Fly 01 — Galatians 1:1-9 — Accept The Gospel As Is

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1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 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— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:1–9, ESV)

Paul: I'm A Divinely Appointed Apostle

The theme word I've chosen for our study of Galatians is the word "fly." Not the noun (get the fly-swatter). Not the adjective (90's rap is the flyest). But the verb (birds are meant to fly).

The reason I have chosen this theme is that the last third of Paul's letter to the Galatians describes a life in flight. It is a life that has taken off and is soaring in God's best, God's grace.

• It is a life that can be described as free from all legalism, free enough to lovingly serve others (Gal. 5:13).
• It is a life that walks in and bears the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).
• It is a life that does not grow weary in doing good to everyone (Gal. 6:9).
• It is a loving life, a joyful life, a peaceful life, a patient life, a kind life, a life of goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness, a life of self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
• It is a life that has killed off the passions of the flesh and instead is lead by the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:24-25).
• It restores people who are struggling and humbly understands it is not above them (Gal. 6:1).
• It bears the burdens of others well (Gal. 6:2).

It is a life that is free. It is a life in flight. If we cling to the true gospel, if we accept it for what it is, we can fly. But Paul wrote Galatians because the Galatian believers—and all future believers—were in danger. If we adulterate the gospel, if we add to it in any way, we will not fly. Like a bird chained in a birdcage, we will (at best) hinder ourselves from flying into God's ideal for our lives or (at worst) hinder ourselves and others from true salvation.

This was the danger the Galatians were in. Paul had passed through their region with Barnabas on his first missionary journey (see Acts 13-14). City after city in Galatia—places like Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—were rocked by the gospel Paul preached. Churches were started. And these new non-Jewish believers rejoiced that God loved them and sent his Son to rescue them. But after Paul's departure, men came in to add to the gospel message in various ways, troubling the infant churches in that area with false doctrine (Gal. 1:6).

So Paul started his letter with a strong tone. He needed them to know—right away—that he was a divinely appointed apostle, qualified to instruct them in matters of the faith. His doctrine, in other words, is authoritative. He alludes to this in his introduction:

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: (Galatians 1:1–2, ESV)

In the Bible, apostles come in two types. Because the word "apostle" indicates being sent, one type are merely missionaries who are sent out to preach the gospel somewhere. People like Barnabas are sometimes described this way in Scripture. In this sense, some people seem to have apostolic gifts today.

But Paul was not that kind of apostle. Instead, he fulfilled a special and authoritative office for the church. The original twelve were made apostles by Jesus, walking with him even before his death. He called them to be his disciples so that he might make them into apostles. And, here, at the beginning of this letter, Paul makes it clear he is not the kind of apostle people send out as a missionary, but the kind that Jesus himself commissioned. He even alludes to the resurrection as a way to indicate it was the risen Christ who chose him for this special role.

Paul had to talk about his authoritative role as an apostle because the false teachers had told the Galatians that Paul didn't have the authority to teach them what he had. So Paul will spend considerable time in the first two chapters of his letter defending his apostolic credentials.

Paul: I Come With A Divinely Appointed Gospel

So Paul needed them to know he was a divinely appointed apostle, but he also needed them to know he came with a divinely appointed message. Because the false teachers were diluting and perverting the very message of the gospel, Paul alludes to the very message of the gospel right away in his introduction:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3–5, ESV)

He told them that grace and peace from God are possible because Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age (3-4). Paul used the same word to describe Christ's deliverance of us that the Bible used to describe God's rescue of the Israelites in Egypt, God's rescue of Peter in prison, or the rescue of Paul from an angry mob (Acts 7:34, 12:11, 23:27). In other words, Christianity is a rescue mission.[^1]

Jesus did not come primarily to exemplify love or provoke thought—he came to save! And the reason he came to save is that mankind was irreparably doomed without him. The cross is God's rescue mission to save people who are otherwise lost without him. This is why Paul said, in his quick introduction, that God should receive glory forever and ever (4-5).

