-4-
A Flawed Gospel
As we closed the previous chapter we had Paul stating that the gospel which he preached was given him by Jesus and was the same gospel preached by the apostles in Jerusalem.
Then he accused some people in the Jerusalem church of being false teachers because they were adding Jewish law-keeping practices to Christianity. They were going so far as to say that keeping these old Jewish practices were essential for salvation.
Then he accused the apostle Peter of hypocrisy. Paul tells about the time that Peter was having fellowship with some non-Jews in the Antioch, Syria church when some Jews from the Jerusalem church walked in unannounced, and joined in the fellowship meal.
The visitors sat at their 'own' table , separate from the gentile believers. Immediately Peter, Barnabas and a few other Christians with a previous Jewish background, got up from their tables and moved over to join the Jewish visitors.
When Paul found out about it, the next time that he met up with Peter he confronted him with his insulting behavior.
By his actions Peter was showing that Jews were in a separate (or superior) class compared to the gentile Christians.
So the question would be this … if the Jewish believers were of a superior 'class', what would it be, exactly, that makes them superior?
I believe that this superior air had a lot to do with their 'ethnicity'. In their minds, it was the Jews who were entrusted with the 'law'. As a nation of people keeping these God-given laws, they became a nation that was very different from the surrounding nations. They became proud of this ‘difference’. They had no problem attaching the word ‘unclean’ to the gentiles. They were the ethnically chosen, clean race.
In addition, they were commissioned with the job of inviting the Gentiles to join them by basically converting them into Jews. The term given to this is 'proselytizing'.
Superiority can rise up when we consider that we are right and everyone else is wrong.
Believing in the one God, Jehovah, and believing that He would send the Messiah to redeem them from sin was the original gospel message.
But the Jews of Jesus' day had corrupted the gospel to the point where belief and repentance was not being emphasized. In its place they were teaching that, starting with male circumcision, and progressing to the keeping of the commandments, was the process that would make one a Jew (a child of God).
Paul goes on,
Ga 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
It had taken a miracle to convince ‘law-keeping’ Peter, that the gentiles were not to be considered unclean, and that they too are welcomed into God’s kingdom. Peter got that through his head. He was convinced by God that gentiles are saved by repenting of their sin and believing the gospel.
So, in light of that, he had no problem visiting with them and eating with them.
So what was he saying by his actions when he got up and moved over to the ‘Jew table’? He is acting like he does not want to offend the Jerusalem visitors, or that he is embarrassed to be caught actually sitting with the Gentiles. His actions imply that he thinks the Jews are really of a higher class. It's like he is saying, 'If you want to be part of the ‘in group’ you would need to become a Jew, or at least adopt their practices.
And yet in his heart he knew this was not true. That is what made him a hypocrite.
Paul goes on,
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
In verse 15 Paul is speaking from a Jews viewpoint. He does not really hold to the view that Jews are any better than Gentile sinners. Rather, he is saying ‘OK, so we were born Jews … do you think that makes us without sin? No … everyone is born in sin and needs to be saved.’
Jesus made this very clear in His teaching and that is one of the reasons the Pharisees hated Him so much. Their gospel was flawed. They had added ‘keeping the works of the law’ onto salvation requirements.
Verse 17
Ga 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
This verse can look a bit puzzling at first. But actually it makes more sense by taking it together with the next verse:
Ga 2:18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Who is rebuilding what? Paul is telling the Galatian churches, that if you change the simple gospel and start adding to it a component that says we must keep the commandments in order to be saved … you are making sinners out of us. Why? Because it is impossible for anyone to keep the law. James told us that if we offend in one point, we have totally failed to live up to the perfection that the law demands. James says we might as well have broken all ten commandments.
The Galatian churches had been led to believe that they must rebuild their beliefs by adding circumcision and law keeping as requirements for salvation. Paul's take on that is, 'That's making sinners out of all of us, and on top of all that, you are making Christ the author of all this sin.'
