◄ Galatians 1:6 ►
I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--
Study Bible
I am amazed

Paul’s astonishment reveals the urgency of the crisis in Galatia. Having proclaimed Christ among them and witnessed their reception of the gospel, he is grieved that their confidence in God’s grace has been so quickly unsettined. His concern resembles his warning to the Corinthians that believers can be led away from sincere devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2–3).

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?…
2Co 11:3 I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived…
Mrk 6:6 And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around…

how quickly you are deserting

The Galatians were abandoning the gospel soon after receiving it, apparently under the influence of teachers who required Gentile believers to adopt Jewish ceremonial practices, especially circumcision, as necessary for full acceptance by God (Acts 15:1, 5). Their departure echoed Israel’s repeated tendency to turn from the Lord shortly after receiving His revealed will, as at Sinai (Exodus 32:8).

Exo 32:8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way…
Deu 9:16 And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God;…
Heb 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart…

the One who called you

God Himself had called the Galatians out of darkness and into salvation. Their movement toward a works-centered message was not merely a rejection of Paul’s instruction; it was a departure from the God who had graciously drawn them to Himself. God’s calling stands behind salvation from beginning to end (Romans 8:30).

1Th 5:24 The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
2Th 2:14 He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in…
1Co 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son…

by the grace of Christ

Salvation rests on Christ’s gracious work, not on human achievement or obedience to the Law. Christ gave Himself for sinners, and those who trust Him are accepted by God as a gift of grace. Adding legal requirements to faith denies the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice and contradicts the truth that salvation is not earned by works (Ephesians 2:8–9).

2Th 3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.
Act 15:11 On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace…
2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God…

and are turning to a different gospel—

The message promoted by the false teachers claimed to preserve faith in Christ while adding Law observance as a condition of justification. Paul regarded such teaching as a corruption, not a legitimate alternative, because the gospel declares that sinners are made right with God through faith in Christ alone.

2Co 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus…
1Ti 1:3-7 As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia,…
2Co 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul
The apostle who authored the letter to the Galatians. He is expressing his astonishment at the Galatians' quick departure from the true gospel.

2. Galatians
The recipients of the letter, likely a group of churches in the region of Galatia. They are being influenced by false teachings.

3. Christ
Central to the message of the gospel, whose grace is the means of calling believers.

4. Different Gospel
Refers to the false teachings that were leading the Galatians astray from the true gospel of Christ.

5. Grace of Christ
The unmerited favor and calling of believers, which is being abandoned by the Galatians in favor of a distorted message.
Teaching Points
Guard Against False Teachings
Believers must be vigilant and discerning to ensure they are not swayed by teachings that deviate from the true gospel of Christ.

The Importance of Grace
Understanding that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ is crucial. Any teaching that adds to this is a distortion of the gospel.

Stay Rooted in the True Gospel
Regular study of Scripture and sound doctrine helps believers remain steadfast in their faith and resist false teachings.

The Role of Apostolic Authority
Recognize the authority of the apostles, like Paul, who were divinely appointed to establish and clarify the gospel message.

Quick Desertion as a Warning
The Galatians' quick desertion serves as a warning to all believers about the ease with which one can be led astray if not firmly grounded in the truth.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern "different gospels" that believers might encounter today, and how can we identify them?

2. How does understanding the grace of Christ help us resist false teachings?

3. In what ways can we ensure that we are not quickly deserting the true gospel in our daily lives?

4. How can the example of the Galatians serve as a warning for us in our spiritual journey?

5. What practical steps can we take to deepen our understanding of the true gospel and strengthen our faith?
Connections to Other Scriptures
2 Corinthians 11:4
Paul warns about accepting a different gospel, highlighting the danger of being led astray by false teachings.

Acts 15:1-2
The early church faced similar issues with false teachings, particularly regarding the necessity of following the Mosaic Law for salvation.

