Daily Reading: (Galatians 1:6-10)
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
In the church of Galatia-there had been false teachers preaching a false message/Gospel (Galatians 1:6).
False teachers were trying to implement the law in place of grace and this is evident in 3 ways:
#1 (Verse 6) Deserting/(metatithēmi)- to transpose (two things, one of which is put in place of the other) or desert from one person or thing. A group of Judaizers—those who sought to make living under the Mosaic Law a requirement of the Christian faith—had gained an influence in the Galatian churches. We actually learn about this from Acts 15:1–30).
#2 Different gospel/(euaggelion)- the glad tidings of salvation through Christ, the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ (Galatians 1:6-7).
#3 Pervert/(metastrephō)- turn around. A perverted gospel is a turned-around gospel. It is a gospel which turns the focus away from Jesus onto something else. If the gospel of grace reveals Christ alone, then a perverted gospel is Christ plus something.
The Genuine Gospel:
To preach the gospel of grace is to preach the exceeding riches of God’s unmerited favor revealed to us through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:7).
So, Paul says, “Cursed — be those who lead people away from the curse-removing gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:9).
Two things are at stake when the gospel is perverted: one is the glory of Christ; the other is the salvation of sinners. If the gospel is turned around, the all-sufficiency of Christ’s work is dishonored, and the way to salvation for sinners is blocked.