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)

Last week, we began studying the book of Galatians and heard Paul’s urgent message that adding to the gospel is dangerous — it is abandoning Jesus. A second reason adding to the gospel is dangerous is because it 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 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—which never works!

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 seasickness. Growing up on the Monterey Peninsula, I've had many opportunities to go out on the bay. For me, a feeling of seasickness is inevitable—the feeling that internally, something is wrong.

That's what these false teachers, with their false gospel, were doing to these Galatians. Even though legalism is so often attractive to us, it is a 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.

We should pause here to see if we can discern 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 were debating them directly. But there are some clues about what these false teachers said.

The first is in verse 7: they had distorted the gospel somehow. They seem to have added to the cross by requiring these Galatian believers—nearly all of whom were not Jewish—to obey certain aspects of the Old Testament law, such as 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. Once you've added to the gospel, 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 rites 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 should be added as a means for justification.

To some, it sounds dangerous to throw ourselves so entirely on the work of Christ and highlight our own work so little. Martin Luther loved the book of Galatians for this reason—as he looked at the works-righteousness and religious trappings of 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.”[^1]

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. Paul said that if that were to happen, 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.

No human is authoritative over the gospel found in the Bible. The Bible judges us; we do not judge it. Our 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!

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 well-thought-out and biblical conclusion he's come to. The gospel must not be tampered with; a curse should come on those who do. He is speaking with such strong language because of what is at stake: the destiny of human souls. Love drove Paul to state that anyone who messes with the gospel of Christ should be accursed.

Conclusion

When I was an early teen, my friends and I often played a simple game we called Quarters. Each of us would carry around a roll of quarters, and during breaks, two guys would take turns flipping quarters against a wall. Whoever's quarter landed closest to the wall 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 minimal trouble—they were never very concerned.

But imagine if we were tossing quarters to compete for our future earnings, and it was legally binding. You win this toss, and I give you everything I earn for the next sixty years! Any teacher would've sternly rebuked us because the stakes were too high.

Adding to the gospel should never be done. We cannot, and the stakes are high if we do—we don't fly, and people don't learn how to enter into a relationship with God. 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 us despairing sinners.

[^1]: Luther, Martin. 1998. Galatians. Leicester, England: Crossway Books.