How to Destroy the Gospel
Galatians 1:6-12

The desertion of the Galatians (Gal 1:6a)

• Paul is utterly amazed - they defected so quickly!
• metatithemi (deserted, turned themselves) - this word was used for military desertion (punishable by death), for altering a treaty, for moving from the sphere of influence of one thing into another. They were removing themselves from the sphere of the gospel of grace.

The gospel's attachment to God Himself (Gal 1:6b)

• The Galatians were not simply turning from a common opinion or even from a system of theology - they were turning away from God Himself!

How different is different? (Gal 1:6c-7a)

• There are two Greek words translated "another" and used for comparison.
  heteros = "another of a different kind altogether"
  allos = "another of the same kind"
• Paul uses both of these words here for emphasis:
  "deserting Him for a different (heteros) gospel"
  "which is not another of the same kind (allos)"

The character of the false teachers (Gal 1:7b)

• "There are some troubling you" - parassontes (troublers, disturbers, unsettlers).
  This participle shows the character of the ones who were confusing the Galatians. These false teachers were habitual "troublemakers" who thrive on creating controversy.

The destruction of the gospel (Gal 1:7c)

• The result of their activity was that the gospel was "perverted" (metastrepsai = to turn something into its opposite).
• The false teachers were not denying Christ, they simply wanted to add circumcision and Jewish rituals to the gospel. But law-keeping and self-effort are not just slight a contamination of a gospel that teaches salvation by God's effort alone - they actually reverse the gospel and cannot coexist with a message of salvation by God's grace apart from works.

Paul emphasizes the cursedness of this action (Gal 1:8-9)

• Paul is not being redundant in these two verses.
• See the following side-by-side comparison:

Does this sound like man-pleasing language to you? (Gal 1:10)

• "For" introduces Paul's explanation for such severe language - he had been accused of "man-pleasing"
• He is not trying to win them over with concilliatory words - he is being direct and honest about the truth of the gospel.

Paul is a CPA - "Certified Public Apostle" (Gal 1:11-12)

• "For I make known to you, brothers" = a very strong word: "I certify to you with certaintly"
• The gospel Paul preaches is not according to man - it is not another of the man-made religious systems.
• Paul did not receive it from a human being - no person taught him the true gospel.
• Paul received his gospel message directly through a revelation from Jesus Christ.