1 Timothy 1:3-7
Paul instructs Timothy to remain in Ephesus to command certain people not to teach false doctrines, emphasizing the importance of sound teaching.
Sermons
Colossians I. 9, 10St. Chrysostom Galatians 1:6
A Doctored GospelC. H. Spurgeon.Galatians 1:6-7
A Group of MarvelsGalatians 1:6-7
Another GospelThomas Jones.Galatians 1:6-7
Another GospelJ. Lyth., J. Lyth.Galatians 1:6-7
Apostasy from the TruthJ. P. Lange, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
Apostasy is EasyW. M. Punshon.Galatians 1:6-7
Apostasy of BelieversJ. P. Lange, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
Different Treatment for Seducers and SeducedLuther.Galatians 1:6-7
Fickle ChristiansJ. Trapp.Galatians 1:6-7
Inconstancy a Common FaultJ. P. Lange, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
Lapsed ChristiansH. W. Beecher.Galatians 1:6-7
Movement not ProgressLuther.Galatians 1:6-7
No Truce with HereticsGalatians 1:6-7
Perverting the GospelR. Brewin.Galatians 1:6-7
Rapid DeclensionThos. Fuller.Galatians 1:6-7
Soul TroublersD. Thomas, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
Steadfast in the TruthC. H. Spurgeon.Galatians 1:6-7
The Apostle's DemeanourJ. P. Lange, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
The Dilettante GospelA. Macleod, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
The Early Churches not Pattern ChurchesA. Maclaren, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
The Earnestness with Which StJ. P. Lange, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
The Galatian RevoltW. Perkins.Galatians 1:6-7
The Gospel of ChristBishop Lightfoot., T. T. Lynch.Galatians 1:6-7
The Grace of ChristThomas Jones.Galatians 1:6-7
The Instability of Many IsJ. Lyth.Galatians 1:6-7
The Judaizing Antagonists of St. PaulE. Reuss, D. D.Galatians 1:6-7
The Mixture of Truth and Error DangerousC. H. Spurgeon.Galatians 1:6-7
The Perversion of the Gospel IsJ. Lyth.Galatians 1:6-7
The Real Question At IssueCanon Liddon.Galatians 1:6-7
The Religious Instability of the GalatiansF. W. Farrar.Galatians 1:6-7
The Risks of Revelation not Such as to Invalidate its AccuracyE. White.Galatians 1:6-7
The Unchangeable GospelC. H. Spurgeon.Galatians 1:6-7
The Wonder of a Faithful Apostle At the Defection of Faithless ConvertsR. Nicholls.Galatians 1:6-7
The Work of DeceptionJ. Lyth.Galatians 1:6-7
Occasion of the EpistleR. Finlayson Galatians 1:6-10
Paul's Intolerance of Any Other GospelR.M. Edgar Galatians 1:6-10
People
Cephas, Galatians, James, Paul, Peter
Places
Cilicia, Damascus, Galatia, Jerusalem, Judea, Syria
Topics
Adhering, Amazed, Astonished, Change, Christ, Christ's, Deserting, Different, Gospel, Grace, Leaving, Marvel, News, Quickly, Readily, Removed, Removing, Sort, Surprised, Thus, Turning, Wonder
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Galatians 1:6

     5835   disappointment
     5925   rashness
     6620   calling
     7024   church, nature of
     8706   apostasy, warnings

Galatians 1:6-7

     5815   confusion
     6746   sanctification, means and results
     8743   faithlessness, nature of

Galatians 1:6-9

     1615   Scripture, sufficiency
     2422   gospel, confirmation
     5175   reading
     5293   defence, human
     5811   compromise
     7025   church, unity
     7756   preaching, content
     7760   preachers, responsibilities
     8028   faith, body of beliefs
     8237   doctrine, false
     8316   orthodoxy, in NT
     8749   false teachers
     8750   false teachings
     8766   heresies

Library
Our Manifesto
TO ME it is a pitiful sight to see Paul defending himself as an apostle; and doing this, not against the gainsaying world, but against cold-hearted members of the church. They said that he was not truly an apostle, for he had not seen the Lord; and they uttered a great many other things derogatory to him. To maintain his claim to the apostleship, he was driven to commence his epistles with "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ," though his work was a self-evident proof of his call. If, after God has …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Answer to Mr. W's Fifth Objection.
5. The consideration that none of these raised persons did or could, after the return to their bodies, tell any tales of their separate existence; otherwise the Evangelists had not been silent in this main point, &c. p. 32. None of these persons, Mr. W. says, told any tales of their separate existence. So I suppose with him. As for the two first: How should they? being only, as Mr. W. says, an insignificant boy and girl, of twelve years of age, or thereabouts. Or if they did, the Evangelists were …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

