Gal 3, 3:1-6

Galatians chapter 3

Galatians chapters 3 and 4 are very closely connected and together form a densely constructed passage of Scripture. These are some of the most important chapters in the New Testament and if we take them one piece at a time we can keep on the main road through these chapters.

Chapter 3 can be divided as follows:

3:1-6

3:7-9

3:10-14

3:15-18

3:19-22

3:23-29

3:1-6

Jesus Christ has been proclaimed to the Galatians as the crucified One, through whom alone the blessings of the gospel come to those who believe. In this short section Paul uses six powerful questions to help the Galatians realise the danger they have placed themselves in by moving away from Christ crucified.

Questions are very helpful when studying Scripture, what questions would you ask of this text? Questions are also helpful when talking with non-Christians about the gospel, what questions do you think would be helpful to ask others to help them think about Jesus?

In v. 2 Paul reminds the Galatian Christians that they have received the Spirit. When they heard the gospel and received it with faith in Christ they received God’s Spirit now powerfully living and working within them. They did not receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law.

It doesn’t matter much whether they viewed the works of the law as an appeal to God for acceptance or a badge to wear declaring their membership of the covenant community, either way they are of no benefit in receiving the Spirit. God’s gift of the Spirit is not earned by us through our hard work, nor through our belonging to a community. God the Father and the Son together send the God the Spirit to those who having been crucified with Christ now live together with Christ.

Verse 3 challenges our thinking about continuing our Christian lives. We rejoice that our Christian lives started with the Spirit bringing us to new life in Christ. Are we then to imagine that we continue being Christian through our own efforts? I hope when we read and write it as bluntly as this the point is clear! The life of the Spirit will involve suffering, v. 4, the kind of opposition Paul faced from the circumcision party, if nothing less. Paul appeals to his readers make your suffering worth while.

The repetition of the theme comes to vv. 5-6, Abraham heard God and believed the promise. He becomes the example of faith. He gains from God a righteousness that was not his own, could not have been earned or crafted by himself. But, as he commits himself in faith to the God who has spoken to him he receives righteousness from God.

What is it we hear that we place our faith in?