This is now the third blog on this question. The reason we have made much of this question is because Paul makes much of this subject. The reason Paul makes much of this issue is because false teachers had infiltrated the churches in the region of Galatia, after Paul declared the gospel of Jesus Christ, and are spreading false doctrine, namely this: in order for the men and women of Galatia to be saved they must be circumcised and obey Jewish law. And many of these Galatian believers, upon hearing such false teaching, have come to doubt whether or not the message Paul can be trusted, and doubt whether or not Paul (the messenger) can be trusted. In other words, they question whether or not Jesus is enough to save them.
In saying that, we also need to make much of this question. The reason we need to make much of this question is because, as I said before, centuries after the 1st century church dealt with this issue we are still dealing with this issue in the 21st century church, and may very well be one of the biggest problems facing the church today and even the world. Which means, this is a question we must get right in answering.
Why is it important to get this answer right? The reason I say this is a question we must get right, is because our salvation depends on it. If we don’t get this question right we risk missing out on heaven and spending an eternity in hell. That is what is at stake here. Your eternal destination depends on getting this question right.
What I want you to know is this: salvation is not by works, salvation is by faith. Salvation is not earned by what you do; salvation is given by faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not gained by obeying The Ten Commandments; salvation is granted to us by God when we put our faith in Jesus and trust Jesus with the salvation of our soul. Also, I want you to know this is the message God has given to man beginning in the Old Testament with Abraham. It’s not a New Testament teaching. And I want to flesh all that out for you in this blog. I want to help you understand that.
Now, Paul has been making this argument ever since Galatians 2:15. And he continues to hammer away at the Galatian believers over this issue beginning in Galatians 3:1.
Point 1: We begin with Paul implying the Galatians are fools for questioning whether they are saved by faith or by works.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:1a), “O foolish Galatians!” I told you before that Paul’s letter to the Galatians is one of the most bold, critical, and rebuking letters ever written by Paul. When Paul writes “O foolish Galatians!” immediately you catch the tone of this letter – Paul is not playing around about this issue of being saved by faith or by works, and neither should we.
Just so we grasp the tone for which Paul is using here, let me ask you: what does it mean when someone is called a fool or to be called foolish? To be foolish means to be thoughtless, without understanding, showing a lack of sense, unwise, stupid, irrational, brainless, insane, mindless, senseless, unintelligent, moronic, half-witted, harebrained, and witless. So, when Paul writes, “O, foolish Galatians” over this issue of whether they are saved by faith or by works, Paul is calling the believers of Galatia thoughtless, brainless, mindless, senseless, moronic, unintelligent and so on.
It is as if Paul is saying to the Galatians: how brainless can you be for believing you are saved by works. How thoughtless can you be for believing you are saved by what you do. How harebrained can you be for believing you can earn your salvation by attempting to be a good person.
If Paul thinks the Galatians believers of his day were foolish, I wonder how foolish Paul would think we are today? In August 2020 Arizona Christian University released a study that showed “a majority (52%) of people who describe themselves as Christian accept a works – oriented means to God’s acceptance.” That means the majority of those self-identifying Christians who were polled in that study believe they can be saved by what they do. Here it is centuries after the 1st century church dealt with this issue and here we are in the 21st century still dealing with the same problem. We continue to have many people sitting in our churches who believe they are getting into heaven because they think they are a good person.
Point 2: Paul continues by implying the Galatians have been bewitched.
He asks (3:1b), “Who has bewitched you?” What does it mean to be “bewitched?” It means to be affected by witchcraft or magic. It also means to be put under a spell. In those days pagan magic was not in short order. Pagan magic was very popular. Magicians would use optical illusions and Satan’s power to perform miracles. So, Paul is asking the believers of Galatia: Who has performed witchcraft on you? By what magic are you being deceived? Who has put an evil spell on you that you would believe you can be saved by works?
Can a believer be bewitched? Can someone who possesses the Holy Spirit be fooled by false teaching? Answer: yes. Paul makes it clear in his letter that he is addressing saved people not unsaved. He says in Gal. 4:7 for example, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” So, here we have believers that have been bewitched into thinking they can be saved by works.
How does someone who possesses the Spirit become bewitched into believing a works-based salvation? Answer: They become fascinated by false teaching. What is considered false teaching? False teaching is any idea that adds to, takes away from, contradicts, or nullifies teaching that is in Scripture. For example, any teaching that denies Jesus was born from the virgin Mary is false. Any teaching that denies God is 3 Beings in 1 Person is false. Teaching that promotes the idea that everyone will be saved (Universalism) – false. Teaching that denies the Bible as the source for absolute truth. Teaching that proclaims there are multiple paths to God or that there are many ways to be saved, that Jesus is not the only means of salvation – false. Teaching that declares it is always God’s will to heal or that God wants you healthy and wealthy is false. Any teaching that denies faith alone in Christ alone is enough to save you is false. Teaching that says you can be saved by being a good person – false.
