Galatians 3, 1 through 9. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, or are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Please be seated. The book of Galatians, the letter to the churches at Galatia, and the book of Romans are the two books in which Paul principally lays out the central doctrine of Christianity, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Galatia, as you know, was part of what we now call Turkey or Asia Minor. It's the central and northern part of that area of the world. Paul himself had been born in that area of the world in Tarsus in what today is called Southern Turkey and he had traveled through preaching what is called Southern Galatia the central part of Turkey and there several churches had been established in various cities in Galatia among them Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and Pisidian Antioch and Paul is writing to these churches in this letter to the Galatians because they are being led astray by teachers within the churches who are teaching another message a message different from what Paul himself preached and a message different from what they themselves had believed and in his first two chapters He spends a good deal of time first doing the usual things. He signs his letter. He writes a greeting to them. Then immediately he calls down curses on anyone who teaches a different gospel, a different message. That makes this book unique because Paul wastes no time in getting to the heart of the matter. And he calls down curses on those who present any message other than what he himself had presented and other than what the Galatians themselves had believed. But it was not only the gospel that was under attack, it was Paul himself that was under attack from these false teachers. They suggested that he was not a true apostle, that he was an imposter, or at best a latecomer. who had a derivative doctrine and didn't understand what the gospel in its fullness was and the Judaizers had the full gospel that is what they were claiming to teach the churches of Galatia the full gospel so Paul in chapter 2 of Galatia engages in part of chapter 1 for that matter engages in a defense of himself as well as a defense of the gospel He engages in a defense of his position as the Apostle. And the origin of his gospel, he says, I didn't get it from men. I learned it directly from God. I didn't get it from the pillars in the church, he says. And I preached independently of them. And I derived my message directly from God. I did not obtain it from men. He tells about his confrontation with the Apostle Peter in Antioch. Peter, of course, was dissembling. He was not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel. And Paul confronts him to his face and reproves him and rebukes him for not being straightforward about the gospel of justification by faith alone. And Peter accepts the rebuke. Peter does not resist Paul's rebuke. Peter, of course, is alleged to be the first pope by the Roman Catholic Church. And here you have the Apostle Paul rebuking Peter for his errors. Of course, it's not the first time Peter has been rebuked. He was rebuked repeatedly by Christ when Christ was in the flesh on earth. But there Paul says, I even rebuked Peter who was reputed to be a pillar. And he's emphasizing the fact that the gospel that he has is of divine origin and divine meaning. Well then here in chapter 3 he turns to the Galatians themselves. After laying this groundwork, he begins his confrontation directly with the churches in Galatia. And he says in verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? He's scolding them, and this isn't a semi-serious scolding. He has already laid out how serious this matter is in chapter 1. But he's scolding them, and he calls them foolish. And perhaps just as important, he calls them Galatians. He doesn't say, O foolish brethren, because there are some among them who are not. And he doesn't say, oh foolish saints. He says, oh foolish Galatians. He addresses them as their nationality. And he reproves them for what they're doing and they're being led astray. Now by foolish he doesn't mean that they're stupid. They're not stupid. He doesn't mean that they're unintelligent. They're not unintelligent. They are as bright as other groups of Christians and other churches. What he does mean is that they are being fooled. They have a lack of understanding. They have a lack of wisdom. They are being deceived. Or as he puts it, they are being bewitched. And he asks the question, who has bewitched you? Now notice that he puts it in this form. He doesn't say what has bewitched you. He puts it in a personal form. Who? Who has bewitched you? Deception is always personal. Deception is always personal. We're told that the devil is the father of lies, the deceiver, and he's a person. His ministers are persons. They are liars and deceivers. And they transform themselves into angels of light. So who has bewitched you? Now, to a 20th century American audience, the word bewitched reminds us of a TV program. But that's not what Paul's talking about. That is just plain silliness. The 20th century TV program. What we're not talking here is about someone who wiggles their nose and causes the lamp to float around the room. We're talking about a person or persons who has fooled them in the realm of ideas, who has given them a doctrine that appears to be true, but is not true. A good counterfeit, as you well know, must look like the real thing. It must resemble it. Otherwise, it's not a good counterfeit, and it won't fool anybody. Well, perhaps it will fool some people. But it won't fool most people. If someone were to make a counterfeit of a hundred dollar bill colored red, it's unlikely that few of us would be fooled by it. So when they counterfeit a hundred dollar bill, they make it appear as much like the real hundred dollar bill as they can. This is what is happening in Galatia. These people are being fooled, they're being led astray by something that appears to be