The gospel is God's doing, his idea, his action, and his work. From beginning to end, God should get the glory (the credit), but the false teachers in Galatia were saying the cross was good but needed additional activity to be legitimate. So Paul wanted to set the record straight—man gets no glory. It all belongs to God!

And because this gospel message is God's precious creation, we have no business adding to it in any way. We must accept it as is. Paul will highlight this in the following—still introductory—verses. His strong wording will show us that adding to the gospel is dangerous for three reasons.

Adding Is Abandoning (6)

First, adding to the gospel is dangerous because adding is abandoning. Paul was astonished that these Galatians embraced gospel additions that meant they were deserting Jesus! To add to the gospel is to abandon Jesus. Paul wrote:

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— (Galatians 1:6, ESV)

This statement from Paul is full of force. In many of his letters—even his letter to the rebellious Corinthian church—Paul used his opening paragraphs to thank and pray for the church he wrote to. Not so here. This shows us the seriousness of the Galatian crime. To say right standing with God comes by Jesus plus anything is to distance yourself from Jesus. The word Paul used—deserting—is the word they would have used to describe military desertion, a transfer of allegiance, treason!

This means adding to the gospel isn't only an abandonment of a theological, doctrinal belief but a person. It's personal!

Again, Christ plus anything else as a requirement for full acceptance by God is an abomination because you are abandoning Jesus! It is to take his rescue mission and refuse to acknowledge its efficacy. It is saying to Jesus, Thank you for doing your part. Now I will add mine. And, together, we will have achieved my right standing before God—salvation.

But the person brought back from the dead by a team of emergency medical personal does not proceed to act as if they have attained life for themselves. I credit the embarrassing medical gown I'm wearing. I credit my willingness to eat ice chips and hospital jello. I credit these slippers. No! We would never!

So we have no business saying that we are approved by God through Christ's work plus anything! I vote right. I am a good person. I have biblical concepts down. I am environmentally conscious. I give to the poor. I serve a lot at church. I am not judgmental. I pray. These aren't the things that win us righteousness before God—the righteousness of the Son is given to us through his cross. To add to his gospel is to abandon him!

We love to be our own saviors. We love to think we can save ourselves if our surrender to Jesus is complete enough. We love to think we can save ourselves if we hold the right views. We love to think we can save ourselves through good works. Or we love to think we can save ourselves through religious regulations and ceremonies.[^2] But none of that works—and it all detracts from the radical saving power of Jesus.

If someone is drowning at a public pool, the lifeguard does not walk over and toss them a handbook on swimming. He does not start reading the How-To-Swim Wiki page. No, the drowning person does not need a swim lesson but a savior!

We might like our little gold star charts that tell us we are behaving well, earning something in God's sight. We might like the feeling of approval that comes with the bells and smells of religious activities. We might like the feeling that we are performing well enough to earn God's favor. But though legalism might be humanity's tendency, we cannot add to the good news of the gospel because it distances us from the very God who wants to save us!

Recently, Matt Ryan, a longtime pro football quarterback, hit an amazing career milestone when he threw for 60,000 all-time yards. It is quite an achievement, one that says he's been good for a really long time. But, for all his accomplishments in football, there is one game he would probably like to have back. The Atlanta Falcons, his team at the time, led the 2017 Super Bowl 28-3 at halftime. Everyone thought the game was over. But then the New England Patriots improbably came all the way back, stunned Ryan and his team, and became world champions. Well, apparently, every football in the NFL has a serial number on it. The one he used to throw for his sixty-thousandth yard was number 2-8-3. 28-3. And, of course, someone had to point it out to him.[^3]

And even when we are at our absolute best, there is plenty to remind us that we are still sinners in need of a savior, which is one reason why adding to the gospel is so foolish—to add to the gospel is to distance ourselves from the One who came to save us. To add is to abandon him!

