Galatians 1:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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 —

NIV: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

NASB: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel,

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—

NLT: I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News

KJV: I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

NKJV: I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,

Paul began his letter with a brief, beautiful explanation of what the gospel message—the "good news"—about Jesus truly is. Jesus gave His life to pay for human sin before being returned to life by God the Father. Scholars call this "substitutionary atonement," meaning Jesus took our place and paid the full penalty for our sin. Without that, we would be trapped and doomed to death instead of delivered from "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4).

Now Paul turns fully to the reason for this letter. He speaks directly to people who believed the gospel of Jesus when Paul told them about it on his first missionary journey to their region. They heard the simple truth that through faith in Christ, they could be saved from their sin. No extra works were required to assure their place in God's family. Jesus had paid in full with His life.

As will become clear, Paul is frustrated with his readers, if not angry. He is, in fact, "astonished" that they are so quickly turning away from the simple truth. More specifically, Paul writes that they are deserting or abandoning Christ Himself by believing a different idea, a different "gospel," than the one he showed them.

What's going on? As the following verses will make clear, a group of religious people had moved in among the Galatian Christians after Paul left, distorting what Paul had taught. They said, in short, specific works or actions were necessary to truly be saved. Simple faith in Christ alone was not enough. Paul writes here that to reject his faith-alone gospel was to reject Christ Himself.

Galatians 1:6–10 is unusual; Paul's letters usually open with some kind of praise or thanksgiving for his readers. Not Galatians. He immediately expresses how baffled he is that these people who received the good news about salvation by God's grace and through faith in Christ have so quickly deserted Christ. Anyone who teaches any other gospel than the one Paul taught to them is cursed and/or will be eternally condemned. Paul points to that harsh statement as evidence that he is not trying to please any men. He serves and lives for the approval of God.

Paul begins his letter to the Galatian churches abruptly, compared to his other writings. He has heard they are deserting the gospel which he preached and they believed: the good news that Jesus died to fully pay for all our sins on the cross. The Judaizers taught that these Gentiles must also follow the law of Moses to be saved and openly questioned Paul's authority. Paul makes the case that he has been made an apostle by Christ, who appeared to him and revealed the truth to him apart from the other apostles.

Galatians 1 begins one of the most-loved books about God's grace in all of Scripture. This and the following chapter detail Paul's biography, as he makes the case that he has been made an apostle by Christ and therefore his message is trustworthy. Chapters 3 and 4 go into depth about exactly what the gospel of God's grace is and why it is true. In chapters 5 and 6, Paul teaches about how Christians should live in the world as people who have received the grace of God through faith in Christ.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.