Defection, Deception & Destruction Of The Gospel Series

Every culture has unique expressions that can seem foreign to others. For one who is astonished, the British have the expression that one is “gob-smacked.” “Gob” is slang for “mouth.” To be smacked is to be slapped with an open hand. So someone who is “gob-smacked” opens his mouth, claps his hand over it, and lifts his eyebrows in amazement. Paul was gob-smacked. He was amazed and astonished. He was shocked and outraged. Thus (his address to the Galatians) seethes with righteous indignation. (Ryken, P. G. (2005). Galatians. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (pp. 15–16). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.)

In Galatia, it was the accursed false teachers, specifically the Judaizers, who were plaguing the Galatian churches. With the book of Galatians as Paul’s only epistle in which he has no word of commendation for those to whom he writes, after his brief salutation he immediately launches into the reason for his writing: his extreme concern and perplexity about the false teachers who were undercutting the gospel of grace he had so carefully preached and expounded while he ministered in Galatia. He was deeply grieved that the truth of God’s sovereign and gracious offer of redemption through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone was being corrupted by the teachings of salvation by works, namely, that a) a Gentile had to become a Jew surgically and ceremonially before he could become a Christian and that b) all Christians had to obey and honor the Jewish law and traditions in order to obtain and maintain righteousness from the Lord.

How do you think people come to faith? What difference does it make if you believe that you can either earn your salvation or sustain it by the things you do? What does this say to others about our power or about God’s expectations? The answers found here impact faith, assurance and who we say God is.

In Galatians 1:6–9 we see the dangers of: 1) Defection (Galatians 1:6), 2) Deception (Galatians 1:7), and 3) Destruction (Galatians 1:8-9) of those who would pervert the Gospel of Grace.

First, the Apostle Paul defends the primacy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in warning of the:

1) Defection (Galatians 1:6) from the Gospel

Galatians 1:6 [6]I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- (ESV)

Paul could hardly comprehend that the Galatian believers were already abandoning his apostolic teaching. He was astonished/amazed (thaumazo, a strong word, meaning to be astounded) and bewildered. He could not fathom why they were so quickly deserting Him, that is, God, who called them by means of the grace of Christ. He was not surprised by what the false teachers were doing but was shocked by the favorable response they received from Christians in Galatia.

• There are many things to be concerned about for someone we care for. We care about their financial, mental and physical health. As important as these elements are, someone’s spiritual health is of eternal concern. Money, emotion or physical health, will all pass. But eternal life is dependent on someone’s spiritual state in relation to Christ. If we would intervene if someone was in distress in lesser areas, why would we not intervene in terms of something that is of eternal significance?

The apostle was especially surprised that the Galatians defection from the Gospel had come so quickly. Tacheos (quickly) can mean either easily and readily or soon, and sometimes a mixture of all three, as was probably the case with the Galatians’ deserting the true gospel. The believers apparently offered little and ineffective resistance to the false teachers and therefore were fickle in their allegiance to the truth. They quickly and easily came under the influence of heretical doctrines.

Quote: John Stott has wisely observed: “To tamper with the gospel is always to trouble the church. You cannot touch the gospel and leave the church untouched, because the church is created and lives by the gospel. Indeed the church’s greatest troublemakers (now as then) are not those outside who oppose, ridicule and persecute it, but those inside who try to change the gospel.”( J. R. W. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1968), 23.)

• I only recommend it to theologically mature believers, but it is profitable at times to read, watch or listen to heretical material and unpack scripturally why it is so. The obvious danger from those young in the faith is that the bad material may influence negatively, but for those mature spiritually, it is a useful exercise to test your theological ability, see where your weaknesses are and study up on those areas to enable you to have a solid biblical faith as well as the ability to defend it against false teachers.