O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
O foolish Galatians! - "It is an expression of surprise mingled with indignation ... Paul accuses them with failing to use insight and wisdom, that appreciation of the better things, when he uses the Greek word translated 'foolish.' The word is anoetos. It denotes the stupidity that arises from deadness and impotence of intellect. It means 'lacking in the power of perception, unwise. It refers to one who does not reflect. The word speaks of failure to use one's powers of perception. The Galatians, Paul says, were certainly not using their heads. The word is used with an ethical reference as the faculty of moral judgment. Thus the word indicates a failure to use one's powers of perception, that failure being due to a moral defect. It is always true, as it was with the Galatians, that the act of a Christian who embraces false doctrine, is due to sin in his life." (Wuest)
Who has bewitched you? - "The word 'bewitched' is from baskaino. Paul's metaphor is derived from the popular superstition of the evil eye. The word denoted either the fascination of an evil eye or some malignant influence akin to it. The infatuation of the Galatians is attributed to the baneful effect of some mysterious power of evil." (Wuest)
"You have heard people say, 'Yes, salvation is by grace, but we must do our part.' What is our part? We have sinned every day of our lives. We have sinned in thought and word and deed. Do you suppose that by doing a few good deeds (which we ought to do anyway) we would add something to the mightily redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ in paying for our sins? Good is what we ought to do; do we expect credit for it? (Col 2:8-10) ... Beloved, salvation is clearly a question of 'do' or 'done.' A large majority of religious clergymen say that you must do, do, do, do, to be saved. But God's Word says that 'it' is already done, and let God be true and every man liar. Hebrews Chapter 10 has a good deal to say about this truth: 'And every priest stands "You have heard people say, 'Yes, salvation is by grace, but we must do our part.' What is our part? We have sinned every day of our lives. We have sinned in thought and word and deed. Do you suppose that by doing a few good deeds (which we ought to do anyway) we would add something to the mightily redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ in paying for our sins? Good is what we ought to do; do we expect credit for it? (Col 2:8-10) ... Beloved, salvation is clearly a question of 'do' or 'done.' A large majority of religious clergymen say that you must do, do, do, do, to be saved. But God's Word says that 'it' is already done, and let God be true and every man liar. Hebrews Chapter 10 has a good deal to say about this truth: 'And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.'" (Stam)
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. - "The words 'set forth' [publicly portrayed] are from prographo. It is the usual word speaking of the act of posting up public announcements or notices. The word is found in early secular announcements or notices. The word is found in early secular documents where a father posted a proclamation that he would no longer be responsible for his son's debts. It does not here speak of the act of painting the crucified Christ on a placard for public notice, but of posting a public announcement to the effect that He was crucified. This Paul did in his preaching among the Galatians. This placarded notice of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus should have been enough to keep the eyes of the Galatians from wandering to the enticements of the Judaizers." (Wuest)
"Paul brought the gospel to them and the Spirit worked in them. Yet now they were reverting to flesh-works in the hope that a combination of faith (Spirit) and works (flesh) would work more easily or better." (Ryrie)
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? - "Paul speaks of the initial entrance of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the Galatian Christians when they put their trust in the Lord Jesus. In this verse, he is speaking of the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the lives of these saints. He asks the question, 'Are you to such a degree irrational? Having begun your Christian life in dependence upon the indwelling Spirit, are you now being brought on to the state of spiritual maturity by means of self effort? The words 'made perfect' [being perfected] are from epiteleo which means 'to bring something to the place where it is complete.' The cognate noun is the word Paul uses when he speaks of a spiritually mature Christian, one who is living a well-rounded, well-balanced, mature life. By the word 'flesh' here he refers to all that a person is as the product of natural generation apart from the morally transforming power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The word speaks of the unsaved man, body, soul, and the spirit, controlled by his totally depraved nature, together with all his human