Galatians 1:8 – No concessions

But if ever we also, or a messenger out of heaven, should be bringing an evangel to you beside that which we bring to you, let him be anathema!

Paul is by no means uncertain about the content of the Gospel he had preached among the Galatians. It was precisely that message which he had received and in which he had been taught. Not of or through a man, but “through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (:12). Paul is extremely black and white when it comes to this. Any deviation is killing. As a “slave of Christ” (:10) he was to speak as he had done. Even if he himself were to come back to the Galatians and deviate from it, there would be (without excuse!), a curse upon it. Ditto in case an angel from heaven (it couldn’t be more convincing!) came to the Galatians with a deviating ‘gospel’. The message that Paul had proclaimed is the absolute standard for what would sound among the nations today.

From the Greek it is not clear whether Paul’s anathema (Gr. anathema) now affects the deviant message (“that she be accursed”), or its messenger (“whom be cursed”). Grammatically, it can be both. It is clear that whoever preaches such a (“different kind of Gospel”) brings in a curse. We take not of that!

Delen: