Grace is the easiest thing to receive. And the fastest thing to forget.
Nobody sets out to abandon it. You just start adding to it. Little by little.
A rule here. A checkbox there. And pretty soon, the gift of God becomes gratuity. Something we feel that some of us have earned, and others (well) they come up short.
That’s what Paul is writing into.
Paul addresses his letter to the churches across the region of Galatia.
A word about these churches. Galatians were not Greeks. They were Gauls. Celts. Three centuries prior, their ancestors crossed into Asia Minor from central Europe.
Warrior-migrants. Outsiders who put down roots where they landed.
Hold that for a second. Paul writes this letter about being adopted into the family. Outsiders by birth, made heirs by grace, and not by blood.
He writes to these people who were outsiders themselves. People who once left their birthplace and settled in this region. People now tempted to abandon the place that grace had given them.
So why the letter? After Paul left, other teachers came behind him. They told the Galatians that faith in Christ was a good start, just not enough. To be acceptable, they taught, Gentiles must become Jewish converts and keep the law too.
Grace, yes. But grace plus gratuity. Christ plus circumcision.
Paul writes to stop them cold. And you can feel the heat from the first line.
Every other letter Paul wrote opens with thanks. I thank God for you. Corinth, Philippi, Colossae, Thessalonica. Every single one.
But not this one. No thank-you. He goes straight from hello to “I am astonished.”
That missing thank-you captures the gravity. When the gospel is at stake, there’s no time for pleasantries.
So, two parts to this lesson. First, what went wrong. The Galatians had deserted the gospel (verses 1-10). Second, what’s always true. The gospel is received by His grace (verses 11-24). What they walked away from. And what grace keeps holding out.
The Galatians Had Deserted the Gospel
Notice how Paul greets these churches in verse 3. He greets them with grace. The same as all his letters. Grace to you and peace.
But he doesn’t stop there. In verse 4 he delivers the good news. Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us.”
He hasn’t even started, and he’s already preached the gospel. Substitution. Rescue. Redemption. The will of God. All of it, in a hello.
And notice what we’re rescued from. Christ not only delivered us from the guilt of our sin, but also from the present evil age. A whole world we got pulled from.
Hold onto that. Because the Galatians are being taught to climb back in. Back into the very age Christ died to pull us out of.
Then in verse 6, Paul drops the hammer. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ.”
Desertion. It’s a soldier’s word. Leaving your post. Changing teams. Going over to the other side.
And it’s happening in the present. Not “you deserted.” But “you are deserting.” Which means there is still time to turn around.
Look at what they are deserting. Not a doctrine. But Him! The One who called them.
To walk away from grace is to walk away from the God of grace. You haven’t left His teaching. You’ve deserted the Savior Himself.
And where are they headed? To “a different gospel.” Paul catches himself mid-sentence. Verse 7. “Not that there is another one.”
There is no second gospel. (How’s that for good news?) There is the gospel, and there’s everything that only pretends to be.
Then Paul says the hardest thing in the chapter. If we, or even an angel from heaven, preach a different gospel, “let him be accursed.” Verse 8 gets echoed again in verse 9.
Accursed. Under God’s curse. And look who stands under it. Not just the false teachers. “Even we.” Even Paul himself. Even an angel from heaven.
The message stands over the messenger. Always. No teacher, no leader, no angel gets to edit The Gospel of Grace.
Why so severe? Because a different gospel is not a smaller one. It’s not the same house with less furniture. It’s a whole different house. It’s a counterfeit.
And a counterfeit won’t save a single soul. Not one.
Then verse 10. Hey, you think I’m seeking the approval of man, or of God? They had accused him of softening the message to please the Gentiles.
His answer is the curse he just spoke. A people-pleaser never says a thing like that. You don’t win a crowd by cursing yourself.
And here is the point for this whole series. Grace and people-pleasing cannot share a room. A gospel edited to impress, to win favor, is not grace anymore.
Grace offends. Because grace levels everyone. Same need. Same gift. No head start for anybody.
Discussion
- Paul says the Galatians were deserting a Person, not just a set of ideas (v6). How does it change things to hear that adding to grace is not a doctrinal slip but leaving the One who called you?