accomplishments, positions, capabilities, and philosophies ... The Judaizers in preaching a message of law obedience to the Galatian Christians, caused these latter to abandon the position of grace and put themselves in the sphere of law, both that of the Judaizers' system of legalism, and that of the Old Testament economy. Because there was no provision in the Mosaic economy for an indwelling Spirit who would sanctify the believer as that believer trusted Him for that work, the Galatians were turning away from the teaching and the reality of the ministry of the Spirit in the life of the believer in this dispensation of grace, and were starting to depend upon self works. Thus these Christians who had begun their Christian lives in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, now were depending upon self effort to continue in them the work of sanctification which the Holy Spirit had begun. The present tense of the verb here indicates that the Galatians had already begun this attempt. Paul says in effect, 'How foolish to think that you can bring yourselves to a state of spiritual maturity in your Christian lives. That is the work of the Spirit. Only He can do that for you." (Wuest)
"The Galatians were not guilty of any outward wrongdoing. They wanted to do good things, but God had already accomplished the good ... It is true that the Bible says that you must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Yes, the Bible says that! But the Galatians were not recognizing that a further revelation had been given to Paul, the apostle of grace. This is also the trouble today. All the cults can give you Scripture passages to confirm their teachings, but they do not use the word 'rightly divided." (Stam)
Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? - "This verse speaks of the sufferings which the Galatian saints went through as a result of having received the Lord Jesus as Saviour. The only record of any persecutions in the Galatian cities is in Acts 14:2, 5, 19, 22. We are left somewhat in the dark regarding these sufferings, their nature and extent. Paul appeals to the Galatians not to let these sufferings be in vain by turning their backs on grace and putting themselves under the legalistic system of the Judaizers. The construction in the Greek text gives the idea, 'If it really be in vain.' It leaves a loophole for doubt in the apostle's mind that the Galatians really were swinging away from grace to law. It implies an unwillingness on his part to believe this." (Wuest)
"—through all his argument and expostulation the apostle assumes the genuineness of the Galatians' faith. So here in this word, spoken aside as it were, he shows that he is unwilling to believe that they had actually turned away, that he hopes they will yet shake themselves free from the trammels of this false teaching." (Vine)
works miracles - "Some of these miracles are recorded in Acts 14:3; 8-11, and they were not done by observing the law." (Ryrie)
by hearing with faith - "How did we receive Christ Jesus the Lord? We reached the end of ourselves and acknowledged that we needed help. We trusted Him and accepted Him by grace through faith. Paul taught that we should keep on walking by faith. That is where the Galatians had failed. Oh, that Paul could thunder this verse again today (Gal 3:3-4). They had rested in the finished work of Christ, and it had cost them persecution. They were not popular! They were suffering, as Paul did also, 'the offense of the cross.'" (Stam)
Scripture - "Paul now appealed to Scripture (Gen 15:6) to show that the patriarch Abraham depended on faith for righteousness." (Ryrie)
Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” - "This does not mean, however, that Abraham's act of faith was looked upon as a meritorious action deserving of reward. It was not viewed as a good work by God and rewarded by the bestowal of righteousness. That would be salvation by works. But the fact that Abraham cast off all dependence upon good works as a means of finding acceptance with God, and accepted God's way of bestowing salvation, was answered by God in giving him that salvation." (Wuest)
sons of Abraham - "Abraham's physical descendants through Isaac and Jacob are the Jewish people, but his spiritual descendants are those who believe in God for salvation—men of faith as contrasted with men of works and men of circumcision." (Ryrie)
justify the Gentiles by faith - "Justification is the act of God removing from the sinner his guilt and the penalty incurred by that guilt, and bestowing a positive righteousness, Christ Jesus Himself in whom the believer stands, not only innocent and uncondemned, but actually righteous in point of law for time and for eternity. This is what God did for Abraham when he believed Him. This is what the Judaizers were attempting to merit for themselves by their own good works." (Wuest)
