The Book of Galatians #8
Galatians 3:1-5
Defection is an ugly word. So is the word deserter. Certainly, there is nothing more bewildering, and few things more sorrowing, than to see a Christian who defects, or deserts, the purity of the Christian faith by which he has been born again and by which he has been nurtured, to settle for something less. But strange as it may seem, many Christians do.
We find that they begin well. They receive the grace of Christ extended in salvation; they live in humble faith, but soon they fall into systems of legalism, systems of ritual, systems of works. I wonder how many Christians come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ in a very personal way and then wind up simply following a pattern of religion. They go to church, read their Bible every day, give a tithe and that’s about it.
This is an issue that comes to full force in the book of Galatians, because this is the issue that confronts the heart of the Apostle Paul. He had been used as the mouthpiece of God to introduce the Galatians to the truth of the Gospel.
He was the one who preached the gospel of grace; he was the one who exposed them to the magnificence of the Christian experience (which was by faith plus nothing) in the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ. But since that time when he had begun with them, they had defected. They had deserted the simple purity of a grace gospel and substituted a form of religion, inferior and impotent.
This is not to say they had lost their salvation. It is to say, rather, that they substituted for the fullness of their life in Christ a form of religion that had no power and no joy. Furthermore, the unsaved world is watching. How will they find out about Christ and the life He offers if not through them?
Now we know that Satan never stops trying to destroy God's plan of salvation, so if God's plan is a plan of grace, Satan will try to overbuild grace with works. If it's a plan of faith, he'll try to add, on top of faith, something else. This is his plan.
And yet, notice what Paul says in 1:6.
So Paul writes this epistle to counteract the work of these Judaizers.
It falls into three parts. The first section is personal. In chapters 1-2, he defends his apostolic authority. The second section is doctrinal, where he defends his gospel of grace. The third section, in chapters 5-6, is practical, where he defends his liberty living. So there is a personal section in the first two chapters, a doctrinal section in the next two, and a practical section in the last two. We're at the beginning of the doctrinal section in chapter 3.
Here, Paul fully answers the Judaizers who have condemned salvation by grace through faith alone.
Notice 2:16
There he states his case. Now in chapters 3-4, he defends it. He defends it from two views.
First, he defends is from the standpoint of experience and then from the standpoint of Scripture.
The standpoint of experience is in verses 1-5. The standpoint of Scripture is in 3:6 through 4:7. So all the way from 3:6 to 4:7, he defends justification by faith on the basis of Scripture. Then from 4:8 on he makes a plea to the Galatians based on his defense
So his first defense of justification by faith is on the basis of experience.
Now remember, justification by faith is to be declared righteous. And Paul is saying in verses 1-5, this is your experience. He’s already told them about his experience; now he’s going to talk about theirs.
And in effect he says, "How in the world could you people ever accept a doctrine of salvation by works when you have already experienced salvation by faith? You found that when you experienced salvation by faith, you got everything there was to get. What are you looking for in works that you didn't get in salvation by faith?"
And notice how he begins in verse 1.
"Oh foolish Galatians."
The word there for 'foolish' is a most interesting word loaded with insights. The word indicates the stupidity that comes from deadness of intellect. Literally, it would say this: "You are lacking in the power of perception."
As the friends of Charlie Brown would say, "Oh you blockheads!" What it literally means is 'one who does not think.' It is not talking about the absence of intelligence; it is talking about the failure to use it. It is not saying, "Oh you morons," or "Oh you imbeciles," in a categorical sense of an inability to think; it is saying, "You blockheads who aren't using your brains!" That's basically what the word is saying. "You're not using your heads! The Judaizers arrive and teach you a doctrine that you can be saved by works; you are stupid to believe that!" J.B. Phillips said, "Oh you dear idiots."
By the way, there we find a tremendous insight as to why people get into false doctrine to begin with. It's because they follow their hearts without using their head. They don't study the Scripture and apply their mental processes to the available information. You always hear people say, "Oh, they were such nice l people, it all seemed so good!" Blockhead. Think it through.
Listen: The Christian life is not merely an emotional exercise. The Christian life is an intellectual pursuit. Our emotions are involved, no doubt. But they are byproducts of an intellectual understanding of truth.
Then look at the next phrase, “Who has bewitched you”.
