The Curse or the Cross?
Galatians 3:1-14
In our study last week we noticed how Paul transitioned form arguing his authority as an apostle to teaching the foundational doctrine of Christian of justification by faith alone. Paul will spend chapters three and four expanding on his teaching about justification by faith.
The reason that Paul is writing with such urgency is on account of the false teachers that were leading the Galatians away from the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The false teachers were teaching that faith in Christ is not enough, one also had to keep the Jewish Law. This false teaching, according to verse twenty-one of chapter two, nullifies the grace of God. If one could become righteous by keeping the Law, the Christ Jesus died needlessly.
Paul writes to the Galatian church with such urgency because he believes that they are true believers who are being led astray by false teacher.
Notice the urgency that Paul speaks to the Galatian church with in verse one, “ You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you…” I like how some of the modern translations read. One reads, “You idiot Galatians.” Another reads, “You stupid Galatians.” Paul’s language gives us insight into Paul thinking. He can’t understand how they as believers in Christ Jesus can fall under the power of the false teachers. That word “Bewitched” means to be cast under a spell. They were cast under a spell that led them to nullify the grace of God revealed in the truth of the gospel.
The reason that Paul is astonished at their condition as believers is revealed in the last part of verse one, “ You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” The Greek word “ prographa” is the word that we translate “publicly portrayed”. It literally means, “to write before”. The word conveys the idea of posting a public advertisement for all to see. Paul says to the Galatians that he posted before their eyes Christ crucified.
The Galatians know that Paul presented Christ crucified to them and that one can only be justified by placing faith in the crucified Christ. Paul can’t understand how the Galatians can be so foolish to believe anything else. The only way that they could have been led astray from the truth of justification by faith in the Crucified Christ is by taking their eyes off the crucified Christ.
Paul, believing that the Galatians are true believers, tries to put them back on the right path by laying out the evidence for justification by faith alone. He does so because he wants them as individuals and as a church to get back on the right path that has the crucified Christ always before their eyes.
The evidence that Paul sets fourth in the first fourteen verses will determine whether a person is spellbound our heaven bound. Of course, if the evidence reveals that you have never been justified by faith in Christ you are more than just spellbound, tragically you are hell bound. Consequently, the question to you today is which one are you? Are you hell bound, spellbound, or heaven bound? In the first five verses of chapter three Paul sets forth the personal evidence of justification by faith.
I. The Personal Evidence of Justification by Faith
Notice verses two through five, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the 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] So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”
Paul is pointing the Galatian believers to their personal experience with the Spirit of God. At issue is whether salvation comes by works or by faith. The evidence that one is a true Christian is the Spirit of God. Paul asks the Galatians believers some questions, not for his benefit, but for theirs. The questions are also given for our benefit also. Examine your life in light of these questions. The first question deals with the moment a person becomes a true Christian, that is, the moment a person begins the Christian life. When you became a Christian how did you receive the Holy Spirit?
a. How did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Paul asked a profound question in verse two, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Paul is assuming that he is talking with true believers, and that they know what he is talking about. Paul is referring to the reality that the Holy Spirit indwells the person who believes and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul spoke about receiving the Spirit of God in his letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter one, verse thirteen, Paul says, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Every true believer, those who truly hear the good news about Jesus and place their faith in him, receive the Spirit of God as a pledge of what is to come.
Paul’s question to the Galatians forces them to look within and realize that the presence of God in their lives came about by receiving the gospel by faith in the crucified Christ, not by the works of the Law.
Every true believer has the Spirit of God. The assurance we have as Christians that we belong to God comes by God’s Spirit testifying with our spirits that we are children of God. If you don’t have the Spirit of God in your life, then you are not a Christian. If you are not a Christian, then you have never repented of your sins and placed your faith in the crucified Christ. Paul’s point with this first question is that one is justified before God by faith in Christ Jesus and the evidence that one has experienced justification is the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit in our lives. It is God’s Spirit that makes us new creatures in Christ. It is God’s Spirit that gives us new desires to please God and to live for God.
The second Question, in my opinion, deals with living the Christian life on a daily basis. How are you living the Christian life?
b. How are you living the Christian life?
Verse three says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
There are many believers who fall into the trap of legalism. Legalism believes that one must do things to be righteous before God. Legalism fails to understand the truth about imparted righteousness. There are two types of righteousness that we need to understand as believers, imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness.
Imputed righteousness is the righteousness that we receive from Christ. Christ takes our sins, and he gives us his righteousness, thus making us right with God.
Imparted righteousness is different than imputed. When a person becomes a Christian they receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God empowers us to live righteously, to follow the Lord, and serve his kingdom. When we live out the Christian life by walking in the Spirit, God is pleased with our behavior because he sees the righteousness that he imparted to us being worked out through our obedience.
Paul speaks of this imparted righteousness being worked out in Philippians 2:12-13, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; [13] for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
When we try to live out the Christian life in the flesh we displace Christ. If you put your hope and trust in anything for this life or the next other than in Christ, you put your confidence in the flesh.