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” - "It is true that all nations were to be blessed through Israel, Abraham's multiplied seed (Gen 22:17-18). It is also true that all nations were to be blessed through Christ, Abraham's single Seed (Gal 3:16). But the very first promise made to Abraham was that God would bless all nations through him, and the apostle quotes this promise in an argument that God justifies Gentiles through faith. The original promise made to Abraham, then, holds out blessing to the world through Abraham himself. How has Abraham himself proved a blessing to all nations? There is only answer: as God's great example of FAITH ... In Scripture Abraham is constantly held up as the great example of faith. This is especially true in the Pauline epistles. To the Jew, who goes about to establish his own righteousness by religious works, and boats of circumcision, Paul exclaims, 'Why, your own father, Abraham, was justified by faith without works. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness which he already had!" (Rom 4:11). And he uses the same argument to persuade the Gentile that salvation is by grace through faith. It was because God had chosen Abraham as the great example of faith that He said, 'In thee shall all nations be blessed.'" (Stam)
"Without question Abraham is and has always been looked up to by greater numbers of people than any person in history. More than fourteen million Israelites, scattered all over the world, speak with reverence of their 'father of Abraham.' Then there are more than one billion professing Christians, whether truly saved or not, who also look up to Abraham as the father of believers. Besides these, there are some 528 million Mohammedans who also claim Abraham as their father. How appropriate, then, that God should point to him as the great example of justification by faith. It is further significant that Abraham, God's great example of faith, was raised up so long before Paul, God's great example of grace. Some centuries after Abraham, God was to give Israel the Mosaic law. If they obeyed it they would be God's peculiar treasure. But even then, God would show them that obedience to the law in itself could not procure His favor. It was only as they took the law seriously to be God's Word and obeyed it because it was God's Word that they could gain acceptance with Him. In other words, only as an expression of their faith in God could the works of the Law save them. It was 'the obedience of faith' that God desired, and every Jew could look back to his father Abraham to learn this lesson, for Abraham had been justified by faith apart from works, so that his works were only an expression of his faith." (Stam)
O foolish Galatians! - "It is an expression of surprise mingled with indignation ... Paul accuses them with failing to use insight and wisdom, that appreciation of the better things, when he uses the Greek word translated 'foolish.' The word is anoetos. It denotes the stupidity that arises from deadness and impotence of intellect. It means 'lacking in the power of perception, unwise. It refers to one who does not reflect. The word speaks of failure to use one's powers of perception. The Galatians, Paul says, were certainly not using their heads. The word is used with an ethical reference as the faculty of moral judgment. Thus the word indicates a failure to use one's powers of perception, that failure being due to a moral defect. It is always true, as it was with the Galatians, that the act of a Christian who embraces false doctrine, is due to sin in his life." (Wuest)
Who has bewitched you? - "The word 'bewitched' is from baskaino. Paul's metaphor is derived from the popular superstition of the evil eye. The word denoted either the fascination of an evil eye or some malignant influence akin to it. The infatuation of the Galatians is attributed to the baneful effect of some mysterious power of evil." (Wuest)
"You have heard people say, 'Yes, salvation is by grace, but we must do our part.' What is our part? We have sinned every day of our lives. We have sinned in thought and word and deed. Do you suppose that by doing a few good deeds (which we ought to do anyway) we would add something to the mightily redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ in paying for our sins? Good is what we ought to do; do we expect credit for it? (Col 2:8-10) ... Beloved, salvation is clearly a question of 'do' or 'done.' A large majority of religious clergymen say that you must do, do, do, do, to be saved. But God's Word says that 'it' is already done, and let God be true and every man liar. Hebrews Chapter 10 has a good deal to say about this truth: 'And every priest stands "You have heard people say, 'Yes, salvation is by grace, but we must do our part.' What is our part? We have sinned every day of our lives. We have sinned in thought and word and deed. Do you suppose that by doing a few good deeds (which we ought to do anyway) we would add something to the mightily redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ in paying for our sins? Good is what we ought to do; do we expect credit for it? (Col 2:8-10) ... Beloved, salvation is clearly a question of 'do' or 'done.' A large majority of religious clergymen say that you must do, do, do, do, to be saved. But God's Word says that 'it' is already done, and let God be true and every man liar. Hebrews Chapter 10 has a good deal to say about this truth: 'And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.'" (Stam)