And here is that wonderful verse that we have heard and memorized;
Ga 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is a picture of God's grace. The part of me that was guilty of trying and failing … died. Or at least, I am to consider it dead. Christ now lives in me. And He did not come to live in me because I was so good, or so successful in my 'law-keeping'. Paul says, I am now living a life based on faith (belief). “I have believed that Jesus, God's son, paid for my sins, forgave my sins and dwells in my heart … all because I repented and believed. “
In the next verse Paul says, 'If I add law-keeping to my salvation, and if I now imply that law-keeping is saving me, I have just nullified God's grace.”
Apparently this is exactly what the Galatian Christians were doing. Does Paul believe that they have now lost their salvation, that they are once again, unsaved? No, I don’t think that this would be his greatest concern.
The really big concern would be how their new ‘salvation message’ would affect their preaching as they evangelize.
All of their new additions to their group would be coming in with the idea that law-keeping and circumcision is what is saving them. This means, in fact, that the new converts would still be lost, unsaved, destined for hell. And even worse, they would not be worried about it because of their false security. As we read in verse 17, by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Paul sums up this part of his discussion with this very clear statement:
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
How clear is that?! How insulting to the Father to act as though we think we are pretty good, and should make it into heaven based on that. “Sorry God, but Jesus really did not have to die for me. I am actually not that bad.” What an insult!
As we move into Galatians chapter 3 Paul addresses them with words that reveal his emotion.
Ga 3:1 ¶ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Who indeed. Paul does not clearly name who it was … he just drops it as a question. Who did this? The question is designed for them to answer it to themselves. They are being made to listen to Paul’s simple and clear gospel … and remember the day Paul walked in and preached it to them. They are being made to remember the day they felt the burden of sin roll off their backs, as they heard and understood for the first time what grace truly meant. They felt so free.
But now, as Paul has been pointing out, they don’t feel that anymore. They are beginning to feel the weight of having to compare their actions every hour of the day, with the requirements of the law. They are living their lives in such a way, where it seemed like several times throughout a day they had to check an instruction manual to see if they are living right.
Most people hate reading the instructions. I cant imagine having to live my life that way. I love how the writer of Hebrews mentions that, under the new covenant, the law (the manual) is not on paper, it is in our heart. The difference it makes is this … if I have to check the manual, the recipe … I am thinking, ‘OK, what is next and how am I doing so far’. But if you have the instructions in your heart … if you know the recipe ‘off by heart’, you just know what is next.
And God does that for us. After we have trusted Him for salvation and we start out on our walk with Him, we do so by spending time getting to know Him in the Word. We find that the Word begins to be ‘hidden’ in our heart. We know it. As a situation arises, a biblical response also arises from the sub-conscious area of mind, from the area where the Word has been hidden. As we respond to the situation with a biblical response, we are not thinking … am I still saved? Did that just keep me saved? Of course not. Our behavior is rooted in our relationship with Him.
These poor Galatians were no longer feeling this love relationship with the Father. They were under the new belief that their behavior and actions, moment by moment, was what was keeping them saved.
How Paul’s heart must have ached for them. He had emotions like a parent who sees one of their children going through suffering that could so easily have been avoided.
They had be ‘bewitched’.
“Who are these people who bewitched you!” Yes, Paul would like to have gotten ahold of them and have given them an attitude adjustment. But he does not mention anything more about them right at this point. He will talk about them, but that will be a bit later.
Instead Paul proceeds with this;
Ga 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
I suppose the ‘experience’ of receiving the Spirit is unique with each of us. We received the Spirit the moment of our salvation. The experience that all we believers have experienced included this; Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life. John 5:24
These were Jesus’ words recorded by John. Later John wrote these words in one of his letters:
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He that loves not his brother stays in death. 1John 3:14
Passing from death to life is an experience. To some it was incredibly dramatic and was accompanied with great emotion and even tears. For some it was incredible joy that filled their hearts. For others it was an internalized emotion too intense to describe. But believe me, when anyone passes from death to life … there is an experience.
Paul is using this thought to tug at their hearts. He is making them remember it. He asks, did you have this remarkable experience of receiving the Spirit … by checking your manual to see how you were doing?
