“For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.” Vs 11
Preacher and Bible commentator, John Stott, said this in his exposition of Paul’s letter to the Galatians:
“To tamper with the gospel is to trouble the church… 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… Conversely, the only way to be a good churchman is to be a good gospel-man. The best way to serve the church is to believe and to preach the gospel.” Stott, John R.W. The Message of Galatians, “The Bible Speaks Today” Downers Grove, Ill; Inter-Varsity Press, 1968
Whether he meant for it to be or not, Stott in this paragraph has stated in essence the purpose and content of the entire letter to the Galatians.
With the same aggressive tenacity with which Paul once tried to destroy the church (vs 13, 23) he, after his conversion and in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, defended the Gospel and protected the church and this entire letter serves that end.
The Galatians had begun well. Upon first hearing the good news of the death and resurrection of Christ for their sin and their eternal life they received the news and as Paul says in chapter 3 they began their walk in and by the Spirit.
But the Judaizers came in later with a ‘new’ gospel, which was not an altogether different gospel but a perversion of the true gospel, and having listened and been drawn away by these men the Galatians were now seeking to continue (again, from chapter 3) in the flesh; that is, according to the works of the flesh by the keeping of the Mosaic Law. Let’s look closer.
PAUL’S REBUKE – The Galatians’ Error
Paul’s dedication to the purity of the Gospel message is exceeded in determination only by that of Christ to go in obedience to the Father to the cross and die.
The Apostle’s zeal is evidenced in the first 5 verses of this letter which comprise the salutation. He identifies himself by name and indicates that the letter also comes from those in ministry with him – which is important to note because of the corrective nature of the letter – and he is careful right at the outset of his address to the churches of the Galatian region to do two things; reestablish his apostolic authority (vs 1) and reiterate the very message they have allowed to be perverted among them.
Now I had a friend who knows more than I confirm to me that in the Greek these first five verses of Galatians 1 make up one sentence. This is not necessarily a point of deep significance for our study but I tell you this to give you a sense of how anxious Paul was to reestablish this information in their thinking and then get right to the point of his letter.
In brief, he gets the greeting said, and his next sentence is one of rebuke.
As my friend put it, not to make Paul out to be a raving lunatic but to draw a mental picture of his ire against the enemies of the Gospel, “…Paul (is) basically standing on the pulpit and hollering from Gal 1:6 on. … The Jewish mother in him has gone ballistic and you know his audience is plastered to the back of their seats by the jet stream of his stormy anger and disappointment.”
Paul was amazed. He was astounded. The word Paul used in verse 6 is the same that the Gospel writers used to describe the reaction of the onlookers when Jesus performed certain miracles, such as when He calmed the storm in Luke 8 and delivered a mute man from demon possession in Luke 11.
Paul was amazed, but not in the good way of the witnesses of Jesus’ miracles. He was amazed that having heard the Good News and having believed it unto salvation, and having known that joy and peace and having received the Holy Spirit of God, they listened to the teaching of a perverted ‘gospel’ and departed from truth.
They were Greeks! The people of the churches of the Galatian region were Gentiles to begin with. The Law had never been anything to them before. The Law that was given to the Jews as a tutor to lead to Christ had never been a part of their existence. So having been completed by grace, how absurd, to think to add to completion by Law!
This news coming to Paul must have made him look for a chair if he wasn’t already sitting. This is not just a matter of someone or some group of people needing their doctrine tweaked a bit so they more fully understand some fine point of teaching they had not quite grasped.
These men called Judaizers came from Jerusalem with seemingly very good intentions and with smiles on their faces and well-tailored words, teaching in the churches that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and that salvation was through faith in Him and His atonement and His resurrection – but instead of stopping there at the truth they added to the teaching making it an untruth, when they said that believers also must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to complete and maintain salvation.
By that addition the Gospel went from being the Gospel from God to being the Gospel from men. By adding on that men must or even could have a part in their salvation through physical religious exercise, they denied the finished work of the cross and they deserted Christ.
If you abandon the Gospel you abandon Christ! You desert Him!
To illustrate, let me remind you of the parable of the Good Samaritan. You’ll remember, if you’ve ever heard or read it, that Jesus told the story of a traveler who was set upon by thugs who beat and robbed him and left him for dead.
In time both a priest and a Levite, good Law-abiding Jews, came along on the road and seeing the man lying there cut a wide swath around him and hurried on their way.
Now we should note here that this was not simply a matter of heartlessness or cowardice on their part. It is more likely they were concerned to keep themselves pure for Temple worship by avoiding touching what appeared to be a dead body. This is what religious orthodoxy does to people when it is not coupled with compassion.
