Hard Questions

Gal 3:1-9[1] 04 July 2010

 

Tell me, if you had to give a brief explanation for the hope that is within you, would we hear more of "Here's who Christ is and what He has done", or would we hear more of, "Here is who I am and here is what I have done"? You see, people can forget where they came from; Churches can forget where they came from as well. False teachers, religious lies, and works-based religion can all be very attractive and self-exalting; we must be careful about such. In a zeal for holiness, churches can add to the gospel over the course of time. The simple question, "What must I do to be saved?" is still a good one to reveal the beliefs of a church. Folks who love us sometimes ask us hard questions.

Before we get to this particular passage, let's step back for a minute to see a bigger picture of the book of Galatians:

Galatians is about grace through faith alone in Christ alone.

Chapter One: There is only one gospel, and it comes from Christ Himself: accursed is anyone who preaches another.

Chapter Two: The apostles confirm Paul's gospel, and it is bigger than the apostles: it is about grace (justification of the wicked) alone through faith alone in Christ alone

Chapter Three: Faith/promise contrasted with the law

Chapter Four: Faith/promise illustrated through sons and slaves

Chapter Five: Freedom in the Spirit: walk in the Spirit

Chapter Six: Instruction after rebuke: Fulfill the Law of Christ, and boast only in the cross

Today we're going to look at the first nine verses of chapter three, and the title of the message is hard questions. Let's read it then we will pray.

Gal 3:1-9

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

4 Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain?

5 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--

6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

8 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."

9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Message: Church; don't forget what God has done among you and how He has done that! A clear testimony is powerful for our remembrance, and for fighting off the lies of the devil and false teachers. So we'll examine some key words, then we'll focus on the hard questions in verse 1-6, and we'll finish up in verse 6-9 (overlap), examining the connection to Abraham.

Let's pray.

So, some key words here…

FOOLISH. What he means isn't mental deficiency, but rather mental laziness and carelessness. That was carried forward by the questions he asked. Some of you might be concerned that Paul was in danger of hell's fire because he called his brother a fool (Matt 5:22); but he wasn't. It wasn't hatred, it wasn't disdain, and it wasn't useless anger that motivated Paul here; it was a love that drove him to deep concern that these people get the gospel straight. Jesus used this word speaking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:25); also used by Paul of himself in the past (Titus 3:3) before he was redeemed.

BEWITCHED. Charmed or fascinated in a misleading way[2]. This word was associated with pagan magic, and used to characterize the deceptive work of the false teachers who had convinced the Galatians that they needed circumcision in order to be saved. Somebody had bewitched these folks; deceived, misled, and convinced them that a lie was the truth. This is the case when false teachers and their right-sounding lies take anyone captive. We see the heart of God here in Paul, because God hates witchcraft and rebellion.

CRUCIFIED. Paul had preached Christ powerfully among them. This is the gospel; we're sinners, but God had provided a way out of His wrath! His Son has come to bear our burden, to fulfill all righteousness, and to purchase, on a bloody wooden cross, pardon for us. We receive His righteousness; we don't earn our own.

FAITH. Paul uses this word five times in these nine verses. Twice it's coupled with 'hearing by', a phrase many of us have learned from Romans 10:8-17. Since the entire focus of the book is justification by faith alone, of course it is central to Paul's rebuke here. They had received the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were in danger of abandoning it due to the lies of people telling them they must be circumcised in order to be saved.

HARD QUESTIONS: (vs 1-6) Paul then goes on to ask a series of rhetorical questions. These are maybe like a lawyer interviewing a witness, and asking him questions he knows the witness knows and yet makes him answer them anyway; he does so hoping to bring out the contradiction in the witnesses statements or assertions. Or maybe it's more like a mother standing in her child's messy room asking, "Did you not say you were going to clean this room? Is this clean? Is this bed made?" It is direct; it has anger and sarcasm in its tone. These rhetorical questions bring the Galatians to review and clarify what God had done among them. This is a good thing; it was good for them, and it is good for us to review our lives for the activity of God in our lives. While our testimony can't be the only witness of Christ in our souls, it is still an effective witness. We can glean a good bit of their history, and of God's work among them from these questions...

God had brought Paul to preach Christ. This was Paul's calling and work (Acts 13:2, 1 Cor 1:23). Paul had preached Christ like one would post yard sale signs on power poles on Friday night in town - publicly, to let everyone know what Christ had accomplished on that cross. He had preached Christ so compellingly, with so much power of the Holy Spirit, that it was as if the crucifixion had happened before their very eyes. Christ, crucified, risen – our only hope for salvation and justification before God.

God had given the Holy Spirit to all who believed the gospel. They had 'received the Holy Spirit' as Paul preached Christ. They had been born from above, born again, regenerated, and filled with the Holy Sprit of God. Hearing the gospel with faith was the means of this receiving, not any works they could have performed. This is important, for in Acts it is recorded how the apostles at times laid hands on people and they received the Holy Spirit of God; this wasn't the case in the Galatian churches, and it wasn't taught that we are supposed to seek such an experience; but rather we are the preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and God will work through that Gospel preaching. Rom 8:16 "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God".

God had worked miracles among them. This could have been the miraculous work of regeneration (new birth) that Paul referred to, or more visible works or signs that often accompanied the preaching of the gospel by the apostles. Things had happened that they knew was the Holy Spirit's working among them. Either way, miracles had been done and they knew it; Paul knew they knew it. So he asks: did that happen through the working of the law, or by faith?

God had sustained them through suffering. Right away they had evidently been persecuted for their faith in Christ. Apparently Jews were free to gather in synagogues, for they were in all the Galatian towns Paul and Barnabas had visited; but once they received Christ and Jews began to persecute Paul and Barnabas, the believers suffered as well. Not only from the Jews, but often the city they were in joined in condemning Christ-followers. In their new-found faith in Christ, they had held fast through such persecution; it was God's power that had helped them through!

Those were things God had done among them, and Paul wanted them to recall what God had done and how God had done it, lest they be deceived into thinking God had either not really worked or had worked through the law instead of faith.

CONNECTION TO ABRAHAM. Paul finishes this section up by pointing back BEFORE the law came to Abraham. Now circumcision originated with this man; God gave this sign of His covenant to Abraham.

The connection to Abraham isn't made through circumcision, but through faith in Christ. Faith came before the sign of the covenant.

Gen 12:3 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."

Gen 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Gen 17:10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

If they wanted to be "Jewish", so to speak, then believe God the way Abraham did; don't go for the sign of a covenant that Christ had fulfilled already! More on Abraham and the covenant ahead.

Closing

So some key words, some hard questions, and the connection to Abraham bring us to this truth; God had done all this, beginning with this messenger who came with the truth of the cross! Tell me, Paul says - did God work through hearing with faith, or through the law?

Folks who love us ask us hard questions.

Message: Church; don't forget what God has done among you and how He has done that!

What has God done to save you?

How did you receive the Holy Spirit?

Having begun by faith, have you subtly turned to good works for justification?

Exactly what are you counting on to make you right with God?

Certainly biblical faith will result in and lead to good works; but those won't save you; that is only evidence that God HAS saved you, and is sanctifying you.

Let's consider our own questions here today as we close, and prepare for the Lord's Supper

Who is Christ, and what has He done for you? Have you received such grace? It that evidenced in repentance and following Christ?

What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins, and you will be saved.

People and churches need to remember, when it comes to eternal life, where they came from.

 

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[1] All Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved

[2] Like to thank John MacArthur for his help with Greek words, definitions, and uses found in his New Testament Commentary on Galatians, © 1987 The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, All Rights Reserved.