“…which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ”
which is not another;
The word “another” refers to another of the same kind. If people change the essence of the gospel, it becomes no gospel at all. It is not another gospel of the same kind as Paul preached but a perversion of the true gospel. When they modify the gospel, it is not the gospel at all.
but there are some who trouble you
Legalists came to “trouble” the Galatians with their false doctrine (Acts 15:24; Galatians 1:7; 5:10). Legalism always unsettles the soul and throws the church into confusion (5:10-12). “Trouble” carries the idea of to shake back and forth. Legalists are troublemakers.
and want to pervert the gospel of Christ
The idea of “pervert” is to transform something into an opposite character. The Judaizers transformed the gospel into something diametrically opposite to its true character. Thus, they perverted the gospel. They turned it around into the very opposite of its original design. They altered its message from a doctrine of grace to a doctrine of works. A distorted gospel is more dangerous than no gospel at all.
The gospel is Christ’s gospel, not Paul’s gospel. When people distort the gospel, they violate Christ.
Principle:
There is no alternative to the gospel of Christ.
Application:
A different gospel is no gospel at all, for there is no alternative to the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is mutually exclusive to any other gospel. Any gospel that finds the completed work of Christ on the cross as insufficient to pay the penalty for sin is a false gospel. Salvation is always by grace through faith apart from works.
We live in a day of such theological latitude that we can distort the gospel into something other than the New Testament gospel, and no one blinks an eye. Some say, “We must be tolerant of people who don’t believe the same as us.” Fakers stand in fine affiliation with true believers as long as they are “sincere.” Christianity is not 50% faith, and 50% works. No, the true gospel excludes work as a way of salvation or sanctification.
“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).
Christians today need to deal with those who distort the true gospel. Tolerance means that we judge no one. Truth demands that we judge those who pervert the gospel. Salvation by works is not good news. It is bad news because salvation would depend on us, not Christ.
