Galatians 3

The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible (Outline)

Text

Galatians 3:1–9 ESV

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

A. Receiving the Spirit by Faith (3:1–6)

Don’t be a Fool

O foolish galatians - This is an interesting thing in the greek

In English we use the word “o” to convey emotion in written form.

The formation here is an exasperated man expressing his correction over this church.

The problem here is that

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 I am astonished that you are lso quickly deserting mhim who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to na different gospel— 7 onot that there is another one, but pthere are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

So he was exasperated! The word for foolish some translations use stupid I read one commentator who used the word idiot. These people were without thinking just embracing false belief!

They were embracing works based faith, this idea that they need to keep the works of the Jews.

I had showed last week that the church of the Jews was done. the Olive tree which dmeonstrates that the faith of the jews was done, that the new Covenant was being estblished by jesus in their midst

This was such a huge problem that the way Paul wrote this was in a way to convey it in writing with an exclamation mark in the midst of the sentence, so to speak. We tranlate this with one at the end of the sentence, this was how bad a problem this was.

Application:

We must test the spirits

Galatians 1:7–9 ESV

7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Paul is repeating Moses here in a sense.

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 ESV

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

An example from the Bible of not being foolish

Acts 17:10–12 ESV

10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

The Willingness to study what has vbeen said against the word of God is as the text said Noble. Imagine if you will this is God’d testimony of these believer forever!

You when you judge whats beign taught against the word demonstrate this nobility.

The Galatians have no mind, mindlessly believe, the Bearen Jews were of the high mind. litterally the Noble mind to seek and understand Gods word.

Proverbs 25:2 ESV

2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

When you search out the Word it is truly a royal act, it also brings God Joy. I think of parents watching their kids open gifts on Christmas. God is pleased to hide, because He has joy when when learn his word.

We are as if kings and queens as we delight in his word, as we dig out his word as we love his word.

So don’t be foolish!

The Bewitching here is a word used only once in the whole of the Bible in the greek.

They are being deceived

The value of preaching

English Standard Version Chapter 3

zIt was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly aportrayed as crucified.

They had experienced the word. Preaching is one of the common means of grace. God has given us preaching so that we by hearing might come to believe what is true about him.

This Is why we must protect the time of God’s word preached, we we must not allow as they have in other lands the making of preaching God’s word illegal in any area.

We must oreach what Paul share here

Christ Crusifued I don;t always like going Hard on the Greek, but the The Perfect is used here

(Break down why this matters, Use false understanding of this today and then)

Application:

You can understand scripture with the eyes of your mind.

You must when you share the word show from every text Christ crucified for men. Jesus is the center message of all the scripture, he is the story line underneath all the story lines

Faith comes from hearing Romans 10:17

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

so you must share as Paul did. You can’t expect people to believe, you must share about Jesus!

4. All Valid preaching must be Christ-centered

A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life Focus on Christ

According to Thomas Adams (1583–1652), “Christ is the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the Scriptures being but as p 962 it were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus.”4

5. When you share the word follow Paul’s example here, Piublicly Portrayed. The word her is a vivid word picture. People will often speak of how great the scene is in a movie, or a line they read in a book or a moment in a sporting event do the same to communicate what we believe, people love stories we have the best true story, strive to learn how to share it well, what has God done for you in your life?

B. Justification by Faith Alone (3:7–29)

Justification - defined

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 3

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

Martin Luther declared that justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls. This cardinal doctrine of the Protestant Reformation was seen as the battleground for nothing less than the gospel itself.

Justification may be defined as that act by which unjust sinners are made right in the sight of a just and holy God. The supreme need of unjust persons is righteousness. It is this lack of righteousness that is supplied by Christ on behalf of the believing sinner. Justification by faith alone means justification by the righteousness or merit of Christ alone, not by our goodness or good deeds.

The issue of justification focuses on the question of merit and grace. Justification by faith means that the works we do are not good enough to merit justification. As Paul puts it, “By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20). Justification is forensic. That is, we are declared, counted, or reckoned to be righteous when God imputes the righteousness of Christ to our account. The necessary condition for this is faith.

Protestant theology affirms that faith is the instrumental cause of justification in that faith is the means by which the merits of Christ are appropriated to us. Roman Catholic theology teaches that baptism is the primary instrumental cause of justification and that the sacrament of penance is the secondary, restorative cause. (Roman Catholic theology views penance as the second plank of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls—those who have lost the grace of justification by committing mortal sin.) The sacrament of penance requires works of satisfaction by which human beings achieve congruous merit for justification. The Roman Catholic view affirms that justification is by faith, but denies that it is by faith alone, adding good works as a necessary condition.

The faith that justifies is a living faith, not an empty profession of faith. Faith is a personal trust that clings to Christ alone for salvation. Saving faith is also a penitent faith that embraces Christ as both Savior and Lord.

The Bible says that we are not justified by our own good works, but by what is added to us by faith, namely the righteousness of Christ. In a synthesis, something new is added to something basic. Our justification is a synthesis because we have the righteousness of Christ added to us. Our justification is by imputation. God transfers to us, by faith, the righteousness of Christ. This is not a “legal fiction” because God ascribes to us the real merit of Christ, to whom we now belong. It is a real imputation.

1. Scriptural Verification (3:7–14)

2. Human Example (3:15–18)

3. Law and Faith (3:19–29)