Unlikely Leaders

Paul’s Timeless Letter to the Galatians

This chapter is based on the Letter to the Galatians.

Through the influence of false teachers, heresy and immorality were gaining ground among the believers in Galatia. These false teachers were mixing Jewish traditions with the truths of the gospel. The evils they introduced threatened to destroy the Galatian churches. ULe 140.1

Paul was heartbroken. He immediately wrote to the deceived believers, exposing the false ideas that they had accepted. ULe 140.2

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” The Holy Spirit had confirmed his work, and he warned his fellow believers not to listen to anything that contradicted the truths he had taught. ULe 140.3

“O foolish Galatians!” he exclaimed, “Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” Refusing to recognize the doctrines of the false teachers, the apostle tried to lead the converts to see that they had been terribly deceived, but that by returning to their earlier faith in the gospel, they could still defeat Satan’s plans. His complete confidence in the message he gave helped many, whose faith had failed, to return to the Savior. ULe 140.4

How different this was from Paul’s way of writing to the Corinthian church! He rebuked the Corinthians with tenderness, but the Galatians with words of the plainest reproof. It would take caution and patience to teach the Corinthians to tell the difference between the false and the true. But in the Galatian churches, open, unmasked error was replacing the gospel. The Galatians had essentially rejected Christ for the ceremonies of Judaism. The apostle saw that if the believers were to be saved from the dangerous influences that threatened them, he must take decisive action. ULe 140.5