The Epistles of St. Paul
WHEN we pass from primitive Christian preaching to the epistles of St. Paul, we are embarrassed not by the scantiness but by the abundance of our materials. It is not possible to argue that the death of Christ has less than a central, or rather than the central and fundamental place, in the apostle's gospel. But before proceeding to investigate more closely the significance he assigns to it, there are some preliminary considerations to which it is necessary to attend. Attempts have often been made, …
James Denney—The Death of Christ

Institutions of Jesus.
That Jesus was never entirely absorbed in his apocalyptic ideas is proved, moreover, by the fact that at the very time he was most preoccupied with them, he laid with rare forethought the foundation of a church destined to endure. It is scarcely possible to doubt that he himself chose from among his disciples those who were pre-eminently called the "apostles," or the "twelve," since on the day after his death we find them forming a distinct body, and filling up by election the vacancies that had …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Fourth Conversation
The manner of going to God. * Hearty renunciation. * Prayer and praise prevent discouragement. * Sanctification in common business. * Prayer and the presence of God. * The whole substance of religion. * Self-estimation * Further personal experience. He discoursed with me very frequently, and with great openness of heart, concerning his manner of going to GOD, whereof some part is related already. He told me, that all consists in one hearty renunciation of everything which we are sensible does not …
Brother Lawrence—The Practice of the Presence of God

Exposition of St. Paul's Words, Gal. I. 8.
Exposition of St. Paul's Words, Gal. i. 8. [21.] When therefore certain of this sort wandering about provinces and cities, and carrying with them their venal errors, had found their way to Galatia, and when the Galatians, on hearing them, nauseating the truth, and vomiting up the manna of Apostolic and Catholic doctrine, were delighted with the garbage of heretical novelty, the apostle putting in exercise the authority of his office, delivered his sentence with the utmost severity, "Though we," he …
Vincent of Lérins—The COMMONITORY OF Vincent of Lérins

A Reasonable Service
TEXT: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."--Romans 12:1. There is perhaps no chapter in the New Testament, certainly none in this epistle, with which we are more familiar than this one which is introduced by the text; and yet, however familiar we may be with the statements, if we read them carefully and study them honestly they must always come to us not only in the …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

The Praise of Men.
"They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."--John xii. 43. This is spoken of the chief rulers of the Jews, who, though they believed in Christ's Divine mission, were afraid to confess Him, lest they should incur temporal loss and shame from the Pharisees. The censure passed by St. John on these persons is too often applicable to Christians at the present day; perhaps, indeed, there is no one among us who has not at some time or other fallen under it. We love the good opinion …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Sudden Conversions.
"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain."--1 Cor. xv. 10. We can hardly conceive that grace, such as that given to the great Apostle who speaks in the text, would have been given in vain; that is, we should not expect that it would have been given, had it been foreseen and designed by the Almighty Giver that it would have been in vain. By which I do not mean, of course, to deny that God's gifts are oftentimes abused and wasted by man, which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

So Great Blindness, Moreover, Hath Occupied Men's Minds...
43. So great blindness, moreover, hath occupied men's minds, that to them it is too little if we pronounce some lies not to be sins; but they must needs pronounce it to be sin in some things if we refuse to lie: and to such a pass have they been brought by defending lying, that even that first kind which is of all the most abominably wicked they pronounce to have been used by the Apostle Paul. For in the Epistle to the Galatians, written as it was, like the rest, for doctrine of religion and piety, …
St. Augustine—On Lying

