"Let them be Anathema" (Galatians 1:6-10)

The Early Church Fathers often through this phrase around, as does St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians (verse 9).

“As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed!”

I would like to continue going down this rabbit hole in the writings of the Early Church Fathers, where they used this term anathema and what false gospels were specifically being taught.

There are Protestants & Evangelicals who claim that this verse is specifically speaking to the Catholic Christian Church, which is more based on their misunderstanding of what we believe (or what they think we do not believe).

There are also some in this forum who hold to what I would call false gospels, but I would like to focus on what the early Church was specifically referring to. I have a feeling there will be some overlap.

And I can only speculate how the LDS interpret this Scripture passage on two levels. One, because they could fit it into their claim of a “Great Apostasy”. And second, because, in defense of an Angel allegedly appearing to Joseph Smith and defending that with verse 8, which says, “But even if we or an Angel from Heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!” Perhaps I shall visit LDS sources to better understand how they interpret this passage and if they are either using it as proof-text or deflecting from it. Who knows, I might be surprised that neither is the case.

The note in my New American Bible for these verses says that the Galatians were inclined to combine Jewish practices with the Gospel and consider them saving acts—beyond or in addition to salvation through Christ, I guess.

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