SAVED THROUGH FAITH ALONE
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Opening Prayer
Father, as I come to your Word today, allow it to be read into my life in ways that lead to greater assurance in your promises.
Read GALATIANS 3:1–14
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Faith or Works of the Law
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I 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? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a] 4 Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So 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? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c]
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”[d] 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 For 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.”[e] 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”[f] 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”[g] 13 Christ 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.”[h] 14 He 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.
Footnotes
- Galatians 3:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
- Galatians 3:4 Or suffered
- Galatians 3:6 Gen. 15:6
- Galatians 3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18
- Galatians 3:10 Deut. 27:26
- Galatians 3:11 Hab. 2:4
- Galatians 3:12 Lev. 18:5
- Galatians 3:13 Deut. 21:23
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
In what ways do you guard against, and even come against false teaching?
Paul begins this section of the letter with a rhetorical question. He knew full well who had ‘bewitched’ the Galatian converts (v. 1) and he holds nothing back in his rebuke of their adherence to a false gospel. Paul’s argument hinges on the premise that any worth we may glean from the things we do is offensive to the finished work of Christ crucified. Had Paul been penning these words himself, I can picture sparks flying off the page as he unraveled his argument.
In what Stott describes as a ‘master-stroke,’1 Paul cites Abraham. With the Judaizers looking to Moses as their teacher, Paul rewinds centuries further for the example of one who received the promise through faith alone. Paul is essentially saying that, in contrast to what they were being told, they were already children of Abraham through faith. This would have been an incendiary statement to the Judaizers. In subsequent days we’ll observe Paul adding more fuel to this fire.
Paul advances his argument, referring to curses and blessings. His argument to the Galatian converts, and to us today, is that we must abandon any suggestion that we can make ourselves acceptable to God in any way other than relying on the finished work of Christ. We need to come, once again, on our knees to the cross of Christ and lean on his mercy. In that way, as Paul will uncover, the blessing of Abraham astonishingly becomes ours. Take a moment to ponder on verse 14 and ask the Father to touch you afresh with the Spirit, which is made possible because of the finished work of the Son.
Apply
What difference does it make that if you’ve accepted Christ, you are an inheritor of the promises given to Abraham?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, continue to build my faith that is built on your promises and affirm within me that, in Christ alone, I am redeemed.
1 John Stott, Only One Way (IVP, 1974), 72
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