Keeping Faith in Focus
Galatians 3:1-9
Have you ever been lured into something only to discover you’d been fooled? An email from Africa offering to wire a million dollars if you give your bank account information. A phone call claiming your social security number has been compromised. A salesman who talks you into buying a car that’s a lemon, a timeshare you can’t get rid of, a phone plan with all sorts of surprise charges, or a whole life insurance policy that’s a rip-off.
The biggest scam is a spiritual one – being lured into wrong religious beliefs and practices that place your relationship with God in jeopardy. If your relationship with God isn’t right, then nothing is right. You just don’t want to get that wrong.
Legalism is a spiritual scam.
That’s why Paul says, “Oh, foolish Galatians!” He doesn’t mean believers in the churches of Galatia didn’t know better. They knew God gave them a right relationship with him by faith alone in Christ alone and that they’d done nothing to earn his favor or cover their sins. Yet after they believed on Christ, they allowed themselves to become spiritually careless and mentally lazy.[1] They let themselves be fooled by wrong teaching.
We call this teaching “legalism” because it insists that God requires a combination of faith in Christ plus certain behaviors listed in the Old Testament to accept us. Legalism can take other forms, too, as when religions require sets of rules or rituals for salvation. All forms of legalism are like a spiritual scam since they claim to get you right with or closer to God when they do no such thing. It promises to help you but harms you instead.
Sometimes a scam gets litigated when someone files a lawsuit against the perpetrators of the scheme to recover losses or damages. That’s kind of what Paul is doing in Gal 3:1-9. He invested more than a year of his life into starting and shepherding these churches, then legalistic people threatened to steal them away.
Believers should press forward in faith and not return to the law.
In response to this disappointing development, Paul writes like a prosecuting attorney who’s cross-examining the believers in Galatia. To point out the flaws in their shift towards legalism, he interrogates them with a series of five rapid-fire questions. Then he follows these questions with a star witness. These questions and this star witness make a strong case for why believers should press forward in faith and not return to the law.
Legalism shifts your focus away from Christ.
This is the point of Paul’s first question, “Who has enchanted you?” With this question, Paul makes it sound like the churches had fallen under a magical spell or been hypnotized with their eyes by a pagan enchantment. This is ironic because the OT law forbids sorcery and associates such practices with paganism. Yet here Paul portrays the men who were pushing the OT law as pagan enchanters who hypnotize people with incantations.
From what were they hypnotized? From keeping their focus on Christ. Paul says, “Before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” He refers to how he taught them about Christ when he was in Galatia. Clearly portrayed means something like a notice or sign posted in public for people to see, like a big, colorful, eye-catching billboard at a subway station or side of the road on your way to school or work every day.
Paul had given them careful, comprehensive teaching about what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross by dying for their sins. He had also lived a non-legalistic lifestyle before them for all to see, day in and day out (which is a big deal because Paul had been a diehard Pharisee before he believed on Christ).
Though he had put the person and work of Christ into clear focus for them, the legalistic teachers came along afterward. They shifted the gaze of the churches away from Christ and got them to stare back at old rules and human performance instead. Their newfound interest in a legalistic lifestyle contradicted what they had clearly been taught about Christ.
Legalism forgets how faith works.
Question 2: “This is the only thing I want to learn from you. By the works of the law did you receive the Spirit or by the hearing of faith?” With this question, Paul reminded the believers in Galatia of how they’d been given a clear record before God in the first place. God didn’t restore their relationship with him because they’d earned it or because they’d followed a set of requirements listed out in the OT law.
They received his salvation through “the hearing of faith,” which means they heard the good news about Christ and believed on him. He fulfilled the law for them. He died in their place. He rose from the grave. He did for them what they could never do for themselves and so they believed on him.
That’s what faith does. It’s trusting or putting your full confidence in what God has done for us through Christ. “In some languages trust is explained as “leaning your weight upon God” or “hanging onto God with all your heart.”[2] That’s how faith works. It relies upon God completely. Legalism forgets that and teaches you to trust in your performance to earn God’s blessing, forgetting that Christ’s performance is all that you need.
With this question, Paul introduces an important detail that he will speak about much more in this letter – the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. The moment you believe on Christ for salvation, at least two spiritual changes occur in your life.
- You are justified – God gives you a clean, perfect record in his sight.
