OCTOBER 6, 2013
ANOTHER GOSPEL
INTRODUCTION:
1. That man is a radically and totally depraved being the bias of whose nature is decidedly toward what is false is a principle which is frequently stated is Scripture. The admission of this assessment is forced upon us, first, by our own experience, and second, by our observation of the world around us.
2. Notwithstanding the plainness of the revelation of the divine will regarding making men wise and good, how rare are the instances in which its application is found effectual. Even when brought under divine influence, how much ignorance and error still remain, simply because he is not completely subject to that influence. No man is “born again” until he is “born of the Spirit,” and no man ever does really understand and believe until he becomes the subject of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit.
3. Even after one has been in a good measure enlightened in the knowledge of the truth, the human mind is prone to revert to its former beliefs, or to fall into new errors. Of this tendency we have a striking example in the history of the Galatian churches. They had removed themselves from Him Who had called them in to the grace of Christ, and had turned to a false, perverted view of the Gospel, which Paul calls “another gospel.”
4. After a brief introduction, (Verses 1-5) the Apostle at once enters upon the great object of the epistle, by expressing his astonishment over their apostasy.
I. THE FACT OF THEIR DEFECTION, AND THE GREAT CONCERN THAT IT WAS TO THE APOSTLE. (VERSES 6, 7)
A. THAT ANY SHOULD EMBRACE THE TRUE GOSPEL AND THEN TURN FROM IT IS BOTH ASTONISHING AND GRIEVOUS. (VERSE 6)
1. It filled the Apostle at once with the greatest surprise and sorrow. “I marvel…” John used the same word to describe his emotion when he saw “the mother of harlots” drunken with the blood of the saints. “I wonder with great admiration. (astonishment).” Paul was at the same time filled with sorrow. “…that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ.”
a) The phrase “him that called you” might be thought to mean Paul himself, (Ch. 5:10) who was the human instrument of their calling. Though he is not likely referring to himself, as the human instrument of their calling, we can be sure that it pained him deeply to know that his faithful teaching was cast aside for the persuasions of Judaizing teachers. Every preacher of the Gospel can sympathize with those who experience this kind of rejection.
b) Most likely, the phrase “him that called you” is referring to God, Who had called them out of darkness into the marvelous light of the grace of Christ. Paul’s grief was the greater for sake of the God of all grace from Whom they had turned. Our sorrow at such times, though we do take it personally, is primarily for sake of “God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. That they were “so soon removed” made it even more astonishing.
a) In so little time they lost that relish and esteem for the grace of Christ, which they seemed to have.
(1) This reference by the Apostle lends support for the view that the Galatian letter was one of his earliest. It was apparently written not long after, either he alone, or he and Barnabas first took the Gospel to that region.
(2) Again, it is a concern to all who minister the Gospel, and rejoice in conversions, to see those who profess Christ soon lose their zeal for the faith, and revert back to their former loves and ways. (Luke 9:62)
b) To fall in with those who taught justification by the works of the Law, as many of them did who had been brought up under the opinions and notions of the Pharisees, was an instance of their weakness. But that they embraced a corruption of the doctrine of Christ was a great aggravation of their guilt.
B. THAT THEY WERE REMOVED TO ANOTHER GOSPEL, WHICH YET WAS NOT ANOTHER, WAS INDEED FOOLISH. (VERSES 6c, 7)
1. The phrase ‘another gospel” coming from the pen of the Apostle Paul immediately suggests an irony, which is very soon proven to be his intention.
2. The Apostle represents the doctrine of these Judaizing teachers as “another gospel,” as it opens up a different way of salvation from that which was revealed in the Gospel which he preached.
3. In fact, it taught a system of salvation by works and not by faith in Christ. Since this was totally contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, it could not be thought for a moment to be literally another gospel, because such teaching is not good news. (Rom. 1:20-28; John 3:18, 36; Acts 4:12)
4. Paul immediately exposes the irony of his terminology.
a) The word “another” in our English Bible may be one of two different Greek words. ‘Heteros’ means another of a different or opposite kind. ‘Allos’ means another of the same kind.
b) In Verse 6 the word is ‘heteros’ but in Verse 7 the word is ‘allos’. They were turned to another gospel, of a totally different kind, and certainly not of the same kind as the Gospel of the grace of Christ.
c) They had turned to another gospel, i.e. a false gospel, a perverted gospel. It was most assuredly not another gospel in the true sense of being good news.
d) A false gospel is worse than no gospel, because it gives folks a false security.
5. Thus, the Apostle endeavors to impress upon these Galatians a due sense of their guilt in forsaking the Gospel. However, at the same time he pleads with them as victims of the art and industry of some that troubled them. His hope was to bring them back to the truth; to see them restored to the true faith.
II. THE FACT OF THE TRUE GOSPEL, AND THE GREAT CONFIDENCE THE APOSTLE HAD THAT HE HAD PREACHED IT. (VERSES 8-10)
A. SO CONFIDENT WAS HE THAT HIS WAS THE ONLY TRUE GOSPEL THAT HE PRONOUNCED AN ANATHEMA ON THOSE WHO PREACHED ANY OTHER GOSPEL.(VERSE 8)
1. Paul did not use such strong language against everyone who differed on matters less vital. No such curses were pronounced against those at Corinth who held wrong views about the spiritual gifts and other things. He did correct their mistaken beliefs, for no truth is unimportant, and no wrong practice is to go unreproved. However, his anathema is reserved for those heretics who so pervert the Gospel as to make if not a gospel at all. That which is no gospel is not only not the source of life, it is deadly. Such gospels along with their proponents must be denounced in the strongest of terms. They are under the curse of God, and we must make their case known.
2. We must not take Paul’s thundering anathemas here as justification for pronouncing a divine curse on all who hold differing views than our own. Scripture that is intended to denounce fundamental heresy is sometimes used to condemn those whose views may differ on non-essentials. (Example – Isa. 8:20)
B. TO AFFIRM THAT CURSE WAS NOT PRONOUNCED RASHLY OR WITHOUT CAREFUL THOUGHT, HE REPEATED IT. (VERSE 9)
C. TO FURTHER ESTABLISH THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE CHARGE, HE USED EXTREME ABSURDITY TO MAKE THE POINT. (VERSE 8)
1. Should he himself come preaching any other gospel, he would bring himself under that same curse. Who could imagine that Paul, who so suffered for the true Gospel, would ever be heard preaching any other doctrine? Yet if such an unthinkable event should ever occur, he, the greatest of the Apostles, would be cursed of God.
2. Should an angel from heaven come into their midst preaching any other than the everlasting Gospel of grace, he would be accursed. Not as if it were possible for an angel of God to be the messenger of a lie, but the absurdity strengthens what he is about to say.
3. If they were to have any other gospel preached to them by any other person, under his name, or under color of having it from an angel himself, they must conclude that it was a false gospel, and the messengers of it were accursed.
4. Clearly, the Apostle is using absurdity to impress upon the Galatians the fact that there is but one gospel, and should a man abandon it for another, he will be facing the most woeful of consequences. “Let him be accursed!”
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