Ecclesiastical Troublemakers are like an assorted box of Gagnon Chocolates. While you never know what you’re going to bite into, but you can be sure something in there is going to give you heartburn. Some are complainers who persist in pointing out every mistake that everyone in the congregation is guilty of especially leaders. Others seem to somehow get themselves into financial scandals, inappropriate flirtations, or gossip. These folks don’t just fall into sin—they seem to make a spiritual career out of it. Then, there are others who are like theological artists who believe that we haven’t really created the final picture of what the faith should look like. They are the ones convinced that the faith is an unfinished painting and they alone have the missing brushstroke. This last category generally consists of those of a progressive mind, not so much on how to organize the seating in a church or how to better the potlucks, but in a unique doctrine that they want everyone to hear. They are insistent and persistent in playing for you their favorite tune on the one string banjo. Getting people on board with their pet doctrine is a mission that generally doesn’t benefit the believer’s sanctification, blesses the church or honours the Lord, but is meant to stoke their ego. They want you to believe that they have a special insight and intellectual and theological superiority over thousands of years of biblical theology. They’ve mastered their pet doctrine, and they’re not bending—not even if the Apostle Paul himself descended from heaven with a footnote. This has recourse, of course, and when they win others to their side, it generally creates a crater within the congregation, leadership on one side, their newly formed fan club on the other and the congregants stuck in the middle. Historically, the church has handled these self‑appointed prophets by confronting them directly. And if they insist on spreading their theological mud everywhere, the final step is often to kindly but firmly escort them to the exit—preferably before they start handing out pamphlets. We call this excommunication where they are, as Paul put it so eloquently, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).
While there is certainly a severity to God’s excommunication of individuals through the consensus of the church, there is one severe penalty that is rarely taken seriously anymore. It was deeply feared in the Middle Ages but today has fell on hard times. It was issued appropriately at Arius during the Nicene Council and Nestorius at the council of Ephesus but inappropriately issued against the Waldenses and of course, famously, by the Council of Trent against the Protestant Reformation. That condemnation was the anathema or the accursing of God.
The Text
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (Galatians 1:6-9)
A Shocking Desertion
As the apostle continues his letter to the Galatian churches, his emphasis, unlike in his other letters, is not upon gratitude or a commendation of their faith, but amazement. Paul begins by chastising the foolish Galatians who are so easily persuaded by the message of false brethren. But notice from verse 6 that he is astonished, not only that they believed another gospel, but at how quickly they deserted God. The force of the term “amazed” or “marvel” (NKJV) means that Paul is absolutely shocked. Desertion or turning away is used elsewhere of a removal or to be transported from one point to another (Hebrews 11:5; Acts 7:16). But in this instance, it seems to communicate a qualitative change much like the priesthood in Hebrews 7:12 where it went from the Levitical priesthood to the Melchizedek Priesthood. The churchmen in Galatia were being accused of removing themselves from the side of the gospel to the side of another gospel an in return from the side of God to the side of heretics. What truly astonished Paul was just how quickly it happened. This expression quickly at least hints to a time period. But what is it referring to? How quickly after the arrival of the false teachers and the promulgation of their message or how quickly after their conversion? I believe he is perhaps hinting at how quickly things had changed since the last time he’d been there with them. Douglas Moo points out that this might even be reminiscent of the apostasy of Israel in the episode of the golden calf when they had so quickly turned aside from the way of Yahweh (Exodus 32:8; Deuteronomy 9:16)[1]. The parallel is actually fascinating! The Hebrews, according to Exodus 32, made a golden calf which they attributed to Yahweh. The Galatians were exhibiting a similar behaviour by creating a gospel that was according to their standards but attributing it to Yahweh as well. The apostasy of an individual and in return a church can happen quickly, with a church left to react. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone who is to abandon the gospel does so “quickly” since some are in churches worshipping for years prior to their eventual downfall. A congregation needs to be aware and quick to respond.
What does it mean to be called by God?
