Galatians 3:1-29 (NASB)
At the end of chapter two, we saw Paul recounting the time he reprimanded Peter for being a hypocrite. Now, he turns directly to the Galatians. Can you hear the frustration and outrage in his words? Verse 1 says this: “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”
I noticed in the last chapter that Paul’s writing seemed to lack some of the polish he normally has. And in this first verse, I notice the same thing. It’s a little awkward in its structure, isn’t it? Other commentators have pointed out, and I heartily agree, that Paul’s writing is being affected by his strong emotions. I think he’s angry. It’s a righteous anger, though.
In verse 1, Paul insults the Galatians, calling them foolish, and then vehemently asks them, “who has bewitched you”? Even Peter was bewitched. Barnabas, too. Who has bewitched the Galatians? They have fallen victim to their minds being persuaded to believe in a false gospel. The Greek word here, according to Strong’s Concordance, is baskainó and it means, “I give the evil eye to, fascinate, bewitch, overpower.”
He asks them this because they must have been put under an evil spell to abandon the Gospel, because as he continues, he says, ‘you Galatians are people, “before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” As Benson’s Commentary says, this means that Jesus, “He has been so fully and plainly preached that you may be said to have seen him. The effect of His being preached in the manner in which it has been done, ought to have been as great as if you had seen Him crucified before your eyes.”
They didn’t personally witness Jesus’ death, but they’ve been told so clearly about it, that it’s as if they were physically there to witness it. Paul continues with a series of loaded questions for them in verses 2-5. He asks them, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”
Paul says that there is just one thing he wants to find out. He asks them how they became Christians and he keeps pressing them with further questions: He asks them if they received the Spirit, meaning, did they become born again, by doing the works of the Law or by hearing the Gospel of Jesus and then believing it by faith? Does faith come by hearing the Word of God, or does faith come by following God’s Law? Of course they did not come to faith because they kept the Law, and so he asks them, ‘are you really so foolish to think this?’
Paul then makes a defense of the gospel of justification by faith. He explains the curse of the law; how the promise of God to Abraham was given before the law, and the purpose of the law. Verses 6-9 say, “6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 7 Therefore, recognize that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’ 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
The Law was not given as a way for people to become righteous. The Law was given in order to show us how far off we are from righteousness. God then provided a way for us to be made righteous through the blood sacrifice. It was not Abraham’s adherence to God’s Law that made him acceptable to God. First of all, the Law had not even been given yet. It was the fact that Abraham believed God. Abraham’s faith is what was credited to him as righteousness. I think it’s important to note, too, that the text says that he “believed God.” Abraham didn’t simply believe in God, but he believed God. Think of what James 2:19 says: “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”
In his book, Pensées, Blaise Pascal writes, “Men often take their imagination for their heart, and often believe they are converted as soon as they start thinking of becoming converted” (Pascal, Pensées, p.347). It’s not enough to believe in the existence of God. We must believe God; we must believe all the things He says.
Paul is arguing that the experiences of the Galatians and Abraham are similar. They heard the message of Jesus and believed it before they were given any laws, and God recognized their belief as righteousness, which, as you know, simply means they were made right with God. Paul’s addition of God’s promise to Abraham that “all nations will be blessed in you” was Paul’s way of reminding the Galatians that God has always intended for all people to be saved through faith, just as Abraham was.
This message of inclusivity is at the heart of Paul’s message to the Galatians, is it not? They were excluding those who weren’t circumcised; similar to the example he gave them of how Peter had refused to eat with Gentiles. But that was never what God wanted. When He instructed the Israelites to avoid contact with outside tribes and not to intermarry, it was not to keep those other people from being included in God’s family of followers. It was so those other people did not cause the Israelites to stray from faith. Anyone who wanted to join them and worship the one true God was accepted. They were welcome to assimilate into the Jewish faith and culture; the law even made specific provisions for how that was to be done. God has always had the plan to bless “all nations.”
All who have faith become “sons of Abraham” as verse 7 says. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this goes directly against the Jewish Christians who were attempting to impose extraneous legal requirements on the Gentile Christians. These same Jewish Christians thought they were better than everyone else because they were descended from Abraham. Paul is saying that to be included as a “son of Abraham” one does not need to be genetically related. All one needs is faith. We see this same message given by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7-10. It says, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance; and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.”
When John the Baptist warned, “Do not think to declare to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’” he was addressing this similar way of thinking. It is not peoples’ ancestry that saves them: it is their individual faith in Jesus which gives them salvation.
We see that same message all throughout Scripture, just as Paul mentions in verse 8, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” Paul is personifying Scripture when he writes that, but he certainly is showing that he believes the Scriptures are the Word of God. He believes that when the Scriptures speak, God speaks.
So all of us who have faith, not just decedents of Abraham, we all are included in the family of God, and we receive God’s blessing. As verse 9 says, “those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” But as he continues in Galatians 3:10-14: “10 For all who are of works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them.’ 11 Now, that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘the righteous one will live by faith.’ 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘The person who performs them will live by them.’ 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
In verse 10, Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 27:26. The KJV accurately translates this as, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.” That important, and yet often mistranslated verse, states that the Law requires perfection. A lot of translations do not include the word “all,” but that little word is the key to understanding the verse. I think that is why James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.” He knew Deuteronomy is saying: if even one law is broken, then perfection has been lost, and a guilty verdict is given.
