Series: Galatians
Sermon: Another Gospel
Bible Passage: Galatians 1:6-9
I. Background Information
1. Paul along with Barnabas planted churches in Galatia (Acts 13:14 Pisidian Antioch, 51 Iconium; 14:6 Lystra and Derbe)
a. A good number of them (majority of them) were from non-Jewish background
b. Paul had led them to Christian faith and taught them a law-free Gospel
3. He wrote this epistle between Acts 14:28 and Acts 15—this was his first pastoral epistle
4. It is a pastoral letter to bring about clarity of the Gospel
5. Galatian believers (a good number of them) espoused a Gospel which was different in content from the one Paul preached to them (verse 6, 3:1, 5:7)—“a different Gospel”
a. Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel
b. Gal 3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! … 3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?
c. Gal 5:7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?
d. They “moved away” from God who called them in the grace of Christ to a legalistic form of faith (1:6)
i. The word “moving away” most likely mean “apostasy”
ii. Paul is alleging that they were espousing a heretical teaching
iii. Paul taught them that they start and continue their Christian life purely based on grace of God, which is opposite of human merit
iv. But the teaching the believers espoused promoted a merit based relationship
e. They moved from “grace of Christ” to “another Gospel” — perversion of the Gospel
i. Traditions of the Jewish elders (1:14)
ii. Kosher food (2:12)
iii. Kosher relationships (2:12-13)
iv. Circumcision (2:3; 5:2; 6:12)
v. Works of the law (2:16; 4:21; 5:1, 4)
vi. Religious days, months, seasons, and years (4:10)
f. Instead of enjoying their relationship with God by the grace He has extended in Jesus, they had attempted to relate with Him through human efforts prescribed in the Jewish Law
g. The Gospel they espouse is not Gospel at all! (7a) because “grace of Christ” was absent
5. Troublemakers were trying to “unsettle/confuse” believers by teaching something which is not the Gospel (verse 7)
a. They were causing confusion to the new believers
b. Because they were new in their faith, the troublemakers took advantage of their vulnerability
i. Listening to wrong people (cf. 8-9)
ii. Not being satisfied with what God has given to them
iii. Desire for tangibility, superstition, and legalism
6. The troublemakers’ desire is to pervert/confuse/distort the Gospel (7b)
7. Paul’s aim is to establish the believers in “the Gospel of Christ”
a. Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver/rescue us from the present evil age (verse 4)
b. “Delivering/rescuing us” is the will of God and the Father (verse 4)
c. Gal 3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise
d. Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God
e. Gal 5:1, 13 For freedom Christ has set us free
8. Paul cautions the Galatians against teachings that harm them (verses 8-9)
9. The believers must avoid listening to those who take them away from grace of Christ to legalism and moralism (verses 8-9)
II. Observations
1. God saves lost people in Jesus Christ
2. Mixing the grace of God with legalism and moralism is perversion of the Gospel
3. Perverters of the Gospel look to exploit the vulnerability of the believers
4. Lack of clarity of the Gospel lead people to slavery
Take Away:
Protect yourself from legalism and moralism, and intentionally develop a clarity of the Gospel