"But even if one of us or an angel from heaven were to preach to you a gospel other than that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed!" Galatians 1:8
Since the true gospel is so crucial, and so often and easily invalidated, this raises a troubling question for us: how can we ensure that the gospel we believe is actually the true one? How do we know that it is not just a gospel that we feel is true or that we are told is true or that we think is true or that rings true to us, but that it is a gospel that is true, objectively, and therefore can save really and eternally?
Paul establishes, in the strongest possible language, a plumb line for judging all truth claims, whether external (from teachers, writers, thinkers, preachers) or internal (feelings, sensations, experience). That standard is the gospel that he (and all the other capital-A Apostles) received from Christ and taught, and which is found in this letter and throughout the rest of the Bible.
“If any of us... preach a different gospel to you... let him fall under a curse!” (v 8) . Here we have how to judge external authorities, for example human teachers or human institutional leaders, or even officials ordained by an ecclesiastical hierarchy.
It is striking that by saying “we,” Paul includes himself as a human authority. He is saying that he must be rejected if he ever says: I have changed my mind about what the gospel is . As he will tell us, the gospel did not come to him through a process of reasoning and reflection; he received it, he did not develop it. So he does not have the freedom to alter it through reasoning and reflection. In Galatians 2, Paul will tell us that his gospel was confirmed by others who had also received the message through the revelation of the resurrected Christ. This apostolic consensus – this original “gospel deposit” given by Christ – is, therefore, the criterion for judging all truth claims, from without and from within.
This is very important. Paul is saying in verse 8 that even his apostolic authority comes from the authority of the gospel, and not the other way around. Paul is telling the Galatians to evaluate and judge him as an apostle and his teaching with the biblical gospel. The Bible judges the church; The church does not judge the Bible. The Bible is the foundation for the church and the creator of the church; The church is not the foundation for the Bible or the creator of the Bible. The believer must evaluate the church and its hierarchy, with the biblical gospel as the criterion by which to judge all truth claims.
Nor is our personal experience the final plumb line for truth. We do not judge the Bible by our feelings or convictions; We judge our experiences by the Bible. That means that if an angel literally appeared before a crowd of people and taught that salvation is by good works (or anything except faith alone in Christ alone ), you would literally have to throw the angel out! (v 8). When Paul says, “If we or an angel…”, he gives a broad summary of correct Christian “epistemology” – how to know what is true.
Excerpted from the book "Galatians for you" by Timothy Keller