No one can keep the whole Law perfectly. That is why it cannot justify us before God. We break just one law and we’ve sinned. That makes us unholy. That makes us a sinner. Thus, we need forgiveness and cleansing.
That is why Paul says in verse 11, “Now, that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘the righteous one will live by faith.’” Paul is quoting Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV) which says, “the righteous shall live by his faith.” Paul quotes this verse again, in Romans 1:17, which says, “The righteous shall live by faith.” This is the key theme all throughout this letter to the Galatians, and all throughout all of Paul’s writings. We will explore this even more as we move forward in this letter.
For the last three verses of this section, I really like how the EasyEnglish Bible simplifies it, so rather than putting it into my own words, let’s look at what it says, “12 But the Law does not tell people to trust God. It tells people about all the things that they must do. The Bible says, ‘The person who obeys all the rules in God’s Law completely will live’. 13 So God’s Law shows that it is right for God to punish us. But Christ took that punishment away from us, because God punished him instead of us. It says in the Bible: ‘When people hang someone on a tree to kill him, it shows that God has cursed that person.’ 14 Christ died in that way so that God would bless the Gentiles in the way that he blessed Abraham. Also, if we believe in Christ, we can then receive God’s Spirit that he promised.”
Paul further explains the intent of the Law in verses 15-18, which says, “15 Brothers and sisters, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as one would in referring to many, but rather as in referring to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”
God made a covenant or promise to Abraham, and 430 years later, from Mount Sinai, God gave the Law to His people. That Law did not invalidate the covenant; the promise was still in effect.
Then Paul continues, and verses 19-20 are much debated about by theological scholars. He says, “19 Why the Law then? It was added on account of the violations, having been ordered through angels at the hand of a mediator, until the Seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; but God is only one.”
Those verses can be difficult to understand. The best explanation I found for verse 19 was in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, which states, “That angels were present as attesting witnesses at the giving of the law was a common opinion among the Rabbinic teachers, and allusion is made to it not only by St Paul in this passage, but by St Stephen (Acts 7:53), by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. Galatians 2:2), and by Josephus (Antt. xv. 5. 3).”
It seems to me that Paul is merely stating that angels were present when Moses was handed the Law on Mount Sinai. People were living contrary to God’s intended way of living and so, “on account of the violations,” the Law had to be given to people so they could know right from wrong. Moses was the mediator between the people and God, until the Seed, who is Jesus, would come.
Verse 20 is also greatly debated. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges also writes, “Probably no verse of Scripture has more exercised the ingenuity of commentators.” I went to the Greek to see how it is literally translated and it says this: “However a mediator of one [person] not is but God one is.” Arranging that into its proper order, it reads: However a mediator is not of one, but God is one. I think what Paul is saying is that normally, when making a covenant, a mediator is needed to mediate between two different parties. Unlike the law, when the promise was given there was no mediator, for there was only God making the promise.
I think this is what Paul is saying because of what verses 21-25 say. Paul asks, “21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Far from it! For if a law had been given that was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. 22 But the Scripture has confined everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being confined for the faith that was destined to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”
So, why did God give His Law to His people after His promise to Abraham? The purpose of God’s Law was to show people the right way to live before the promised descendant of Abraham arrived. Then, we would see that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise and of the Law. But as verses 23-24 say, “But before God showed us the way of faith, the Law had authority over us. God’s Law kept us safe, until God showed us that we must believe in Christ. In that way, God’s Law was like our guide” (EasyEnglish Bible).
Then we reach the end of chapter three and it ends with a powerhouse argument. Verses 26-29 are the key verses of this chapter. It says, “26 For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
If we have faith in Christ Jesus, then we are adopted into God’s family. If we have been baptized into Christ, then we are covered by the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, we are all one in Christ. Neither our ancestry, social standing, nor gender affect our status as “heirs according to promise.”
The legalistic Jews wanted to keep their special status as descendants of Abraham. They wanted to make distinctions between themselves and Gentiles. They wanted to insist that Gentile Christians follow the Mosaic Law, but that is not how anyone is declared righteous. It is exactly as Paul writes in Romans 3:20 (NIV), “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
The Law was merely our teacher until the Great and Perfect Teacher, Jesus Christ, came to earth and died on the cross for our sins. Now, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness and are members of God’s family. There are no divisions between us believers. Our identity must start and end with this: “For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
I must take a moment and ask this question: who or what has bewitched us? We have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been given the completed Bible. We have thousands of years of testimony and proof of the truth of Scripture. What has bewitched us so terribly that we, as the collective Body of Christ, have so lost the truth of Scripture? Has all that God has done for us so worthless to us that we trade it away for a different gospel? So many of us have traded the truth of Scripture for a far inferior lie which tells us that we need an identity other than one as a child of God. If we are finding our identities in anything other than our status as a son or daughter of God, then we have lost our way, and are “bewitched” by a lie. If the Jewish Christians had only realized that their identities and the Gentile Christians’ identities were exactly the same, then there would have been no problems. They would have welcomed them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead, their identities were wrapped up in their status as Jews and following the Old Testament laws.
Paul will continue to explain what it means for us to be God’s children in the following chapter, so I, too, will wait to explain what exactly that means. But let me simply echo him and say: our identities must be found in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for the promise You made to make us Your children. Thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins. Please help us find our identity solely in our status as your child. Help us by Your Holy Spirit to not be deceived or bewitched by any of the lies that the enemy would tell us. Thank You for clothing us in Christ Jesus, for it is by His name we pray, amen.
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