Day 2
Lisa Scheffler, author
To be a Christian there are things you need to know and believe. Yet our faith is far more than an intellectual discipline. Christianity is about experiencing God through Jesus, and by the Spirit.
Talking about experience makes some people nervous. Aren’t experiences too varied and too subjective to be reliable? They’d prefer to stick to the historical facts and sound doctrine found in the Bible. Yet, the Bible is also full of stories where ordinary people experience God. After all, Jesus came not only so we would have right beliefs, but so that we could have a right relationship with God.
In the beginning of the letter, Paul recounted his own experience with the risen Christ. Notice how he now calls on the Galatian Christians to remember their experience with God. How did they receive his Spirit?
Read
Galatians 3:1-5
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?
Depending on their answer, why might the question asked in verse 2 be a “slam dunk” for Paul’s argument?
Reflect
What makes someone a Christian? Is it what they believe? How they act? Whether they follow certain rules? Paul helps us answer that question, because for Paul, receiving the Spirit is the identifying characteristic of the Christian. As Scot McKnight says, “To be a Christian is to be indwelt by the Spirit, and to be indwelt by the Spirit is to be a Christian.”[1]
After the Spirit fell on the believers at Pentecost, the gospel’s spread was marked by powerful displays of the Sprit. It would seem that Paul’s initial preaching of the gospel at Galatia was a memorable and powerful experience. He will talk again about this experience a little later in the letter when he says, “you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Jesus Christ himself” (4:14). In verses 1–5, Paul wants them to recall the amazing experience of the Spirit when they first heard the gospel and committed themselves to Christ. Because if they do, he’s hoping they’ll see how ridiculous his opponents’ argument is. Why turn to the law now? It would be like being given the power to fly, but after using it once, you decide to just stand on the ground and flap your arms really hard.
Paul wants them to see how ridiculous it would be to begin one way and then try to finish another way (verse 3). The contrast Paul makes is between the Spirit and the flesh. What Paul has in mind with the word “flesh” is a life that is not based solely on Christ’s work and the power of the Holy Spirit. To live in the “flesh” is to ignore the Spirit. This is a concept that comes up frequently in Paul’s letters. The Spirit and the flesh are two different domains under which a person chooses to live.[2] To Paul it was pure foolishness to abandon the Spirit and live according to the flesh.
Our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord doesn’t just bring us into a relationship with God, it sustains that relationship. We never stop trusting in God’s grace and faithfulness. We never stop needing the Spirit to help us pray, give us comfort and endurance, reveal our sin, and guide us in the ways of Jesus. It’s by the Spirit that a Christian lives. Paul will give us more concrete examples as the letter goes on, but for now, let’s attune ourselves to the Spirit’s leading and invite his presence.
[1] Scot McKnight, Galatians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 138.
[2] McKnight, 141.
Respond
We need the Spirit every moment. He is our Comforter and Sustainer. He guides us and gives us strength and endurance. He convicts us of our sin, so we can seek forgiveness. He empowers our repentance. Yet, how often, having begun our relationship with God through Christ and by the Spirit, do we choose to ignore the Spirit in our daily lives.
Spend some time in prayer. Ask the Spirit to remove your spiritual blinders so you can see and participate in God’s work in the world. Ask for wisdom, comfort, and guidance.
Have you ever talked to another believer about how they experience the Spirit in their daily life? Sometimes these discussions can stay too abstract. Have a meaningful conversation where you get practical in encouraging one another to walk in the Spirit.