Lent: Challenging Galatians
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You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”
12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 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.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
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Gospel of Faith V Gospel of Law
Recapping Galatians 2, Paul clearly taught that we are saved when we stopped trusting in keeping the law and in our own doings and instead to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ at Easter through Good Friday on the cross and the resurrection on the Sunday. And of course, this should result in motivating us to do good, but the message is clear that doing good is not part of our salvation.
So now we come to Galatians 3 and look at 3:1-25. Paul talks about the spiritual growth that follows from our salvation. To use the jargon, we're justified by faith in Christ, but we're also sanctified (set apart) by faith in Christ.
Looking at Galatians Chapter 3:1-29
Galatians 3: 1-5 talks about the relationship with God that comes only through grace and how that relationship develops also through grace.
Galatians 3: 6-14 talks about a case from the scriptures showing how the entire history of God's revelation to his people has been an unfolding of this message.
Galatians 3:15-29 makes a case from the example of a Will, a last will and testament and leads to a discussion of the purpose of the law of God.
That's what we're going to try and have a look at as briefly as we can in this short session from Galatians
Galatians 3: 1-5
Verses 1 - 5 Speaks about how the gentile people of the region Galatia (modern Turkey) who had come to Christ. Now they were in danger of falling from the gospel of grace that they have so embraced.
1 ‘O Foolish Galatians who has bewitched you?’
3 ‘Are you so foolish, after beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?’ — Galatians 3:1, 3
First, the Galatians had come to Christ through Jesus being clearly portrayed as crucified. And this tells me that a message had been well preached. Secondly, Paul had delivered this message to them so vividly presented that it gripped their hearts. They received the Holy Spirit by hearing with faith, (3:2). They believed what they heard, this contrasts with the religious observation of Galatians 2.
It tells me something about the power of the ‘preached word,’ it wasn't a lecture that he gave so that they all suddenly decided, ‘Oh yeah, that seems to make sense.’ No, the preached word actually had anointing, the power of the Holy Spirit. The words were taken from Paul’s lips into their hearts. And a transformation took place by the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a dynamic of the living word preached and heard by a congregation – there is interaction, even if there is no dialogue or ‘heckling,’ something is going on that enables the Holy Spirit to work in the heart of the listener from the lips of the preacher. So that's a personal comment about the power of the word, the living word.
Notice, to believe the gospel isn't merely to agree with it. It's not just an intellectual process, You are not saved just by believing or by keeping some ethical and moral laws. But to believe in Christ evokes a transformation in us that amounts to new birth, a new creation (2 Corinthian 5:17). And the result was that through this vividly preached Gospel of Christ crucified and by those Galatians believing resulted in them coming alive spiritually. This has echoes of Jesus, talking to Nicodemus in John 3:5 about the new birth.
This section of the letter (3:1-5) addresses a falling back to ‘the works of the Law’ and therefore falling from Grace.
1 ‘O Foolish Galatians who has bewitched you?’
3 ‘Are you so foolish, after beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?’ — Galatians 3:1, 3
This is a telling off from Paul the master pastor. We are back to that message of ‘do v done.’ There's something within us that wants to earn our salvation and even our growth in spiritual maturity by what we do. But no, it's all about what he has done for us. Much of our disobedience and falling from Grace is not inherently bad in itself, such as benevolence or philanthropy. If I am inwardly trying to progress as a Christian or be seen to be Christian by good deeds I am in fact denying the Grace of our Lord Jesus and I need to continually repent of those things and hand back the reins to the Lord.
In summary, when our hearts by faith, receive the truth. We begin our new spiritual life. We're not converted by a general faith, out of a vague belief in something that seems to make sense. We are born again! We are a new creation! Through the finished work of Christ in us.
Paul is warning the Galatian Christians and us, that (Galatians 3:3-5) it's very easy to fall back into earning our righteousness. It is as much a challenge to us today as to the church in Galatia that Pastor Paul was writing to.
Galatians 3: 6-12
Then Paul mentions this link with Abraham and it says (3:6) that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It seems to be tangent to the theme of the letter but no, notice he doesn't say Abraham ‘believed in God’ Abraham didn't believe in God, he ‘believed God.’ Believed that what God said, what God promises is what saves, is trustworthy and true. Faith is not about just believing in God hence the connection to Abraham. Soul-Saving faith is faith in God’s provision not in our performance. We are back to that message of God’s saving grace.
In Galatians 3:10-12, Paul speaks of two kinds of people. First, those who live by faith and second, those who rely on observing the law. Or as v12 puts it who ‘live by’ the law. To live by something means to rely on it for our fulfilment for our happiness, for our purpose. Whatever we live by is what ‘makes us tick’ what gives us meaning, confidence, purpose
It was quite a revelation to me after I retired from being a hospital chaplain that I noticed, or I felt that that my role as a chaplain had come to define me. And after I retired and that role was gone. I was challenged to rediscover my meaning and my purpose in my relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ.
It's an interesting question to ask what makes you tick? What makes me tick or what is my life based on, and if I lost that thing, how do I feel? If life wasn't worth living after such a loss it poses questions about who or what has the lordship of your life, and it's a good question for us to ask.
But what is Galatians 3:10 on about that ‘all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.’ Strong stuff. Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 27:26 “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” Everyone must keep the entire law to avoid condemnation. But here comes the cavalry in 3:13 ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us’ (Deuteronomy 21:23).
Jesus did not simply ‘take our curse,’ but ‘became our curse’. As a result, Galatians 3:14 says we enjoy the blessing of Abraham.
Galatians 3: 15-29
In our final section Paul, using a legal illustration shows the way of grace always ‘top-trumps the law.’
Paul’s first argument in 3:15 is that the way of grace is older than the way of the law. The Promise and Abraham’s belief was 430 years before the law was given to Moses. Furthermore, it was a covenant that cannot be amended. So, the Law given to Moses does not annul the promise to Abraham(3:15, 17). And remember the ‘promise’ given to Abraham and his seed (Christ) was that all nations would be included in the promise. Galatians 3:8, ‘In you (Abraham and his seed, Christ) all nations will be blessed.’ This is music to my gentile ears!
I suggest we do not get bogged down in verses 19-22 except to say Paul argues that the Law was necessary to adjudicate over transgressions and that the Law was in waiting for the ‘offspring’ ie: the seed of Abraham which is of course, Jesus.
Verses 26 to 29 are a crescendo of what Paul was saying in Chapter 3 and a beautiful way to end this study. Let’s read it again.
26 ‘For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to promise.’ — Galatians 3:26-29
What an invigorating pericope. The phrase ‘in Christ’ incluso, opens and closes sections 26 to 28 like two bookends. Notice he says ‘in Christ Jesus,’ meaning ‘in the messiah Jesus.’ There is real union with Christ for believers of the promise of grace. Clothed in Christ there is equality in diversity according to v28 – we are all one. One body of believers with Christ as the head. ‘Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body’—Colossians 1:18.
As we learnt in v16 the promise to Abraham was fulfilled in his seed – Christ. As we are in Christ we also inherit the promise not by keeping the law but by faith, by believing the promise of grace, we have the undeserved favour of God.
Hallelujah!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
In Christ Alone Stuart Townend & Keith Getty Copyright © 2001
