Listen for God’s word to you from Galatians 3:1-14…
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 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? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 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? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 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.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
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.”Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”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.”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.
I have told the story before of the French tight-rope walker Charles Blondin who set up a rope across Niagara Gorge and walked across it many times. The rope was 3 ¼ inches in diameter, stretched 1100 feet across the gorge, and was 160 feet above the water. Blondin had several variations on his daring act. He crossed the Niagara Gorge blindfolded, in a sack, pushing a wheelbarrow, on stilts, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet, as well as standing on a chair with only one of its legs balanced on the rope. Perhaps Blondin’s most famous stunt was carrying his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back, across the tightrope with the roar of the Falls in the background.
Imagine what it would have been like, if, halfway across the gorge, Harry had said to Charles, “You know, I really don’t trust you anymore. I think I’d better do the rest by myself. Let me down and I will walk the rest of the way on my own.” One can only imagine the response Harry would have received, not only from Charles Blondin, but from the watching crowd. Had he taken leave of his senses? How did he suppose he would get across by himself?
Of course, that never happened. But imagine if it did. That would be something like what some of the Gentiles in Galatia were telling Paul they were going to do. Having trusted Jesus to carry them across the abyss created by sin, some of them decided, part way, that they were going to try to walk the rest of the way by themselves.
Paul calls them “foolish” and “bewitched” and when you compare what some of the Galatians were doing to what it would be like for an untrained person to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls, one can see why Paul speaks about the Galatians in this way.
In this passage Paul contrasts two ways of life. One I call “Relationship”, for it is characterized by a positive relationship with Jesus Christ. And the other way of life I call “Religion”. Many people speak of Christianity as a religion. You might be surprised to learn that the word “religion” is used only five times in the New Testament. The word means “worship as expressed in ritual acts”. Christianity certainly has that aspect to it. But the word “religion” is never really used in the New Testament to describe Christianity. Rather, Christianity is described as “the Way”.
So, Paul describes in Galatians 3:1-14 two ways of life. One way of life is characterized by trusting in Christ, like the man who trusted Blondin to carry him across Niagara Falls. And the other way of life is characterized by self-trust, self-action.
The “relationship” way of life is characterized by the word “Done”. Jesus has done all for us through his life, death and resurrection. The other way of life, the religious way, is characterized by the word “do”. The religious person is always trying to do more to earn salvation, and the religious person can never be sure that they have done enough.
In total, Paul offers eight key words or phrases that characterize these two approaches to life. I would like to spend the rest of this message expanding on the contrast that Paul draws between these two ways of life…
Faith or Works?
The first contrast Paul draws is between the way of Faith and the way of Works. Paul begins by asking a question of the Galatians: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?”
This is obviously a rhetorical question. Paul knows the answer and so do the Galatians. They received the Holy Spirit because they believed in the message that they heard. And what was that message? It was the story of Christ crucified. Paul says, “Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”
In preaching the good news about Jesus’ death for our sins, it is as if Paul painted a picture of the cross. I have often used a diagram of the cross drawn on a napkin or piece of paper to explain the good news to people. Of course, people in the first century Roman Empire knew what the cross was all about. They knew that this was how the Romans executed enemies of the state. What Paul did for the Galatians and for everyone else to whom he preached was to explain a different reason why Jesus died on a cross. Paul puts it very simply in 1 Corinthians 15:3… “Christ died for our sins.”
According to Paul, the bottom line is this: we receive the Holy Spirit of God into our lives when we trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We trust Jesus to carry us across the gap between us and God created by our sin.
Paul mentions “works of the law” three times in this passage. Paul uses this phrase ten times in three of his letters. What is he talking about?
The Jews were given 613 laws in the Hebrew Scriptures. To this day, Jewish men wear tzitzit, these are the fringes or tassels worn on the traditional blue and white prayer shawl as a reminder of the commandments. “Works of the law” encompass all these commandments. But the first commandment, that marks the beginning of obedience to the law, is circumcision. The Gentile believers in Jesus in Galatia were being told by Jewish believers in Jesus that they had to be circumcised and obey all the Jewish law. In essence, they were being told that they had to become Jewish first to follow Jesus properly. But Paul said, “No. You received the Holy Spirit when you put your faith in Jesus, and that’s all you need. You don’t need the works of the law.”
To drive this point home with his Jewish readers, Paul gives the example of Abraham. Paul says Abraham was declared righteous because he trusted in God, not because he obeyed the works of the law. In fact, the law of Moses was not even given until hundreds of years after Abraham existed. Abraham was Paul’s “exhibit A” as an example of faith.
Spirit or Flesh?
The second contrast Paul draws is between the way of the Spirit and the way of the Flesh. Paul asks another important rhetorical question: “After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”
Paul mentions the Spirit four times in this passage, and 122 times in all his letters. In each case Paul is referring to the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is essential to Paul’s theology. According to Paul we cannot become followers of Jesus or continue as followers of Jesus without the Holy Spirit.
