Christ or Nothing Galatians 3:1-14
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ has 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”, 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Paul wrote Galatians to counter judaizing false teachers who were undermining the central NT doctrine of justification by faith. Paul would be accused of antinomianism (being against the law) for arguing that a man was justified apart from keeping the law. However Paul speaks of his defense later in Romans 6&7.
Salvation by grace through faith does not put down the law, but it underscores its true importance: 1. By providing a payment for the penalty of death which the law required for failing to keep it. 2. By fulfilling the law’s original purpose, which is to serve as a tutor to show mankind’s utter inability to obey God’s righteous demands and to drive people to Christ.
Paul writes in Romans 3:31NKJ Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Galatians 3:1NLT Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.
Paul isn’t referring here to the people’s lack of intelligence, but to lack of obedience. He’s expressing his shock, surprise and outrage at the Galatians defection.
Remember, the Judaizers, the Jewish false teachers were plaguing the church.
Verse 1, Who has cast an evil spell on you? Bewitched. These Judaizers were appealing to the people’s emotions and charming them with flattery.
Verse 1 again, For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.
The crucifixion of Jesus was a one time historical fact with continuing results into eternity.
Hebrew 7:25NLT Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
Galatians 3:2NLT Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.
The answer to Paul question was obvious. These Galatians had received the Spirit when they were saved.
Romans 8:9NLT But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
1 Corinthians 12:13NLT Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Galatians 3:3NLT How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Paul is saying that sinful, weak and fallen human nature can never improve on the saving work of the Holy Spirit.
Remember, when you feed the human nature it only becomes more sinful. However, when you feed on the Spirit He gets stronger and stronger.
Galatians 3:4NLT Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?
In other words, Paul is saying, “ all your personal experience of salvation in Jesus Christ wasn’t in vain was it?
Luke 8:13NLT The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation.
Galatians 3:5NLT I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
When you believe, you respond, you hear and you act. Romans 10:17NLT So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Galatians 3:6-7NLT In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
Believing Jews and Gentiles are the true spiritual children of Abraham because they follow his example of faith.
Romans 4:16NLT So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.
Galatians 3:8NLT What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”
When you walk by faith, and not by sight you are blessed!
John 7:37-39NLT On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Galatians 3:9NLT So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
The blessings come because of Jesus Christ! Romans 8:32NLT Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
Galatians 3:10NLT But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”
Deuteronomy 27:26NLT ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”
Galatians 3:11NLT So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Justified- made right- by faith only! Romans 1:17NLT This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Galatians 3:12NLT This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”
Romans 8:3NLT The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Galatians 3:13NLT But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
The word rescued or redeemed was often used to speak of buying a salves or debtor’s freedom.
Galatians 3:14NLT Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
Christ the anointed One took our curse!
So I’ll say it, “It’s Christ or nothing!” Come get His blessings right now.
Prayer.
