What Does Galatians 1:7 Mean?

(7) **But there be some.**—The force of the Greek, conjunction is, rather, *except that,* as the word “only” is used idiomatically in English. So far from being a second gospel, it is really no gospel, “*only* there are some . . . ,” *i.e.,* the only sense in which there can be any mention of a second gospel is that there are some who pervert the old gospel. The existence of this party is the only excuse for the name. And it is a mere excuse. They do not deserve any such dignity. They really lay themselves under the curse of God. **That trouble you.**—The Judaising party, with its restless factiousness and bigotry, causing schisms and divisions in the Church. **Pervert.**—The Greek is even still stronger—*reverse,* or *change to its very opposite.* This they did by substituting a doctrine of righteousness by works—self-justification before God by performing the precepts of the Mosaic law—for the doctrine of reconciliation with God through the free forgiveness which He has promised to faith in Christ. **The gospel of Christ.**—Where combinations of this kind occur, the question naturally suggests itself: What is the relation of the two words to each other? For instance, in the present case, is it “the gospel taught by Christ,” or the “gospel *concerning* Christ?” The following rule has been proposed:—In such phrases as the “gospel of salvation,” the “gospel of the kingdom,” the genitive is that of the object—“of” is equivalent to “concerning.” In the phrase “the gospel of God” it represents rather the cause or authorship: “the gospel of which God *is the Author.”* In the present phrase, “the gospel of Christ,” it may be either one or the other, according to the context. We must not, however, narrow too much the Apostle’s use of language. A somewhat vague and ambiguous term sometimes best expresses the fulness of his meaning. In English we might use the phrase “Christ’s gospel” to include at once “the gospel which *proceeds from* Christ,” and “the gospel which *relates to* Christ,” all, in fact, which makes it in any sense *belong to* Him and bear His name.