A verse-by-verse explanation of the chapter.
Good Windshields Don't Go into the Space Shuttle
An overview of the principles and applications from the chapter.
Tying the chapter to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the chapter.
Zeroing the chapter in on daily life.
“The [role] of the law is to show us the disease in
such a way that it shows us no hope of cure; whereas
the [role] of the gospel is to bring a remedy to those
who are past hope.”
John Calvin
In chapter 3, Paul gives six points to show the Galatians the superiority of grace over law. (1) By grace, salvation and the Holy Spirit are given. (2) Abraham, the father of our people, was saved by grace. (3) Grace gives redemption and salvation; the law brings condemnation. (4) Abraham was saved by grace hundreds of years before the law was given. (5) The law's purpose is to act as a guide that leads us to Christ. (6) By grace a love relationship with God and one another is obtained.
“C.H. Spurgeon, the “Babe Ruth” of the Christian ministry, told a story about two men in a boat caught in severe rapids. As they were being carried swiftly downstream toward the perilous rocks and falls, men on the shore tried to save them by throwing out a rope. One man caught the rope and was saved. The other man, in the panic of the moment, grabbed a log that was floating alongside. It was a fatal mistake! The man who caught the rope was drawn to shore because he had a connection to the people on land. The man who clung to the log was carried downstream by the rapids … never to be found. Faith is like grabbing the rope from shore; it's our saving connection to Jesus Christ. Good works, like grabbing onto the log, carry men to their doom.
That is the point that Paul makes in Galatians 3. In response to the Judaizers who emphasize salvation by works, Paul clearly argues that faith in Christ is superior to obedience to the law. Paul knew that the message of salvation through grace by faith in Christ is a saving “rope” that leads men to eternal life. He also knew that salvation by works, which the Judaizers preached, was a “log” that would carry anyone clinging to it to their spiritual death. Paul uses six strong arguments in this chapter to prove conclusively that grace is superior to the law.
The Law Condemns Us
MAIN IDEA: Six arguments prove that grace's justification by faith is superior to the law.
The Argument from Your Personal Experience (vv. 1–5)SUPPORTING IDEA: The Galatians were originally saved by faith, not law. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:1. Paul is direct and stern as he calls the Galatians foolish. They had fallen under the bewitching, deceptive spell of the Judaizers. They accepted a message that implied the death of Christ was insufficient. Paul had been so clear in presenting the gospel that he could say: Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.They were now rejecting what they had seen, through Paul's preaching, with their own mind's eyes.
3:2. Paul in verses 2–5 asks four rhetorical questions to demonstrate that salvation is through faith alone. These questions concern the reception and work of the Holy Spirit. He asks (1) Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? The obvious implied answer is by believing!
3:3. (2) Are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Paul declares them foolish for having begun the Christian life by faith but trying to reach maturity through human effort. Since there was no way under the law for the Holy Spirit to sanctify, the Judaizers promoted the only means to maturity they knew: obedience to the law (compare 4:10; 5:2).
3:4. (3) Have you suffered so much for nothing? Suffer probably does not mean persecution as some believe but in this context may be translated experienced. Paul is asking, “Have you experienced so many blessings of the Holy Spirit in vain?” By turning to a works message, they were discounting the saving and sanctifying work that the Holy Spirit had exemplified in their lives.
3:5. (4) Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles … because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? The Holy Spirit enters the believer's life because of grace and not the law.
Argument from Abraham (vv. 6–9)SUPPORTING IDEA: Abraham, who lived before the law, was saved by faith. The blessings of Abraham (inheritance, sonship, and eternal life) were received by faith. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:6. The Judaizers pointed to the Law of Moses as the means to salvation. Paul demonstrates that Abraham, who preceded Moses by 430 years, was saved by faith and not self-effort. Quoting Genesis 15:6, Paul states Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. To further discredit the Judaizers' emphasis on circumcision, Paul noted that Abraham was justified prior to his circumcision (Gen. 17:24). Therefore, the Judaizers could not argue that the law and circumcision were necessary for salvation because Abraham was saved apart from both of them.
