Galatians 3:1-9

Galatians 3:1–9 (CSB)

You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 I only want to learn this 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 the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? 4 Did you experience, so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? 5 So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard—6 just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?, 7 You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons. 8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you., 9 Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

Galatians 3:1 “You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”

At this point in his letter Paul speaks bluntly to the Galatian church. He refers to them as foolish or spiritually dull because they have been misguided and fooled by those who preach a different gospel. The difference in the gospel was subtle, but it is the subtle difference that Satan uses to undermine the work of God and disrupt the lives of Christians.

Paul equates what has happened to having a spell cast on them. Today there are many who are have the same effect on the church in our country and around the world. There are many popular false teachers today that churchgoers are following to the detriment of the gospel and the dismay of God.

False teachers like:

Bill Johnson at Bethel Church in Redding, CA

Benny Hinn a word of faith prosperity gospel teacher

Creflo Dollar, word of faith preacher

Paula White, prosperity and word of faith preacher

Kenneth Copeland

Every Pope that has been in the office

Tony Campolo

John Hagee (drifts into this category often in his preaching)

Donald Miller

Jen Hatmaker

Joseph Prince

Joyce Meyer

TD Jakes

Joel Osteen

Steven Furtick (mentored by TD Jakes and partners with others like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer)

Satan rarely uses an easily identifiable attack on the minds or lives of Christians. Satan’s work is crafty and effective.

Satan creates a false gospel that results in a false faith, which results in a false way of life that results in the presentation of a false gospel to the lost.

In a 2013 article for The Gospel Coalition Colin Smith summarized 7 characteristics of false teachers:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/7-traits-of-false-teachers/

They use a different source

They preach a different message

Paul is making this case to the Galatians

They move you to a different position (the gospel brings freedom, counterfeit gospels put you in chains)

Bind you to the law or to your flesh (which are actually the same thing)

They produce a different character (greed, lustful, worldly, reject authority, arrogant, slanderous)

I see this all the time. People who claim Christ and then publicly attack and use worldly attitudes and language in the fight for what they believe is right. You cannot fight the good fight using bad words and attitudes.

It crops in the church through gossip, slander, and false rumors.

They appeal to something different than Scripture

They don’t connect experience to Scripture, they connect experience to experience. But, the true gospel will also lead to experiences that are affirmed in the Word.

They produce no spiritual fruit

No holiness, no change, no conviction, nothing.

They lead to a different end (money, fame, status change, influence, etc.)

While these are hallmarks of many American church teachings and promises, you cannot ignore that Jesus promises the opposite in exchange for eternal life in Scripture. You can identify most false teachers because they promise worldly blessing and success if you follow Jesus. Other prominent false teaching places you at the center of God’s plan and work, or focuses on people and doctrines other than Jesus.

Paul argues against the false gospel by going back to what the true gospel produced in them. Paul’s question in verse 2 takes them back to the beginning of their faith.

“ 2 I only want to learn this 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 the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?” Galatians 3:2-3

Paul argues from their actual conversion against the teaching of false teachers. Why does Paul start at their conversion? Because the gospel is the work of Christ for us to believe in, not the work of man for God to believe in.

Paul presents the receiving of the Holy Spirit as ground zero for their security in their salvation by faith and not works.

The only real evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (see Rom. 8:9). Paul asks an important question: did they receive the Spirit by faith in the Word of God, or by doing the works of the Law? Of course, there could be but one answer: the Spirit came into their lives because they trusted Jesus Christ.

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 698.

Romans 8:9 (CSB)

9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

The gospel that Paul proclaimed depends on the work of Christ for salvation and not the work of man.

The gospel is not the work of man for God to believe in

God doesn’t save you because he thinks you have done enough or earned it through your work and effort.

The gospel is the work of Christ to believe in

Believing in the gospel is the basis for his teaching on the faith of Abraham. Abraham’s faith is the basis for his justification and righteousness. Abraham believed God, and His faith was credited to him as righteousness. God didn’t declare Abraham righteous because of his good works, it was because He trusted in the promise of God.

Galatians 3:5-7

“Or is it by believing what you heard—6 just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?, 7 You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham. Therefore, Abraham was saved by the work of Christ because He believed in the promise of God. Everyone who believes in Christ is saved by the same means- the work of Christ through faith in the promise that God has made in Him.

The promise that God made to Abraham was for both Jews and Gentiles

Galatians 3:8-9

“8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you., 9 Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”

God proclaimed the gospel to Abraham and he was saved, Paul proclaimed the gospel to the Gentiles and they were saved. Everyone who has faith in Christ receives the promise that God made to Abraham which is the blessing of eternal life and communion with the Father.

Paul presents the evidence of their conversion in the receiving of the Holy Spirit and His ongoing work in the life of a Christian.

The gospel that results in the reception of the Holy Spirit leads a life that relies on the Holy Spirit.

This happens through following the Word

This happens through a growing relationship and sensitivity to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and it depends on your growing understanding of the Bible. God’s Word leads us to know Him and His will in such a way that we are able to discern more and more as we mature the leadership of the Holy Spirit that is in concert with His Word and will.

Following the Word is not the same thing as living by the law. Living by the law is the belief that because you do something God has to do something.

Living by the Spirit is when you do something because you love God and desire live for Him by depending on Him. Living by the Spirit is trusting that God is good and that He is right, Living by faith means that your focus is on personal faithfulness. Living by the law means your focus is on rewards.

We will look further into this next week, but for today I want to end by focusing on the reality of conversion and the work of the Holy Spirit.

For today I want to leave us with a few thoughts:

Whatever you base your life on is what you actually believe you are saved through.

The false teachers were telling people to live by the law because ultimately they believed you were saved by the law.

What are you hinging your salvation on? And if you say faith and grace, does your daily way of life give evidence to it through a growing reliance and dependence on the Spirit and the Word. Are you willing to hinge your salvation on the evidence of conversion and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Paul presents Abraham has further evidence of the way that God saves sinners.

Galatians 3:5-6 says, “Or is it by believing what you heard—6 just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?,”

Works of the law are not sufficient answers to the questions Paul asks of the Galatians.

Do you have answers to these questions?

Anyone who says that your effort or action is what prompts God to work is peddling a works based or law based gospel.