Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 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.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
The Bible was given to man in a systematic manner. The first five books of the Bible were written by Moses. God began revealing His Word with the Creation account. God was establishing the fact that He is in charge. He laid out how He created the world. There is a specific order to all things of God.
Those who build their lives by picking verses here and there build a very shallow and oftentimes false view of God and His Word. It is easy, as we see throughout New Evangelicalism, and sadly even in much of Fundamentalism, to build a false idea of God and of theology.
When we read and study the Bible as God gave it, we can develop a proper theology. Of course, it is always a possibility that we will put on our particular coloured glasses and look at God’s Word in a distorted manner.
If we submit ourselves to the God of the Word and ask Him to guide us in the systematic study of His Word, we will avoid the traps of the devil.
In our study of the book of Galatians, and in fact in all of our studies, it is the goal of the writer to stick to the theology that God has laid out. Of course there are many men who will say the same thing. Jesus taught that the tree can be identified by its fruit. You can examine the teachings of a man and see whether he is honouring God’s Word, or simply pushing a personal agenda.
In our text today, the apostle Paul was addressing the ease with which saved people can get lured off course. In verse 6 Paul is speaking to individuals who have been called into the grace of Christ. This is speaking to people who are truly born again.
Being born again, does not mean we can put our minds and hearts into neutral and just go with the flow. We are given the ability and also the responsibility to examine all that we read and hear, to be sure it honours the sure Word of God.
God directed Paul to warn of “another gospel”. There was another gospel when Jesus was on earth. The Pharisees had developed a “good works” gospel. In that philosophy, a person can never know if they are safe or not. That is the gospel that I was raised under as a Mennonite. That is the gospel that most earlier religions followed. There was a shift that took place in my early years. The younger generations were not content to just follow the traditions of their fathers. It is possible that the secular, humanistic public schools impacted this greatly.
The younger generations were questioning the status quo, and the older generations which had just gone by tradition could not answer the queries of the younger generations. Thus we witnessed massive changes taking place in denominational religions. The King James Bible was replaced by the Revised English Bible and that was the start of a multitude of other perversions that would come about. The music standards changed. Secular music was allowed into the churches. With that the dress standards changed. The idea of dressing in a manner that would exemplify holiness was replaced with a dress standard that would exemplify the world.
An erosion of purity and truth has been taking place. The words that God directed Paul to write here describe our current situation quite well.
In verse 7 Paul reminded the readers that this “another gospel” of verse 6, was really not another gospel. It was a corruption. It was a perversion of the gospel of Christ. Those who were promoting this perversion were troubling the hearts and minds of the saints.
In verse 8 God directed Paul to warn that even if an angel from heaven would come and preach any other gospel than that which the apostles were preaching, let him be accursed. How did we get away from that very clear and important teaching. We have so many different gospels today, each one claiming to be correct. The ecumenical movement is seeking to get rid of all doctrine, and just make the gospel about loving Jesus. They rightly declare that doctrine divides and they do not want division, except from those who would hold to the truth.
In verse 9 Paul repeated his statement from verse 8. Repetition is not a bad thing when done properly. Obviously God always does all things properly. “If any man preach any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Those who are saved are not rude in rejecting false teaching. It is a number of years back now where the Lord impressed this truth upon me. I refuse to attend a church that preaches another gospel. I will attend a funeral service for a loved one, but I will make sure I read the passages from the Word of God, not from the perversion that is used by the person in charge. I try to make it known to the people there, that the corruption taking place is not good.
In verse 10 Paul used the word “persuade”. The Greek word there means “to teach”. What was Paul’s message? Did it originate with men or with God? Keep in mind that Paul has already separated himself from the man appointed apostle that Peter initiated. Paul was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
His message was not received from men, but from God. He was using God’s Word to teach others the importance of knowing the true God. Paul did not bow to the pressure of men in his preaching. The Judaizers did not like Paul’s message. He did not cater to their protests to save his skin. He was a servant of Christ and a true servant of Christ cannot be governed by the people. Most pastors today are governed by the people. There are people who would like to govern me as well. They have expressed their disagreements with me and have assumed they could change my mind.
Hebrews 13:7,17 remind us that the pastor is accountable to God. No pastor will answer to the people he is supposed to teach and preach to. He will answer to God for how he treated those precious souls. I do not want to be guilty before God of lying to people about spiritual or physical matters. It is important to know the truth and submit to the truth. God’s Word is our only authority. Opinions of men do not supersede God’s word. If God says something, that is what matters. If I do not agree with God, I need to repent and get right with God. The same is true for all people. Most have a puppet god who can be manipulated to suit them. The apostle Paul knew that he was responsible to God for his life. He knew he had one Master, and that Master was God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God must be the Master of every true born again Christian.
Pastor Bartel