I know a man who married a woman who was extremely wealthy. When he accepted her as his wife, all her money was added to his bank account. In the same way, when Abraham placed his faith in God, all God's righteousness was added to Abraham's spiritual account. My friend became as wealthy as his wife, and Abraham became in God's eyes as righteous as God. How? God credited to him his own divine righteousness.
3:7–8. Abraham's real children are not his physical descendants but his spiritual descendants. His real children are those who believe God and are therefore justified by faith and not the law. This inclusion of the Gentiles in God's plan of salvation was revealed in God's covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:3) and is quoted here.
3:9. While provision is made for all to be blessed, only those who have faith are justified.
Argument from the Curse of the Law (vv. 10–14)SUPPORTING IDEA: The law cannot justify. It can only bring judgment. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:10. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 to prove that, contrary to what the Judaizers claimed, the law cannot justify and save. It can only condemn. The breaking of any aspect of the law brought a curse on the person who broke the law. Since no one can keep the law perfectly, we are all cursed. Paul, with this argument, destroys the Judaizers' belief that a person is saved through the law.
3:11. Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4: The righteous will live by faith. This verse reveals that even during the time of the law people were justified by faith and not obedience to the law. The Judaizers would have been wrong in their fundamental message even if they had lived during the time of Moses, because they misunderstood the purpose and power of the law.
3:12. The works of the law and the faith of the gospel have radically different consequences.
3:13. The positive solution to the curse of the law is in Christ who redeemed us from the curse of the law. Redeem means “to buy out of slavery by paying a price.” This word was used when someone purchased a slave for the purpose of freeing them. When Jesus died on the cross, he took our curse upon himself. Through his substitutionary atonement, Christ paid the penalty of the curse. When we believe in him, he frees us from the slavery of the law.
3:14. Christ redeemed us, on the cross, for two purposes. First, he redeemed us so that the blessing given to Abraham (salvation through faith) might come to the Gentiles. Second, he redeemed us … by faith so that the promise of the Holy Spirit could be given to all who believe (compare v. 2).
Argument from the Permanence of Faith (vv. 15–18)SUPPORTING IDEA: Abraham was saved by faith 430 years before the law was given to Moses. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:15–16. The Judaizers argued that since the law came after Abraham, then the law had priority over grace (salvation by faith alone). To refute thispoint, Paul appeals to a permanently binding contract or will. Once a permanently binding contract is written and signed, it cannot be changed. Paul argues that God's promise of salvation by faith to Abraham was a binding contract and that nothing, not even the law, could change it. This promise of permanence was made to Abraham and his seed, Christ. The singular use of seed (NIV, “offspring”) (compare Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7) was an allusion, not to Abraham's many physical descendants, but to the coming Messiah who would be the conveyer of blessing (see Matt. 1:1).
3:17–18. Paul clarifies that the law, which was given 430 years after the Abrahamic grace promise, does not nullify justification by faith. Faith is the permanent path to salvation. The inheritance (that is, justification by faith) was given as an unconditional gift to those who believed. Contrary to what the Judaizers taught, the message of justification given to Abraham is permanent and has priority over the later law.
Argument from the Purpose of the Law (vv. 19–25)SUPPORTING IDEA: The law's purpose was never to save. Its purpose has always been to be a standard that would show us the magnitude of our sin, our need for grace, and, thus, lead us to Christ. The law was a temporary measure only until faith in Christ was inaugurated. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:19. Now Paul reveals the purpose of the law answering the question, “Why was a change made at Sinai?” Paul answers this question by explaining the one purpose and the two characteristics of the law. The law was added because of transgressions. Transgressions means “a stepping aside from a right track.” The law laid down a right track (perfect standard) and made people aware when they were deviating from that perfect path. Yet the law was temporary. Its end point was the coming of the Seed (Christ, the Messiah). It is also inferior to Abraham and faith because it needed a mediator (angels and Moses on Mount Sinai).