Travelling in Palestine --Roads, Inns, Hospitality, Custom-House Officers, Taxation, Publicans
It was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of "custom," when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow-publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he had found life and peace (Luke 5:29). For, it was the only truly international road of all those which passed through Palestine; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the world's commerce. At the time …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Early History of Particular Churches.
A.D. 67-A.D. 500 Section 1. The Church of England. [Sidenote: St. Paul's visit to England.] The CHURCH OF ENGLAND is believed, with good reason, to owe its foundation to the Apostle St. Paul, who probably came to this country after his first imprisonment at Rome. The writings of Tertullian, and others in the second and third centuries speak of Christianity as having spread as far as the islands of Britain, and a British king named Lucius is known to have embraced the Faith about the middle of …
John Henry Blunt—A Key to the Knowledge of Church History

It is Also Written, "But I Say unto You...
28. It is also written, "But I say unto you, Swear not at all." But the Apostle himself has used oaths in his Epistles. [2342] And so he shows how that is to be taken which is said, "I say unto you, Swear not at all:" that is, lest by swearing one come to a facility in swearing, from facility to a custom, and so from a custom there be a downfall into perjury. And therefore he is not found to have sworn except in writing, where there is more wary forethought, and no precipitate tongue withal. And …
St. Augustine—On Lying

Easter Monday
Text: Acts 10, 34-43. 34 And Peter opened his mouth, and said: Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. 36 The word which he sent unto the children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)--37 that saying ye yourselves know, which was published throughout all Judaea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; 38 even Jesus of Nazareth, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Colossians 3, 12-17. 12 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the Word …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Extracts No. vii.
[In this number the objector gives the whole ground of his objections, and the reasons for his doubts: which he states as follows, viz. "1. Mankind, in all ages of the world, have been, and still are prone to superstition. "2. It cannot be denied, but that a part of mankind at least, have believed, and still are believing in miracles and revelation, which are spurious. "3. The facts on which religion is predicated are unlike every thing of which we have any positive knowledge." Under the first …
Hosea Ballou—A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation

Chrysostom Evades Election to a Bishopric, and Writes his Work on the Priesthood.
About this time several bishoprics were vacant in Syria, and frequent depositions took place with the changing fortunes of orthodoxy and Arianism, and the interference of the court. The attention of the clergy and the people turned to Chrysostom and his friend Basil as suitable candidates for the episcopal office, although they had not the canonical age of thirty. Chrysostom shrunk from the responsibilities and avoided an election by a pious fraud. He apparently assented to an agreement with Basil …
St. Chrysostom—On the Priesthood

The Apostle's Position and Circumstances
PHILIPPIANS i. 12-20 Disloyal "brethren"--Interest of the paragraph--The victory of patience--The Praetorian sentinel--Separatism, and how it was met--St Paul's secret--His "earnest expectation"--"Christ magnified"--"In my body" St Paul has spoken his affectionate greeting to the Philippians, and has opened to them the warm depths of his friendship with them in the Lord. What he feels towards them "in the heart of Christ Jesus," what he prays for them in regard of the growth and fruit of their …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

Epistle Xlv. To Theoctista, Patrician .
To Theoctista, Patrician [153] . Gregory to Theoctista, &c. We ought to give great thanks to Almighty God, that our most pious and most benignant Emperors have near them kinsfolk of their race, whose life and conversation is such as to give us all great joy. Hence too we should continually pray for these our lords, that their life, with that of all who belong to them, may by the protection of heavenly grace be preserved through long and tranquil times. I have to inform you, however, that I have …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Jesus' First Residence at Capernaum.
^D John II. 12. ^d 12 After this he went down to Capernaum [The site of Capernaum is generally conceded to be marked by the ruins now called Tel-Hum. Jesus is said to have gone "down" because Cana is among the hills, and Capernaum was by the Lake of Galilee, about six hundred feet below sea level], he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples [There is much dispute as to what the New Testament writers mean by the phrase the "brethren of the Lord." This phrase, found in any other than a …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Indeed in all Spiritual Delights, which Unmarried Women Enjoy...
27. Indeed in all spiritual delights, which unmarried women enjoy, their holy conversation ought also to be with caution; lest haply, though their life be not evil through haughtiness, their report be evil through negligence. Nor are they to be listened to, whether they be holy men or women, when (upon occasion of their neglect in some matter being blamed, through which it comes to pass that they fall into evil suspicion, from which they know that their life is far removed) they say that it is enough …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Widowhood.

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