- Paul insists the gospel stands over even an apostle or an angel (v8-9). Where are we tempted to trust a messenger, a teacher, or a tradition more than the message itself?
Key Takeaways
- Grace is a Person, not a position. To desert the gospel is to desert the One who called you. (v 6)
- The gospel stands over every messenger. Even Paul. Even an angel. Nobody gets to edit the gospel to make it easier to hear. (v 8-10)
The Gospel Is Received by His Grace
So that is the wound. They are deserting the gospel. Deserting grace.
Now Paul does something you might not expect. He doesn’t argue theology at them. He tells them his story. Because the strongest evidence for grace that Paul has… is Paul.
There is our word. Received. He says it twice (v 12). Not earned. Not invented. Not picked up from a philosopher.
Received through a revelation. Not from man. From God. An unveiling from heaven.
This is the exact charge Paul is answering. They said he was second-hand. A junior apostle who got his gospel from Jerusalem and then watered it down to close the sale.
No, he says. It came straight down from Christ himself.
Then he proves it with the last story you’d ever expect him to tell. His own.
Verse 13. Here’s my past. Not pretty. I persecuted the church and tried to violently destroy it.
Verse 14. Zealous. Out ahead of everyone my age. You could call it extreme.
Hear what he is doing. No human being taught me this gospel, because every human influence in my life was pushing the other direction.
I was never drifting toward Christ. I was running the other way, armed with a weapon. Only God can explain the turn.
And then in verse 15, here’s the turn. “He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace.”
Before Paul had done a single thing. Before the persecuting. Before the zeal. Before any work at all, good or bad, God had already set him apart. Already called him. By grace.
Grace ran out ahead of everything Paul ever did.
Now catch this one word coming back. The Galatians were “called in the grace of Christ” (v 6). Then Paul was “called by his grace” (v 15).
Same calling. Same grace. The grace they are deserting is the grace that made Paul an apostle to the Gentiles.
So his story is not a detour from the argument. His story is the argument. Grace… lived out in one man.
The chief persecutor becomes the chief preacher. Not by climbing. But by being seized. Grace is received. It isn’t achieved.
And what did he do with it? He didn’t run to Jerusalem for a signature. Verse 16. He didn’t consult flesh and blood. He went to Arabia.
Three years later, a short visit. Fifteen days with Peter. Of the other apostles, only James.
Then verse 20, under oath. “Before God, I do not lie.” He swears to the timeline. Because the calendar is his proof.
Too little time with Jerusalem. Too late to have gotten his gospel from them.
And how does Chapter 1 end? The churches back in Judea had never even seen his face. (v 22) They only had a report (v 23).
“The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
And verse 24. “They glorified God because of me.” NOT “they were impressed with me.” But they glorified God.
That is where grace always lands. Not on the trophy. But on the One who handed it over.
A chapter that opened with Paul defending himself, closes with God getting the praise that He alone deserves. That is what The Gospel of Grace does to a life. It hands the glory back.
Discussion
- Paul answers the charge against him with his own story, not a clever argument (v13-16). Why is a changed life such strong evidence for grace, and whose story has shown you that?
- God set Paul apart and called him “before I was born,” before he had done anything good or bad (v15). What changes about how you see yourself if grace ran ahead of you like that, before you earned or ruined anything?
Key Takeaways
- Grace runs ahead of you. God set Paul apart and called him before he had done anything, good or bad. Received, never achieved.
- It is the same grace. The grace the Galatians were deserting is the grace that seized Paul. Leave it, and you leave the God who calls. (v 6, 15)
Something to Sit With
Two parts to this lesson. First, the Galatians had deserted the gospel. Not with a dramatic exit. But with a quiet addition. Grace plus rules. Christ plus a checklist.
And Paul calls it what it is. Desertion. Leaving the God who called them.
Then, the gospel is received by His grace. It came down. From God, not from man.
Paul didn’t earn it. He was the last man who deserved it. No, he received it. And the receiving turned a persecutor into a preacher. And his whole life into praise.
Here is the thread as we walk through the next 5 chapters. Grace received, never achieved.