3:20. Because the law required mediation, it required each party to live up to the contract. The Abrahamic covenant, on the other hand, was dependent only on the commitment of God, who is one. Therefore, the law was inferior to the promise given to Abraham.
3:21–22. Another question is raised: Is there conflict between the law and the promises of God? Paul answers, absolutely not! The law was not given to impart life and a right standing with God. Its purpose was to reveal that the whole world is a prisoner of sin condemned under its judgment. Such condemnation created in mankind a need for forgiveness and release from the law's penalty—a need for forgiveness in Christ.
3:23–25. Before faith in Christ came, people were held prisoners by the law. In a final image, Paul conveys the purpose of the law. In the KJV the second half of this verse states that the law was given as our tutor (NASB more literal than NIV, “was put in charge”). A better translation is “custodian” or “strict nanny.” In the Jewish culture a slave was assigned to each child to escort them to school and to assist in their supervision. This nanny was not a thirteen-year-old, sweet, little baby-sitter. This supervising nanny was more like a stern sergeant who had the bark of a German shepherd and the bite of a Doberman pincher. Every time the child took liberties without permission on the path to school (children like to play) or did something wrong, this authoritarian nanny pointed her finger at the child and in no uncertain terms told the child what it had done wrong and delivered the punishment. By correlating the law with this nanny image, we learn that the law was given to point out sin and to threaten a great punishment if God's people didn't straighten up. Man's very inability to obey this law perfectly, and thus earn God's approval, caused men and women to long for a better way to salvation and a relationship with God—by grace. God brought hope to mankind's hopelessness in the most amazing way by sending Jesus Christ into the world. The law led us to Christ for forgiveness and righteousness.
Argument from the Believer's Present Position (vv. 26–29)SUPPORTING IDEA: Grace appropriated through faith makes us adult children of God and unites us as brothers and sisters. The law never brought this vertical and horizontal oneness. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
3:26–27. By grace we are God's adult children. Paul calls us sons of God. Under the law we were children. In verse 27, Paul explains how this adult sonship occurred. We were united with him through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). This placement into the body of Christ unites all believers. In addition you have clothed yourselves with Christ. In Roman society, when a youth became old enough to be considered an adult, he took off his children's clothes and put on an adult's toga. This switch indicated that he had adult citizenship and responsibilities. In the same way, the Galatians had laid aside the old clothes of the law and had put on Christ's new robes of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 4:23–24).
3:28. Having explained the vertical change that grace brought, now Paul shows its horizontal effect when he states you are all one in Christ. In Christ, human distinctions lose their significance. Regardless of race, profession, or gender, all who come to Christ must come the same way—through faith and repentance. As a result, with all distinctions erased, all believers are united inChrist. This does not mean that all distinctions are erased on the human level. A slave was still a slave in the eyes of Rome, but not in the eyes of God.
3:29. Furthermore, in Christ, believers are Abraham's seed. As the offspring of Abraham, we are heirs of the promise of righteousness through faith. Thus, grace is superior to the law because it unites us with God and one another in a way that the law could not.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Six arguments prove that justification by faith is superior to the law.
“Help,” the man cried as he dangled helplessly from the edge of the cliff. “Can anyone up there help me?”
“Yes,” answered a heavenly voice. “I'll help you, but first you must let go.”
“Let go!” gasped the man. “But then I'd fall!”
“I'll catch you,” replied the voice.
After a long pause, the man called out, “Can anyone else up there help me?”
This story illustrates mankind's refusal to accept God's offer of salvation. Rather than accepting God's faith way to salvation, people cry out for another way. Paul had clearly taught the Galatians that faith in Christ was the only way. Simple faith in Christ can be scary because it seems so easy. It seems too simple to let go of the rope of good works and self-merit and have a faith relationship with God. So what did the Galatians do? They listened to the false teachers who taught that letting go of the rope of self-effort was foolish. These false teachers convinced the gullible Galatians that they can have heaven and a relationship with God by clinging to good works.
