What does "turning to a different gospel" mean in Galatians 1:6?

There is a remarkable abruptness in the way the apostle enters at once into his subject. He had just alluded to our Lord's giving Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world; and this had drawn out a brief thanksgiving unto "God, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen." But now he turns at once to the great object that he had in hand. His heart was too full of it, so to speak, to spend more words than need required. There was that which was so fatal even to the foundations on which the Church, or rather individual Christians, must stand before God, that he could not linger. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel." "So soon removed" seems to me to be a somewhat stronger expression than what the Spirit of God makes use of. It means, in process of removing. They were shifting and being changed "from him that had called them into the grace of Christ." The evil and danger were not yet so settled a thing but that he could still look up to God about them. When we think that it was the Apostle Paul that had evangelized these souls, and that the time was short since he had preached to them, I do not know a more melancholy proof of the ease with which Satan contrives to lead astray. Take children of God that have been ever so well instructed, and yet one sees the symptoms, which hardly ever fail to show themselves, of inclination to that which is weak and wrong, a readiness to follow human feelings in the things of God, diverted from the truth by appearance, where there is no reality. These things you will find, unless there be extraordinary power of the Holy Ghost to counteract the workings of Satan. The rubbish which may enter with the foundation, of which the apostle speaks in 1 Corinthians 3 — the "wood, hay, and stubble" — all this shows us how it may come to pass that although God it was who had formed the Church, yet there is another side of the Church to take into account, and that is man. St. Paul speaks of himself as a wise master-builder. In one point of view it is God who builds the Church; and in this there is no failure. What the Lord has taken in hand immediately, He maintains infallibly by His own power. But human responsibility enters into this great work, as it does into almost everything, save creation and redemption, where God alone can be. But elsewhere, no matter how blessed, whether the calling in of souls to the gospel, or the leading them on after they have known the Lord, or the corporate gathering of the children of God into one — the Church, man has his part in it; and he too surely brings in the weakness of his nature. The history God gives us in the Bible is that, whatever He has entrusted into the hands of man, there he is weak and fails. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." Now this is, after all, but the history, not only of the Old Testament, and of the various ways in which God had tried man; but even where you have the far more blessed subject of the New Testament, (what God is in His Son and in His ways with men by His Son, since the Lord went up to heaven and the Holy Ghost was sent down,) even in respect of these things, we have man's weakness surely showing itself. And it is not merely that unbelieving men have managed to creep into the Church; but the children of God have got flesh in them too. They have their human feelings and infirmities, and that which Satan can find in every Christian whereby to hinder or obscure the power of God. It was by this means that the Galatian saints were led astray, and that all are in danger of it, at any moment. I gather two important lessons from this. The first is, not to be surprised if there be departure in the saints of God. I must not allow myself for a moment to think that it shows the slightest weakness in the truth itself or in the testimony committed to us, or that it puts a slur upon what is of God; for God may be suffering what is contrary to His own nature and permitting for a time that man should show what he is. But as surely as there is that which is according to God, He will vindicate Himself in it, and allow what is not of Him to prove its true character. But another thing we learn is the call for watchfulness and self-judgment. To these Galatians, who once were so earnest, who would have plucked out their eyes in their love for Paul, that very apostle has now to write, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ." Observe the choice of expression — "the grace of Christ." Because what Satan was using was the mixture of the law with grace, of legalism and Christ. The characteristic of their call had been simply and solely "the grace of Christ."