They, hopefully were being made to realize ...’No, there was no law-keeping being emphasized. Paul gave us the good news … we received it, we believed it … and rejoiced!’
“No”, Paul is telling them (and us). “You had the Holy Spirit enter you when you quietly, sincerely and purposely put your trust in Jesus as your Savior, taking your death penalty from off of your shoulders.”
But Paul does not expect that the Galatians have heard enough. He does not assume that they ‘get it’. So he goes on.
Ga 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
How would that work? The Holy Spirit gave us life when we were dead in our sins. But the life is only temporary? If we don’t ‘finish’ the salvation by our works … it goes away?
Paul says, That doesn’t even make sense.
But it is surprising how many well meaning Christian denominations have been teaching that exact thing. If you happen to be looking for a fellowship of believers to join up with, you need to be on the watch. The friendship and fellowship may be great … but if you become a part of them, will a ‘yoke’ be placed on your shoulders? Will you buy into the new slant on the gospel as they convincingly present it to you? Be very careful.
I want to interject a small illustration of my own right here.
Becoming a Christian is worded or described in various ways in scripture. One of the words used is ‘the new birth’. Jesus told the rabbi, Nicodemus, that he needed to ‘born again’. Or some translations say, ‘Born from above’.
I want to use the word birth and compare a natural birth with the spiritual birth.
Just as in a physical birth … there is a moment of life, so it is in the spiritual; we pass from death unto life.
When the birth is accomplished and little child begins to grow … there is no expectation put on that child to perform certain things, or they can no longer continue to be a child. Even if a father comes to the point where he disowns a misbehaving child … in reality, the child still is a child or offspring of the father.
The child's obedience or disobedience, his law-keeping or law-breaking will not determine whether or not he is a child. But it will determine something … it will determine whether he is a good child or a not-so-good child. But he remains, nevertheless, a child.
So it is in our spiritual walk with God. It starts by our being born into the family of God by accepting Jesus as our Savior. And from there on, as we go forward, our behavior only determines what kind of a child we are … it does not make us one or not.
This is what Paul is getting at when he asked this;
Ga 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
So Paul has reminded them of the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit into their hearts on the day of their decision to take Jesus as their Savior.
Now he reminds them of something else:
Ga 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain— if indeed it was in vain?
Becoming a Christian had some side-effects in those days. It usually involved some suffering. It could have been anything from “What!? You believe what!? Are you telling me that I am going to hell unless I believe that stuff? Get out of here!” And, by the way, becoming a Christian can split up families even here and now.
Jesus told us that He came for the purpose of dividing families. How often do you hear that said? Not often I am sure. But here is what Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Mt 10:34 ,35
Do not get this wrong. Jesus is not enjoying dividing of families. But He is saying that the difference between dead and alive is so great, that it need to be made very obvious. If a parent were to say to his adult son, 'You are saying that you have just found eternal life … so what does that say about me? Are saying I don't have it?' That is where the son must say lovingly and assertively, 'Yes Dad. That is exactly what I am saying.' At that point the discussion could a turn. When the son goes on to tell his father that he, too, can receive eternal life by putting his faith in Jesus … that is where the father will accept or not. If he does not, a division has just been created. It will hurt. But it has to be their until the Holy Spirit does its work on the dad, and he, too, joins that family of God.
The suffering that the Galatians would have experienced would have varied in how much they received and how great was the extent. They experienced it. They stood up to it. They should remember what it felt like to have shared their testimonies with family and friends … and when they were rejected, they should have remembered what it felt like to suffer for His name.
The early disciples rejoiced in that. We read in Acts; Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Ac 5:41
And then Paul kind of repeats his previous thought and adds to it.
Ga 3:5 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?
This is Paul going a step further … from the experience of receiving the Spirit, to the joyful experiences of seeing miracles performed in their Christian lives … Paul now asks, who is doing these things, these miracles … law-keeping? Or do miracles and healings come by believing God?
It should be very hard for them at this point to keep on embracing this new 'add-the-law-to-your-christian-life-to-stay-saved' gospel.
