Celebrity Pastors (Galatians 1:8-9)

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!  As we have already said, so now I say again:  If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

Galatians 1:8-9

Observations

Paul knows the weight that his words carry with this community, or at least the weight it once carried.  We will see this connection later in Galatians.  Angels seem an interesting addition to the source list.  This reflects how God had communicated with Paul, who would have shared this miraculous source with the people of Galatia.  Paul wants the people of Galatia to guard the gospel so carefully that they would rebuke him, fellow believers, and even angels if the message departs from the original gospel message.

Twice Paul places those who are preaching a distorted gospel under God’s curse.  That is strong language to use against important sources.   We have witnessed friends and/or family devote themselves to a particular teacher, even to the point of rejecting their communities for the sake of that teacher.  We have watched loved ones be led into dark places by false and distorted teachings.  

Questions for Curiosity

• I wonder if we are as good at noticing when a whole community comes under the influence of a teacher who is adding to the gospel.  
• Do we crave new or more exciting revelations?  
• Do we perhaps actually want a community that has added to the gospel with artificial benchmarks because they make us feel we have earned our place?  

Further Reflection

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

2 Corinthians 11:2-4