Galatians 3: Living Only for JesusSample

Paul now turns to the Galatians and brings home to them the real implication of what he has been saying, as it applies to them. He says something like this:

‘You idiots! Who on earth has been hypnotising you? When I came and preached the Gospel to you, you vividly saw Jesus Christ as the crucified Son of God, and you knew then that there was no other way of being saved. 

'By faith you came to believe that salvation was entirely through His cross, and that you didn’t have to ‘perform’ or ‘do’ anything to be accepted by God. But what has happened to you now ? I can’t believe you are being so stupid!

'You commenced the Christian life by faith—by simple belief in what God had done on the cross. And you received God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way— by faith — by just believing. 

'You certainly didn’t receive it by doing anything! (that is, by keeping some law or observing some set of rules). No, it all became real to you through faith, and faith alone.

'But now you are saying that in order to go on living the Christian life, you have to do something—you have to observe a few laws here and there—you have to "perform" in order for God to still accept you! How pathetic! How stupid! 

He accepted you at the beginning, just as you were. He accepted you because of what Christ did for you. So what makes you think you now have to maintain your relationship with Him by something that you do? I’m really very disappointed. I can’t believe that you experienced all that you did back there, by faith, just for nothing.’

In verse 5 Paul continues his argument. He questions the Galatian Christians, and says, ‘The ongoing experience of the Spirit you are enjoying, and all those miracles which are happening in your Church—is this because you’re all pretty good at obeying God’s law, or is it happening as a result of simple faith and trust in the Lord’: Which is it?’

Well, what do you think? When God goes on doing wonderful things in our lives—someone is healed; there is an answer to prayer; or we see how He has guided us in some situation—does this happen because we’ve been good. or does it happen because God is a gracious God who loves us and who acts in our lives as we continue to ‘hear with faith’? 

Is it a matter of works and deeds on our part. or is it a faith thing? Which is it? (read Ephesians 2:8-9).

Remember, it was a group of Jews who were trying to distort the belief of these non-Jewish Galatians. Now, it’s a fact that every Jew was proud of his ancestors, and especially the greatest of them all, Abraham! (You can read about him in Genesis 12 and the following chapters.) 

Here, in verses 6 to 9, Paul reminds these Jews that Abraham was first and foremost a man of faith. In other words, God accepted him on the basis of faith, not on the basis of anything he did.

So then, if these Jews were so keen to pervert the belief of the Galatians, then they had better think again! The great father of their race, Abraham, was accounted by God to be righteous, faith-way, not law-way! Abraham simply believed what God had said to him. He trusted in God. He did not trust in himself.

God made a promise to Abraham, and although, humanly speaking, it was impossible that it should ever be fulfilled, Abraham nevertheless believed God’s word, and saw it happen! 

What’s all this got to do with us? Can you see any connection? Can you see the point of what Paul is saying to the Galatians—and to us? Stop and think about it. Try to work it out for yourself. Use the passages listed above, as well as the section you are studying in Galatians.

You and I are no different to Abraham or the Galatian Christians, or any other believers, for that matter! We have all come to know God by faith. We heard the Gospel (God’s Word to us) and we believed it. Some people first heard it when they were very young children and gradually grew up believing it. 

Others heard it when they were older, and suddenly knew that it was true. In both cases, it was by belief in the truth that they were accepted by God as His own sons and daughters. God said it, and they believed it! They had faith in His Word.

So, Paul says here in these verses that the real descendants of Abraham are those who believe God, just as Abraham did! ‘If you Jews claim to have Abraham as your great father, then you are only really his sons if you have faith like his.’

If you look up Romans 4, verses 23 to 25, you will see that God gave us Abraham as an example. One of the reasons that God has had this story of Abraham recorded in the Bible is so that we can understand what faith is like. Just like Abraham, we will go through experiences in life where we think there is no way out, no answer, no escape, no solution. 

But like Abraham, we are to trust the Lord. He has given us certain promises, and we are simply to believe them.