“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-7).
This has long been a “favorite” text of mine, not because I love to study about perverting the gospel, but because of the clarity of the original text that is not borne out in any English translation I’ve seen.
“A different gospel” at the end of verse 6 is accurately rendered. The word translated “another” is the Greek heteros, as in heterosexual, one attracted to those of a different gender.
“Which is not another” in verse 7 is not so clearly translated. “Another” here is from a completely different word, allos, which means another of the same kind.
Thus, Paul says that any gospel that was not the same as he preached was not the same, neither were these joined or in any way allied with the gospel he preached.
Some will say that all “Christian” religions teach the same gospel, namely the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, this cannot be the case. If it were the case, then the response to the preaching of that gospel would be the same across religious/denominational lines.
But what do we find? A multiplicity of responses to the “preaching of the gospel.” In the New Testament, there is only one affirmative response to the preaching of the gospel, and that is baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (cf Acts 2:38). This is in keeping with the words of the Lord in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:47). We find this pattern throughout the book of Acts as the gospel was preached for the firs time to the whole world.
Any “gospel” preached that does not result in people being baptized for remission of sins is not the gospel Paul preached, and is not another of the same kind. These are not akin to one another, neither are they equal.
As an aside, I rarely read this text without thinking about the cover title of “The Book of Mormon,” which claims to be “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”
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