Scroll through your social media feed, and you’ll be bombarded by different voices and opinions. Some of those messages are downright dangerous. And while the sheer volume of messages is far greater now than during the time of the early church, the consequence of listening and adhering to lies remains the same.

Paul doesn’t beat around the bush in his letter. Immediately following his greeting (vv. 1–5), he gives the main reason for this letter: his concern about the impending apostasy of these precious young churches (v. 6).

This is perhaps Paul’s most passionate letter. Since it was possibly also his first epistle, he may have still been learning to temper his emotions. His shock and outrage almost leap off the page! It was unfathomable to him that these followers of Christ—with whom he had shared the true grace of God—were now being drawn away by a “different gospel,” which was actually “no gospel at all” (v. 6).

Paul then points a finger at the source of the problem. Some unnamed influencers had come to the region and were creating confusion by “perverting” the gospel (v. 6). While the English verb “pervert” means to alter the course or distort what was intended, the Greek verb is even stronger. It describes the act of turning the subject into something completely different. These meddlers were twisting the gospel into something utterly false.

To underscore the severity of the situation, Paul even pronounces (twice!) a divine curse on anyone— himself and angels included—who would proclaim a different gospel (vv. 8–9). The only true gospel was the good news of Jesus Christ, which Paul had preached to the Galatians from the beginning, and the only appropriate motivation for this gospel ministry was to please God alone.