Then Jesus tells of the Samaritan, someone the Jews despised just for who he was, coming upon the wounded man, helping him, getting him to a place where he could be cared for, and not only paying his way but promising to take care of all his needs and indebtedness as well.
Now if the man that was rescued went later to the priest and the Levite, thanked them and swore loyalty to them, neglecting the true helper altogether, that would be the most heinous of insults to the Good Samaritan and less than helpful to the man himself, since he would be putting his trust and friendship in the hands of those who had proven no help to him whatsoever.
If the Law then, is represented by the priest and the Levite, and God’s grace shown at the cross of Calvary is represented in the good and generous Samaritan, then this was the precise error of the Galatians.
Did the Law save them? No, the Law did not. The Law was incapable of saving them or anyone. It was Jesus Christ who ‘gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore’.
But instead of abiding in the perpetual care and keeping of the One who raised them up, healed them, provided for all their eternal need, they had gone back to the priest and the Levite. They had embraced works of the Law as their benefactor in accordance with the false teaching of these Judaizers.
They were in error and Paul was astounded!
Before we pass on from here, please notice that Paul never names any of the Judaizers and all his references to them are general. He calls them ‘false teachers’. He is careful to avoid making this look like he has a personal vendetta against those who are disagreeing with his doctrine. His goal is not pointedly to discredit them individually, which, by the way, is precisely what they had done to him by refuting his teaching and accusing him of falsely claiming to be an Apostle; but his concern was to defend and hold forth the truth.
I can never remember if it was Spurgeon or Moody – I’m pretty sure it was one of those two preachers – who said if you want to demonstrate the crookedness of a stick you only need lay a straight stick beside it.
No, Paul didn’t waste his energies or efforts arguing with the Judaizers. But he made no bones about redressing the Christians who should have known better and who should have clung to that which they had received at the first and stayed faithful to it.
Folks, the false teachers of our own day would not make a penny and they would not get the following they do if those who call themselves by Christ’s name would refuse to desert the purity of the Gospel; would hold fast to the truth; would never desert Christ.
PAUL’S DEFENSE – The Gospel vs The ‘New’ Gospel
I’d like you to look once more at the wording of verse 6. Paul was amazed that they were ‘so quickly’ deserting Him. The church itself was not that old. These were all relatively new believers.
The message they had heard and accepted as truth leading to salvation should have been fresh in their memories and repeated often. So their removal from it came quickly in the Apostle’s estimation. And by ‘quickly’ he implied also, ‘easily’.
And once more look at the word ‘deserted’.
They didn’t drift. They weren’t confused. This is the word used in reference to a soldier running away from battle and from service. They were new recruits, hardly out of basic training if not still in it, and they made a deliberate decision to desert.
They deserted grace for law and legalism. Does this sound strange, that people would do that?
Well church I want to call to your attention today that Christians do it all the time. It is always, now as then, a temptation to take what seems to be the easy road, and believe me when I tell you that deserting Christ for a religion of works is much easier than holding fast to truth and trusting God’s grace.
It is when preachers begin to adamantly preach salvation through God’s grace alone, rejecting a salvation of works that they begin to get opposition, both spiritual and personal. When grace is taught then so is accountability and obedience and service to God from whom salvation comes through Jesus Christ.
But when people desert grace for a religion of works they make themselves responsible for their own righteousness; and it is much easier to believe we are right with God because of our piety and devotion and religious action than to surrender our hearts to His sanctifying process.
But the harm is not only to us and our spiritual growth. The crime of legalism is not only that we are bound up by legalism. The crime is that when our gospel is a gospel of men we have deserted the one who called us by the grace of Christ. WE’VE DESERTED!
The church and the individual believer led away by a false gospel are led away from the one thing that can save them and are being turned to destruction.
Would the Apostle Paul be so alarmed; so fired up if this was not a matter of life and death?
“But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
He used the word ‘anathema’, which means ‘eternally condemned’. Think about it. The gracious Apostle to the Gentiles is declaring that anyone who perverts the gospel and teaches that perversion to others should be forever damned.
Let me tell you that this bothers some commentators and preachers.
One Bible translation tries to calm it down by translating it ‘let there be a curse on him’ which is kind of vague, isn’t it?
But we have to understand, Christ-followers, that when people are taught a false gospel they are led away from God, they are led away from eternal life to eternal darkness and destruction, God is robbed of glory and the cross of Christ is invalidated.