Adding Is Destructive (7)

Second, adding to the gospel is dangerous because adding is destructive. Paul said:

7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:7, ESV)

The truth of the matter is that turning to a different gospel isn't possible because there is not another (7). And Paul knew the teachers who troubled the Galatians were distorting the gospel of Christ (7). In other words, they weren't merely augmenting or adjusting the gospel; they were destroying it by reversing it. The good news of righteousness by faith was being replaced by righteousness by works—and that never works!

And all this distortion was troubling to these new Galatian believers. The word Paul used to describe the troubling nature of the false gospel is the word they would use to describe sea sickness. Having grown up here on the Monterey Peninsula, I've had many opportunities to go out on the bay. For me, a feeling of sea sickness is inevitable. Internally, you know something is wrong. Things are upset within.

That's what these false teachers, with their false gospel, were doing to these Galatians. And even though legalism is so often attractive to us, it is a troubling message that turns our grace-based relationship with God into a troubling pact of works-righteousness. And once the joy is killed, so is our fruitfulness. Soon, we cannot fly.

At this point, it would be good to pause to see if we can discern, from the letter, what this false teaching was all about. Paul did not write this letter directly to the opponents but to Christians in Galatia, so he does not pick apart the false teaching line-by-line like he might if he was debating them directly. But, throughout the letter, there are some clues about what these false teachers said.

The first is right here in verse 7: they had distorted the gospel somehow. They also seem to have challenged Paul's authority and apostleship, which must be why he had to spend the first couple of chapters defending it (Gal. 1:10-24). They seem to have added onto the cross by requiring these Galatian believers—nearly all of whom were not Jewish—to obey certain aspects of the Old Testament law, things like circumcision and religious feast days (Gal 4:10, 5:2-3). They did all this to avoid being persecuted for the cross, which must mean they were more widely accepted in their Jewish community because they told everyone Jesus alone could not save, but that religious ceremonies must also be observed (Gal. 6:12-13).

And all these additions to the gospel, Paul warned, were destroying the gospel. He said there is no other gospel (7). To alter the gospel is to destroy it. To add to the gospel is like rolling down a window on the International Space Station and saying, "But it's just one window! The rest are still up!" No, once you've added to the gospel, you have killed it, and it is no longer good news.

The second you add to it good deeds, personal convictions, political parties, religious ceremonies, the praise of man, socially accepted views, self-mastery, old covenant rituals, baptismal rights of any kind, denominationalism, or systems of theology, you have adulterated and destroyed it. Some of these items will be an outflow of the Lordship of Christ or the leading of the Spirit, but none of them should be added as a means of justification.

Theologically, many of us would be on safe ground here, but we must also make sure we never treat items like these as functional means of justification. In other words, if someone (or even you) does not measure up to various deeds, views, ceremonies, or theology, do we banish or ostracize? Do we think, "Perhaps technically they are saved and belong to God, but I can't have anything to do with them"?

To some, it sounds dangerous to throw ourselves so completely on the work of Christ and to highlight our own work so little. I get it, but adding even slightly to the gospel creates a deadly atmosphere that slowly suffocates the true gospel. The great sixteenth-century reformer, Martin Luther, loved the book of Galatians (even calling it his wife) for this very reason. As he looked at the works-righteousness and religious trappings of the Roman Catholicism that dominated the world in his day, he saw how an adjusted gospel is a destroyed gospel. He said:

“There is no middle ground between Christian RIGHTEOUSNESS and WORKS-RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is no other alternative to Christian righteousness but works righteousness; if you do not build your confidence on the work of Christ, you must build your confidence on your own work.”[^4]

Adding is destructive!

