<p>1:6 <em>I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you to the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel</em>- Paul describes himself as having been called by God, by grace; and in this context he comments how <em>he</em> called the Galatians to the grace of Christ (Gal. 1:6 cp. 15). His response to his calling of grace was to go out and preach, thereby calling men to that same grace, replicating in his preaching what God had done for him. True preaching reflects a certain artless selflessness. And so here Paul writes of his preaching to the Galatians in the third person: &ldquo;him Paul that called you into the grace of Christ&rdquo; (Gal. 1:6 AV). And likewise he talks about himself while at the Jerusalem conference, where he was given so clearly the ministry of converting the Gentiles, as if he hardly identifies himself with himself: &ldquo;I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago... I knew such a man... of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory&rdquo; (2 Cor. 12:1-4- the context makes it clear that Paul refers to himself, seeing that he was the one given the thorn in the flesh as a result of the revelations given to this &ldquo;man&rdquo;). In 1 Thess. 1:5 Paul could have written: &lsquo;We came with the Gospel&rsquo;, but instead he uses the more awkward construction: &lsquo;Our Gospel came&hellip;&rsquo;. He, Paul, was subsumed beneath the essence of his life work- the preaching of the Gospel.</p><p>And yet we could also argue that Paul had a way of turning things rather too personally. They had deserted the grace of Christ, yet Paul expresses this in terms of them turning away from him personally. This tendency to over personalize things, it could be argued, was at the root of so much of his pain with the Corinthians as expressed in 2 Corinthians.</p><p>&quot;Deserting&quot; translates <em>metatithemi</em>, literally 'handed over', implying there was some other hand at work. As there is no cosmic satan doing this, I conclude that this higher hand was God's, confirming them in the way they wished to go. Romans 1:26,28 speaks of God doing likewise, giving people over to the mindset they themselves desired. He confirms us in the path we wish to go.</p>