Our living God, Pt 3: Avoid foolishness

Galatians 3:1-14                    1You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  2I 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?  3Are you so foolish?  After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  4Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?  5So 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?  6So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  7Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.  8Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”  9So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  10For 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.”  11Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”  12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”  13Christ 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.”  14He 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.

The Council of Jerusalem was convened in 50AD to find a solution to a very difficult problem facing the nascent Church.  There were two significant factions vying for dominance…the Jewish followers of Christ, called the Judaizers, were demanding that new converts first become Jews, become circumcised, and obediently follow the Law of Moses, and the Gentile converts who felt no such obligation. 

But the Book of Galatians was written no later than AD49, before the Council of Jerusalem, and so the believers in Galatia found themselves in the midst of the controversy.  Paul was a major contributor to that Council’s decision that Gentile converts did not have to follow Jewish tradition.

Portrayed as crucified

‘Portrayed as crucified’ is Paul’s shorthand for everything he had previously taught about the life, death, and ministry of Jesus.  He was concerned that the Galatian believers were embroiled in this Judaizing controversy, and he wanted to counter the idea that this new covenantal expression of faith was just a sub-set of Jewish belief.

Also, he is astounded that the Galatians could so quickly abandon their faith.  They had easily accepted the gospel and had quickly accepted Christ as Savior, but also had apparently ‘universalized’ their beliefs thinking they could blend acceptance of Mosaic Law and tradition with the covenant of faith taught by Jesus.  This is completely unacceptable to Paul because his message has been that justification by faith alone is a doctrine incompatible with justification through observance of the law.

Flesh contrary to faith

Paul was not known for mincing words, so he comes right out and says it, “Are you so foolish?”  I might have gone even further to say, “Are you blind?  I have explained all this to you.  Can you not see?”  The whole purpose of the Law was to teach human beings that salvation, or right standing with God, is not possible through human effort alone. 

Abraham was called the man of faith because he believed God even though all physical evidence spoke against it when God told him he would be the father of a great nation.  For their part, the Galatians had experienced faith in action, and had experienced the Holy Spirit moving amongst them and within them, and none of this had come by legalistic observance of the Law.

What about me?

We might be tempted to say that the Galatians were indeed a foolish people because they were tempted to fall back into Jewish tradition with regard to the efficacy of salvation through faith.  We would be wrong to think that though because our world today really isn’t much different than theirs then.  We have had great advancement in a multitude of areas, but as individual human beings we really aren’t much different.

The primary mistake made by the Galatians was their belief in the false gospel of the Judaizers.  We have the same problem today.  False gospels are enticing because they seem right.  They often have a good of truth about them, but also contain seemingly insignificant detail which change the efficacy of that gospel.  Jesus The Judaizers agreed with that, but said an inquirer must first become a Jew.  But that one little detail changes the Gospel because it adds another way to get to the Father. 

We have a similar problem today as the world wants us to belief that everybody has access to God.  If they believe in a ‘higher power’ they will reach God in heaven.  This is a false doctrine, called universalism, and if we hold to the exclusivity of faith in Jesus Christ, then we are castigated for being intolerant.  But Scripture is clear there is only one way to salvation.

12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

I’ve talked about only two false doctrines, but there are more.  It is hard to identify every false doctrine because they are so pervasive and insidious.  The key rests on firm adherence to the truths given by the Living Word.  If it is in the Bible, it is 100% true, not just metaphoric, but actual, so if we don’t understand a passage, the problem lays with us, not with the passage.  This means continual reading and re-reading the Bible is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to awaken understanding within us.  The best interpreter of Scripture is other Scripture.

So, believer, I want to challenger you to read the Bible as much as you can.  Try to read through it over a year and then start again the next year.  There are many translations available, ancient and modern.  Find one that works for you and read, read, read.