Galatians 1:6–9 - What’s the Difference?

There was a crisis in Galatia. John Gerstner calls it “a falsification of the gospel.” Information that is falsified is altered in order to mislead someone. That was the case in the church to whom Paul wrote this letter.

When it comes to the gospel, do you think you could be misled? Could you misunderstand God’s love and grace? Could you get caught up with other things which detract from the glory of Christ? Of course you could, and to some extent, we all do. That will become clear as we make our way through this book of Scripture, and it’s part of what makes the book of Galatians so relevant.


There’s only one true gospel. But there are many harmful variations. Can you spot a fake? Can you detect when something is being added? There are so many variations; some are obvious, some are not as obvious.

So, what’s the difference? Let’s see what Paul says. He begins verse [6] by stating, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you.” Paul is shocked. By adopting this different gospel, they have effectively left God. It was the one true God who called them by His grace because He loved them.

Now, what is this calling of God? Well, it’s both a summons and an invitation. With a summons, you’re required to respond and to show up. It’s an obligation. With an invitation, you’re welcomed. It’s more of an opportunity. So, you get a summons to appear in court. You get an invitation to attend a party.

If someone had a party, and they summoned you, you would naturally think, “Who are you to summon me? You’re not my king or queen.” And if you were invited to court, you might think, “Hmmm, no I’ll pass.”

God’s call to sinners who are dead in their trespasses is both a summons and invitation. Scripture tells us we are born spiritually dead and we must be brought to life – we must be made able to respond to God. Responding to His saving call isn’t a matter of wanting or not wanting to do so. You’re dead. God must summon you from your spiritually dead state. And once He does so, then you’re spiritually alive and able to come to Him.

Now, you’re obviously physically alive, and from that perspective, God’s call appears gracious and merciful, which it is. God’s welcome is extended to you. He kindly brings you in.

Now notice this next phrase, “in the grace of Christ.” You might read that “by” the grace of Christ or “with” the grace of Christ. Grace is the way we are saved and Christ is the means of that way. He is the way, but we can only have Christ by way of God’s unearned favor. God summons and invites a dead sinner with the “favor” of Christ.

So clearly, the way is not Christ and something else alongside Him. But that’s what many of the Galatian Christians were being swept into. Paul says they were “turning to a different gospel—[7] not that there is another one.”

The word “gospel” means “good news” or “good tidings.” In Luke 2, when an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear, the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Same root word there as here.

Gospel means “good information.” The gospel of Christ is information regarding how sinners can be declared righteous by God. It’s the announcement that God is justifying sinners – in other words, He’s making peace with His enemies and accepting them – and the gospel is the news about how God does this. How is such a thing possible?

One natural question is “What do I have to do?” You know, “What’s my part?” The gospel that Paul taught was that you must believe in Christ – you must have faith in the person of Jesus and also in His saving work. And that’s it. That’s all. Paul went to such great lengths to make it clear that a person is saved by grace through faith, period.

He even told them in Ephesians 2, “This is not your own doing; it’s the gift of God.” Faith is the response of a person who has first of all been raised to life by God. You were dead in your sins, Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

This is the information. God declaring sinners righteous: God giving us faith – enabling us to believe. It’s not because of anything we have done or will one day do. God is just doing this because of His great love.

This “different gospel” that Paul refers to involved the adding of something else. Those who were peddling this false gospel pushed the Jewish ritual of circumcision and other aspects of the Jewish ceremonial law as well. Jews who believed in Jesus had practiced these things in the past, but non-Jews were not required to do these things. Christ and the apostles had not commanded anything except faith in Christ to be made clean before God and to have peace with God.

When you start adding things alongside faith in Christ, it seemingly never ends. This is why in Galatians 5, Paul says, “Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.” We are not saved by any works.

What you find, even today, is that where people really have Christ plus other things in mind, everyone has a slightly different version of it. It’s something like, “You need faith in Christ, plus you need to do things just like me. To really be right with God, you need to do this thing that I do well.” This different gospel stated that just having faith in Christ was not enough. It’s as if they were saying, “You aren’t in with God – you don’t actually have righteous standing with God – until you submit yourself for this ritual or keep this rule. You can’t be made right with God unless you also do this.”