God had made known to the Galatians that they were poor sinners of the Gentiles, that there was nothing for them but mercy, and that mercy had come to them in the person of Christ. And if this is the one thing that He invites souls to — to receive the mercy that He is giving them in Christ, it supposes that they feel their need of mercy, and are willing to look to Christ and none other. But still it remains true that it was alone the grace of Christ which had acted upon these Galatian believers; and of this he reminds them. What were they removing to now? A different gospel, which is not another. In our English version it is a sort of paradox — "another gospel, which is not another." But in the language in which the Holy Ghost wrote, there was sufficient copiousness to admit of another shade of language. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto a different gospel, which is not another." So that 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. 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 may appear strange and perhaps strong to some; but I am thoroughly convinced that the same Galatian evil that was active then is at work now universally in Christendom. It may take a somewhat different form in one place from another; but wherever you turn, wherever you have either the word spoken on or the profession of Christ maintained in the way of Christian institutions, you will find the mingling of the law in one form or another along with the grace of Christ. It does not matter what people are called, it is the same thing in all. There are differences of degree. Some are more open, some more intelligent, some more systematic about it; but the same poison, here diluted, and there concentrated, is found everywhere; so much so that the truth on this subject sounds strange in the ears of men. As a proof of this, I take one simple expression that will come before us in the various epistles of St. Paul, the misapprehension that prevails as to "the righteousness of God." One may rejoice to know of persons preaching Christ, or even the law; because God uses the preaching of the law to convince many a sinner. Yet we are not to suppose, because God works even where there is a perverted gospel preached, that the children of God ought to make light of error. It is one thing to acknowledge that God works sovereignly, but it is another when the question for us is what is His true testimony. There we are bound in conscience never to allow anything except the simple and full truth of God for our own souls. One ought never to listen to anything short of that, and truth can avoid hearing error. I am not speaking now of mistakes that may be in preaching. A slip or ignorance is not a perversion of the gospel. It is one thing to listen to what may be a mere mistake; but to go where one knows beforehand that the law is mingled with Christ, is sin.

“In Christ’s grace”means in the power of Christ’s grace. It is not like the King James translation, “into the grace of Christ,”no, the call is in the power of the grace of Christ. Here the grace of Christ is seen over against what we will see later in Galatians, the power of the law connected with the flesh. The call is connected with God and with the grace of Christ, that is how Paul preached the full gospel as we have in Acts 20, the gospel of the grace of God through which we have been called, but here the Galatians were deviated from that call and brought under a difference influence, they were “moved away to a different gospel.”The word “different”here means an altogether different kind, while the word “gospel”of course, means “good news.”Paul says as it were, “Yes, you think it is the gospel, but it is not the gospel at all, it is a totally different kind of gospel, which is not another one”(not a gospel of the same kind at all). It sounds a bit complicated, but it is to show it is a counterfeit. For the Galatians the gospel had been, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved,”but now it was added, “you then need to be circumcised.”This can be checked out in Acts 15 where that situation was again faced.

With verse 6, Paul plunges straight into the main burden of his letter. The Gospel which he had preached to them had called them into the grace of Christ, and now they had turned aside to a different message which was no true gospel at all. He was filled with wonder at their folly, indeed as we read these solemn words we can feel the hot indignation which lay behind them. They were following "a different gospel, which is not another," — as it should read. They may have imagined that they were receiving a new and improved version of the old message. They were not. It was a radically different message, and a false one at that.

In verse 8, Paul contemplates himself perverting God's Gospel in this way, or even an angel from heaven doing so; not a fallen angel, but an angel hitherto unfallen and coming from the presence of God. Upon either or both he solemnly pronounces the curse of God. Having done so it seems as though he anticipates that some will regard him as extreme in his denunciation and wish to remonstrate with him. He anticipates this by repeating the curse, only this time making its force even plainer. As a matter of fact neither he nor an angel from heaven would so pervert the Gospel, but certain men had been doing so amongst the Galatians, so now he says, "If any man …"

Verse 6. But the apostle begins abruptly, as has been said, rebuking the unfaithfulness and inconstancy of the Galatians. They had abandoned the truth of the gospel which they had received from the apostle - that is, grace revealed in Christ - in order to give themselves to another gospel, which in reality was not another, or different one, but was the corruption of the gospel of Christ. Moreover, it was the giving up of the only true gospel, to put themselves under law - they who had been called by grace - for there were some who troubled them, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. There is, and there can be, but one gospel; God has given one gospel alone for the salvation of sinners.