How do you know if you are living out your Christian life in the flesh? When you are living in the flesh, and not the Spirit you trade peace for unrest, assurance for doubt, joy for fear, freedom for bondage. The third question for examination brings Paul’s argument full circle. How does God provide His Spirit?
c. How does God provide His Spirit?
“So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” God provides his Spirit abundantly to those who by faith submit to him, not by the works of the Law.
How does one now if he or she is justified by faith? You know by your personal experience. You know by the indwelling presence of God in your life. If you don’t have the Spirit of God you are not a child of God. If do have the Spirit, but are tying to live the Christian life in your own strength, you are under a spell and most likely you are frustrated and miserable. Paul moves from personal evidence of justification by faith to scriptural evidence in verses six through fourteen.
II. The Scriptural Evidence of Justification by Faith
Paul is now going to prove the personal experience of justification from the Scriptures. In doing so, he begins with the example of Abraham.
a. The Example of Abraham
The life of Abraham recorded in the book of Genesis is very significant to Paul’s argument of justification by faith. The false teachers were teaching that Jesus was not enough for salvation, one also hand to become a Jew and keep the Mosaic Law to be saved. Paul argues that justification is by faith and Abraham is the prime example of this truth.
In verse six Paul uses the Greek word “ kathos.” This word is used for comparison or contrast. Paul is comparing the first four verses with his argument in verses six through nine. Paul is going to argue that salvation by faith is not a new concept because Abraham himself was justified by faith also.
In verse six we read, “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Paul is quoting from Genesis 15:6 which tells us that Abraham was made righteous because he believed. What did he believe? He believed God’s promise. Before Christ came, people were saved by faith in the God’s promise. After Christ people are saved by faith in the fulfillment of that promise, which is the death, burial and resurrection of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
True faith imputes God’s righteousness. It is not enough to be an ethnic Jew to be saved, one has to place faith in the Messiah. Verse seven speaks to this truth, "Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” One is made righteous with God through faith.
Paul goes on to reveal God’s intention of justifying Jews and Gentiles by faith in verses eight through nine, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations will be blessed in you." [9] So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” The next scriptural evidence that Paul gives in verses ten though fourteen point us to the death of Christ.
b. The Death of Christ
Paul continues to lay out his argument against the false teachers by turning our attention to the Scriptural evidence that keeping the law has no saving value, and that only the death of Christ can make one right with God.
In verse ten Paul used the Old Testament passage Duet 27:2 to show that God’s Law places all under condemnation, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them."
The works of the Law can’t save because all are under a curse. The reason for this curse is given, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” The problem that humanity faces by trying to justify ourselves by keeping the Law is that all you have to do is break the Law one time, and you are forever cursed. Every person has broken the Law, Jew and Gentile, and every person is under the curse.
Because we are cursed keeping the Law does nothing to justify us. Paul drives this point home when he quotes Habakkuk 2:4 and Leviticus 18:5 in verse eleven, “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "The righteous man shall live by faith. However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "He who practices them shall live by them." Paul’s teaching is that Scripture declares that we can’t do anything in and of ourselves to reverse the curse that is upon our lives. The only way that we can reverse the curse is through the saving work of Christ on the cross.
Verse thirteen says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” The word redeemed means “to purchase” or to “pay the price”. Christ Jesus paid the price on the cross so that we could be free from the curse that we are under. How did Jesus pay the price? Look at the last part of verse thirteen, “for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23. It was Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary that paid the price of redemption. That is why Paul says in verse one, “ You foolish Galatians, who bewitched you.” Who has put you under a spell causing you to believe that you can establish a righteousness apart from faith in Christ?
Verse fourteen gives the fundamental reason why Christ died for our sins, “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
In verses ten through fourteen, Paul has put before us two roads. One road is the road of curse. The other road is the road of blessing. The road of blessing can only be taken by faith in Christ Jesus.
When we place our faith in Christ’s saving work we are justified before God, we have fellowship with God, and we have the wonderful blessing of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God as a pledge of our inheritance. What road are you on? Are you on the road of curse, which leads to destruction or are you on the road of blessing which leads to eternal life? Are your following the crowd or are you following the Cross?
The Curse or the Cross?
Galatians 3:1-14
In Galatians 3:1-14, Paul has presented us with us two roads. One road is the road of curse. The other road is the road of blessing. What road are you on? Are you on the road of curse, which leads to destruction or are you on the road of blessing which leads to eternal life? Are your following the crowd or are you following the Cross?
I. The personal evidence of justification by faith (1-5)
a. How did you receive the Holy Spirit? (2)
b. How are you living the Christian life? (3)
c. How does God provide His Spirit(5)
II. The Scriptural evidence of justification by faith (6-14)
a. The Example of Abraham (6-9)
b. The Death of Christ (10-14)
