Galatians 1:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

I would not spare myself if I failed to preach the Gospel. He says this not to disparage the apostles, but to stop the mouths of the deceivers. He wishes to show that he acknowledges no personal authority when dogmas are at stake.

These words of the Apostle can be taken as a certain exaggeration, hyperbolice. They do not mean that an apostle or an angel from heaven could preach otherwise than they had previously said. But even if it could be that apostles and angels changed, still one must not depart from what was once received.

This must especially be thought when the Apostle himself shows the firmness of his faith, saying elsewhere: "I know that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers. Nor things present nor things to come, nor power, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:38). "I speak the truth to you, I do not lie, since my conscience bears me witness" (Rom 9:1).

Undoubtedly, this is not said by one who could ever depart from faith in Christ and love for Him.

But those who wish to see in these words an actual truth, and not a supposition, kath' hypothesin dictum, hold that even the Apostles and even the angels can turn to evil. They present as proof that the Apostle Paul himself knew that he could fall if he lived more negligently. This is clear from his words: "But I subdue and enslave my body, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be condemned" (1 Cor 9:27).

It is also clear from the fact that the angels who did not keep their first estate, but left their own dwelling, were capable of change. "They are kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6).

Only the nature of God alone is unchangeable. Of this it is written: "You are the same" (Ps 101:28). And He Himself says of Himself: "I am your God, and I do not change" (Mal 3:6).

That the light-bearer, lucifer, who rises in the morning, fell is as well known as the fact that the one once sent to all nations was crushed upon the earth.

The learned man Tertullian wrote skillfully concerning this passage against Apelles and his sister Philumena. She was possessed by a certain angel of a diabolical and corrupt spirit. He wrote that this is the angel against whom, long before the birth of Apelles, the Holy Spirit prophetically pronounced anathema through the mouth of the Apostle.

Then anathema is a word properly Hebrew, and it is used both in the book of Joshua and in the book of Numbers (Josh 6:17-18; Num 21:2-3). There the Lord commanded that everything in Jericho and everything belonging to the Midianites be considered under ban and exclusion.

Let us ask those who consider Christ and the Apostle Paul to be, the One, the Son, and the other, the servant of a good and still then unknown God, who did not know how to curse or condemn anyone. How does His Apostle use a word of the Jews, that is, of the Creator, and express the wish that either an Apostle or an angel should perish, although He Himself did not wish to take vengeance?

His addition, "As we said before, so again I repeat," shows that at the beginning the Apostle had also warned against this same thing. That is, he had proclaimed the exclusion of those who would teach otherwise. Now, after such preaching has appeared, he pronounces the exclusion that he had earlier foretold.

Therefore he pronounced exclusion even upon himself, since he was accused of doing one thing in Judea and preaching another among the Gentiles. He also pronounced it against an angel, who, as everyone knew, was higher in dignity even than his predecessors, the Apostles.

Thus, according to his words, even the authority, auctoritas, of Peter and John must not be considered so great. Paul did not regard it as permissible either for himself, who had taught the Galatians earlier, or for an angel, to preach otherwise than what they had previously been taught.

Therefore he named only himself and an angel, while indicating the rest without name: "If anyone," he says, "preaches to you." By the general word "anyone" he avoided offending his predecessors, yet in a hidden way he indicated their names.

The Greek arche and Latin principatus are rendered in Slavonic as principality and in Russian as dignity. In translations of this passage into modern languages there is some disagreement. English and Polish render it "first estate"; French and Italian, "their origin, beginning, kind"; German and Czech, "their principality." We have retained the translation of the majority, which fully corresponds to Greek arche and Latin principatus. In our opinion, however, Greek arche corresponds more to Latin principium than to principatus.

"If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you beyond what we preached to you, let him be anathema." The angels were so concerned for the safety of the preaching that the one sent to Cornelius directed him to a teacher. He did not take the work of preaching the Gospel upon himself.

Thus the Apostle, writing to the Galatians, said, "If anyone preaches to you beyond what you received, let him be anathema." But may God unite even those who err to His Church. He says through the prophet, "As I live, says Adonai the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live" (Ezek 33:11).

To confirm the immutability of the former faith, the Apostle spared neither himself nor the other apostles. More than this, he says, even if "an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached to you, let him be anathema." To guard the faith once delivered, it was not enough for him to mention beings of human nature. He embraced even angelic excellence. "Even if we," he says, "or an angel from heaven." This does not mean that the holy angels of heaven could actually err. Rather, he means this: even if the impossible were to happen, whoever attempts to alter the faith once delivered, let him be anathema.

It is a turn of speech used to express with greatest force the immutability of the divine teaching of the Christian faith. Chrysostom notes that the Apostle expressed himself in this way to show that "the dignity of persons, however exalted, is not taken into account when truth is at stake."

