One of the most common Bible verses that Evangelicals quote towards Latter-day Saints is Galatians 1:8 — “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
To be fair to my LDS friends, this verse can be abused by Latter-day Saints if it is used to suggest that the Book of Mormon can’t be true because it came through an angel. The point of Paul’s warning is not about the type of messenger, but the substance of the message. Paul’s point is that it doesn’t matter who contradicts the Gospel whether its an Angelic being or an Apostle, whoever does so is cursed and must be rejected.
But when informed Evangelical Christians use this verse what they mean is that LDS doctrine departs in meaningful ways from the Gospel of grace that Paul preached.
Lately, I’ve seen a particular response from Latter-day Saints. They point to Paul’s resurrection centered expression of the Gospel in 1 Corinthains 15 and then point to Latter-day Saint scripture that teach about the resurrection as if that refutes the argument.
Here’s a recent exchange I had that captures this argument well:
Him (Cleaned up):
[I]f you read Galatians 1:8 Paul says a different gospel. If you read first Corinthians chapter fifteen. You will see what that other Gospel is. Then you have Third Nephi Chapter 27 verses, 13 through about 14. That tells you what the gospel is again , which agrees with Paul. Then you have Joseph telling us that the fundamental principles of the church are Christ crucified basically. So Galatians is a bad use of scripture. And if you study more it doesn’t really mean what you think it means. But I will leave it at that for now. Let you do some more studying..
Here was my response:
Me:
This is on the surface a good argument if you ignore everything Paul actually talks about in Galatians. That’s unfortunately common because Galatians is almost never studied by Latter-day Saints.
The gospel message Paul is focused on in Galatians is that we are saved by grace through faith rather than by satisfying the law. Just like the Judaizers Paul opposed, the LDS Church adds ordinances, covenants, and additional requirements to the simple gospel of grace. In doing so, it does what Paul warned about: it sets aside the grace of God and makes Christ’s death be for nothing (Gal. 2:21).
The LDS Reading: “We Preach the Same Gospel”
The LDS response hinges on redefining the term Gospel. Since 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 defines the gospel as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and 3 Nephi 27 seems to repeat that same summary, Latter-day Saints conclude that their gospel aligns perfectly with Paul’s.
But that argument stops short. It identifies the facts of the gospel but misses its meaning. And it completely ignores the context of Paul’s warning in Galatians 1:8. Paul’s concern wasn’t that anyone was denying Christ’s death and resurrection—the Galatians already believed that. His concern was that they were distorting the significance of the gospel by making it insufficient.
The Context of Galatians: Grace Plus Anything Is “Another Gospel”
Read Galatians straight through, and the “different gospel” comes into focus. The problem wasn’t that false teachers denied Christ’s crucifixion. They believed that fully. It was that they insisted Gentile believers also keep the law of Moses—including circumcision, dietary laws, and other observances—in addition to faith in Christ.
That “addition” was what Paul called a false gospel. Paul’s point throughout the letter is that salvation is not achieved through our doing and keeping a set of ordinances, commandments, and covenants, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
“We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” — Galatians 2:16
Paul underscores this by pointing to Abraham, who was justified by faith 430 years before the law of Moses was given. God made Abraham a promise that through his offspring—a Savior—“all nations will be blessed.” This promise was not based on Abraham performing rituals or ordinances, but on his faith in the coming Christ (Galatians 3:6–14).
Paul’s concern goes beyond the Mosaic law itself. His point is that God has never promised eternal life through commandment-keeping or ritual observance, but through faith:
“For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:21-22)
After Paul’s departure, false teachers had crept in among the Galatian believers, teaching that faith in Christ was good but insufficient. To be “true” Christians, they needed to add circumcision and the observance of specific laws like Sabbath observance and dietary laws.
Paul’s warning is severe. He warns the Galatians that if follow these false in receiving circumcision and following the law that they are severed from Christ” and “have fallen away from grace.” — Galatians 5:4 Indeed, “Christ will be of no value to [them] at all” Galatians 5:2.
The issue was not what people believed about Jesus, but what they required in addition to Him. The Judaizers message of the Gospel plus works or the Gospel plus ordinances and commandments was contrary to the true Gospel of salvation by grace.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” — Galatians 5:1
The Parallel to Mormonism
That’s exactly what makes the LDS system so similar to what Paul confronted. It’s not that Latter-day Saints deny Christ’s death and resurrection—they affirm those truths. But they add temple covenants, priesthood ordinances, additional requirements (like the Word of Wisdom), worthiness interviews, and covenant-keeping as necessary conditions of exaltation.
Paul’s whole point is that when you add conditions to grace, grace ceases to be grace (Romans 11:6). You turn the good news into a new form of law. And if you are under law, you are “obligated to obey the whole law” and have “fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:3, 4). That’s what makes it “another gospel.”
To say, “Yes, we believe in Christ crucified—but you also must…” is precisely the formula Paul condemned. It’s the subtle shift from “Christ saves” to “Christ enables you to save yourself.”
The True Gospel of Grace
At the end of Galatians 2, Paul writes words that cut to the heart of every human attempt to add to the finished work of Christ:
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” — Galatians 2:21
That’s the message Galatians defends with passion and urgency. The gospel is not Christ plus covenants, ordinances, or human worthiness. It is Christ alone—received by faith alone, sustained by grace alone. For Paul, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)
Pointing to Galatians 1:8, then, is not a “bad use of scripture.” It’s a loving invitation for Latter-day Saints—and all of us—to return to the very heartbeat of the gospel.
The Heart of the Gospel
Every time I read Paul’s words in Galatians 2, I’m struck by their beauty and simplicity:
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20)
Paul understood that the Christian life is not about striving to prove ourselves worthy but resting in the One who is worthy—the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Christ fulfilled the law and lived the perfect life we could not, so that we might live in the freedom of His grace. He invites us not to earn His favor through fulfilling religious obligations, but to find true freedom and life by trusting ever more deeply in His love and finished sacrifice for us.
That’s the gospel Paul defended—and the gospel still worth defending today.