From: Galatians 1:6-12
A Warning
[6] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called
you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel--[7] not
that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and
want to pervert the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we
preached to you, let him be accursed. [9] As we have said before, so
now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to
that which you received, let him be accursed.
[10] Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to
please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of
Christ.
God's Call
[11] For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached by me is not man's gospel. [12] For I did not receive it from
man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus
Christ.
Commentary:
6-9. The Galatians had suddenly begun to go off course, for no sooner
had St Paul preached to them during his second visit, than enemies of
his appeared on the scene seeking to undermine his authority and had
won over the Galatians, especially on the matter of circumcision.
In view of this, the Apostle clearly and forcefully spells out to the
Galatians that there is only one Gospel, only one way to attain
salvation. "These people", St Jerome explains, "wanted to change the
Gospel, to twist it; but that is something they cannot succeed in
doing, for this Gospel is such that it cannot be true if it is
tampered with" ("Comm. in Gal", 1, 7).
The content of Revelation--the deposit of faith--cannot be interfered
with. The Apostles, as their very title implies, were sent to pass on,
in all its integrity, what had been entrusted to them (cf. 1 Cor
11:23). That is why St Paul tells his assistants in the government of
the Church, Titus and Timothy, to guard very carefully the truths he
has taught them (cf. 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14; Tit 1:9; 2:1; etc.).
St Paul is extremely insistent on the need to protect the deposit of
faith, and he reacts very forcefully against those who seek to
adulterate it, as we can see in this present text. Any attempt to
replace the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with a different teaching does
indeed warrant the severe judgment which the Apostle here delivers in
God's name. In the same way, "the Church which received the office of
safeguarding the deposit of faith along with the apostolic duty of
teaching, likewise possesses the right and duty of proscribing [...]
opinions that are known to be opposed to the doctrine of the faith"
(Vatican I, "Dei Filius", chap. 4).
There is, then, no "new Christianity" waiting to be discovered. "The
Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive
covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be
expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ"
(Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 5).
10. One of the accusations directed against St Paul was that, in order
to make it easier for people to become Christians, he tried to win them
over by not requiring Gentiles to undergo circumcision. In fact the
Apostle's only aim was to serve Christ; for him, as St John Chrysostom
put it, "to love Christ was life, the world, heaven, present
well-being, the kingdom, the promise, immeasurable good; outside of
this he did not concern himself with classifying things as sorrowful or
joyful, nor did he regard anything that one might have in this world as
disagreeable or pleasant" ("Second Hom. in Praise of St Paul").
St Paul can assert that he did not mind if there were people who did
not understand him or even rejected his teaching. He had plenty of
experience of opposition to the demands of the Gospel; and this never
led him to play down the reality of the Cross in order to make more
acceptable the truth he was proclaiming. In addition to lack of
response from Gentiles, his faithfulness to Christ had also earned him
enmity and persecution from Jews (cf. Acts 13:50).
We can learn a great deal from Paul to help us not to be cowed by "what
people may think". Although Christian living does sometimes clash with
the environment around us, we should not desist from trying to be
faithful to the demands of the Gospel. "Therefore, when in our own life
or in that of others we notice something that is not going well,
something that requires the spiritual and human help which, as children
of God, we can and ought to provide, then a clear sign of prudence is
to apply the appropriate remedy by going to the root of the trouble,
resolutely, lovingly and sincerely. There is no room here for
inhibitions, for it is a great mistake to think that problems can be
solved by inaction or procrastination" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God",
157).
St Teresa, for her part, writes: "We are trying to attain union with
God. We want to follow the counsels of Christ, on whom were showered
insults and false witness. Are we, then, really so anxious to keep
intact our own reputation and credit? We cannot do so and yet attain
to union, for the two ways diverge" ("Life", chap. 31). If we are truly
to serve God we must be ready to face indifference and misunderstanding
whenever it may arise. "You must indeed have purified your intention
well when you said: From this moment on I renounce all human gratitude
and reward" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 789).
11-12. "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10), Paul asked at the moment
of his conversion. Jesus replied, 'Rise, and go into Damascus, and
there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do" (ibid.).
The former persecutor, now under the influence of grace, will receive
instruction and Baptism through the ordinary course of divine
Providence--from a man, Ananias. Thereby Jesus led him to humility,
obedience and abandonment. The Gospel which St Paul preached was
identical with that preached by the other Apostles, and already had the
character of "tradition" in the nascent Church (cf. 1 Cor 15:3; Gal
2:2). This is compatible with Paul's claim--made in this passage--that
his Gospel does not come from any man but through a revelation from
Jesus Christ. Firstly, because on seeing the risen Christ he was given
supernatural light to understand that Jesus was not only the Messiah
but also the Son of God; and also because this first revelation was
followed by many others to which he refers in his epistles (cf. 1 Cor
11:23; 13:3-8 and especially 2 Cor 12:1-4).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