The Galatian believers became fascinated by the arguments made by the false teachers present during Paul’s day. They were so fascinated by the false teaching of their day they didn’t recognize the heresy they were being fed and along the way started to doubt if faith alone in Christ alone is enough.
The question that Paul is asking the churches of Galatia is the same question we need to ask the 21st century church: who has bewitched believers into thinking they can be saved by what they do? Remember, according to a recent poll, the majority of 21st century Christians are believing in a works-based theology. That is a serious issue because, what they are confessing is that Jesus is not enough to save them. What I am trying to communicate to you is that we have believers who are in serious danger, because they have become fascinated by the false teaching that has infiltrated the 21st century pulpit, they have bought into heresy, and sadly they don’t even know it.
Point 3: Now, many of us might think that perhaps the Galatian believers did not have a clear understanding of the gospel, which would explain why they questioned if Jesus is enough. But Paul makes it clear the problem is not that the Galatian believers didn’t hear sound doctrine.
Paul writes (3:1c), “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” The implication here is not that they were eye-witnesses of Jesus’ crucifixion; they did not see Jesus crucified. The key word here is “portrayed”. It implies that the meaning of Jesus’ death was made so clear to them it was as if they had seen a picture of Jesus’ death on a cross. When Paul proclaimed the gospel to the believers in Galatia it was so vivid, clear, and simple it was as if they had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. This is why Paul calls them “foolish” and accuses them of being “bewitched”, because they heard a clear and simple message of Jesus Christ.
In the same way, we have many who have sat under sound biblical teaching, who have come to understand the significance of Jesus’ death, but are still being persuaded by what is false. They are being influenced by charismatic preachers that preach more about man than they do Jesus. They are being influenced by fun and entertaining services, all the while they have no idea they are being fed a bunch of junk.
Personally, it is scary to me how much false teaching is in America’s pulpits and more scary to me how many people who are Christian are being persuaded by it. The reason American Christians are being persuaded by false teaching is because we have reached a point where we would rather have services that entertain and dumb down the gospel, rather than preach, teach, declare, and proclaim sound doctrine, and risk being offensive for speaking the truth. The American Christian loves to be entertained so much that they can hear a message that is not biblically sound, without ever realizing they are being fed and persuaded by false teaching, because it is so entertaining and emotionally appealing. The American Christian has become so biblically illiterate, they do not recognize what is true or what is false.
Here’s my word of caution to each of you: be careful who you are listening to, and don’t be fooled by charismatic, emotionally appealing messages. In other words, just because the message was good, fun, exciting, and pulled on the heart strings, doesn’t mean the message was true biblically. There are many good, charismatic public speakers out there with fascinating messages that are very appealing. But, just because they have the title of pastor, a popular pastor (big or small church), a megachurch pastor, a conference speaker, a televised preacher, or a charismatic preacher does not mean they are teaching sound doctrine. It does not mean they believe as you believe in regards to Scripture and in regards to Jesus (example: Inspiration of the Bible). You need to know what someone believes. But mainly, you need to read the Bible for yourself.
Point 4: Paul feels so hopeless by the thought of the Galatian believers being seduced by false teaching that he follows up by asking 5 rhetorical, interrogating questions that we too should consider.
The first question is a matter of how the Spirit is received. Paul asks, (Gal. 3:2), “Let me ask you this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith.” Understand the question he is asking the believers in Galatia: did you receive the Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses (The Ten Commandments) or did you receive the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Jesus?
What about you? Did you receive the Spirit by obeying the Ten Commandments or did you receive the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Jesus? Did you receive the Spirit because you are a good law-keeper or did you receive the Spirit because you heard and believed the message that Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth and died a death you deserve so that your sins could be forgiven by faith in Christ Jesus? It’s because you believed the message of Jesus.
The Bible says (Eph. 1:13), “when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” So, when we hear the message of Jesus Christ and believe he died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins, the Spirit of God identifies us as a child of God and acts as God’s guarantee until we die or when Christ returns, whichever happens first, so that we can go spend an eternity with Jesus.
Of course, the Galatian believers knew it was by faith. Just like you know, they knew they did not receive the Spirit by being obedient to the Ten Commandments. They knew they received the Spirit by faith when they heard the message of Christ crucified and believed.