The clear point that Paul makes in this passage is that we begin and continue as followers of Jesus by the power of the Spirit and not by the power of the flesh. But what does Paul mean by “flesh”?
The word in Greek is σάρξ. It is sometimes used by Paul in a positive sense. For example, Paul uses σάρξ in a positive sense in Ephesians 5 when he speaks of the one-flesh nature of marriage.
However, it is important to note that σάρξ is not synonymous with “the body”. The word is used most often by Paul in a negative sense to refer to humanity in all its weakness. Paul uses this word most often to refer to humanity as characterized by sin.
In Galatians 3 Paul may be using the word σάρξ because some Jews in Galatia were insisting that the Gentile believers in Jesus had to be circumcised. And of course, circumcision is a mark received in the flesh. But basically, Paul is using σάρξ in Galatians 3 to refer to human beings trying to follow Jesus on their own human power. And Paul makes it clear that this simply won’t work. We can only become and continue as followers of Jesus by the power of the Spirit.
One New Year’s Day, in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of fuel. The amazing thing was that the float which ran out of gas was sponsored by the Standard Oil Company.
Unfortunately, the same thing often happens to us as Christians. We run out of juice by which to power our lives. Someone who is a pillar of the church suddenly quits, leaves, and is never heard from again. A pastor falls, by some indiscretion, and the movement he or she had sought to propel comes to a screeching halt. The choir director and the organist get into a fight, and the following Sunday the music in church no longer sounds so beautiful.
What’s the problem? The difficulty is that all of us as Christians have a resource of unlimited power, but we fail to tap into it. We fail to fill our tanks. And so, suddenly, in the middle of the parade we sputter to a standstill, embarrassed. This is what happens when we rely on our own human flesh instead of the Holy Spirit to empower us on our Christian journey.
Blessing or Curse?
The third contrast Paul draws is between the way of Blessing and the way of Cursing. Paul says…
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.”
Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 27:26 which makes it clear that total obedience to the law is what is required. James 2:10 makes a similar point: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
Why is this the case? It is true because the law is all of one piece. So, if you break the law in one place, the whole thing is broken. A piece of crockery broken in one straight line across the middle is just as useless as a piece of crockery shattered to pieces.
What is the result of breaking the law? The result is that a curse is upon us. And what is that curse?
Paul makes it clear elsewhere that the curse is death. He says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.” And earlier in Romans Paul makes it clear that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
When I was in seminary most of us had field education assignments on Sunday morning. Each of us students went off to various churches where we preached, or taught Sunday school, or conducted various ministerial activities. Every Sunday evening my best friend Richard and I would get together for dinner (a hoagie from “Hoagie Haven”) and talk about what we had experienced in church that day.
One Sunday evening Richard said, “You won’t believe what happened at my church today.”
I said, “Try me.” And Richard proceeded to tell me his story…
After Richard taught his adult Sunday School class one of the elders in his Presbyterian Church came up to him and said, “Richard, I have just one problem with what you said today. I don’t think I’ve sinned.”
Richard was dumbfounded but quickly thought of a question he could ask the elder. Richard said, “We are having communion today in church. Why do you suppose Christ died?”
The elder responded, “For the sins of humanity.”
And Richard replied in his southern accent, “Do you reckon you are part of humanity?”
If anyone here today questions whether they are a sinner I would invite you to contemplate two questions. When Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength.” And then he noted the second most important commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So, I think there are two important questions we need to ask ourselves: “Have I loved God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength? And have I loved my neighbor as myself?” Furthermore, have we kept these two commandments 100% of the time?
I don’t know what your answer would be. But mine is simple. “No. I haven’t kept these two commands perfectly all the time.” And that being the case, I know one thing further: in and of myself I am under a curse.
The good news according to Paul is this:
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.”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.
You and I do not have to remain in the position of being cursed because Jesus took our curse upon himself when he died on the cross.
Declared righteous or not?
This leads to the final contrast Paul draws in Galatians 3:1-14. The fourth and final contrast Paul draws is between the way of justification versus the way of no justification.
Paul tells us two things here. First: “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.” And second: “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’”
In Paul’s usage, the word “justify” means “to declare righteous”. God declares us to be righteous in his sight when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.
Why are we not declared righteous by obeying the law? Because we can’t and don’t keep the law, as we have already seen. So, the only way to be declared righteous that is now open to us is through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is, in a sense, like Charles Blondin. He perfectly walked the tightrope of the law. And he is the only one who has ever done this. The New Testament tells us over and again that Jesus is the only righteous one, the only sinless person who has ever lived. Only Jesus can carry us across the abyss between us and God created by our sin.
So, we have a choice before us. We can choose to stay on our side of the abyss and die in our sin. We can choose to walk the tightrope in our own human strength, and we will fail. Or we can let Jesus carry us across the abyss and into the arms of our heavenly Father who waits for us on the other side. The choice is ours.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 God says, “I set before you: life or death, blessing or curse. Therefore, choose life.” I urge you to choose life in Jesus Christ. Trust in Jesus alone to carry you this day and every day…
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