In response to the Galatians' departure from a grace salvation, Paul left no logical stone unturned in proving that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Paul fired heavy biblical artillery in this battle against doctrinal error. In this, the first of two chapters on salvation by faith alone, Paul has fired fifty percent of his arsenal; and the legalists are already suffering terrible mental casualties as Paul decimates their erroneous beliefs. In chapter 4, Paul will unload the remainder of his mental weapons as he annihilates the heresy of legalism. The truth—justification by faith in Christ—will prevail. Emancipation from slavery to the law is about to occur. Paul can taste victory. Grace will win this theological battle.
APPLICATION
Good Windshields Don't Go into the Space Shuttle
Imagine for a moment you are a glass manufacturer and you make the windshields for the space shuttle. You have a flaw in your manufacturing process: your windshield has a bubble. You might say to the people at NASA, “Look, this windshield is only flawed in one place. All the rest of it is flawless. What's more, the one imperfection in it isn't very bad, and it occurred a long time ago. It hasn't developed any imperfections since that very first one. Besides, it is a good piece of glass. It's a better piece of glass than the glass you now use in the shuttle.”
If you were the quality control engineer for the space shuttle, you might listen patiently. You might even be sympathetic. Would you accept the windshield for use in the space shuttle? Of course not! The fact that its last flaw occurred a long time ago would be irrelevant. The fact that all the rest of the windshield is perfect except that one flaw would be beside the point. The fact that it is better than any other piece of glass would not matter in the least. The only relevant piece of information is that the windshield is not perfect. Because it is not perfect, it will not go in the space shuttle. Good windshields don't go into the space shuttle, only perfect ones.
So it is with people going to heaven. Good people don't go to heaven. The Bible says in Titus 3:5, God saved us, “not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” In Ephesians 2:8–9, we read, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
The reason good people don't go to heaven, therefore, is because they do not meet God's standard. God's standard is not goodness. It is perfection. Good people don't go to heaven. Perfect people do. That presents a problem because no one is perfect (Rom. 3:10,23).
How do you get perfect? You must have your sins forgiven and your imperfections eliminated. That happens when you believe in, and receive, Jesus as your personal Savior. In his ledger book of life, we each are indebted to God. Everyone owes God for their sins. We owe him spiritual death—eternal separation from him—because of our sins. Jesus, the perfect God-Man, didn't owe a debt because he never sinned. Therefore, when we believe that his substitutionary payment on the cross is sufficient to pay for our sins and we accept him as our Savior, then God writes “paid in full” on our debt. At that point, we are forgiven. Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, for 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We are spiritually born again.
Therefore, though we are imperfect, we get to heaven on Christ's merit, on Christ's perfection, not our own. There is no other way.
Everyone of us is like the flawed space shuttle windshield. In word, thought, or deed, we have all sinned. Our only hope for heaven is to believe in Christ. Is he your Savior? If not, accept him now. Bow your head, and tell Christ that you believe in his payment for sin. Tell him that you are receiving him at this very moment. The richest life-giving verse in the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, KJV ).
If you have already committed your life to Christ, then never lose sight of the fact that one of your greatest purposes in life is to share this good news with others.
Lord God, this chapter of Galatians convinces me that Jesus, and he alone, is sufficient to save me. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me your righteousness. Thank you that you now see me as perfect, because Christ has given me his perfection. In your saving name, I pray. Amen.
