Another Gospel – Galatians 1:1-2:21
Is there more than one Gospel? Paul writes to the Galatians with shocking urgency—they’ve abandoned the true Gospel for a counterfeit. But what’s startling: they didn’t reject Christ outright. They simply added to Him.
Galatians 1:6-7 (CSB)
“I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”
Paul’s amazement isn’t casual surprise—it’s alarm. The Galatians weren’t turning to Buddhism or atheism. They kept Jesus but added requirements: faith in Christ plus following the law. Paul calls this “another gospel”—which isn’t a gospel at all, but a distortion that destroys what saves us.
Galatians 1:11-12 (CSB)
“For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
The Gospel didn’t originate with Paul or any human—it came directly from Christ. Yet even Peter, a church leader, faltered under social pressure. He ate with Gentile believers until certain Jews arrived, then withdrew, acting as if Gentiles needed Jewish law to be accepted. Paul confronted him publicly because Peter’s actions preached a false gospel: that Christ’s work wasn’t enough.
Galatians 2:16 (CSB)
“…yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.”
Here’s Paul’s thunderbolt: if we could be made right with God through our efforts, Christ’s death was meaningless. But he doesn’t stop there—he reveals the Gospel’s transforming power:
Galatians 2:19-21 (CSB)
“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
The Gospel doesn’t just save—it transforms how we live. We’ve died to earning God’s approval and been raised to live by faith in Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Adding anything to Christ’s finished work isn’t just wrong—it makes His death pointless.
Paul’s challenge echoes today. We may not struggle with Jewish law, but do we subtly add to Christ? Do we think we’re saved by faith but sustained by performance? The Gospel that saved us sustains us. Christ’s work is complete—nothing needs to be added, nothing can be improved. Paul’s warning is stark:
Galatians 1:8
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached to you, let him be cursed!”
Are we living in the freedom of the true Gospel, or are we, like the Galatians, turning to a counterfeit?
We must remember that the Gospel of grace alone stands or falls; there is no other Gospel that saves.
