Galatians 1:10
No Other Gospel (continue)
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Not to gloss over this significant verse; yet, we must study and reconcile this to what Paul has already addressed in the previous paragraph. The Galatians were “so quickly deserting him [Jesus] who called you [them] in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 3:6). This can either be seen as the Galatians deserting immediately after hearing Paul’s gospel of Christ or, they are so quickly leaving after listing to the Judaizers who present an opposing gospel. Either position is concerning as we study this glorious New Testament book. Up to this moment, we do not know if those who deserted were true Christians or if they were just erroring in their doctrinal beliefs. Either way, the doctrinal error was significant. As we saw yesterday, Paul did not treat them as enemies in his rebuke. Paul may have remembered words about Jesus’ Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, which says,
“24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Paul made sure that he did not pull up the weeds, lest he pulled up the wheat along with them. The Apostle’s opposition was not church members, for they are his brothers and sisters in Christ. Nevertheless, Paul struggled with the Judaizers who were truly the enemies of the cross. While they did not belong in the church, they were, however, working inside the Galatian churches to attack Paul’s apostolic authority and his message. Paul’s letter was addressed to the churches, to rebuke those who deserted Christ and to warn those who did not. In regards to the Judaizers, Paul said to the church, if any man or, even if angels came preaching another gospel than the one they already received from him, they are to be called accursed. Paul is ensuring that the believers and the church preserve and cherish the gospel message as sacred. They are the inspired words of God. No one may add to or take away from its truth. This is a firm warning to us all.
Yet, there are enemies of the cross who do creep in and attack. Some are incognito and disguised, like sheep in wolf’s clothing. Others are disgustingly blatant as they openly scoff and ridicule our great God of Creation, our Lord Jesus Christ. We can easily identify the latter and avoid them. They are obvious in the evil and wicked intent. However, those who are camouflaged or unrecognizable, cause more harm on the gospel of Christ because they scheme, belittle, take away, or add to the gospel message making it null and void of any power. To this measure, Paul takes great offense and strives to set the record straight.
In Galatians 1:10, Paul wants his readers to judge for themselves. His record is proof. They know Paul and the way he labored in love for the churches. More so, they know of his love for Christ who called him to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. To Paul, he did not labor to get the approval of men; yet, we know that popularity is a temptation to those who stand and preach on the pulpit. Not necessarily the pulpit in churches, but on television. Their devotion seems to be pure and righteous, and yet get a large following of people to listen to them. Yet, they do not preach the true gospel of Christ. Instead, they twist and distort the message to meet the desires of those who listen, those who are worldly and do not desire to grow in their sanctification for the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not want to be convicted of sin. They want a message that amuses them. To this occasion, Paul writes to the Galatian churches. We also need to be less naive when listening to a preacher on television just because there is a large audience. Consider, for example, what Christ said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” We have a duty to not listen to those who preach another gospel and call them accursed!
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Jesus, my Lord and my God. Thank you for giving me Your gospel message in Christ Jesus. May I ever be faithful in my love, devotion, and defense of these cherished words of life! Thank You for our pastors who love the Word of God and who preach the Word faithfully in fear and trembling – they preach to honor and glorify You, and not man. Help me to be more discerning by being like the Bereans who search the Scriptures to see if what was said was really true and found in the Bible. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
Christian Hymn: Wonderful Words of Life by Philip P. Bliss in 1874,
