This morning I was in Galatians chapter 1.
Something kept pulsating in the text. In Gal. 1:10 Paul writes, "If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ." The Greek has: "Christ's slave I would not be!" It's a Yoda-ism, used for emphasis.
Young scholar, no one can serve two masters. Let your sole ambition in your scholarship be to please Christ, not men. Never adapt your message to your audience. Never compromise your convictions in order to pass your PhD exam. You are first and foremost the slave of Christ. It is therefore as his slave, responsible to your divine Master, that you measure your words and publish your journal articles and books. Do not compromise the truth like the Judaizers or desert it like the Galatians. Live by it and seek to make it known to others.