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”?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Galatians 3:1-9 ESV

After giving us a snapshot of four monumental events at the beginning of human history (creation, fall, flood, and Babel), Genesis shifts in chapter 12 to telling presenting the history of one particular man and his family. Although we might expect such a man to be one of history’s greatest kings or a military commander without equal, this man was neither. He negotiated with kings and even defeated them in battle, but he was neither king nor general. He was a nomadic shepherd who dwelt in a tent for most of his life. But even though no monuments or palaces were left behind to proclaim his greatness to the archeological record, his name and life is remembered far more than even the greatest of Egypt’s pharaohs or any other ancient royalty.

the man of whom I speak is, of course, Abraham, the friend of God and man of faith. At the age of seventy-five, God called Abraham away from a life of paganism near Babylon to dwell in tents in the land that the LORD promised to give to the patriarch. In fact, listen to the great promise that Yahweh first gave to Abraham:

Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Even though Abraham did not see those promises fulfilled in his own day, they are fulfilled and continue to be fulfilled even in our present time. By faith, Abraham became the first Hebrew, the father of the entire nation of Israel, but as the LORD promised, all nations are also being blessed in Abraham. The Apostle Paul explains the meaning of that aspect in our present passage, where he argues that all who are in Christ through faith are the true children of the man of faith.

ARE YOU SO FOOLISH? // VERSES 1-6

Galatians 2 ended with Paul recounting his rebuke of Peter at Antioch, which we noted served to both defend his authority as an apostle and to serve as an example for his Galatian readers. After all, Peter was guilty through unintentional hypocrisy of what the false teachers were actively attempting to lead the Galatian congregations into. Thus, Paul concluded the chapter by emphasizing that our justification before God is only through faith in Christ, not through works of the law. Indeed, we ended last week with Paul’s poignant recollection of his own experience of salvation, which culminated in the radiantly beautiful verse 20. In my own mind, I imagine the apostle considering the greatness of God’s grace toward him with perhaps a tear rolling down his cheek as he finished the words “who loved me and gave himself for me.” After taking a deep breath, his face becomes stern again as he faces with pen and parchment the battle before him, writing: “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Now he continues, O foolish Galatians! I would almost guarantee that this does not quite sting our ears like it would have stung those of the Galatians. Calling each other foolish, dumb, or stupid is a relatively common occurrence for us (though it should not be!), so we subtly think that Jesus is exaggerating a bit whenever he said that calling someone a fool put you in danger of the fires of hell. But He is not using hyperbole. In the Scriptures, foolish and ignorance are fundamentally moral stances. As Proverbs 1:7 says, “fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Fools reject wisdom and, therefore, reject life. Indeed, Paul says in Titus 3:3 that we are were once foolish: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” That was who we all were before Christ rescued us.

All of this means that Paul was pulling very little punches here. Indeed, maybe saying, “O stupid Galatians” or “O idiotic Galatians” could give us something of how the Galatians would have heard these words.

Who has bewitched you? Paul is so perplexed that the Galatians were already abandoning the gospel that he asks who has hypnotized them or put them under a spell or enchantment. Again, Paul was not naïve to the fact that many who confess Christ do not finish their faith; he was simply shocked at how quickly the Galatians were doing so. Most commentators are quick to note that Paul was actually saying that the Galatians were under a spell, but Sproul has this to say:

When we come to this text, we think that Paul is speaking metaphorically, that he couldn’t seriously be entertaining the idea that there’s such a reality as witchcraft. I disagree. I read this text and think that the Apostle is in fact thinking there is such a thing. It’s prohibited; it’s condemned; it’s absolutely wicked and evil but nevertheless real. When Paul asks, Who has bewitched you? I don’t think that Paul has in mind something like the Old Testament witch of En-dor (see 1 Sam. 28) so much as the supreme deceiver. (55)

The grammar of Paul’s question lines up with Sproul’s insight, for the apostle could have framed the question in the plural, asking who are the ones who are deceiving you. And he will acknowledge later that there was evidently a group of these false teachers. Nevertheless, the Galatians were being led astray by the Deceiver himself. Through a false teaching, the Galatians were put under a spell that was leading them away from the gospel (the good spell).

