Galatians 3, 1 to 5, the Galatians were saved and sanctified by faith

Galatians 3:1-5 Exposition With Dr. John Gerstner, The Galatians Were Saved And Sanctified By Faith

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Welcome back to our study of the book of Galatians with the late Dr. John Gerstner, today our focus will be on Chapter 3, 1-5: The Galatians Were Saved And Sanctified By Faith.

After establishing his apostolic authority, Paul didn’t waste any ink in dealing with the crisis in the Galatian Church. They were being given a twisted version of the Gospel based on traditional Judaism. Some traditional Judaizers in Galatia were teaching gentile believers that they couldn’t enter God’s kingdom unless they were circumcised. We must realize that they weren’t encouraging the Galatian believers to be obedient; rather, circumcision was made a requirement for salvation. This is why the apostle Paul, prompted by the Holy Spirit, was so adamant in his opposition to them. Last week, we learned that Paul traveled to Jerusalem to discuss this issue with the Church’s other pillars, James and Peter. And we learned that both parties agreed that Salvation was by grace through Christ alone, plus nothing else. Paul also introduced  the primary purpose of the Law and gave us a glimpse of the symbiotic relationship between the Law and Christ- one does not exclude the other. In today’s session we’ll see how Paul is going to continue to demonstrate how salvation and sanctification are both worked in us by the Holy Spirit.

The Galatians Were Saved And Sanctified By Faith

The Passage: Galatians 3:1-5 

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[a] the flesh? 4 Did you suffer[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Notes

  • Verse 1

We need to understand that Chapter 3 doesn’t mean that Paul’s train of thoughts came to halt at the end of Chapter 2. This is an epistle that Paul wrote, there was no chapter division when he penned down the letter. He had just demonstrated that through the Law, those who believed in Christ died to the principles of the law of sin and death, in order that they might live to God. The sinful nature was crucified with Christ so that those who were called into the grace of God, might live according to the new nature. And he concluded at the end of chapter 2 that trying to establish a righteousness apart from the grace of God was blasphemous. This was the reason why he opened chapter 3 with the word “foolish Galatians”. Paul was utterly flabbergasted and couldn’t believe how the Galatians were so easily beguiled by this distorted Gospel. He wasn’t been condescending, but he was appealing to their common sense. Basically, Paul was saying: how could you be so “stupid” in your thinking as to buy into this perverted Gospel. It was almost as if they had been  enchanted by these false brothers. Paul thoroughly presented the true Gospel to them- It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. So Paul was under the assumption that they had clearly understood what the Spirit of God prompted him to preach to them. This is why he was taken back the rapidity and facility with which they adopted this distorted Gospel.

  • Verse 2

Now Paul is appealing to their personal experience with the Holy spirit. The rational argument for our faith is very important, but ultimately the internal, personal witness of the Holy Spirit is that which prompts us to believe. So Paul was asking the Galatians a very simple question that they could all answer. Paul’s words certainly indicated that the Galatians had received the Holy Spirit. And their receiving of the Holy Spirit wasn’t contingent on any works or activities they did, it was a gift from God received by faith. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In other words, salvation is a monergistic work wrought by the Holy Spirit, not contingent on man or his/her works. We are told in the gospel of John that those called children of God were born not by  the will of man but by the will of God ( John 1:12-13). This is in essence what Paul is conveying to the Galatians. He is saying to them: did you receive the Spirit by any action of your part? Basically was it meritorious, dependent on your keeping of the law of God i.e. circumcision, sabbaths, fill in the blank.

  • Verse 3

You can see the apostle’s frustration in this verse again. Not only were the Galatians saved by grace but their sanctification onto perfection was also supposed to be a work done in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. They had decided that they could now take over the work of sanctification by acquiescing to the traditional Judaizers’ demands and requests. But Scripture tells us to work out our salvation with trembling and fear, for it is God who works in us both to WILL and ACT according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13). And the Galatians had forgotten that and were now acting as if they were in charge of their sanctification.

  • Verse 4-5

God who filled the Galatians with His Spirit didn’t do so because they kept the Torah. They had experienced miracles, probably several manifestations of the Spirit, the specific manifestations are not mentioned. But one thing we know is that there were external visible actions of the Spirit that the Galatians experienced. And none of these supernatural acts of God were the rested on the Galatians’ keeping of the law of God. Please don’t misunderstand Paul though. He isn’t saying that the works of the law are useless. That isn’t what Paul is saying at all. Because you’ll see in chapter 5 that he brings up the fruits of the Spirit, probably because he’s anticipating that the Galatians might misunderstand him. What Paul is saying is: the works of the law do not save us, only Christ’s work on the cross makes us right with God, nothing else. But while the works of the law do not save us, their presence in our lives show that we are truly saved. This is why understanding  this symbiotic relationship between our salvation and the works of the law is so important. After talking about the experiential aspect of their faith, Paul is going to go back to Scripture to solidify his argument. And what better person to use for this matter than the father of Faith, Abraham. He exemplified and modeled the life of faith that highlights the righteousness that God grants to those HE has chosen. Next week, we’ll look at Paul’s argument.

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PS: All the videos series from RC Sproul and Dr John Gerstner added to the website have been thoroughly listened to by myself. And I highly recommend them to anyone looking to deepen his/her faith in Christ. We live in the age of relativism and now more than ever understanding what we believe, and why believe what believe is not optional.