"—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." (NIV)
In this verse, the New International Version, English Standard Version, and the Message translations of the Bible all have very distinct wordings that reveal things that each of the other translations do not. NIV says that the gospel the Galatians have turned to is "no gospel at all." That's a very bold statement. In my group Bible study the other day, the leader for the day defined the word "gospel" as "good news of a great king." by saying that the gospel of the Galatians is not really a gospel, Paul is saying that it is not good news, and he is pulling their false king down from his throne.
ESV goes even further, saying, "not that there is another [gospel]." In this translation, we see the truth of John 19:11a: "Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above" (NIV). No king has come into power against the will of God, which means that God is the only true King. There is no good news except that of salvation through Christ, and since only Jesus is King, there is no gospel—no good news of a great king—other than the gospel of Christ.
And again, the Message puts its own unique spin on this verse by calling the Galatians' "gospel" a "no-message, a lie about God." Now, not only are the Galatians accepting a false gospel of a non-existent king, they are also blaspheming the God who made and saved them. They are perverting (NIV), or distorting (ESV), the gospel of Christ. and that makes Paul furious. It would for me too.
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