Passage: Galatians 3:1-3
The Big Idea
Paul has been waging a skillful, planned war on legalism. He stated its theological error in chapter 1, shared his own testimony, and then showed that even Peter fell into it. Now he turns to the Galatians’ own experience. They received the Spirit by believing, not by working. So why would they try to grow by their own effort? We can’t become more like Christ by trying harder. We grow the same way we began: by faith.
O Foolish Galatians! (Galatians 3:1)
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, so that you don’t obey the truth? Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed before your eyes as crucified.
Benjamin Franklin once quipped that the learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it’s still nonsense.
- The truth hurts.
- Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses (Proverbs 27:6).
- Paul writes this way because he loves the Galatian Christians so deeply.
Criticism is always hard to accept. But if we receive it with humility and a desire to grow, it can be very helpful. Only a fool doesn’t profit from being corrected. When someone criticizes us, we should ask whether there’s any truth in it. If there is, we should learn from it, even if it wasn’t given with the right motive or in the right spirit. A few helpful responses:
- Commit the matter to God immediately, asking Him to remove any resentment or urge to criticize back, and to teach you what you need to learn.
- Remember that we’re all great sinners, and the person criticizing you doesn’t even know the worst about you.
- If you’ve made a mistake or sinned, confess it humbly and honestly to God and to anyone you’ve hurt.
- Be willing to learn again that you aren’t infallible, and that you need God’s grace and wisdom every moment to stay on the right path.
Accept what’s true, act on it, and you’ll be stronger for it. Whoever profits from correction is wise.
One modern paraphrase renders Paul’s opening something like, “You dear idiots of Galatia!” And honestly, I could just as easily hear, “O foolish me!”
What does “foolish” mean?
The Greek word anoetos describes someone who can think, but fails to use their power of understanding. It means “not understanding,” not putting your mind to work. Jesus used it for the disciples on the road to Emmaus who were slow to believe (Luke 24:25). It can carry a moral reproach too, describing someone who doesn’t govern their desires (Titus 3:3).
What Were They Foolish About?
In many ways these three verses are the pinnacle of the whole book, the apex of Paul’s argument.
The death of Jesus on the cross was all-sufficient. Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among them as crucified. But their vision of Jesus Christ and Him crucified had become cloudy. They no longer saw Him and His work on the cross as the center of their Christian lives. Now it was Jesus plus what they had to do for Him.
Contrast that with God’s promise to keep in perfect peace the person whose mind is fixed on Him, because he trusts in Him (Isaiah 26:3).
Spurgeon said that if you get the real atonement of Christ thoroughly into your soul, you won’t be bewitched.
Who Bewitched You?
How could you forget about this? Maybe you didn’t forget; you couldn’t have! Someone must have put a spell on you!
In the ancient world, people believed in the “evil eye,” which supposedly worked the way a snake was thought to hypnotize its prey with its eyes. Once you looked into the evil eye, a spell could be cast. The way to resist it was simply not to look at it. With this word picture, Paul is urging the Galatians to keep their eyes fixed steadily on Jesus.
In his sarcasm, Paul nails the issue: they weren’t obeying the truth.
- It’s not that they weren’t keeping a list of rules. They might have had that down. But it didn’t matter.
- Jesus said the work of God is this: to believe in the One He sent (John 6:29).
- They had an inner urge to rebel against this truth. They thought they could please God by their works.
I have that urge too. In my own mind I’m constantly asking, “What do I need to do to please You? What can I do to be more filled with the Holy Spirit?”
- But the Holy Spirit isn’t a prize earned by works of the Law.
- That very question reveals the flesh’s desire to please God by its own effort. It clashes with the truth of grace.
- This should be one of the most elementary things we learn. Hebrews urges us to move on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1).
Two Sides of Grace
We can divide this topic into two parts:
- Justification: starting out with God. New birth, new life, our position in Christ.
- Sanctification: going on with God. Growing, changing, walking in the Spirit, becoming more like Christ day by day.
How Did You Receive the Spirit? (Galatians 3:2-3)
Paul says he only wants to learn one thing from them: did they receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are they really that foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are they now being perfected by the flesh?
I love Paul’s approach here. They’re all rhetorical questions!
- How did you get saved? You received the Spirit.
- How did you receive the Spirit?
- Was it some great work you did? Works of the Law? Legalism?
- This wasn’t a bait-and-switch by Paul. He never told them they needed to go back to the Law. Can you imagine a Galatian believer receiving the Holy Spirit because he got circumcised?
Comedian Gracie Allen once received a small live alligator as a gag gift. Not knowing what to do with it, she put it in the bathtub and left for an appointment. When she got home, she found a note from her maid: “Dear Miss Allen, sorry, but I have quit. I don’t work in houses where there is an alligator. I would have told you this when I took the job, but I never thought it would come up.”
Paul never thought he’d need to explain this either! It should go without saying.
By the hearing of faith
Jesus said to ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. If a son asks his father for bread, will he give him a stone? Or for a fish, will he give him a snake? Or for an egg, a scorpion? If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:9-13)!
You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. So having begun in the Spirit, are you now going to finish by the flesh?
- You couldn’t save yourself, so how could you change yourself?
- “Being made perfect” speaks of the process of sanctification.
Here’s one of the fundamental differences between law and grace. Under law, we’re blessed and grow spiritually by earning and deserving. Under grace, we’re blessed and grow spiritually by believing and receiving. God deals with you under the covenant of grace. Are you trying to deal with Him on the principle of law? Do you believe God wants to bless you?
And when works of the flesh replace faith, self-confidence and pride are the inevitable result. Spurgeon put it this way: the reason for the whole fight is that people are not only poor but proud, not only guilty but conceited, so they won’t humble themselves to be saved on the terms of God’s charity. They won’t believe God; they’d rather believe the proud lies of their own hearts, which flatter them with the hope of earning eternal life.
How We Grow
This is the practical application of everything Paul is teaching. We cannot become more like Christ or receive any blessing by trying harder.
So how are we “made perfect” now? The exact same way we began our life with God: through faith. Simply believing in the work of Jesus on the cross.
Here’s how it works:
- Addictions: not a long list of steps you climb in your own strength, but one step: believing that Jesus’ work works.
- Sins: we can’t just try to stop. We need new life inside, a changed heart, and we receive that by faith.
Look and live
When Israel grumbled in the wilderness against God and Moses, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them, and many died. The people confessed their sin and asked Moses to pray. God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten could look at it and live. And that’s exactly what happened (Numbers 21:4-9).
Jesus said that just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so He must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life (John 3:14-15).
The bitten Israelites didn’t heal themselves. They didn’t try harder. They looked. That’s the cure for the charmed snake of legalism: stop looking at its eye, and look to Jesus lifted up on the cross.
Why do we do what we do? Because Jesus died on the cross. It all comes back to Calvary.
Grace Takeaway
You didn’t receive the Spirit by working, and you won’t grow by working either. The cross is all-sufficient. Don’t let anyone bewitch you into Jesus-plus-your-effort. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ crucified, ask your Father for His Spirit, and grow the same way you began: by believing and receiving.
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