The second and third question, since Paul knows the Galatian believers know the answer to the first question, deals with the foolishness of the Galatians since again they know they received the Holy Spirit by faith and not works. Paul asks (Gal. 3:3), “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” In other words, how foolish, thoughtless, senseless, brainless, and insane can someone be, after having started their new life in the Spirit, are now trying to perfect themselves by their human effort through keeping the Ten Commandments? It is unwise for people who have heard the message of the gospel, who have believed in what they heard about Christ crucified, and are therefore filled with the Holy Spirit, to keep trying to attain perfection by living according to the standards of the Ten Commandments. Why is it foolish? The reason it is unwise and foolish is because it is impossible for us human beings to keep God’s moral law. We are not law keepers, we are law breakers. This is why we are sinners.
The fourth question deals with the suffering they endured when they received the message of Jesus Christ. Paul asks (Gal. 3:4), “Did you suffer so many things in vain – if indeed it was in vain.” When the Galatian believers embraced Christianity they were subjected to much persecution. The persecution came from members of their own Jewish countrymen who had become jealous and enraged by the message that Paul preached. Now the Galatians were abandoning the very gospel they were persecuted for and Paul wants to know: did you experience all that suffering and persecution for nothing?
When we come to believe in the message of Jesus Christ, there is no promise it will be without suffering. There is no promise it will be without persecution from our fellow man. In fact, it is the opposite. Jesus tells us to expect suffering and persecution from our fellow man, even from members within our own household because of our faith in him. If we abandon the gospel for which we are persecuted for, we have believed in vain. If we are unwilling to suffer for what we believe in regards to Christ crucified our faith is nothing, it’s useless, it’s meaningless, it’s pointless, and it’s worthless. A faith that cannot endure or persevere through trials, suffering, and persecution, is no faith at all.
Paul’s fifth and final question deals with the supplier of the Spirit. Paul asks (Gal. 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?” The question is this: Does God give us the Holy Spirit and work miracles among us because we obey The Ten Commandments or because we believed in the message of Christ crucified? Does God give us the Spirit because we haven’t murdered someone, haven’t lied, haven’t committed adultery, honor our mother and father, or does God give us the Spirit because we heard and believed the message that Christ died a death we all deserve so that our sins could be forgiven? Of course, God gives us the Spirit because we believed in the message of Christ crucified.
Point 5: Lastly, Paul explains, using the OT, it was never God’s plan to save human beings by works.
Paul writes (Gal. 3:6-9), “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 faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
Paul wants the Galatians to know they don’t have to take his word for it, that salvation is by faith and not by works, they can believe the Old Testament. The fact that God saves us by faith in Jesus Christ is not a New Testament teaching, it is an Old Testament teaching. The gospel was not first declared by Jesus after he was born through the virgin Mary. God first proclaimed the gospel to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 when God said to Abraham, “In you shall all the nations be blessed”. That’s why the Old Testament is so important. Every New Testament doctrine is first established in the Old Testament, which proves God is unchanging.
When God said to Abraham “In you shall all nations be blessed”, God had already planned, predetermined, and pre-ordained, that mankind would not and could not be saved by a God-given moral law, but would be saved by faith in His only Son, Jesus Christ. The reason God said to Abraham “In you shall all nations be blessed” is because through the lineage of Abraham God was going to usher in the Jewish Messiah, the Savior of the world, God’s only Son – Jesus Christ. That’s what the entire Old Testament is about. The entire Old Testament is about Jesus. It’s about Jesus because the Old Testament shows how God providentially used men from the line of Abraham and the nation of Israel to usher in the Savior of the world. The Old Testament shows us the law could not save us, the judges could not save us, the kings could not save us, the prophets could not save us, only one could save us – Jesus. The entire Old Testament points to Jesus.
Here’s my appeal to each of you: stop trying to attain perfection by law keeping. Stop trying to earn your salvation by being a good person. Stop trying to win the favor of God, stop trying to be made right and acceptable in the sight of God by keeping The Ten Commandments. You cannot do it. If you try to get into heaven by being a good person, you will find yourself in hell when you die.
Instead, put your faith in Jesus Christ. Trust Jesus with the salvation of your soul. Trust in Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross. He came from heaven to earth to die a death you and I deserve so that we might live with him in heaven for all eternity.
To do that you must be born again. To be born again you must acknowledge you are a sinner, and you are a sinner because you are a law-breaker – you have broken God’s standard of morality, which is the Ten Commandments. Also, you must repent or turn away from your sins, which means you must make the decision to stop sinning intentionally. Now, don’t think this means you will be perfect or that you will not sin again as a saved person or that you will not face temptation. Being a Christian does not make you perfect. It simply means you are making the decision to resist the temptation to do wrong. Above all, you must believe by faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, died on a cross, was buried, and was raised from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins. If you believe that and trust Jesus to save you, you are and will be saved.