‘It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.’ Again, this explains why the apostle is so perplexed and so frustrated by the Galatians. They heard the gospel so clearly that it may as well have been erected onto a billboard and set right in front of their face. Indeed, Paul’s reference to Christ crucified should be taken as meaning the entirety of the gospel, but it is interesting that he again uses the perfect tense, which is significant here as well. As Ryken comments, “Jesus was crucified on a particular day, by particular men, outside a particular city, on a particular tree. If we had been there to witness his crucifixion, we could have reached out to touch the cross and picked up a splinter in our fingers. The crucifixion was a factual event in human history” (85). Yet it was a singular event in human history that has continual effect on our present lives. Because Jesus was crucified, He took on Himself the burden and consequences of our sins so that we can now have peace and communion with God as our Father. And, as Chrysostom rightly notes, those who see the truth of Christ’s crucifixion see it more clearly through faith than the crowd who actually stood at the foot of the cross and watched Him die.

But how did the Galatians see Christ’s crucifixion so clearly? Most immediately it was through the proclamation of the gospel. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Paul himself preached the gospel to them, so he knows that they heard it clearly and directly. Also, they saw Christ crucified in the suffering that Paul endured for the gospel. It is quite likely that the believers in Lystra would have received this very letter and that some of them had gathered around Paul after he had been stoned and thrown outside the city because they thought he was dead. They also had the weekly visual reminder of Christ’s crucifixion before their eyes through the Lord’s Supper.

Let me ask you only this… Why does Paul say these words if he goes on to ask five different questions? This is a rhetorical argument that Paul is using to make his case. He literally says, “This only I want to learn from you all,” which means that he is metaphorically placing the ball in their hands and saying, “Go ahead and teach me what you believe; I’m listening.” And he does this knowing that if they honestly have to answer his questions aloud, they will see the folly that they have ingested. Indeed, Paul is confident that their honest answer to his first question is entirely sufficient to settle the matter at hand.

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? The Galatians knew the answer. They did not receive the Spirit through being circumcised or through eating kosher foods; they did so through hearing the gospel and believing in Christ. This is important because it is through the indwelling Holy Spirit that Christ now lives in us as Christians, as Paul said in 2:20. Because the Spirit is the proof of our adoption into God’s family and of our eternal inheritance that is still to come and it is the Spirit who regenerates our hearts, we can rightly say that we are saved through receiving the Holy Spirit. After all, salvation is a work of God as the Trinity. The Father ordains our salvation. Jesus accomplished our salvation. The Spirit applies our salvation to each of us individually. Thus, to have the Spirit is to be a Christian. Indeed, Peter made that very argument at the Council in Jerusalem for why Gentiles did not need to be circumcised, saying of God to the Gentiles “by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).

Again, for Paul, this is a kill shot to the false teaching that the Galatians were receiving. As soon as they admitted to receiving the Spirit through faith, the teaching of the Judaizers would be unraveled. If they already had the Spirit through faith, what benefit could being circumcised ever give them?

Although Paul could have concluded the letter there, he continues to press his case with more questions. First, he asks them to consider whether they are truly as foolish as they are acting. As harsh as his language is, it seems that Paul is banking on his letter rousing them from their enchantment and proving that they are not as foolish as they appear to be.

Then he asks, Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Of course, such a thing is impossible. Paul uses the same words begun and perfected in Philippians 1:6, saying, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul wants them to see the ridiculousness of what they are entertaining. They think that they are adding to their experience of the Christian, that they are still believing in Jesus but adding in obedience to the law, perhaps as extra insurance that they really were saved. John Brown says Paul is essentially telling them:

Your progress is not improvement, it is degeneracy. It is not the child becoming a man, but the man becoming the child. to pass from Judaism to Christianity is–having begun in the flesh–to be perfected by the Spirit. For the Jew to become a Christian, was for the child to become a man–a natural, desirable course. For the Christian to become a Jew, is for the man voluntarily to sink into a second childhood–a most unnatural and undesirable course. (111)

Did you suffer so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain? While we are not told what the Galatians suffered, it was a common enough experience in the First Century. Whatever that suffering for Christ looked like, it would be in vain if they now rejected the gospel. Notice also that Paul holds onto hope that it is not truly in vain. Indeed, if he thought the Galatians to be lost causes, he would not have written this letter at all.