- You receive the Holy Spirit into your life.
You don’t receive the Holy Spirit later on in the Christian life. You receive him at the moment you believe. Why is this important to bring up now? The answer to this question begins to appear in Paul’s next question.
Legalism relies on the flesh rather than the Spirit.
Question 3: “Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit, are you now being completed by the flesh?” Paul connects (1) the beginning of the Christian life with (2) the rest of the Christian life – the (1) way the Christian life begins with (2) how it continues. Sometimes we call this (1) salvation and (2) Christian growth, (1) salvation and (2) sanctification, or (1) positional salvation and (2) progressive salvation.
Paul’s point is that we should live the Christian life the same way we started. We began by believing on Christ, that’s true, but Paul emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, too. The Holy Spirit – who is God – helps us understand the gospel, persuades us to believe the gospel, and helps us to believe. Then he seals us and stays with us forever.
The bottom line is this. The law shows us that we’re guilty of sin, but it can’t solve our sin or give us a right relationship with God. But when we believe on Christ, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit – not the law or our religious performance.
If we couldn’t begin (“having begun”) the Christian life without the supernatural intervention of the Spirit, then what makes us think that we can live out (“being completed”) the Christian life without him either. We didn’t “get right” with God by relying on our flesh or human effort and we can’t “live right” by relying on our own effort either. We must rely on the inner, supernatural enablement of the Holy Spirit in our lives to complete the Christian life, not just get started.
So, if legalism couldn’t save us, then why do we fall to legalism as we live out our new relationship with God later on? Doing that is like putting a manual shift sportscar into high gear, reaching max speed, then foolishly shifting backward to first gear. The results will not be good – for you or your car. The Holy Spirit enabled you to believe on Christ, so you should rely on him to live the Christian life as well. You should not shift back to a legalistic approach of trying to earn God’s favor through performance.
Legalism caves in to human pressure.
Question 4: “Have you experienced so much suffering for nothing, if indeed it was for nothing?” Though Paul doesn’t detail any painful experiences here, he hints at them.
“As he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.” (Gal 4:29)
The backstory of Paul’s ministry to these churches tells us more about this suffering. Luke tells us what they faced when Paul planted and taught them (Acts 13:45, 50; 14:2, 5, 22).
“A violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them.” (Acts 14:5)
Who caused this suffering? Esp. the Judaizers, the same people who now pressured them with legalism. Since the Galatian believers had been harassed by Judaizers in the first place, all their suffering would be for nothing if they caved to these legalistic teachers now. Paul’s argument is simple. Don’t cave in to the bullies. Don’t let legalistic people pressure you to follow their legalistic lifestyle. Stand up to the bullying and suffer for Christ.
God responds to faith in Christ not legalistic behavior.
Question 5: “Therefore, does he who supplies the Spirit to you and who works miracles among you do so by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?” This is the climax in Paul’s cross-examination. In the first four questions, he focused on how the believers in Galatia had responded to the gospel. In this final question, he summarizes what he’s already said but focuses on how God responds to believers.
This question is important because it recognizes how God himself verifies the right approach to him. Did God respond with salvation when they had done everything the law required or when they heard the gospel and believed? When they believed, of course.
How does a young man know if a woman will marry her, for instance? By asking her! One woman says no, another says no, then another says yes. How does an adult know which medication will alleviate his or her pain? By trial and error (ugh)! She takes one med, nothing happens. Another med, the pain gets worse. A third med, the condition subsides. It’d be foolish to go back to the lady who said no or to retake the meds that increased your pain. That’s what it’s like to go back to the law once you’ve been justified by faith.
That’s what Paul is getting at. You try to get a right relationship with God by doing what the law requires, but what do you get from God? Nothing. But when you hear, understand, and believe the gospel of Christ, God responds! He gives you the Holy Spirit!
Supply means to give “as a gift at one’s own expense,” “to support,” “to provide what is necessary for the well-being of another.”[3] The law requires you to do things you cannot do and gives nothing but guilt. When you stop relying on your performance and rely on Christ, God supplies you with the Spirit – with himself – to live a life that pleases him. Again, we see that God supplies the Spirit at the moment of faith, the moment of salvation.
