Galatians 1:6-10: a reflection

As Paul defends the true gospel against those distorting it, he lays bare the choice that governed his own ministry: to please God or to please people. Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? he asks. Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. Paul would not trim or distort the gospel to win people's approval; he served Christ, not the favor of the crowd, and he knew the two could not both be his master. A servant of Christ does not live to please people; if pleasing people were his aim, he would not be Christ's servant at all. The choice is real: we cannot serve Christ faithfully and at the same time make the winning of human approval our governing aim. To serve Christ is to be freed from living for the approval of people. Paul chose to please God, not people, and it made him free to serve Christ faithfully.

Notice the choice Paul names: to please God or to please people. He would not distort the gospel to win human favor, because he served Christ, not the crowd; and he saw clearly that the two aims cannot both govern us. If pleasing people were his master, he would not be Christ's servant; the desire for human approval, made governing, would compromise his faithfulness to Christ. To serve Christ is to be freed from the tyranny of needing people's approval; it is to answer finally to God, not to the crowd. This does not mean being needlessly offensive or careless of others; it means that the governing aim of our lives is to please God, not to win human favor, and that when the two conflict, we choose God. The one who lives for human approval cannot serve Christ freely; the one who lives to please God is free to be faithful. We answer to God, not to the crowd.

That is worth taking to heart, for we are called to serve Christ, living to please God rather than to win the approval of people. We can make the winning of human approval our governing aim, trimming what we say and do to please people; but Paul saw that if pleasing people were his aim, he would not be a servant of Christ. To serve Christ is to live finally to please God, not the crowd, freed from the tyranny of needing human approval. When the two conflict, the servant of Christ chooses God. Do not make the winning of human approval your governing aim; live to please God, as a servant of Christ, as Paul did. Live to please God rather than to win the approval of people, as a servant of Christ, remembering Paul's word that if he were still pleasing men he would not be a servant of Christ; for we cannot make human approval our governing aim and serve Christ faithfully at once, and to serve Christ is to answer finally to God rather than the crowd, freed from the tyranny of needing people's approval and free to be faithful.