not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Paul isn't just saying there's no other gospel; he's emphasizing that what these troublers are teaching isn't a gospel at all. It’s a distortion designed to reverse or completely twist the good news about Christ, making it all about human effort rather than God's grace.
not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Paul is pushing back against a group of people who are distorting the message he preached. He clarifies that there's only one true gospel, and these individuals are causing trouble by trying to twist Christ's message into something else entirely. Their goal is to replace the freedom found in Christ's grace with a system based on adherence to the law.
Paul opens Galatians with a strong declaration: 'not that there is another one.' What does he mean by this emphatic statement? It's more than just a semantic point; it gets to the heart of what the Gospel truly is.
Paul isn't just saying there aren't two Gospels; he's asserting there's only one true Gospel. The teachers in Galatia were presenting a version of Christianity that added human effort and adherence to the Law to salvation by grace through faith in Christ. Paul calls this a 'different' or 'distorted' message, not a 'second' gospel. He argues that adding anything to Christ's finished work for salvation fundamentally changes its nature. It ceases to be the good news of God's free gift and becomes a system of works and striving.
Think of it like this: if the original recipe for a cake is perfect and complete, adding an ingredient and calling it the 'same cake' isn't accurate. It's a different creation entirely. Paul insists that the true Gospel, centered on Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, is singular and cannot be added to or subtracted from without ceasing to be the Gospel.
The verse doesn't just name the problem; it describes the people behind it. Who were these 'troublers,' and what was their destructive goal?
Paul identifies specific individuals as the source of this corrupted message. They are described as 'troublers' (Greek: tarassontes), meaning they actively disturb, unsettle, and cause inner turmoil. They aren't passively spreading error; they are aggressively creating confusion and anxiety within the church.
Their ultimate aim is to 'distort' (Greek: ) the gospel. This word means to turn something upside down, to pervert its meaning, or to change it into its very opposite. They weren't just slightly tweaking Paul's message; they were twisting it into something fundamentally different. Their goal was to replace the freedom and assurance found in Christ's grace with a system that relied on human performance and adherence to the law, thereby robbing people of the true peace and joy the Gospel offers.
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Understand the original words
tarassontes · Greek Verb
To disturb, agitate, or cause confusion, often used in a theological context to describe those who create division within the church.
metastrepsai · Greek Verb
To pervert, corrupt, or change into the opposite, often used for twisting the truth of the Gospel into something false.
The 'troublers' in Galatia were pushing a message that mixed Jewish law with the Gospel, a direct contradiction to the core message Paul had preached and the decisions made at the Council of Jerusalem. They weren't offering a new, valid gospel, but rather distorting the truth Paul proclaimed.
c. 30-33 AD
Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The central event of Christianity, establishing the foundation for the Gospel message of salvation through faith in Jesus.
c. 33-47 AD
Early Spread of the Gospel
The apostles, including Paul, begin preaching the Gospel in various regions, establishing early Christian communities.
c. 49 AD
Council of Jerusalem
A crucial meeting where leaders like Peter and Paul asserted that Gentiles did not need to follow Jewish law (like circumcision) to be followers of Christ, affirming salvation by faith alone.
c. 50-54 AD— this verse
Paul's Ministry in Ephesus
During his extended stay in Ephesus, Paul likely wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians and possibly the Epistle to the Galatians.
c. 54-57 AD
Development of Judaizing Opposition
Some Jewish Christians continued to insist that Gentile believers must adhere to Mosaic Law, creating division and challenging the doctrine of salvation by faith alone.
This passage shows a real-life example of the 'troublers' Paul mentions, where a group from Judea insisted on requiring circumcision and adherence to the Law of Moses for salvation, directly challenging the gospel of grace.
2 Corinthians 11:3Paul echoes this warning in his letter to the Corinthians, describing how the serpent's cunning in Eden led Eve astray, paralleling how false teachers subtly distort the truth of Christ.
Philippians 3:2Here, Paul directly warns the Philippians about 'dogs' and 'evildoers' who mutilate the flesh (a reference to circumcision and adherence to the Law), a clear parallel to the Galatian situation where the gospel was being distorted by legalism.
2 Peter 2:1This passage describes how false prophets arose in the past, just as there are false teachers now, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies and deny the Master, providing a historical and theological backdrop to the Galatian issue.
Jude 1:3-4Jude's urgent plea to contend for the faith highlights the existence of people who have slipped in unnoticed, twisting God's grace into a license for immorality and denying Jesus Christ, mirroring the threat Paul addresses in Galatians.
ellicottGalatians 1:7: "Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
(7) But there be some. —The force of the Greek, conjunction is, rather, except that, as the word “only” is used idiomatically in English. So far from being a second gospel, it is really no gospel, “ only there are some . . . ,” i.e., the only sense in which there can be any mention of a second gospel is that there are some who pervert the old gospel. The existence of this party is…
vincentGalatians 1:7: "Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
Another (ἄλλο)A different gospel is not another gospel. There is but one gospel.But (εἰ μὴ)Rev. only. As if he had said, "there is no other gospel, but there are some who trouble you with a different kind of teaching which they offer as a gospel."Some that trouble (οἱ ταράσσοντες)The article with the participle marks these persons as characteristically troublesome - the troub…
Paul isn't just saying there's no other gospel; he's emphasizing that what these troublers are teaching isn't a gospel at all. It’s a distortion designed to reverse or completely twist the good news about Christ, making it all about human effort rather than God's grace.
Paul is pushing back against a group of people who are distorting the message he preached. He clarifies that there's only one true gospel, and these individuals are causing trouble by trying to twist Christ's message into something else entirely. Their goal is to replace the freedom found in Christ's grace with a system based on adherence to the law.
Paul is pushing back against a group of people who are distorting the message he preached. He clarifies that there's only one true gospel, and these individuals are causing trouble by trying to twist Christ's message into something else entirely. Their goal is to replace the freedom found in Christ's grace with a system based on adherence to the law.
"not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ." — Paul isn't just saying there's no other gospel; he's emphasizing that what these troublers are teaching isn't a gospel at all. It’s a distortion designed to reverse or completely twist the good…
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Last reviewed October 2026