Can you see how that diminishes what Christ accomplished for His people? Do you see how that shifts the focus from God to us? It’s as if, even for all Christ did, if you don’t do this, Christ is ineffective for you. Do you see how this different gospel can only result in a different view of God – a view that can only be troubling.

Notice the rest of verse 7. Paul says, “there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” That’s what a different gospel does: it makes you distressed. It makes you anxious, fearing that there’s more to do for God to love you, or it makes you angry, feeling that you can never seem to do enough for God. It can make you apathetic, thinking, “What’s the use? It’s never enough anyway.”

In Matthew 11, Jesus expresses the single focus of His gospel. He sums up what you need tto be assured that you have peace with God, and to be confident that you have continual access to Him, and to be encouraged that you have His favor. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A different gospel will make you distressed; the true gospel makes you rest, because the true gospel focuses you on Christ only to bring you to God. Any information that adds something else inevitably makes it all about whatever that something else is. A different gospel makes that other thing THE thing.

Think about this: does a person have to be seeking God for God to save them? No. Does a person have to show some kind of desire to change before God will save them? No. Do they have to demonstrate some kind of interest in Christ, or some sort of discontentment with their life apart from God? No, they don’t. They simply hear the gospel and – by the power of God – they believe! That’s what faith in Christ alone means!

So why would any additional ritual or rule be required? This is why Paul is so shocked and so troubled. The love of God is being distorted. The grace of God is being deformed. And the glory of Christ is being diminished. How serious is this? Look at verse 8.

Paul says, [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.” “Accursed” is terminology for someone or something devoted to destruction by God. Someone who is detestable to God – someone abominable in His sight. The word is used in reference to a people or a place who are condemned.

The concept is present in both the OT and the NT. Being accursed would be the worst thing that could happen to you happening to you. It’s bigger than anything that you could endure on this earth. Anything that happened here would be only the start. The worst comes in eternity.

For the accursed, there is no hope of being redeemed. And verse [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.” If they’re cursed, and you follow them, you’ll be cursed as well.

According to Genesis 3, the curse of sin was brought about through deception involving the love of God. Satan cast doubt on God’s trustworthiness and generosity and wisdom. God loved Adam and Eve. He desired the very best for them. Look at all He gave them, and furthermore, look at how He forgave them.

After they sinned, though they endured judgment, God showed them grace. He took their side and covered them. He foretold of a Savior. God loved them and Satan cast doubt on that love. He accused God of lying to them and withholding good from them. Adam and Eve bought the lie and a curse came upon them and everyone after them.

Those who are born again are no longer under the power of sin’s curse –though sin still affects us greatly and will continue to during our time on this earth. But we have been rescued from sin’s ruin. We are being renewed day by day, as God transforms us into the likeness of His Son.

Once God has declared you righteous – when you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ – there’s no greater blessing you could receive than to understand God’s love for you and to enjoy and be assured of that great love in your soul. A life misunderstanding God’s love and grace is a cursed life, and anyone who requires something else in addition to Christ is leading you on to a cursed life.

A different gospel will ruin you; the true gospel renews you. A different gospel is a curse in this life and the life to come.

In this life, it’s a curse to not truly know Christ, but also to not understand the freedom that comes with life in Christ. This freedom in Christ is a subject that we’re going to explore throughout Galatians. As we go, I’ll be more specific about it. Our freedom in Christ is sabotaged by legalism – a term used in the Christian world for added rules that God has not required.

For the legalist, God’s favor must be earned through doing or not doing certain things. Legalism is the adding of commands which are usually individual convictions. For the legalist, the love of God is only one side of a coin. On the other side are stipulations that God has not clearly made in His Word. And a legalistic gospel is another false variation of the true gospel. It distorts God’s love and diminishes Christ’s accomplishments. And that brings on the distress and the ruin. We’ll go further into this next Sunday.

But as we go to the Lord’s table today, you should understand that this is a table of rest and renewal. Jesus Christ endured great distress so that we could enjoy His rest. Christ was ruined so we could be made new and be renewed day after day. Christ became a curse for us, and so if you are in Christ, you are not cursed. You are blessed. You are blessed because of Christ alone.

That’s the difference. Let’s bow in prayer.