Adding Is A High-Stakes Mistake

Third, adding to the gospel is dangerous because adding is a high-stakes mistake. This is why Paul could not spend even a moment commending the Galatian church—too much was at stake! So Paul stated the severity of the problem by writing:

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9, ESV)

Paul mentions two hypothetical situations. In the first, he or someone from his ministry team preached a gospel that contradicted the one they had already delivered to the Galatians. If that were to happen, Paul said, they should be accursed (8, 9). This means that even though Paul is about to defend his apostolic authority, and even though we must submit ourselves to his authority today, his apostolic authority could not alter the gospel. He derived his authority from Christ, who justified him through the gospel, so he had no power to change that gospel.

This first hypothetical is important because it helps us understand that no human is authoritative over the gospel found in the Bible. The Bible judges us; we do not judge it. Our own personal feelings and convictions must come under the authority of the word, and no human is qualified to change or adjust its gospel message.

In the second hypothetical, if an angel from heaven preached a gospel that contradicted Paul's, the angel should be accursed (8, 9). Imagine it! If an angel were to show up during one of their church services, they were not to receive its message if it contradicted the gospel Paul preached! Amazing.

This second hypothetical is important because many have hijacked the gospel by saying they are doing so by divine revelation. "It's not me," they say, "I received this in a vision or dream or from an encounter with an angel." But Paul is saying such messages—if they contradict the gospel of Christ in the slightest—are bogus. And the speaker should be divinely banned, completely cut off by God, accursed (8-9).

For some, Paul's language and tone are too strong and unloving. But we should note a few things about his statement. First, he applied it across the board—it is an equal opportunity curse that he applied to even himself should he preach another gospel. Second, this is not a reactional curse—by repeating it twice, Paul wants us to know this is a considered and biblical conclusion he's come to. The gospel must not be tampered with, and a curse should come on those who do. Finally, he is speaking with such strong language because of what is at stake. Since the gospel touches on the destiny of the souls of humanity, it is a message of the greatest importance. So love drove Paul to state in strong terms that anyone who messes with the gospel of Christ should be accursed.

If a cruise liner was sinking and you noticed passengers crowding into a damaged lifeboat, it would be loving of you to point it out. And Paul could not stand by and watch false teachers promote a message that was destined to harm its adherents. He had to point out their faulty life boat! The stakes were too high.

Conclusion

When I was an early-teen, my friends and I often played a simple game we called Quarters—I think we heard about it from Michael Jordan. Each of us would carry around a roll of quarters, and during school breaks, we would find a wall where two guys would take turns flipping quarters against it. Whoever's quarter landed closest to the wall—and the group was there to help judge—took home the other guy's quarter.

Every once in a while, a teacher or yard supervisor would catch us and tell us to stop because it was an introduction to gambling. We'd get in a tiny amount of trouble; they were never very concerned.

But imagine if we were tossing quarters as a way to compete for our future earnings. You win this toss, and I give you everything I earn for the next sixty years! Any teacher who overheard us would probably laugh. But imagine our game was somehow legally binding; they would've sternly rebuked us because the stakes were too high.

Adding to the gospel should never be done—the stakes are too high. We should not add the idea that our salvation is contingent on the quality of our surrender to Jesus. We should not add the idea that our salvation comes when we hold the right cultural expression of the gospel. We should not add the idea that we can save ourselves by being good people who do good things. We should not add the idea that we can save ourselves through regulation or religious ceremonies.

We cannot, and the stakes are high if we do—we don't fly, and people don't get saved! Instead, we must accept the gospel as is: the divinely inspired and initiated death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on our behalf—God's rescue mission to save despairing sinners.

[^1]: Stott, John R. W. The Message of Galatians: Only One Way. The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986. [^2]: Keller, Timothy. Galatians for You. God’s Word for You. Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company, 2013. [^3]: Holder, Stephen. 2022. “Indianapolis Colts QB Matt Ryan’s HOF Ball Contains Unintentional 28-3 Reminder.” ESPN. September 16, 2022. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34605703/indianapolis-colts-qb-matt-ryan-hof-ball-contains-unintentional-28-3-callback. [^4]: Luther, Martin. 1998. Galatians. Leicester, England: Crossway Books.