Galatians 1:6-7

In every other one of his canonical epistles Paul commended his readers before launching into the main subject of his letter regardless of his general purpose in writing. Here he recorded no such praise. Its absence stressed the seriousness of his readers’ error and the urgency of his appeal.

The best evidence points to Paul’s writing Galatians before the Jerusalem Council, held in A.D. 49, and after he and Barnabas evangelized Asia Minor on their first missionary journey (Acts 13-14). I am assuming the South Galatia destination of the epistle. Consequently it had been only a few months since his readers had accepted the gospel that he had preached to them and had turned from it. The Greek word thaumazo ("I am amazed") was a conventional expression in Greek letters that signaled astonishment, rebuke, disapproval, and disappointment. [Note: Ibid., p. 11.] The Greek word tacheos ("quickly") also has the sense of easily (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Timothy 5:22). The one who had called the Galatians was God (cf. Galatians 1:15; Galatians 5:8).

"Gospel," of course, means good news. However, the "gospel" that fascinated his readers was not good news. The Greek word heteros, meaning "another of a different kind," appears in Galatians 1:6 while allos, meaning "another of the same kind" occurs in Galatians 1:7. Sometimes these words are interchangeable (e.g., 2 Corinthians 11:4), but here and elsewhere they indicate significant differences. This new gospel was bad news. Teachers of false doctrine who were stirring up unrest had followed Paul. The root of the word translated "disturbing" (Galatians 1:7) is one that describes the opposite of what the word translated "peace" (Galatians 1:3) means. These teachers were distorting the good news of Christ.

"The modern church has become less clear about the nature of the gospel, but it would do well to ponder the importance that Paul here attaches to distinctions between the true and false gospel." [Note: Guthrie, Galatians, p. 62.]

Paul consistently referred to the Galatian troublemakers in the third person but addressed his readers in the second person. This strongly suggests that the false teachers originated outside the church rather than from within it. We must deduce who they were from what Paul wrote about them in this epistle (cf. Galatians 1:6-9; Galatians 2:4-5; Galatians 3:1; Galatians 4:17; Galatians 5:10; Galatians 5:12; Galatians 6:12-13). Probably they were Jews who were putting pressure on Gentiles to believe and to live as religious Jews. This is the traditional view as contrasted with the two-opponent view (i.e., Judaizers and libertinistic "pneumatics") and the Gnostic/syncretistic Jewish Christians view (i.e., one group of opponents within Judaism with both Judaistic and libertinistic traits). [Note: For further study of these views, see Walter B. Russell III, "Who Were Paul’s Opponents in Galatia?" Bibliotheca Sacra 147:587 (July-September 1990):329-50.]