Galatians

Unbound, Unchained, Unbroken

Week 5 | Galatians 3:1-14

Lisa Scheffler, author

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Imagine reading the following news story. After a pleasant day of sailing, a sudden storm capsized a local couple’s boat, leaving them floating helplessly in the middle of Galveston Bay. Fortunately, another boat heard their distress call and came to the rescue. Exhausted and badly shaken, the couple climbed aboard. After hours in the water, they were grateful to be safe, warm, and dry, and best of all headed for land.

That should be the end of the story, but the reporter goes on. As the rescue boat got nearer to shore, the couple grabbed life vests and jumped back into the water. While they appreciated the help of their rescuers, they decided to swim the rest of the way on their own. They refused to get back in the boat, and as the wind picked up again, and the waves got bigger, the life vests couldn’t keep them afloat, and they eventually drowned. They couldn’t save themselves.

Imagine the reaction to this story. Everyone would wonder why this couple would do such a thing. It makes no sense. They were safe and secure in the hands of their rescuers. Tragedy had been averted. Why would they jump back into danger and try to make it the rest of the way on their own?

While not a perfect analogy, this story helps us understand Paul’s frustration with the Galatian believers in the passage that we will focus on this week. Why would they abandon their Savior to try and save themselves? Are we sometimes guilty of trying to do the same?

Day 1

Recall that Paul is countering a group of missionaries who came to the region of Galatia sometime after Paul. While Paul had proclaimed the gospel that he had received from God, these teachers insisted that Gentile converts had to follow at least some customs of the Jewish law in order to be right with God and gain entrance into the covenant community. These opponents had even managed to pressure Peter into distancing himself from Gentiles. He refused to dine with them and also joined with them in forcing Gentiles to be circumcised and follow the dietary restrictions found in the Jewish law.

Last week, we saw how Paul confronted the apostle Peter, accusing him of “not acting in line with the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:14). Because of his authority and position in the early church, Peter was leading people astray and creating a hierarchy that was completely unacceptable. In Christ, all people are welcome to come to God’s table, and no ethnic group is superior to another.

We are entering into the section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians that scholars consider the most theological. Having used his own experiences to convince them of the truth of his message, Paul now transitions into explaining why, according to scripture, his opponents are wrong.

As you read, notice Paul’s strategy. He will ask a series of rhetorical questions. Why do you think this is effective?

Paul will also anchor his argument to one of Israel’s greatest heroes, Abraham, and insist that it has always been faith, not law-keeping, that made someone acceptable to God. See if you can trace Paul’s argument.

Read

Galatians 3:1-14

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? ⁴ Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? ⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ⁹ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  ¹¹ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”  ¹² The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”  ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”  ¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

What is the effect of the questions Paul is asking? What conclusion is he trying to lead the Galatians to?

What do you know about Abraham? You may want to read Genesis 15 to prepare for this week. (Note that Abraham was first known as Abram until God changed his name.)

Respond

Believers in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit after believing the gospel message and committing themselves to Jesus and his way of life. For Paul, turning to the law after experiencing the Holy Spirit would be like jumping back into the water after a rescue boat had saved you. God had provided the very rescue that every person needs through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Faith in God and his promises has always been the way people were made right with God. While God had revealed and executed his plan by sending Jesus, he hadn’t changed it. Faith always saved.

So what are you putting your faith in these days? While we may say Jesus Christ, often we are trusting in all kinds of other things to rescue us from sin and suffering. Are we jumping out of the boat to try and swim on our own? Or as Paul says in 3:3 (according to the old King James Bible) “Having begun with the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?”

There are plenty of things in the world that are helpful in dealing with hurts, hang-ups and hard times. But they are not the object of our faith — Jesus is. Because when our human efforts fail, and they always will, and we are left in the open water too exhausted to keep swimming, our only hope is God. But then, he’s always been our only hope. Only God can bear the weight of our needs and expectations. Only he can transform. Do you believe that? He is faithful and will never let us down.

 This week, pray that the Spirit will increase your faith, so you stay in the boat.