(Vv. 6, 7.) The Apostle commences by expressing his amazement at the inconsistency of the Galatians. Time was when they had received him "as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus" (Gal. 4:14). Now their attitude had entirely changed, and they were calling in question his authority. But, what was yet more serious, in rejecting him they were also rejecting the gospel that he preached — the only true gospel, for Paul will not admit that there is another gospel than the one that he preached.

In contrast to Paul, through whom the gospel of the grace of God had been made known to them, there were those who troubled the Galatian believers by preaching, not the gospel of Christ, but a perversion of the gospel. 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, for in a perversion there is sufficient truth to deceive the unwary, and sufficient error to make the truth of no effect.

The Christians in Galatia had been bewitched by a perverted gospel, which is a very popular gospel today, but in reality is no gospel at all, for it had removed them from Him who had called them to the grace of Christ. This false gospel was, that while, of course, Christ cannot be left out of the question, yet it is necessary that a man bring in his own works in order to be fully right with God. He may begin with Christ but he must trust to himself also and bring in the law and his keeping of its enactments. It was a mixture of grace and law, which won't mix, for if a man could be justified by the works of the law, there would be no need for grace at all, and Christ has died in vain.

The Galatians had before acknowledged the sovereignty of God in the gospel. They had heard the call of God to bring them into the grace of Christ, and at that time the joy of beholding the face of God in Christ had been blessedly manifest in their unfeigned love toward Paul (ch.4:13-15). Well might Paul marvel at their so soon changing to another gospel, which indeed he hastens to insist is not another, but a perversion of the only true gospel (good news) of Christ. His charge is most serious, and he makes no hesitation in it: they were changing from God to this perversion of the gospel. There was likely no thought of such a thing in their minds. They were probably quite sincere in believing they were honoring God in the belief that by means of their obedience to the law of Moses they would maintain their standing before God, that is, keep themselves saved by their good works. Paul exposes it in no uncertain terms. The real effect of the perversion, which he plainly discerns, is to eventually leave God out altogether, and to make the law the basis of blessing. On this basis, if I claim to be obeying the law, this only puffs up my pride. If I have a somewhat honest conscience, I shall be discouraged and bereft of hope because of my inwardly corrupt condition and my failure to obey the Law as I know I should.

The men who had gone to the Galatian churches and disturbed them were Judaizing teachers. Their evil teaching consisted in a denial of the Gospel of Grace, so blessedly unfolded in the epistle to the Romans. They taught that a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not sufficient for salvation, that in order to be saved the keeping of the law is necessary and that a Christian must observe the precepts of the law of Moses. Circumcision was especially emphasized by them. They had been to Antioch and taught "except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15: 1). They had also constrained the Galatians to submit to circumcision (5: 2; 6: 12). In order to establish themselves, they tried to undermine the apostleship of Paul and they attacked his authority. Peter evidently was in their eyes the great apostle of authority and as Paul was independent of Peter in his ministry and apostleship, as he had not been sent by Peter, they belittled him. It seems as if the fable of an apostolic succession was invented by these perverters of the Gospel of Grace.

In the epistle to the Galatians the apostle Paul contended strongly against those who were preaching another Gospel than that of the grace of God which he had received from Christ and preached. "There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal.1:7-8). It was these Judaizing teachers of the law who were likewise troubling the Galatian saints and perverting the Gospel. To add one single thing to the Gospel of Christ's death for our sins, His burial and resurrection for our justification, as that which is necessary for salvation, is to pervert the Gospel.

In the light of this we may more fully appreciate the indignant outburst of the apostle in Galatians 1. They had been brought into the enjoyment of the grace of Christ by God Himself who had called them into it. They had now listened to "another gospel" which based itself upon circumcision, the symbol of law-keeping. To exchange Christ for the law of Moses, to embrace the demands of the law instead of the grace of Christ, and thus depart from the One who had called them out of the one and into the other, was such incredible folly that the apostle marvelled. They were like people "bewitched," and in Galatians 3:1, he plainly calls them "foolish" or "senseless." Later on he has to say, "I stand in doubt of you" (Gal. 4:20).