So strongly does Paul feel about this, that he even includes himself in the warning – because this is not about him; it’s not about Paul being angry or Paul being slighted or Paul being attacked.
The good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the grace of God leading to salvation is being attacked, and Paul says ‘I don’t care if it’s an angel from Heaven or even myself, if anyone preaches any so-called gospel other than what you first received, let that one be forever damned’!
PAUL’S SOURCE – From Whom His Gospel Came
Well let’s talk about why the purity of the Gospel is so indispensably important to Paul and to us.
What aspect of the Gospel differentiates it from every philosophy or doctrinal statement of mankind? It is that it comes directly from God. It is otherworldly. It is entirely divine in origin.
Have you ever had someone give you a gift, when to you the value of the gift was not as much in the object given as in the degree to which that person was precious to you?
Salvation is important and it was important to Paul, of course. The fact that all who have turned from sin and self and believed the Gospel are Heaven-bound and have a place with God everlastingly – it goes without saying that is desired and it is wonderful; it is bliss.
But Paul’s primary focus wasn’t on the gift, it was on the Giver.
His zeal and jealousy for the purity of the Gospel wasn’t born of what it means for men, but that it came from God.
Think about this. What good would salvation be if we weren’t being saved for and to God? What would salvation be? What would we be saved to if not Him? Salvation isn’t ultimately about us; it’s about God and His glory.
“For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
This was a reference to his Damascus road experience where he saw the risen Christ and was called to apostleship and given his mission. Then he explains:
“But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.” (vs15-17)
The teaching of the Apostle and the thing we must clearly understand and apply, Christians, is that our Gospel is not of man.
This is the gauge you must use to measure the veracity of every message that comes to you, however it comes and from whomever it comes.
Is man any part of it? Does any of it require even the presence or the approval of men? Then it is of men and not of God.
Hear all these phrases:
“Not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead”
“…the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…”
And out of the passage I referred you to a minute ago, in verses 15-17...
“He who set me apart…and called me through His grace…pleased to reveal His Son in me…”
Friends, God conceived the Gospel. God brought the Gospel. God called His heralds and gave them the message. God uses the Gospel to save.
It is His. The Gospel is altogether of God.
I don’t care if a speaker comes to you from the General Convention offices, or from some mega-church on the east or west coast, or through your television screen or through a book. I don’t care if he is soft-spoken, handsome, apparently wealthy or displaying a long list of letters after his written name. You measure his Gospel against Paul’s and determine if it is entirely of God, or if it is to any miniscule degree of men, according to men, dependent upon men.
If it is, then you turn him away or turn him off because he is anathema and he will lead you down into his very own folly, his very own destruction.
It is to your benefit; your eternal benefit that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is all of God and not of men because it cannot change. Since it is of divine origin it cannot fail.
A gospel of men can be refuted by other men. The Gospel from God stands forever unchallenged and unchanged – and since it is of and through His grace it can never be taken away.
PAUL’S ENCOURAGEMENT – Something To Rejoice Over
The believers in the churches of Judea were rejoicing and giving glory to God at the end of this chapter, and so may we for the same fundamental reason. Listen.
“Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; 23 but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.”
Now you might say, these Christians of the first century had cause to rejoice and glorify God because the zealous Jew who once persecuted them was now preaching the faith and was no longer a danger to them, but what does that have to do with us in the 21st century?
Well it has a great deal to do with us, Christians of the 21st century. Because what has been confirmed to us in these words of the Apostle is that he was an eye witness to the risen Christ, from Whom also he received his Gospel message.
That means, if you have a Bible and your Bible is open to Galatians 1, you are holding first hand, eye witness testimony, protected by God and delivered to you by God directly from the eye witness to your eyes. This kind of evidence is admissible in any just court in the world in all of history.
Hold on to what you have received. Don’t desert Christ for another gospel; a lesser gospel; a false gospel of men, no matter how good it sounds. Go back to this. Go back always to the Gospel delivered to you by the eye witnesses of the risen Jesus and keep it pure.
Listen. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.”
When he says ‘this present evil age’ he refers to a world and world system that are passing away; a world to be destroyed by fire along with all the gospels of men.
But this is for you, Christ-follower and truth holder. When he says ‘to whom be the glory forevermore’, he literally says ‘unto the ages of ages’ – because without end you who hold to and protect the purity of the Gospel that saved you will live rejoicing in the presence of the Father and the Son and by His Spirit glorifying God because of this.
Glory unto the ages of ages, to Him who called you by the grace of Christ.
Amen.
