Beginning & End Distinctives

The Christian life begins and ends with the Spirit through faith.

What is distinctive about a life that begins and ends with the Spirit through faith?

Christ crucified is everything (1)

The brokenheartedness of Paul

Like addiction

Remember 2:9 - Christ died for no purpose.

publicly portrayed as crucified = refers to Paul’s original preaching of the gospel to them

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Another distinctive

Hearing is essential (2,5)

The same question appears in v. 2, 5

v. 2 receive the Spirit

v. 5 supplies the Spirit and works miracles among you

From beginning to end, the Christian life is by the Spirit through faith.

But hearing is essential: hearing with faith

God’s design is that His people would hear the message of the Gospel. That they would hear about the work of Christ and His gracious saving power. That as we hear the gospel, the Spirit grants us understanding and we place our faith in Christ for our living and now ourselves

Why should we presume to be able to trust God in the face of the unknown? When life seems bleak? Contending with mandates and mass confusion. Where does our help come from? God, who supplies the Spirit by hearing with faith.

Christian, we should be praying that we would be able to hear the truth of God with faith. This is the means by which the Spirit works in and through us.

Not sure about Christianity? Not sure about Jesus? It is not up to you.... you are not burdened to figure it out. God has already accomplished everything.

The fact that God is holy is good when we embrace the gospel, but it is terrifying when we reject the gospel.

Another distinctive

Power is alien (3)

The answer to the question in v. 3 is, it can’t be done

being perfected is passive. It means to be made complete. God does this. It’s His power. We are not saved as a result of our works and we cannot live God-honoring lives by means of our own strength or wisdom. To think otherwise, according to Paul here, is foolish

The point here is this: if you began by the Spirit through faith, live by the Spirit through faith.

Paul Washer 4 pillars of the Christian life

Knowledge

Faith (agree that it is true)

Joy

Obedience

Dependence on self is futile (4)

vain = futility, for no reason, to no end

we really can’t stand when this happens in our lives

flowers eaten by deer

were all your experiences in connection to the gospel meaningless? The suffering and the good, was it all for nothing?

If we presume that we are able to live a God-honoring life by means of our own efforts and wisdom that anything that we have experienced in connection to God, which is everything in our lives, good and unpleasant, has been for nothing.

This is about being right with God. Nothing else matters if we’re not right with God. Our effort and wisdom won’t get us there.

That’s the next distinctive

Righteousness comes from faith not effort (6)

What made Abraham right with God was that he believed God. This belief came by the Spirit through faith, and the result was being found as righteous by God.

I like what Alan Cole said:

Galatians: An Introduction and Commentary a. Introduction (3:1–6)

Abraham entered into his particular blessing by realizing that he could do nothing himself, by confessing that fact to God, and by throwing himself on God, counting on God to do that which he could not.

Knowing is everyday (7)

First, what is Paul urging (commanding) the Galatians to know?

everyone who received the Spirit through faith, that is, believed God, is like Abraham. They are sons of Abraham. And to Jews who were hearing this, it would have been confusing. It wasn’t about physical lineage. What connected people was a common belief not a common bloodline.

That’s why there are times we feel closer to those who are in Christ that we are not biologically related than to those whom we are biologically related.

But what I want us to see is the command Paul issues after pleading with them to not buy into the Judaizer’s teaching that their works will accomplish with peace with God.

Know. You know what we often want to help us navigate our problems? A step-by-step to do list. Paul brought up a problem to the Galatians: you’re bewitched. You’ve been duped. And we might expect him to say, here’s what you need to do. But instead he says, here’s what you need to know. Knowing is everyday… meaning that knowing is practical.

This is often the criticism preacher get about their sermons. We need more application. How can apply what you just preached, preacher, to my life? And preachers should be concerned with application. But what I suggest is that life is more complex than that. And more importantly, it appears from this text and other places in Scripture that knowing is practical. Knowing is the gateway to meaningful life application.

Knowing that salvation begins and ends by the Spirit through faith is everyday… it is practical… it is life application. But how exactly will that show up in your current set of circumstances? God will show you by the Spirit through faith. We begin life with God by the Sprit through faith and we live for God by the Spirit through faith. Know then… It’s not always Do then...

Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (8-9)

It was always God’s plan to justify, that is, to count righteous the Gentiles, just like He did for Abraham.

When God called Abraham, He did so with then intent that what he declared to Abraham, and how Abraham would respond to His declaration (faith) would be used to reach the Gentiles as well

And notice that Paul refers to what was preached to Abraham as the gospel. At the very least, what this is making clear is that the way God deals with humanity is eternally the same. Never, since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, could anyone come to God by their own efforts or wisdom. No one ever could live a life pleasing to God by their own efforts or wisdom. It was always by the Spirit through faith. And make no mistake, the object of faith must be the Gospel. This is what was anticipated in Abraham’s day and this is what we preach today.

The Christian life begins and ends with the Spirit through faith.