Received is something done for you. Achieved is something you do yourself. The whole Galatian mistake is dragging grace from receiving to achieving.
And it’s our mistake too. Every time we try to earn what God already gave freely.
A few questions to take away. No need to answer them out loud.
- Where am I adding to grace, turning the gift back into gratuity?
- Grace ran ahead of Paul before he’d done anything. What changes if it ran ahead of me the same way?
- Who can I pray for this week to receive God’s grace through faith?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is “the gospel of grace” in Galatians?
It is the good news that God saves us as a gift, not as a wage. Paul sums it up in the greeting: God “gave himself for our sins to deliver us” (1:4). We do not contribute to the rescue; we receive it.
The rest of Galatians defends that one point against everyone who wants to add a requirement to it. Grace received, never achieved.
What was the “different gospel” the Galatians were turning to?
Not open unbelief, but an addition. Teachers had come in behind Paul and taught that faith in Christ was a good start but not enough, that to be fully accepted a person also had to keep the law. Grace plus works. Paul says that is not a lighter version of the gospel; it is a counterfeit (1:6-7), because the moment you add a requirement to grace, it stops being grace.
Who were the false teachers Paul is writing against?
They are often called Judaizers. After Paul left Galatia, other teachers came in behind him and told the new believers that faith in Christ was a fine start, but that to be fully accepted by God they also had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Grace plus works.
Paul never names them, because the letter is not really about them. It is about the gospel they were distorting (1:7).
The warning still lands wherever we are told that Jesus is not quite enough, that we need Christ plus a rule, a ritual, or a record to be safe with God. The gospel says otherwise. Christ is enough.
What does it mean that they were “deserting” the gospel?
The word is a military one, like a soldier leaving his post or switching sides. Two things stand out. Paul writes it in the present tense, “you are deserting” (1:6), which means it is still happening and can still be reversed.
And what they are deserting is not a doctrine but a Person, “him who called you.” To walk away from grace is to walk away from the God of grace.
Why does Paul say “let him be accursed” in Galatians 1:8-9?
“Accursed” translates a strong word for being set under God’s judgment. Paul is not lashing out. He is showing how much is at stake.
Notice he includes himself and even “an angel from heaven” under the same warning. The point is that the gospel stands over every messenger, no matter how impressive. No teacher, and no tradition, has the authority to change it.
What does Galatians 1:10 mean about pleasing people versus God?
Paul had been accused of softening his message to win a crowd. His answer is blunt: “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (1:10). You cannot do both at once.
A gospel edited to keep everyone comfortable is no longer the gospel of grace, because real grace levels everyone, and that offends.
But this is freeing, not just convicting. If your standing already rests on God’s approval, given in Christ, you are released from the exhausting work of managing what everyone thinks of you. You answer to One, and He already loves you.
Why does Galatians have no thanksgiving at the start?
Every other letter Paul wrote opens with thanks for the readers. This one skips straight from the greeting to “I am astonished” (1:6).
The missing thank-you is deliberate. It signals the seriousness of the moment. When the gospel itself is being traded away, Paul does not pause for pleasantries.
Did Paul get his gospel from the other apostles, or from Jesus directly?
Directly from Jesus. Paul says it twice: he did not receive it from any man, nor was he taught it, “but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:11-12).
He backs it with his own timeline. After his calling he went to Arabia, not to Jerusalem, and years passed before he spent even fifteen days with Peter (1:17-18).
His point is not to rank himself above the other apostles, but to show that the one gospel came down from God, the same message the churches in Judea were already glorifying God for (1:23-24). Which means the good news you received did not start with a clever teacher. It started with God.
What does “grace received, never achieved” actually mean for me?
It means the good news is something done for you, not something you pull off. Paul’s own life is the proof: God “set me apart before I was born, and called me by his grace” (1:15), before Paul had done anything good or bad.
So you do not earn your standing with God by trying harder, and you do not lose it by falling short. You receive it. And a life that keeps receiving grace ends up, like Paul’s, handing the glory back to God rather than to itself.
This lesson is part of the The Gospel of Grace series.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway.