removing. They were shifting, being moved away "from Him who had called them into the grace of Christ." The evil and the danger were not yet fixed. Paul could still look to God about them.

They had not yet abandoned the faith. But they had started a change that would surely cut them off from Christ if they kept on with it.

Theirs was not a slow decline after long years of professing faith. It was a very sudden turning aside. How could they be so fickle? To turn now to law was to turn from God. He had called them through Paul to grace, not to law.

There was likely no thought of such a thing in their minds. They were probably quite sincere in believing they were honouring God. They thought that by obeying the law of Moses they would keep their standing before God — that is, keep themselves saved by their good works. Paul exposes it in no uncertain terms. He plainly sees the real effect of this twisting of the gospel. In the end it leaves God out altogether and makes the law the basis of blessing.

"In Christ's grace" means in the power of Christ's grace. It is not, as the King James translation has it, "into the grace of Christ" — no, the call is in the power of the grace of Christ. Here the grace of Christ stands over against what we will see later in Galatians: the power of the law, which is tied to the flesh.

What were they moving on to now? A different gospel, which is not another... So if the grace of Christ was the spring and power of their calling, the gospel was the means of it. But now they had left this for something different. Notice, it does not say contrary to it, but a different one; and for that very reason he says it is not another. It does not deserve the name of another gospel. God owns only one. He permits no compromise about the gospel, and neither should we.

Are you trusting Christ alone, or Christ and something else? Christ and your good works? Christ and your overcoming? Christ and your watching? Christ and the law? If you have added any of these, or anything else, to Christ, then you are just as bad as these Galatian Christians.

What were they moving to now? A different gospel, which is not another. In our English version it looks like a paradox — "another gospel, which is not another." But the language the Holy Spirit used had enough words to allow a different shade of meaning... Observe, it does not say, contrary to it, but a different one: and for that very reason he says, it is not another. It is unworthy to be called another gospel. God owns but one. He permits no compromise about the gospel; neither ought we.

It is as if he felt that using the word "gospel" in a comparing sense dishonoured something holy. So he hurries to give God's "glad tidings" back the unique place that belongs to it. There cannot be another gospel than His own... The teaching these plunderers of the flock brought in was not a second gospel to those who understood what it meant. It brought no gladness in its sound. No joy or peace could come through a ministry that turned them from their Saviour to themselves.

The men who had gone to the Galatian churches and disturbed them were Judaizing teachers... They taught that a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not enough for salvation. They said that to be saved you must keep the law, and that a Christian must observe the rules of the law of Moses. They put special stress on circumcision... To establish themselves, they tried to undermine Paul's apostleship, and they attacked his authority.

These false teachers did not directly deny the facts of the gospel, but they perverted them. A perversion is often more dangerous than a flat denial. In a perversion there is enough truth to deceive the unwary, and enough error to make the truth of no effect.

The Gospel is Christ's death for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection for our justification. To add one single thing to it as necessary for salvation is to pervert the Gospel.

This is the same word as in John 14:1, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." If we have true faith in Christ, then we never need to be disturbed. The storms of life may beat upon us. The servants of the enemy may bring their false teaching. But through it all, if our eyes are on Christ, we never need to be disturbed... We find this word "disturb" again in Galatians 5:10.

To put Gentile Christians under law in any shape or form is to "trouble" them, and "pervert the Gospel of Christ."

I am fully convinced that the same Galatian evil that was active then is at work today everywhere in Christendom. It may take a slightly different form from place to place. But wherever you turn... you will find the mingling of the law in one form or another along with the grace of Christ... the same poison, here diluted, and there concentrated, is found everywhere.