Rachel Workman: 6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.[c] You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
This really stands out to me. If people pleasing were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. We can not please God if we are more worried about pleasing people. I promise you that what God wants for us and what another human wants for us are two different things. We should guard ourselves against being a people pleaser. When we do we take away from ourselves and from God.
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John Burnett: 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you [a]by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing 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 [b]contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be [c]accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel [d]contrary to what you received, he is to be [e]accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. In the first century church, there were false teachers leading people astray. This is still going on today. There are thousands of TV shows, youtube channels, and podcasts that preach a gospel contrary to what the Bible teaches. Those teachers are accursed and will be punished beyond what we can fathom. The sad thing is that they will drag all of their followers with them into the fiery pit. The Gospel Paul preached is one of our wretched sinful condition and our need for Jesus Christ as our Savior. We deserve the death penalty for our sins but Christ that penalty on the cross for those who repent of their sins and put their trust in Him.
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Word and He provided Paul the words to write through the Holy Spirit.
13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my [h]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with [i]flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Paul tells on himself and how he was zealously persecuting the church, but through God's grace, He revealed Jesus Christ to Paul so that he could preach the gospel to the gentiles. We should be thankful that God was merciful to us Gentiles and used Paul to share the gospel to us.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Galatians 1:17-24
When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.[f] 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter,[g] and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.
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