But Paul wants to make sure, so he goes on to prove his point using an old testament example. And that is where we hope to pick it up in the next chapter.
Then he accused some people in the Jerusalem church of being false teachers because they were adding Jewish law-keeping practices to Christianity. They were going so far as to say that keeping these old Jewish practices were essential for salvation.
Then he accused the apostle Peter of hypocrisy. Paul tells about the time that Peter was having fellowship with some non-Jews in the Antioch, Syria church when some Jews from the Jerusalem church walked in unannounced, and joined in the fellowship meal.
The visitors sat at their 'own' table , separate from the gentile believers. Immediately Peter, Barnabas and a few other Christians with a previous Jewish background, got up from their tables and moved over to join the Jewish visitors.
When Paul found out about it, the next time that he met up with Peter he confronted him with his insulting behavior.
By his actions Peter was showing that Jews were in a separate (or superior) class compared to the gentile Christians.
So the question would be this … if the Jewish believers were of a superior 'class', what would it be, exactly, that makes them superior?
I believe that this superior air had a lot to do with their 'ethnicity'. In their minds, it was the Jews who were entrusted with the 'law'. As a nation of people keeping these God-given laws, they became a nation that was very different from the surrounding nations. They became proud of this ‘difference’. They had no problem attaching the word ‘unclean’ to the gentiles. They were the ethnically chosen, clean race.
In addition, they were commissioned with the job of inviting the Gentiles to join them by basically converting them into Jews. The term given to this is 'proselytizing'.
Superiority can rise up when we consider that we are right and everyone else is wrong.
Believing in the one God, Jehovah, and believing that He would send the Messiah to redeem them from sin was the original gospel message.
But the Jews of Jesus' day had corrupted the gospel to the point where belief and repentance was not being emphasized. In its place they were teaching that, starting with male circumcision, and progressing to the keeping of the commandments, was the process that would make one a Jew (a child of God).
Paul goes on,
Ga 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
It had taken a miracle to convince ‘law-keeping’ Peter, that the gentiles were not to be considered unclean, and that they too are welcomed into God’s kingdom. Peter got that through his head. He was convinced by God that gentiles are saved by repenting of their sin and believing the gospel.
So, in light of that, he had no problem visiting with them and eating with them.
So what was he saying by his actions when he got up and moved over to the ‘Jew table’? He is acting like he does not want to offend the Jerusalem visitors, or that he is embarrassed to be caught actually sitting with the Gentiles. His actions imply that he thinks the Jews are really of a higher class. It's like he is saying, 'If you want to be part of the ‘in group’ you would need to become a Jew, or at least adopt their practices.
And yet in his heart he knew this was not true. That is what made him a hypocrite.
Paul goes on,
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
In verse 15 Paul is speaking from a Jews viewpoint. He does not really hold to the view that Jews are any better than Gentile sinners. Rather, he is saying ‘OK, so we were born Jews … do you think that makes us without sin? No … everyone is born in sin and needs to be saved.’
Jesus made this very clear in His teaching and that is one of the reasons the Pharisees hated Him so much. Their gospel was flawed. They had added ‘keeping the works of the law’ onto salvation requirements.
Verse 17
Ga 2:17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
This verse can look a bit puzzling at first. But actually it makes more sense by taking it together with the next verse:
Ga 2:18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Who is rebuilding what? Paul is telling the Galatian churches, that if you change the simple gospel and start adding to it a component that says we must keep the commandments in order to be saved … you are making sinners out of us. Why? Because it is impossible for anyone to keep the law. James told us that if we offend in one point, we have totally failed to live up to the perfection that the law demands. James says we might as well have broken all ten commandments.
The Galatian churches had been led to believe that they must rebuild their beliefs by adding circumcision and law keeping as requirements for salvation. Paul's take on that is, 'That's making sinners out of all of us, and on top of all that, you are making Christ the author of all this sin.'
