1:6-10. The one Gospel


Paul's very strong, even angry language, shows how extremely upset he was because of what was happening in the churches in Galatia. He had thought that the Galatians had a firm grasp of the Gospel which he had preached to them but now he has heard that they think that what he told them about Jesus Christ is not the full or true Gospel. Paul seems to have been accused, by the Judaizers, of trying to please the Galatians by preaching a deficient or 'watered down' gospel to them. The implication is that the Galatians had been deceived by Paul and cheated out of the full knowledge of salvation which Paul could have given them. What comes later in the letter shows that Paul had been criticized by the Judaizers for not telling the Galatians that they must follow the Jewish Law and accept circumcision, the badge of those who followed the Law, to find full salvation. Paul's Gospel-the Good News of the salvation which God offers to the sinner through Christ's incarnation, death, resurrection and living power-was not considered to be enough by the Judaizers.