It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. - "The words 'set forth' [publicly portrayed] are from prographo. It is the usual word speaking of the act of posting up public announcements or notices. The word is found in early secular announcements or notices. The word is found in early secular documents where a father posted a proclamation that he would no longer be responsible for his son's debts. It does not here speak of the act of painting the crucified Christ on a placard for public notice, but of posting a public announcement to the effect that He was crucified. This Paul did in his preaching among the Galatians. This placarded notice of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus should have been enough to keep the eyes of the Galatians from wandering to the enticements of the Judaizers." (Wuest)
"Paul brought the gospel to them and the Spirit worked in them. Yet now they were reverting to flesh-works in the hope that a combination of faith (Spirit) and works (flesh) would work more easily or better." (Ryrie)
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? - "Paul speaks of the initial entrance of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the Galatian Christians when they put their trust in the Lord Jesus. In this verse, he is speaking of the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the lives of these saints. He asks the question, 'Are you to such a degree irrational? Having begun your Christian life in dependence upon the indwelling Spirit, are you now being brought on to the state of spiritual maturity by means of self effort? The words 'made perfect' [being perfected] are from epiteleo which means 'to bring something to the place where it is complete.' The cognate noun is the word Paul uses when he speaks of a spiritually mature Christian, one who is living a well-rounded, well-balanced, mature life. By the word 'flesh' here he refers to all that a person is as the product of natural generation apart from the morally transforming power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The word speaks of the unsaved man, body, soul, and the spirit, controlled by his totally depraved nature, together with all his human accomplishments, positions, capabilities, and philosophies ... The Judaizers in preaching a message of law obedience to the Galatian Christians, caused these latter to abandon the position of grace and put themselves in the sphere of law, both that of the Judaizers' system of legalism, and that of the Old Testament economy. Because there was no provision in the Mosaic economy for an indwelling Spirit who would sanctify the believer as that believer trusted Him for that work, the Galatians were turning away from the teaching and the reality of the ministry of the Spirit in the life of the believer in this dispensation of grace, and were starting to depend upon self works. Thus these Christians who had begun their Christian lives in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, now were depending upon self effort to continue in them the work of sanctification which the Holy Spirit had begun. The present tense of the verb here indicates that the Galatians had already begun this attempt. Paul says in effect, 'How foolish to think that you can bring yourselves to a state of spiritual maturity in your Christian lives. That is the work of the Spirit. Only He can do that for you." (Wuest)
"The Galatians were not guilty of any outward wrongdoing. They wanted to do good things, but God had already accomplished the good ... It is true that the Bible says that you must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Yes, the Bible says that! But the Galatians were not recognizing that a further revelation had been given to Paul, the apostle of grace. This is also the trouble today. All the cults can give you Scripture passages to confirm their teachings, but they do not use the word 'rightly divided." (Stam)
Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? - "This verse speaks of the sufferings which the Galatian saints went through as a result of having received the Lord Jesus as Saviour. The only record of any persecutions in the Galatian cities is in Acts 14:2, 5, 19, 22. We are left somewhat in the dark regarding these sufferings, their nature and extent. Paul appeals to the Galatians not to let these sufferings be in vain by turning their backs on grace and putting themselves under the legalistic system of the Judaizers. The construction in the Greek text gives the idea, 'If it really be in vain.' It leaves a loophole for doubt in the apostle's mind that the Galatians really were swinging away from grace to law. It implies an unwillingness on his part to believe this." (Wuest)