And here is that wonderful verse that we have heard and memorized;
Ga 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is a picture of God's grace. The part of me that was guilty of trying and failing … died. Or at least, I am to consider it dead. Christ now lives in me. And He did not come to live in me because I was so good, or so successful in my 'law-keeping'. Paul says, I am now living a life based on faith (belief). “I have believed that Jesus, God's son, paid for my sins, forgave my sins and dwells in my heart … all because I repented and believed. “
In the next verse Paul says, 'If I add law-keeping to my salvation, and if I now imply that law-keeping is saving me, I have just nullified God's grace.”
Apparently this is exactly what the Galatian Christians were doing. Does Paul believe that they have now lost their salvation, that they are once again, unsaved? No, I don’t think that this would be his greatest concern.
The really big concern would be how their new ‘salvation message’ would affect their preaching as they evangelize.
All of their new additions to their group would be coming in with the idea that law-keeping and circumcision is what is saving them. This means, in fact, that the new converts would still be lost, unsaved, destined for hell. And even worse, they would not be worried about it because of their false security. As we read in verse 17, by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Paul sums up this part of his discussion with this very clear statement:
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
How clear is that?! How insulting to the Father to act as though we think we are pretty good, and should make it into heaven based on that. “Sorry God, but Jesus really did not have to die for me. I am actually not that bad.” What an insult!
As we move into Galatians chapter 3 Paul addresses them with words that reveal his emotion.
Ga 3:1 ¶ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Who indeed. Paul does not clearly name who it was … he just drops it as a question. Who did this? The question is designed for them to answer it to themselves. They are being made to listen to Paul’s simple and clear gospel … and remember the day Paul walked in and preached it to them. They are being made to remember the day they felt the burden of sin roll off their backs, as they heard and understood for the first time what grace truly meant. They felt so free.
But now, as Paul has been pointing out, they don’t feel that anymore. They are beginning to feel the weight of having to compare their actions every hour of the day, with the requirements of the law. They are living their lives in such a way, where it seemed like several times throughout a day they had to check an instruction manual to see if they are living right.
Most people hate reading the instructions. I cant imagine having to live my life that way. I love how the writer of Hebrews mentions that, under the new covenant, the law (the manual) is not on paper, it is in our heart. The difference it makes is this … if I have to check the manual, the recipe … I am thinking, ‘OK, what is next and how am I doing so far’. But if you have the instructions in your heart … if you know the recipe ‘off by heart’, you just know what is next.
And God does that for us. After we have trusted Him for salvation and we start out on our walk with Him, we do so by spending time getting to know Him in the Word. We find that the Word begins to be ‘hidden’ in our heart. We know it. As a situation arises, a biblical response also arises from the sub-conscious area of mind, from the area where the Word has been hidden. As we respond to the situation with a biblical response, we are not thinking … am I still saved? Did that just keep me saved? Of course not. Our behavior is rooted in our relationship with Him.
These poor Galatians were no longer feeling this love relationship with the Father. They were under the new belief that their behavior and actions, moment by moment, was what was keeping them saved.
How Paul’s heart must have ached for them. He had emotions like a parent who sees one of their children going through suffering that could so easily have been avoided.
They had be ‘bewitched’.
“Who are these people who bewitched you!” Yes, Paul would like to have gotten ahold of them and have given them an attitude adjustment. But he does not mention anything more about them right at this point. He will talk about them, but that will be a bit later.
Instead Paul proceeds with this;
Ga 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
I suppose the ‘experience’ of receiving the Spirit is unique with each of us. We received the Spirit the moment of our salvation. The experience that all we believers have experienced included this; Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life. John 5:24
These were Jesus’ words recorded by John. Later John wrote these words in one of his letters:
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He that loves not his brother stays in death. 1John 3:14
Passing from death to life is an experience. To some it was incredibly dramatic and was accompanied with great emotion and even tears. For some it was incredible joy that filled their hearts. For others it was an internalized emotion too intense to describe. But believe me, when anyone passes from death to life … there is an experience.
Paul is using this thought to tug at their hearts. He is making them remember it. He asks, did you have this remarkable experience of receiving the Spirit … by checking your manual to see how you were doing?
They, hopefully were being made to realize ...’No, there was no law-keeping being emphasized. Paul gave us the good news … we received it, we believed it … and rejoiced!’