"Who has fascinated you?” or “intrigued you?”
Here we see what happens when emotions run the life. Had they been rooted and grounded in the truth they wouldn’t have been intrigued by this deception.
Then we have the phrase, “that you should not obey the truth?”
What does it mean to obey the truth? It means to receive the Gospel. That's all it means, to receive the gospel of grace. Galatians 2:14 has the same phrase. "When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel," there it is. The truth he's talking about here in Galatians is the Gospel, the good news of salvation by faith.
He says it again in Galatians 5:7. "You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?" The point is, he's saying, "You knew the truth, you heard the Gospel, you heard the facts, you heard it straight, it is by grace through faith plus nothing. Who bewitched you, fascinated your emotions, that you didn't use your heads and fell into legalism?"
How did it happen? They didn’t think through their own experience and they didn’t examine the truth of Scripture. And that’s his whole argument for the rest of the chapter.
So let's see what he said. They should have recognized this deception based on their experience with God.
First of all, they had an experience with
1. Christ
Verse 1
He's saying here, "You have openly seen the Gospel presented in a crucified Christ. You have had that experience."
Jesus had been presented to them as the source of all salvation. It had been clearly and publicly proclaimed to them. There was no excuse for them to believe anything else. Paul is really recalling their conversion.
Let's look at the features of the statement.
"Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been clearly portrayed before you”
The idea is of the placards that were displayed in the marketplace when there was an announcement to be made.
Today, we get all of our announcements in the newspaper. But in those days, you knew what was important simply because the government or the city officials would nail a placard all around town with a public notice on it. Everyone would read that and that was the important information that needed to be known. That is the word that is used here.
He's saying to them, "Christ has been placarded in front of you! There's no doubt; you have seen clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ openly and publicly proclaimed. You saw that He was crucified."
Could you imagine what it just have been like to hear Paul preach about eh crucifixion? Perhaps that audience even felt they could hear the ringing of the hammers as they hit the nails that went into His hands.
Perhaps there was a sense in which they could hear His cries, sense His tears, feel His hurts, and perhaps even visualize the blood that was dripping from His body, so vividly was He presented to them. They could see Him crucified. They were convicted of their sins. They repented, accepted His perfect sacrifice, forsook their sin and paganism, and by faith had entered the Kingdom. They had seen it all, become new creatures.
Paul says, "It was all open, all public, and you responded to it. The miracle happened and a multitude of you Galatians rose to walk in newness of life. You saw Him crucified. How then, how then, could you ever conclude that legalism saves a man when you saw so clearly that there is only one thing that can redeem and that's the death of the perfect sacrifice?
Let me tell you something, beloved, Jesus never would have died if He didn't have to. In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, "Let this cup pass from me." But He said, "Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done." Through His life, He said, "I must needs to go Jerusalem." He had to go there, He had to die. He said Himself, "To this end was I born, for this cause came I into the world." Why did He have to die? Because no man can ever get to God, no man can ever be right with God, no man can ever be accepted by God except through a perfect sacrifice paying the penalty of sin. You can't do it for yourself.
So he says to them, "You had such a clear picture of Christ crucified. You saw the necessity of His death; you saw what the Cross meant. You saw the continuing character of the Cross; you saw that it never left off. What in the world ever messed you up to get you into legalism?"
So there was there experience with Christ. Then notice in verse 2, their experience with
2. The Spirit
Verse 2
He's saying, "I just have one question. Have you received the Holy Spirit? If so, how’d you get Him? Well, the answer is obvious. They didn't do earn Him or work for Him.
Why is that so important? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit is the greatest proof of a man's salvation that there is. The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. The greatest proof that you are redeemed is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. When God gives his Spirit, He gives it only to those who believe.
That's why it's ludicrous, as well as anti-Scriptural, to say you can be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit. That's like saying, "God saved me but gave me no evidence of it and no guarantee of it." No, when a person comes to Christ, God gives the Spirit as evidence and as the absolute guarantee of eternal salvation.
When God saves us, He gives us a guarantee of the relationship. The word to describe that in 2 Corinthians is the word “earnest”. It means 'down payment' or 'first installment.' When you got saved, God said, "I have an inheritance for you and I'll give you the down payment." That's the Holy Spirit.