Christianity, but it isn't. It's a different gospel, Paul says, and it's not another gospel. It's something else. These Galatians that he's writing to are victims of this deception. They're being fooled. They are the victims of the deception. Keep in mind when you read the letter to the Galatians that there are principally two groups of people that Paul is talking to. First, there are the perpetrators of deception. He calls those people, those who want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Those are the false teachers. And he pronounces curses on them. But to the general body of church members, he does not do that. He regards them as victims of the false teachers. And that's why he says, who has bewitched you? Who has fooled you? Who is leading you astray? They are the victims. And he doesn't pronounce curses on them. But they're being led astray by deceivers nonetheless. Some of the deceptions that come to us are gross deceptions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism, various pagan religions obviously they're gross deceptions that none of us would confuse with Christianity but there are more subtle deceptions in the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden not everything the serpent said was false he mixed some truth with the lie in order to make the lie more effective and make it more lethal When you administer poison, you put it in something that looks good. You put a little strychnine in the orange juice. That way the victim drinks it. If you offer him a bottle of strychnine, he won't drink it. But he will drink the orange juice. And this is what the serpent does in the garden. He says, if you eat this, you will become like God. and you can read later in the account in chapter 3 the conversation the trinity has with one another saying they have become like one of us knowing good and evil so let us throw them out of the garden before they eat of the tree of life so not everything the serpent said was false there was some hint of truth in what he said today there are various systems that have Much truth in them, but are still lies. And they mix truth and error together. Galatianism, which we're talking about this morning, Arminianism, Roman Catholicism, all of them mix together truth with the error, and make the error more palatable. In this situation at Galatia, Notice what the occasion was. The Judaizers were saying you have to be circumcised as well as having faith in order to be saved. Their teaching is given in Acts 15.1. Except you be circumcised after the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That's the teaching in Acts 15.1. Except you be circumcised after the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now circumcision was a command from God. they did not pick some ritual from some pagan religion and say you have to do this in order to be saved they deliberately picked a command from God they took a command that God himself had given and said you have to add this to your faith you have to add this to your belief in Christ in order to be saved they didn't add something man made They took a command from God, and they made this message as deceptive as they possibly could. Paul says, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Well, this is the meaning of the content of the result of the bewitching. They don't have to believe the truth. Paul does not say, and you have to be careful when you read this, Paul does not say at this point that they do not believe or obey the truth, but they're being persuaded in that direction. They're being misled. The message they're hearing from the false teachers is leading them away from the truth. They're being deceived by someone who appears to be a true teacher, a disciple of Christ, but is not. and he says this person or these persons who have done this have done it to you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified now he makes this point with emphasis and this is not literal language Paul is not saying when I came to Galatia I painted icons of Christ being crucified and hung them up in your buildings so that your eyes could clearly see Christ crucified. This is figurative language. He does not say we hired sculptors to make sculptures of the crucifixion. He says nothing of the sort. What he's saying here is that when I came, I preached the message that was as clear as possible. And it was a message about Christ crucified. When Paul came, he preached the gospel. Remember he says among you that I resolved to know nothing but Christ crucified. He preaches the gospel. He preaches the doctrine of the atonement. He preaches salvation. He preaches justification by faith alone. And he makes it as clear as possible. And he said I did this in Galatia. This is my preaching here. And notice, and I want to call your attention to this because this becomes important in a few verses. Notice that Paul here mentions only Christ crucified. He mentions only Christ crucified. He does not say that I came and preached Christ resurrected, but he did, of course. He does not say, I came and preached Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, but he did of course preach that. He does not say that I came and preached to you Christ coming again, although he did preach that to the Galatians. But he does not mention those things. Why doesn't he mention those things? Those are important parts of the whole counsel of God. But here he says, I came and preached Christ crucified. Why does he mention that and that alone? Because that and that alone is the basis of our salvation. We are not saved by the resurrection of Christ. We are not saved by the ascension of Christ. We are not saved by the second coming of Christ. We are saved by the death of Christ. By his blood being shed on the cross. When Christ said it is finished, he meant it is finished. The work accomplishing salvation was done and were not saved by subsequent events. So when Paul mentions this, he mentions Christ crucified only. He could have quoted Isaiah 53, and I'll