GALATIANS 1:6-10
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Some people compare reading an occasional letter to listening in to one side of a conversation that is already in progress. We are not privy to all that has occurred and all that has been said up to this point in the controversy, and even now we are hearing only from Paul, and not from the Judaizers or the Galatians.

This is why it is at times difficult to attain a precise understanding of some passages, although the problem is often exaggerated. The level of difficulty hinges on the level of clarity with which the person expresses himself. This includes his language and the amount of information that he includes on his side of the conversation.

Imagine if the only word we hear from a person on one side of the conversation is "Yes." Since we do not know the question or even the topic of the conversation, it is impossible for us to infer any useful information from this word alone. In this case, our lack of access to the other side cripples our understanding of the conversation.

But what if the person says, "Yes, I will meet you at the church parking lot tomorrow morning to discuss the details." This does not only tell us that the person will meet someone at the church parking lot tomorrow morning, but it also tells us something about the question to which this statement serves as a response. The two will meet to discuss "the details" about something that is most likely related to the topic of the current conversation. And if we could hear more from this person, even if only his side of the conversation, we will probably also discover the topic, and what kind of details about this topic that they plan to discuss the next day.

In this case, having access to only one side of the conversation does not cripple our understanding. In fact, we could obtain more information by hearing one side of the conversation from someone who speaks clearly and fully than we could by hearing both sides of a conversation in which the people involved do not speak clearly and fully.

Often, even if we cannot infer everything about the original context, we can still derive all that we need to know from one side of the conversation. For example, we read in Paul's letter to the Romans, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden" (Romans 9:18). Without knowing whether this is written as a response to a question, objection, or argument, and without knowing what preceded the statement that warrants the "therefore," we can derive from this the universal truth that "God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."

Of course, the context can significantly alter the precise meaning and application of the statement, but we have the entire letter to the Romans to tell us that, as well as the entire Pauline corpus, the entire New Testament, as well as the entire Old Testament. Therefore, even though we have access to only one side of the conversation, nothing important to truth is lost here. Consider this point in relation to the doctrine of the clarity or perspicuity of Scripture.⁵

Paul mentions the reason for his letter right away. At this point we are not provided with details about the problem, but the Galatians know what Paul has in mind. He begins by referring to the issue in general terms, describing the problem and noting its consequences. "Some people" are trying to "pervert the gospel," and to convince the Galatians to affirm "another gospel." We will be able to infer from the rest of the letter the nature of the doctrinal perversion and this other "gospel" – what Paul says in this passage belongs to that context, but there are some points here that demand universal application even apart from it.

 

NOTES

⁵ See Vincent Cheung, Systematic Theology.

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