Paul also reminded them how God authenticated the truth of the gospel through powerful, miraculous, supernatural signs. At Iconium, one of the cities in Galatia, Luke says Paul:
“stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3).
While such miracles are not a normal experience for every church (or most churches) in history, it was a common experience at the beginning of the church age to authenticate this new stage in God’s unfolding plan of redemption of which we’re a part today.
Faith alone has always been the way to salvation.
Cross-examination complete, Paul now introduces a star witness. What’s surprising about this man is that the Judaizers claimed him as their witness, yet Paul claims him instead. “Just as Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.”
Legalistic teachers would tout Abraham as their premier example because God had given him the command of circumcision (Gen 17:10-14). Yet Paul points out that circumcision was not what made Abraham right in God’s sight. It was a secondary issue.
To prove this, he pinpoints the moment in Abraham’s life when he “believed God,” which is also when God declared him righteous as he declares us right with him when we believe on Christ today (Gen 15:6). Circumcision began when Abraham was 99 yrs. old, but he had already believed God about 20 yrs. earlier! If Abraham could receive favor and forgiveness from God without circumcision and the law, then people in Galatia could, too.
This is good to know because it shows God has always saved people by faith. In the OT it was by faith alone in God’s promise of a Messiah. In the NT it is by faith alone in the Messiah who has come just as God promised. There has never been a time that anyone, Jew or otherwise, has been justified by God because of circumcision or obeying the law.
Based on Abraham’s example, Paul concludes, “So then you should understand that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” By this, he refers not to physical descendants of Abraham, but to people who share a spiritual kinship with him and are like him because they have also believed God’s promise of salvation by faith.
Paul gives even more OT evidence to prove that this is not just something new. “And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham [saying], ‘In you all the nations will be blessed.’”
He quotes Gen 12:3 and 18:18 to show that God has always intended to bring people from all nations and ethnic groups into a right relationship with him through faith.
- “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3)
- “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.” (Gen 18:18)
It’s circumcision and the law that was added on later, not us. We don’t need to go back and add circumcision and the law to earn more favor with God. If we believe like Abraham, we’re as saved as we can be. The law can’t make it any better.
“So those who are of faith are blessed along with the [man] of faith – Abraham.” This punch line extends Paul’s point farther for good measure. We are like Abraham when we believe on God for justification, but “along with” shows an even closer connection. Abraham’s faith not only secured his justification but ours.[4] Because he believed, he went on to give birth to Isaac; if he hadn’t believed, not only would he not be justified, but neither would we for Isaac would not have been born and the Messianic line would have ended.
Key Takeaways
Let’s review! Legalism (1) is a spiritual scam that (2) shifts your focus away from Christ and (3) forgets how faith works. It (4) relies on the flesh rather than the Spirit and (5) caves in to human pressure. (6) God responds to faith in Christ (7) not legalistic performance, and (8) faith alone has always been the way to salvation. That’s Paul’s argument for why believers should press forward in faith and not return to the law.
Let’s draw at least three important takeaways for ourselves:
Believe on Christ alone for salvation.
If you are trusting your own good works and religious performance in any form or to any degree to give you a right relationship with God, then you need to stop right now. You need to put your complete trust in Christ alone to save you. Throw your whole self onto God in total confidence and accept Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as everything you need to be saved.
Avoid legalism when you see it.
When anyone comes teaches or pressures you to follow OT laws (or worse yet, manmade laws and traditions like the Pharisees) to “be a better Christian,” then stay away from that kind of influence. Legalism is a spiritual scam job. It promises you an improved relationship with God but it distances you from him instead. If you get pressured as a result, don’t give in to the bullying. Suffer willingly for Christ and hold on to your freedom.
Rely on the Spirit to live the Christian life.
You didn’t even believe on Christ by your own determination, intellect, and strength. The Holy Spirit helped you understand the gospel. He persuaded you to believe. He enabled you to believe. So now that you have a right relationship with God, don’t go in reverse. Keep relying on the Spirit every day to live the Christian life because that’s why God gave him to you the moment you believed. Paul will say more about relying on the Spirit later in this letter, so for now I’ll just say what he’s said so far: “You began with the help of the Spirit, so keep on relying on him, too.”
[1] John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody, 1987), 63.
[2] Daniel C. Arichea and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1976), 58.
[3] William Arndt, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 387.
[4] Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 200.