This God whom they were deserting was the same who had called them in Christ. They had been called by God by the grace of Christ. Some have argued that Paul has himself in mind as the one who called them by the grace of God. The term “έν” however should be translated “in” not “by”. It is in the grace of Christ that people are called, an expression is used elsewhere and commonly associated with God the Father (Romans 8:28; 9:12, 24; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Galatians 1:15). The divine call of God is more than just a general invitation to receive the gospel but is usually refers to an effectual calling that changes the heart of the one to whom it is aimed. There are instances in Scripture where believers are referred to as “the called” as a separate group (1 Corinthians 1:24). This is precisely the meaning of the term church; it is the called-out ones!
It is a calling that finds its foundation in the grace of Jesus Christ. God’s calling is an act of charity towards sinners to bring them into the blessings of His gospel. The amazement of Paul is perhaps that these called believers in Galatia were abandoning the gospel at all, especially as “quickly” as they were. A believer should also pause to remember that it was by God’s doing that we are in Christ and in return we have nothing to boast about. We’ve received the benefits of the glad tidings of God’s grace freely in Christ.
Fake Good News
We see in verses 6b-7 the way that they were deserting God which was by embracing a different or another gospel. This gospel they are moving towards is not another gospel at all. It is only a gospel in the sense that those heretics promoting it are calling it a gospel. These men are identified in two ways; they are disturbers and distorters. The disturbers are those who agitate or stir the proverbial pot probably against Paul and his associates. They are also mentioned in Galatian 5:10 as those who will bear their judgment. Luke uses the same expression in Acts 15:24 during the Jerusalem council for those who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment. The agitators are also distorters. Their goal is to distort or pervert (NKJV) the real gospel, which is called the good news of Jesus. The charge is an ongoing attempt by these false teachers to warp the pure message of justification by faith alone and as we will see later in the epistle, this was for the sake of adding the legal requirements of the Torah to that faith creating a different hope and a different means of justification.
Apostles or Angels
Paul’s desire in verses 8-9 is to drive home the point that the agitators are not the issue. It’s doesn’t matter who they are. if even Paul himself, who brought the message to them, or those who were with him (v.2), suddenly changed their minds on the essence of the message or even if an angelic being claiming to be sent by God proclaimed something different than what Paul had originally announced, they are wrong. The angelic beings here may be associated with those who ordained the law in Galatians 3:19. Their error is, in fact, a matter of life and death. It wasn’t just a point in a doctrinal debate. It is a matter of whether a soul will find its way into the heavens after death or in hell. The fact that Paul repeats the statement in v.9 indicates an emphasis upon that fact.
Anathema
The apostle Paul then uses a specific term for the fate of those who pollute the gospel. That word is translated from the word “anathema”. It is translated as “cursed” or “accursed”. Douglas Moo points out that:
The Greek word, in turn, reflects the Hebrew… (herem), “something dedicated,” often “dedicated to destruction” (e.g., Num 21:3; Deut. 7:26; Josh. 6:17; 7:12; Zech. 14:11)[2].
The word is used in the New Testament on several occasions where Paul wished himself accursed on behalf of his countrymen (Romans 9:3). He explains in that text that accursed means “separated from Christ”. [3] While some equate this to the excommunication from a church, I believe it means much more. These agitators weren’t necessarily a part of any church that we know of. What Paul is declaring is that they fall under the wrath of God for their twisting of His holy message. As Nehemiah prayed regarding God’s enemies: Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You (Nehemiah 4:5).
Keeping It Pure
We must take these two passages very seriously. While people do pollute Christian doctrine and will continue to do so till the return of Jesus, there is an emphasis here on making sure we get the gospel right. We have to ensure that we are not changing the message or watering it down. While we don’t want to add to the content of the message with legal requirements and our works of righteousness, we also don’t want to subtract from it either by not mentioning that people are sinners or naming the sin or in a flu shot gospel where you just have to believe it one time in your life and you can do what you wish afterwards. We certainly don’t want to fall under the category of the accursed and we should be willing to defend always the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the sake of the salvation of sinners.
[1] Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Douglas Moo, Baker Academics, 2013, Page Page 76-77.
[2] Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Douglas Moo, Baker Academics, 2013, Page 80
[3] The term is also used in 1 Corinthians 12:3; 16:22 and Acts 23:14