read a few lines from Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people. He was stricken. He shall divide the spoiled with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death. That's the gospel. And this is what Paul is saying here. He's not saying I didn't preach those other things, but he's saying those other things do not bear on the question of the method by which you are saved. He did preach the second coming, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, obviously. He says I did it very clearly. He says these things were clearly portrayed to you, clearly taught. Paul, unlike many theologians, does not use words to obscure his meaning. He uses words to disclose his meaning. Not obscure it. Not to hide it. And we should be the same way. Clarity is very important. Clarity is very important. And he's rebuking the Galatians here because they have clearly heard the word clearly preached. He hasn't come and obfuscated things. He hasn't come and muddled their thinking. In fact, his complaint is these false teachers are muddling their thinking. Those are the ones that are obscuring things. Well, he continues in verse 2. He says, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith? Now, this is the second question Paul is asked. There's a series of questions, as you no doubt noticed when we read this. in this portion of Galatians 3, and this is the second one. First one was, of course, who bewitched you? Who fooled you? Who has mesmerized you? Who has hypnotized you? But now he says, there's only one thing I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? How did you receive the Spirit? And this is a crucial question. Paul begins his confrontation here with the Galatians by appealing to their own experience. He's going to get them to testify by their own words how they received the Spirit. Later on he will talk about Scripture. But at this point, since apparently the Galatians are putting some emphasis on their own experience, this is where Paul begins. He says, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? By getting them to come up with the correct answer, they have given him the premise for the rest of his argument. Paul is very brilliant in the way he argues, and just as Christ was. He says, I want to learn this from you. Only one thing. I want to learn from you. Paul is angry. He's exasperated. He says, tell me one thing. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by working or by believing? By the hearing of faith, or by the works of the law and in these words Paul presents an antithesis what the logicians call a complete disjunction an either or notice that little word or did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith this is a complete disjunction, a complete antithesis It cannot be both, Paul says. It's one or the other. And it has to be one or the other. There is no third possibility. It cannot be both. There's an antithesis here. Throughout the history of the church, many theologians have said, no, there's no antithesis, there's a synthesis. We have to combine works and faith in order to be saved. This is precisely what the Judaizers were teaching. We have to combine works and faith. Christ is not sufficient. We have to add something to His work. We have to add something to our faith in Him. But Paul says no. It's either or. It's not both and. Was it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith and this antithesis is presented very clearly in many passages of scripture I mentioned the book of Romans earlier turn over if you would to Romans chapter 3 Romans chapter 3 Let's read two verses from this chapter, verse 20 and verse 28. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. In verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. The following chapter, verses 4, 5, and 6, Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes, notice the antithesis, him who does not work, but believes. On him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. We read Psalm 32 just a few moments ago, where this is a quote from. Turn over to Romans 9. Just two or three verses from this chapter. Romans 9 verse 11, For the children, not yet being born, not having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calls, Him who regenerates, Him who grants faith. In verses 30 and 32 in Romans 9, What shall we say then that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness of faith? But Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. for they stumbled at that stumbling stone and there are others Galatians 2.16 in the same letter if you want to read that or Titus 3.5 there are other passages that also present the antithesis this antithesis between hearing, faith and law works and despite this clear teaching of scripture many in Christian churches have said this is not true that we have to have a synthesis of faith and works but Paul will not allow this they are mutually exclusive and they're mutually exhaustive a hearing or faith is not a work and works are not faith this is either or it's one or the other now all works Paul here is arguing from this principle here in Galatians All works are excluded. Not merely ceremonial works, although that was the occasion for the writing this letter, and circumcision was a ceremonial work. But Paul states a principle that applies to all works, not merely ceremonial works. This is clear not only from what we've read in Galatians, but from what we've read from Romans as well. All works, moral works, ceremonial works, meritorious works, non-meritorious works, works done before conversion, works done after conversion, they're all excluded. Every one. The antithesis is absolute. It's mutually exclusive and mutually exhaustive. And what he's trying to do is get them to admit from their own experience that the Holy Spirit never came by the preaching of the law, let alone by the doing of the law, but by the hearing of faith and the preaching of the gospel. And he's going to show that from scripture and from history in a