A. Bewitched (v. 1)
Baskaino, the term Paul uses here, has connotations of witchcraft, sorcery, and magic. It is found only here in the New Testament. Then, as now, people in many cultures, commonly believed that some people have the ability to cast a spell on others. This belief occurs frequently among those who practice the occult. By asking, “Who has bewitched you?” Paul did not indicate that he believed in or practiced magic or the occult. He was simply saying, “You people are acting as though someone has cast a spell on you. You seem blinded by those false teachers who are leading you astray.” This often seems to be the only explanation for some people who appear to be on the right spiritual track and then suddenly jump the tracks and go to spiritual ruin. Only some satanic or demonic influence can adequately explain this. Though Paul certainly was aware of powerful demonic influences, he may very well have been using this phrase as a figure of speech, not as an indication of his belief that they were led astray supernaturally.
B. Children of Abraham (v. 7)
Abraham was the first Hebrew (Jew). His special relationship with God was based on faith in the living God (Rom. 4:16; 5:1). Can only Jews be children of Abraham? Clearly not! The term “children” is not used in a genealogical sense but in a spiritual sense. It refers to people who show the same spiritual characteristics as the one to which they are compared. The children of Abraham are those who, like Abraham, are related to God by faith. By “descendants of Abraham” Paul doesn't mean physical descendents of Abraham. Rather, he means those who are descended from him spiritually. Christians are children of Abraham in that they stand in right relationship with God by faith—just as Abraham did.
C. Promise of the Spirit (v. 14)
The Bible teaches that the Spirit of God was active in the lives of people in the Old Testament, but no Scripture teaches that all believers in the Old Testament were indwelt by him. The Old Testament never mentions the possibility. Rather, it records David's concern that the Holy Spirit might be taken from him (Ps. 51:11), something that seems impossible in the New Testament (Rom. 8:38–39). Jesus stressed that “he (the Holy Spirit) lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).
The gift of the Spirit through faith in Christ fulfills, rather than contradicts, the Old Testament promises. Christ died so the blessings God has promised Israel might be given to the Gentiles, too. Moses (Num. 11:29–30) looks forward to a time all people would receive the Spirit (compare Joel 2:28–32).
D. Transgressions (v. 19)
For “transgressions” Paul uses the Greek word parabasis, meaning “overstepping” an existing law (BAGD, 611). A transgression assumes there is a boundary. The giving of the law provided this boundary, marking the “playing field” of the game of life under God. Before God gave the law to Moses, human wrongdoing was recognized as hamartia, sin, a deviation from the correct course of conduct. When God gave the law, sin came to be seen not merely as wrongdoing but as the breaking of a specific law, the stepping over of a boundary line God has set up. This revealed the exceptional sinfulness of the human race, a brazen sinfulness willing to say to God, “I know how to conduct life better than you do. I will set out my own boundary lines and ignore yours.” Without the boundary-setting law, the radical sinfulness of humans might not have become so clear and evident.
The law, therefore, is God's way of showing sin (hamartia) in its true light. Sin is more than simply going beyond what is right. Sin means entering the realm of what is wrong, crossing over from the realm of life with God into the realm of death. God revealed his wrath against this clear case of human defiance against him. Seeing God's wrath revealed should awaken the conscience of anyone who has crossed the boundary, disobeyed the revealed will of God, and entered into the realm of divine wrath and death. Hopefully, seeing God's wrath will make you more reluctant to sin in the future.
E. Baptized into Christ (v. 27)
Literally, baptize (baptizo) means to “dip, immerse.” If a white cloth is dipped or immersed in purple dye, it identifies with the dye as it is changed from white to purple. Paul writes of Christians being “baptized into Christ.” Those who have received Jesus Christ by faith have been baptized into Christ and are joined with him in a spiritual union in which they participate in his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–4; Gal. 2:16). Water baptism is a physical picture of what has happened to us spiritually when we were spiritually united with Christ.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY: SIX ARGUMENTS WHY GRACE'S JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH IS SUPERIOR TO THE LAW'S MERIT SYSTEM
C. CONCLUSION: GOOD WINDSHIELDS DON'T GO INTO THE SPACE SHUTTLE