“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 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— just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?”
Galatians 3:1-6 ESV
We, in the church today, live a strange contradiction. We confess that we’re saved only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. This is the gospel after all. But, once we are saved, our mindset shifts.
We begin to live as though we grow in faith, as if we are sanctified, by our own efforts. We teach as though we grow in faith, as if we’re sanctified, by our own efforts. And, as we struggle with sin, our message is simply:Try harder.
We turn away from the gospel to a message of works righteousness. And this is not unique to us. It was a tendency shared also by the Galatians.
Paul obviously felt strongly about this. As he begins this passage, he calls them fools. And he asks who had bewitched them.
He does so because they had started out well. They had received the gospel. They had understood that the Spirit of God was received not by works, but through faith.
This, however, had changed in time. They had begun to depend upon their own efforts. They had begun to think and act as if they were perfected by the flesh.
He reminds them that every blessing they had received was given them through faith. And he reminds them that, in the case of Abraham, it was his faith that was counted to him as righteousness. In other words, they needed to continue as they had begun.
As they had trusted in Christ for his salvation, they were to continue to trust in him. As they had received the Spirit of God through faith, they were to recognize that he remained with them through faith. And as God had blessed them through faith, they needed to continue looking to him in faith for every blessing that was needed.
In the same way, we must continue as we began. We must realize that, just as we are justified by faith, so are we sanctified. Just as we received the Spirit of God through faith, he remains with us by faith. And just as God blesses us through faith in Jesus, so will he continue to bless us.
If we begin to depend upon our efforts for sanctification, we are fools. If we begin to depend upon our efforts for the Spirit’s presence and blessing, we are fools. If we do so, we’ll end up missing out on the very blessings he desires to lavish upon us.
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