few verses. The Roman Catholic Church, which is the most significant opponent of Christianity today, as it has been for a thousand years or more, maintains in this passage that Paul is, well they maintain two things Paul is talking about only ceremonial works and those ceremonial works are the works of the Old Testament ceremonies he's not referring to the sacraments of the Roman Church and he's also talking about, they say, works done before conversion they try to make a distinction between works and say well some works obviously Paul is excluding but not all works but Paul is excluding all works especially moral works well he goes and he addresses the Galatians again here in verse 3 and he uses the word foolish again are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you now being made perfect in the flesh He's trying to shame them into thinking. He used the word foolish twice in addressing these foes. Sometimes to get people to think, you have to hit them with a two-by-four. And he does it with his language. Paul doesn't mince any words. He says, are you so foolish? He's angry. You know better. He's already established that they know better. There's no reason for you to be misled by these false teachers. He says, are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Here he assumes the answer to his question in verse 2. He asked him, did the Holy Spirit come by the hearing of faith or by the works of the law? And here he says, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Well, in some reformed churches, people are taught that we're justified by faith and sanctified by works. That's been going on for decades. In other reformed churches, there's a more subtle view. We're justified by faith and works. It's combined in justification. But Paul here says, having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? He doesn't quote the Judaizers, he doesn't quote the false teachers, at least not in this passage. We do have a statement from them in Acts 15, which I read earlier. So we have to infer what they were telling the Galatians from the arguments that Paul gives. And apparently one of the things they were being told was, you've made a good beginning. but in order to be perfected you have to do such and such see they are presenting the full gospel not half the gospel that Paul was presenting but the full gospel and Paul says having begun in the spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh and obviously the question requires a no answer but again Here's a contrast, an antithesis between the flesh and the spirit. It's between belief and circumcision. What the flesh here does not mean what it typically means through much of scripture. That is the worst in man. Lust, envy, hatred, that sort of thing. But it means the best in man. This desire to obey the commands of God, he calls the flesh. It's a misplaced desire, because they're doing it in order to be saved. Not because they have been saved, but in order to be saved. And he refers to it as the flesh. Any work that we do, Paul is saying, contrasted to belief. In order to be saved is a different gospel, which is not a gospel at all. We are not saved by faith plus baptism. There are many churches in this area that teach that. But as a Christian church, Midway Presbyterian does not. We are not saved by faith plus baptism. We are not saved by faith plus the Lord's Supper. We are not saved by faith plus works. We are not saved by faith plus anything. The salvation comes through the hearing of faith alone. The hearing of faith alone. Paul asked the Galatians another question. Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Now, the word that is translated here, suffered, may refer to suffering, pain, or persecution. But if it does, Paul never brings this up again or afterward, any suffering that the Galatians had undergone. And perhaps they had undergone suffering for their faith. But what it seems to demand in this context is a more neutral translation. Have you experienced? So what had they experienced? He's already brought up their experience. He says, tell me one thing I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith or by the works of the law? What had they experienced? They had experienced Paul's gospel. They had heard an apostle preach. Paul had been in their presence, in their midst. They had met him face to face. They had experienced miracles, as he's going to explain in a moment. And he says, have you suffered or experienced so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain, that is to no effect, to no salvation, to no understanding, if indeed it was in vain. Paul here casts doubt on this, if indeed it was in vain. He says, perhaps there are some of you who do believe. if indeed it was in vain he continues in verse five therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith still another question from Paul he who supplies notice the personalism of all of this he who God the Father Earlier he asked, who has bewitched you? And now it's he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you. I emphasize again, deceivers are persons and truth-tellers are persons. Nothing impersonal about it. God sends the Spirit to those for whom Christ died. And the presence and work of the Spirit is one of the benefits that Christ purchased for his people on the cross. And Christ did purchase it. He did earn it. And God works the miracles. He says, He who performs the miracles and works miracles among you. Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And notice the antithesis again. Notice that little word or. Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Paul emphasizes this. And I hope you don't think I am beating a dead horse because Paul didn't think he was beating a dead horse. He wants to make this perfectly clear. It's either one or the other. The works of the law or the hearing of faith. And notice the question here is not how you receive the spirit, it's not in the past tense, it's in the present tense. Because the Judaizers were saying, well you've made a great beginning, but you've got to go on to the deeper things. Now Paul talks in the present tense. He answers that particular contention of the Judaizers. It's not how they receive the spirit, but he who supplies the spirit, present tense. And he who works miracles, present tense, do these things occur by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And the answer again is obviously that the Galatians have to testify it's the hearing of faith. It's not the works of the law. Neither the giving or the receiving of the Spirit is by the works of the law, but only by the hearing of faith. Excuse me. And he concludes this question by bringing up the matter of Abraham. In verse 6, just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now why does he bring up Abraham? Well, as you recall from the Gospels, the Pharisees and the Judaizers were told that Acts were sons of the Pharisees, for lack of a better phrase, were claiming Abraham as their father. And you can read that through the Gospels. Read, I won't take the time this morning, but read Matthew 3.9 or Luke 3.8 or John 8.39 and 53. And there are other passages. in which the name of Abraham is dropped by these teachers because they claim him as their father so Paul brings up Abraham and he now argues directly from scripture and from history the quote that he gives here is from Genesis 15 6 and the point he is making is the point that he has made repeatedly Justification is by faith or belief alone. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham was saved by belief alone. Not by works that he had done, but not because of his faith, but through his faith. And it's accounted to him. Here you have the doctrine of imputation. When the righteousness of Christ is imputed or accounted, Abraham is still a sinner, but he's a saved sinner. Before God, he is legally perfect because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. Paul says, quoting Genesis, he believed God, that is, he believed what God said. To believe a person is to believe his words, and to believe his words is to believe a person. There's no such thing as personal truth as distinct from propositional truth. You believe you know a proposition. And when Abraham believed God, it means he believed the words that he had spoken. Abraham assented to the words that he had heard God say. And this faith of Abraham is the instrument of his salvation. It's not the cause of it, but it is the instrument of his salvation. The Judaizers were apparently arguing, we are the children of Abraham. We're Jews. Abraham was circumcised, and so should we be, in order to be saved. But Paul denies that. And he's going to make that very clear in the next couple of verses. Notice what he says in verse 7. After he brings up Abraham, he says to the Galatians, Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Here Paul makes a statement. He doesn't ask a question. In fact, he gives a command. He commands them to know. They are commanded to know. And what are they to know? They are to know a proposition. And what is that proposition? Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. That's the proposition that they are commanded to know. Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. He wants to settle their minds, which have been confused by the false teachers, claiming Abraham for their father and for their doctrine. But Paul commands them to know. Notice what he says, only those, only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Not all the children of Abraham are the sons of Abraham. Their physical descent won't do them any good. Their biological ancestry is irrelevant. Only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. Now Paul has already established something important. It says it's either faith or works. It's either the hearing of faith or the works of the law. So in order to understand completely what Paul is saying here, we should stick in another only. Therefore know that only those who are of faith alone are sons of Abraham. Luther was criticized for adding the word alone to his German translation of the Bible. And Luther's reply was, I know German. And when you translate from the Greek into the German, in order to make the point you add the word align. He also might have argued, and perhaps did at another point, that the logic of the argument requires it. Because Paul has already said, it's either faith or works. It cannot be both. So the meaning is, therefore know that only those who are of faith alone are sons of Abraham. It's not faith plus works. But it's not only those, it's all those. as we read earlier from Romans. And then Paul gives us a very interesting verse in verse 8. In the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. One of the things that makes this verse very interesting is its equation of scripture with God. It's equation of scripture with God. It's the scripture foreseeing. The scripture preaching. And if you go back and you look at the account in Genesis, of course it's God preaching. God foreseeing. But in scripture we have the truth. The revealed truth. And Christ said, I am the truth. This is the mind of Christ. So don't let anybody deprecate or disparage or run down scripture. Paul here gives it the highest commendation. The scripture foresees and the scripture preaches. And that's just incidental to his main point. That's not his main point. The scripture foresees not what men will do, but what God will do. Foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. And again, by faith alone. He's already established that point. With the antitheses we've already gone through. God makes his plan. And he doesn't react to what men will do, as if caught by surprise. And the scripture perceives that the Gentiles would be justified by faith alone. So, Paul says, what occurs? For that reason, the scripture preaches the gospel to Abraham. And notice that it's the gospel that's preached to Abraham. The scripture preaches the gospel to Abraham.