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… As with Christ’s miracles, the miracles in Acts were for the purpose of testifying to the proclamation of the gospel. Just as the Spirit was received through hearing and trusting the gospel, so too with the miracles that the Spirit worked among them. Indeed, it would be ridiculous to think that miracles were done through being circumcised. But before we laugh at the foolishness of the Galatians, we should hold the mirror of Scripture before our own face. How quickly are we prone to leave behind the simplicity of hearing and proclaiming God’s Word for a flurry of lesser things? Todd Wilson writes:

Realize, then, that religious activities in themselves do not mediate the presence of the Spirit. We can engage in all sorts of church activities, but if the hearing of faith isn’t undergirding it, then all we have is lots of activity. We may be busy, but we’ll lack the empowering presence of the Spirit.

This insight ought to motivate us to give top priority to the Word of God in everything we do. If we desire the Spirit’s presence, we must be Bible people; we need to be Word-driven in our approach to ministry and to life because God’s presence comes as we respond to God’s Word with faith. (94-95)

SONS OF ABRAHAM // VERSES 6-9

Verse 6 builds upon the question of verse 5 by citing a particular example: just as Abraham “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” Here Paul quotes directly from Genesis 15:6 to show that Abraham himself was justified by faith rather than by works of the law. Of course, James will make the point that we are able to see Abraham’s faith through his works, but that is complementary rather than contradictory. Sproul writes:

Paul is answering one question, and James is answering a different question. Paul’s asking, How does a man who is not just, who doesn’t have merit in himself, become justified in the sight of God? He answers emphatically and clearly, unambiguously, that it’s by faith alone. James is asking a different question. The question James is asking is this: If a man says he has faith and does not have works, will his faith justify him? The answer is no, faith without works is dead. Faith that has a profession but is not manifested by the deeds of obedience is not true saving faith but dead faith. A dead faith never justified anyone. That’s why Luther made the statement that justification is by faith alone but not by faith that is alone. (58-59)

Or, to use Paul’s language from last week, how can a person claim to have Christ living in them without any desire to strive for obedience to the Father? Of course, since Christ does dwell through the Spirit in every Christian, we give glory exclusively to Him for supplying both the will and the strength to do any good works. And other than Jesus Himself, Abraham is the supreme model of such faith in Scripture, for it was through his faith that Abraham believed God’s promise and became the father of a great nation.

The Jews took great pride in their physical descent from the patriarch, which we from their conversation with Jesus in John 8, and it was that pride that made Paul’s statement in verse 7 so difficult to swallow: Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Yes, God was faithful to physically make Abraham into a great nation, but the LORD did something even greater than the patriarch’s genetic bloodline. All who believe in God are Abraham’s children.

How can that be so? Verse 8 explains: And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” Here Paul is combining Genesis 12:3 and 18:18. In order to understand Paul’s argument, it is important to know that Gentile and nation are the same word in Greek, ἔθνη. God promised to bless the Gentiles through Abraham, not merely his bloodline descendants. Notice that Paul calls this a preaching of the gospel to the patriarch. God was foretelling to the man of faith that he would redeem all nations, and as we will see in a couple of weeks, He would do so through a particular offspring of Abraham, Jesus. Thus, even at the very beginning of the Jewish people, God declared His intention to make salvation available to all people, both Jew and Gentile, and that He would do so through Abraham.

Crucially, this means that the gospel was not a new idea being presented. It is not as if God gave the Jews the law only to discover that they could not actually keep and so needed to create another plan. No, even before the law was given to Israel through Moses, God had already preached the gospel to Abraham and announced that He would rescue and deliver people from all nations through him.

Verse 9 drives Paul’s conclusion home: So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Ironically, if the Galatians submitted themselves to the law, thinking that they would become true sons of Abraham, they would in reality be rejecting their inclusion in the blessing of Abraham that God always planned to give to the Gentiles.

It is also fitting that Abraham is called the man of faith or, as several other translations say, faithful (or believing) Abraham because it provides a direct contrast with the foolish Galatians. After all, what is the opposite of foolishness? Wisdom, of course. But where does wisdom begin? “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” says Proverbs 9:10. Fearing Yahweh clearly requires faith in Yahweh. This means that faith is as much the opposite of folly as wisdom is because wisdom cannot even begin to form in us without faith. Abraham was a man of faith in God and, therefore, also a man of wisdom. As great as Abraham was, he knew that he was too sinful to be justified by his own good works before God; instead, he trusted that God alone would somehow make him righteousness. Thus, he was trusting in Christ without even knowing His name.

Paul’s message to the Galatians is still his message to us today: none of us are greater than Abraham; if his blessing and justification came through faith, our justification and inheritance of that blessing must also be by faith. And that is what we declare through the Table before us.