Then he presents the strongest, and even impossible, examples of another preaching distinct from the true evangelical preaching. He speaks of some holy heavenly angel, and says that anathema would have to fall even upon him. The heavenly angels, being immutable in good, of course cannot preach contrary to the true Gospel. Yet one can conceive this impossibility in thought. And since the false teachers dared to do what the good angels do not even dare to imagine doing, the Apostle pronounces anathema upon them. He does so because they preach "beyond," "in addition to," and "contrary to" what constitutes true evangelical teaching. This means circumcision, unnecessary for Christians, and observance of the other Old Testament rites of the law. The Apostle's strict attitude toward the Judaizers is explained by the great danger with which they threatened the truth of evangelical teaching. They also threatened the purity of its practice in the life of the first Christians. It is also explained by the rapid spread of the false teaching, to which a firm boundary had to be set. Finally, one must also bear in mind that the Apostle had earlier warned them personally during his last stay in Galatia. He warned them of the great danger of error and of the unavoidable need to guard against it by anathema, cf. verse 9 and Acts 16:4.

The Apostle's position is this: no one can change anything in the Gospel that has been handed down. Whoever attempts this, whether from earth or from heaven, let him be anathema.

This is like what is said in the Apocalypse: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues. And if anyone takes away, God will take away his part from the book of life (cf. Rev 22:18-19).

Saint Paul expresses that no one can change the Gospel in the words, "though we, or an angel from heaven." The Apostle takes the highest persons, the Apostles and the angels. For on earth, in matters of faith, there is no one higher than the Apostles, and heaven is filled with angels.

But if even they, after attempting to change the Gospel, could not escape heavenly punishment, who can do this with impunity? By "we" is most immediately meant the Apostle Paul himself with his companions. Yet, judging by the force of the speech, one may suppose that by this word Saint Paul embraced both himself and all the Apostles.

Thus Saint Chrysostom says: "By pronouncing the curse upon preachers of the gospel and upon angels, he embraced every dignity. By pronouncing it also upon himself, he indicated every kinship and fellowship. Do not tell me, he says, that such Apostles and your friends teach this. I will not spare even myself, if I preach otherwise. Yet he says this not to condemn the other Apostles as if they had corrupted the preaching of the Gospel. No. For he says, 'Whether then it was I or they, so we preach' (1 Cor 15:11). Rather, by this he wished only to show that the dignity of persons is not taken into account when the truth is at issue."

By the words "besides what," the Apostle means not only what is contrary, but also what is different and inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel. In general, he means anything other than what was handed down by him in the name of God.

"He did not say, 'if they preach what is contrary,' or 'if they overturn everything.' Rather, if they preach even some small thing inconsistent with what we preached, or if they alter anything in the preaching even slightly, let him be anathema" (Saint Chrysostom).

In what sense does Saint Paul speak this way about Apostles and angels? He speaks hypothetically. We believe that the Apostles, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, were guarded from deviation from the truth. We believe that the angels are so confirmed in truth and goodness that falsehood and sin have become morally impossible for them.

They are not acknowledged to be such by nature, but by the grace of God. By nature God alone is unchangeable. Yet this property is also communicated to those who enter more deeply into communion with Him.

The Apostle's thought is that even if the impossible became possible, the Gospel must nevertheless remain, and will remain, unchangeable.

Blessed Theodoret says concerning the angels: "The Apostle mentioned angels, not at all supposing that any of the holy angels would begin to teach what is contrary to the divine preaching, for he knew this to be impossible. Rather, by this he rejects every human innovation."

Blessed Jerome prefers the same thought, but also presents another. He says: "It can be accepted that this was said hypothetically, or, as some read, hyperbolically, not because Apostles and angels could preach otherwise than was once delivered. But if it could happen that Apostles and angels changed, still one must not depart from what was once received.

"The Apostle himself, in another place, presents the firmness of his faith as unshakable, saying: 'I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers. Nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (cf. Rom 8:38-39). And again: 'I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing witness to me in the Holy Spirit' (Rom 9:1). These are not the words of a man who could ever fall away from the faith and love of Christ.

"Those, however, who do not wish to accept that this was said hypothetically, but think it was said in the direct sense, hold that Apostles and angels can change for the worse. They oppose to this the fact that Paul himself acknowledged he could fall if he became negligent, saying: 'I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified' (1 Cor 9:27). And angels are changeable, since some of them did not keep their own principality (see Jude 1:6). God alone is by nature unchangeable, as it is written: 'You are the same' (Ps 101:28), and as He Himself says of Himself: 'I am the Lord your God, and I do not change' (cf. Mal 3:6)."