"—through all his argument and expostulation the apostle assumes the genuineness of the Galatians' faith. So here in this word, spoken aside as it were, he shows that he is unwilling to believe that they had actually turned away, that he hopes they will yet shake themselves free from the trammels of this false teaching." (Vine)
works miracles - "Some of these miracles are recorded in Acts 14:3; 8-11, and they were not done by observing the law." (Ryrie)
by hearing with faith - "How did we receive Christ Jesus the Lord? We reached the end of ourselves and acknowledged that we needed help. We trusted Him and accepted Him by grace through faith. Paul taught that we should keep on walking by faith. That is where the Galatians had failed. Oh, that Paul could thunder this verse again today (Gal 3:3-4). They had rested in the finished work of Christ, and it had cost them persecution. They were not popular! They were suffering, as Paul did also, 'the offense of the cross.'" (Stam)
Scripture - "Paul now appealed to Scripture (Gen 15:6) to show that the patriarch Abraham depended on faith for righteousness." (Ryrie)
Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” - "This does not mean, however, that Abraham's act of faith was looked upon as a meritorious action deserving of reward. It was not viewed as a good work by God and rewarded by the bestowal of righteousness. That would be salvation by works. But the fact that Abraham cast off all dependence upon good works as a means of finding acceptance with God, and accepted God's way of bestowing salvation, was answered by God in giving him that salvation." (Wuest)
sons of Abraham - "Abraham's physical descendants through Isaac and Jacob are the Jewish people, but his spiritual descendants are those who believe in God for salvation—men of faith as contrasted with men of works and men of circumcision." (Ryrie)
justify the Gentiles by faith - "Justification is the act of God removing from the sinner his guilt and the penalty incurred by that guilt, and bestowing a positive righteousness, Christ Jesus Himself in whom the believer stands, not only innocent and uncondemned, but actually righteous in point of law for time and for eternity. This is what God did for Abraham when he believed Him. This is what the Judaizers were attempting to merit for themselves by their own good works." (Wuest)
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” - "It is true that all nations were to be blessed through Israel, Abraham's multiplied seed (Gen 22:17-18). It is also true that all nations were to be blessed through Christ, Abraham's single Seed (Gal 3:16). But the very first promise made to Abraham was that God would bless all nations through him, and the apostle quotes this promise in an argument that God justifies Gentiles through faith. The original promise made to Abraham, then, holds out blessing to the world through Abraham himself. How has Abraham himself proved a blessing to all nations? There is only answer: as God's great example of FAITH ... In Scripture Abraham is constantly held up as the great example of faith. This is especially true in the Pauline epistles. To the Jew, who goes about to establish his own righteousness by religious works, and boats of circumcision, Paul exclaims, 'Why, your own father, Abraham, was justified by faith without works. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness which he already had!" (Rom 4:11). And he uses the same argument to persuade the Gentile that salvation is by grace through faith. It was because God had chosen Abraham as the great example of faith that He said, 'In thee shall all nations be blessed.'" (Stam)
"Without question Abraham is and has always been looked up to by greater numbers of people than any person in history. More than fourteen million Israelites, scattered all over the world, speak with reverence of their 'father of Abraham.' Then there are more than one billion professing Christians, whether truly saved or not, who also look up to Abraham as the father of believers. Besides these, there are some 528 million Mohammedans who also claim Abraham as their father. How appropriate, then, that God should point to him as the great example of justification by faith. It is further significant that Abraham, God's great example of faith, was raised up so long before Paul, God's great example of grace. Some centuries after Abraham, God was to give Israel the Mosaic law. If they obeyed it they would be God's peculiar treasure. But even then, God would show them that obedience to the law in itself could not procure His favor. It was only as they took the law seriously to be God's Word and obeyed it because it was God's Word that they could gain acceptance with Him. In other words, only as an expression of their faith in God could the works of the Law save them. It was 'the obedience of faith' that God desired, and every Jew could look back to his father Abraham to learn this lesson, for Abraham had been justified by faith apart from works, so that his works were only an expression of his faith." (Stam)
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