“No”, Paul is telling them (and us). “You had the Holy Spirit enter you when you quietly, sincerely and purposely put your trust in Jesus as your Savior, taking your death penalty from off of your shoulders.”
But Paul does not expect that the Galatians have heard enough. He does not assume that they ‘get it’. So he goes on.
Ga 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
How would that work? The Holy Spirit gave us life when we were dead in our sins. But the life is only temporary? If we don’t ‘finish’ the salvation by our works … it goes away?
Paul says, That doesn’t even make sense.
But it is surprising how many well meaning Christian denominations have been teaching that exact thing. If you happen to be looking for a fellowship of believers to join up with, you need to be on the watch. The friendship and fellowship may be great … but if you become a part of them, will a ‘yoke’ be placed on your shoulders? Will you buy into the new slant on the gospel as they convincingly present it to you? Be very careful.
I want to interject a small illustration of my own right here.
Becoming a Christian is worded or described in various ways in scripture. One of the words used is ‘the new birth’. Jesus told the rabbi, Nicodemus, that he needed to ‘born again’. Or some translations say, ‘Born from above’.
I want to use the word birth and compare a natural birth with the spiritual birth.
Just as in a physical birth … there is a moment of life, so it is in the spiritual; we pass from death unto life.
When the birth is accomplished and little child begins to grow … there is no expectation put on that child to perform certain things, or they can no longer continue to be a child. Even if a father comes to the point where he disowns a misbehaving child … in reality, the child still is a child or offspring of the father.
The child's obedience or disobedience, his law-keeping or law-breaking will not determine whether or not he is a child. But it will determine something … it will determine whether he is a good child or a not-so-good child. But he remains, nevertheless, a child.
So it is in our spiritual walk with God. It starts by our being born into the family of God by accepting Jesus as our Savior. And from there on, as we go forward, our behavior only determines what kind of a child we are … it does not make us one or not.
This is what Paul is getting at when he asked this;
Ga 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
So Paul has reminded them of the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit into their hearts on the day of their decision to take Jesus as their Savior.
Now he reminds them of something else:
Ga 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain— if indeed it was in vain?
Becoming a Christian had some side-effects in those days. It usually involved some suffering. It could have been anything from “What!? You believe what!? Are you telling me that I am going to hell unless I believe that stuff? Get out of here!” And, by the way, becoming a Christian can split up families even here and now.
Jesus told us that He came for the purpose of dividing families. How often do you hear that said? Not often I am sure. But here is what Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Mt 10:34 ,35
Do not get this wrong. Jesus is not enjoying dividing of families. But He is saying that the difference between dead and alive is so great, that it need to be made very obvious. If a parent were to say to his adult son, 'You are saying that you have just found eternal life … so what does that say about me? Are saying I don't have it?' That is where the son must say lovingly and assertively, 'Yes Dad. That is exactly what I am saying.' At that point the discussion could a turn. When the son goes on to tell his father that he, too, can receive eternal life by putting his faith in Jesus … that is where the father will accept or not. If he does not, a division has just been created. It will hurt. But it has to be their until the Holy Spirit does its work on the dad, and he, too, joins that family of God.
The suffering that the Galatians would have experienced would have varied in how much they received and how great was the extent. They experienced it. They stood up to it. They should remember what it felt like to have shared their testimonies with family and friends … and when they were rejected, they should have remembered what it felt like to suffer for His name.
The early disciples rejoiced in that. We read in Acts; Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Ac 5:41
And then Paul kind of repeats his previous thought and adds to it.
Ga 3:5 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?
This is Paul going a step further … from the experience of receiving the Spirit, to the joyful experiences of seeing miracles performed in their Christian lives … Paul now asks, who is doing these things, these miracles … law-keeping? Or do miracles and healings come by believing God?
It should be very hard for them at this point to keep on embracing this new 'add-the-law-to-your-christian-life-to-stay-saved' gospel.
But Paul wants to make sure, so he goes on to prove his point using an old testament example. And that is where we hope to pick it up in the next chapter.