It is also used to refer to an engagement ring. If someone asks you, "How do you know you'll go the Marriage Supper of the Lamb someday? How do you know that you're part of the Bride of Christ?" All you have to say is, "Because I have an engagement ring." They ask, "Who is your engagement ring; what is your engagement ring?" God verifies His promise with the giving of the Spirit.
That's why the denominations and people who deny that the Holy Spirit is given to every believer also deny the security of the believer. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you don't have any guarantee. This is absolute proof of salvation and if they got saved by grace without circumcision and the Law’s requirements and God just gave them the gift of the Spirit, then there was no need to listen to the Judaizers.
Then just a word about verse 4
There are two possible interpretations here. 'Suffered' is a neutral word. It can be translated in any way and is given its meaning by the context. It literally means 'experience.' If it was in a context of suffering, it could be translated 'suffered.'
Since he’s not been talking about suffering, it seems better to me to translate the word “experience”.
"Have you experienced so many things in vain?" In other words, that's the key to the whole little section. "Haven't your experiences taught you anything? You blockheads, have all these experiences been for nothing? You've experienced Christ crucified among you! You put your faith in Him; you've been redeemed. You've experienced the indwelling Holy Spirit with His power and presence.
You've experienced God the Father.
Has all of this stuff been for nothing? Can't you think it through?" Paul is saying, "You've experienced salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ; you've experienced the fullness of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Didn't it matter? Didn't it make any sense? Was it all needless? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now going to make yourselves perfect by works?"
Then he softens the blow at the end of verse 4. "If indeed it was vain” And there he says, in effect, "I hope it isn't true. I hope it isn't true. I'm hoping that you're going to come to your senses.”
So he references their experience in Christ and their experience with the Holy Spirit. Then finally, he talks about experience with
3. God
verse 5
Who is the One who gives the Spirit? God the Father.
And by the way, He doesn’t just “give” or “Provide” the Holy Spirit, He “supplies” and the word carries the idea of supplying in a bountiful, abundant fashion.
Don't ever think, beloved, that when you get saved, you only get part of the Spirit. He gives the Spirit in a super-abundant way, a bountiful way.
In ancient times in Greece, they used to have great festivals, great plays. Greek plays had a choir to do the musical background, but it was very often expensive. So in some of the classic Greek writings, we find out they had a difficult time getting choirs together unless someone in town would foot the bill.
So public-spirited, chamber of commerce-types would be glad to pay the bill so that the public play could go on. They would defray the cost and allow this thing to happen. In other words, they “supplied” the funding.
Later in wartime, the same word is used of patriotic citizens who gave contributions to the state to support the army. The same word is common in marriage contracts to describe the support which a husband, out of love, promised to give his wife.
It has to do, then, with benevolent support, benevolent giving.
Here, the word speaks the giving of God as He is giving out of love. In those cases, it was a love of a man for the play, or the love of a man for the state, or a love of a man for the woman. But here it is used to describe for us the love of God.
He super-abundantly and bountifully pours out His Spirit. Man, when the Spirit came, they knew it. He came “working miracles among you”.
There are two thoughts there. 'Miracles among you' could be translated that way. In other words, they saw miracles happening around them. God was approving the truth of the Gospel by miracles. But the word 'miracle' there is actually “dunamis”. It’s the word we get dynamite from. And it can be translated 'power within you.'
"You received the Spirit and not only miracles around you, but power in you." God gave them the power.
Now he says, "Did you get that by works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Well, the answer was obvious! By the hearing of faith they got it. All the miracles they saw, all the power they knew. He says this then, "Friends. If you received Jesus Christ and all His fullness, the Holy Spirit and all His fullness, God the Father and all that He could give and you got it all by faith, what in the world could you ever add to the Trinity by works?
Oh foolish Galatians, who bewitched you?" Pretty potent argument, isn't it?
And the whole thing is yours by faith, beloved. Isn't that exciting? Boy, that's our salvation. I'm not interested in legalism; it offers me nothing.
When someone comes to me and says, "Wouldn't you like more of God?" I say this, "No, thank You. I have Christ, and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I don't need any more, and there is nothing else to give. He gave it all when He gave me Jesus. I'll accept what He gives by faith. Let's pray.
