The Superiority of Faith
Galatians chapter three opens with Paul rebuking the Galatians and calling them foolish because they had failed to use their "powers of perception" to see that the Judaizers were trying to convince them that their experience with Christ was not enough; and that they also needed the law.
In their conversion experience, the believers in Galatia had received the Spirit by faith and not by the works of the law. Paul asked, in the form of five rhetorical questions if they began with the Spirit, how could they go on to maturity without the Spirit, depending on their flesh? Since we were saved through the Spirit and not the flesh, through faith and not the law, then we should continue that way. (WW)
We may try to be perfected through human effort such as going to church, tithing, serving, or trying to be "good"; but salvation and sanctification are the work of the Holy Spirit. The presence and work of the Spirit in the life of the believer is the only real evidence of conversion. All believers begin in the Spirit. Warren Wiersbe reminds us that first, the Holy Spirit convicts the lost sinner and reveals Christ to him. The sinner can either resist the Spirit or yield to the Spirit and trust Christ. When the sinner believes in Christ, he is then born of the Spirit and receives new life. He is also baptized by the Spirit so that he becomes a part of the spiritual body of Christ. The believer is sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee that he will one day share in the glory of Christ. Since the Holy Spirit does so much for the believer, the believer has a responsibility to the Holy Spirit, who lives within. The Christian should walk in the Spirit by reading the Word, praying and obeying God's will. When we disobey, we grieve the Spirit and if we continue, we quench the Spirit - meaning the Spirit cannot give us the joy and power we need for daily Christian living. Believers should be filled with the Spirit which means "controlled by the Spirit." This is a continuous experience.
In John 7:37-39 we read that if we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit will be given. Wiersebe writes that when we drink the living water, we become channels of living water to bless a thirsty world. Just as water satisfies thirst and produces fruitfulness, so the Spirit of God satisfies the inner person and enables us to bear fruit.
John 16:7-11 tells us that Jesus had to go to heaven so He could send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit convicts us of sin. Apart from the Spirit people will not see themselves as sinners because they do not believe. Only the Spirit can reveal to a person that a righteous status before God does not depend on good works but on Christ's death on the cross. Wiersbe adds that there can be no conversion without conviction, and there can be no conviction apart from the Spirit of God using the Word of God and the witness of the child of God.
We read in Ephesians 1:13-14 that when we heard the truth and believed we were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Warren Wiersbe tells us how the sinner becomes a saint. First, he hears the gospel of salvation. Having heard the word, he believes. His faith brings salvation. When the sinner believes, he receives the Spirit immediately and is sealed by It. The sealing of the Holy Spirit shows a finished transaction. It implies ownership and means security, protection, and authenticity - proving the believer is genuine. The Holy Spirit is the first installment to us guaranteeing God will finish His work and bring us to glory.
While the Spirit filled life leads to life and peace; we read in Romans 8:5-8, 13 that the sinful nature leads to death. This life style is bound up in hostility and insubordination to God and is unacceptable to God. Wiersbe writes that the unsaved person does not have the Spirit of God and lives in the flesh and for the flesh. He is alive physically, but dead spiritually. The old nature rebels against God and will not submit to God's law. This person lives to please himself and not God. The Christian, however, has the Spirit of God and his mind is fixed on the things of the Spirit. Those who have trusted Christ enjoy peace with God.
Paul continued in chapter three by using Abraham as an example of true faith. Abraham had believed God and he was considered righteous. Genesis 15:6 was the first reference to faith in God's promises. Like He did for Abraham, God graciously responds to a man's faith by crediting righteous to him (NIV). Those who believe are considered Abraham's children. God chose to save us by faith and gave the message in advance to Abraham so that all nations will be blessed through him. Weirsbe further explains that God's righteousness was placed to Abraham's account because he believed God's promise. "Accounted" means "to put to one's account". When the sinner trusts Christ, God's righteousness is put to his account in place of the believer's sins. From the beginning of Abraham's relationship with God, the blessing of salvation was promised to all nations of the world. The message God preached to Abraham was the same message Paul brought to the Galatians: Sinners are justified through faith and not by keeping the law. The true "children of Abraham" are not the Jews by physical descent, but Jews and Gentiles who have believed in Jesus Christ. All those who are "of faith" are blessed with "believing Abraham".
Next, in verses 10-12, Paul explained what the law cannot do for us that only faith in Christ can. Salvation can never come by obedience to the law because the law brings a curse. The law demands obedience in all things. It's purpose is to show the sinner he is guilty before God. (WW) Those who refuse God's offer of grace and insist on pursuing righteousness through works will never receive God's blessing because they can never perfectly keep the law. God's blessing has always been freely given. (NIV)
In verses 13-14 Paul showed that Christ is the basis for the believer's justification and promise. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He redeemed us so that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ. By faith we can receive the promise of the Spirit. Redeemed means to purchase a slave for the purpose of setting him free. By shedding His blood on the cross, Christ purchased us so that we might be set free from the bondage of sin. The Judaizers wanted to lead the Galatian Christians into slavery, but salvation is not exchanging one form of bondage for another. Salvation is being set free from the bondage of sin and the law into the liberty of God's grace through Christ.
In verses 15-18 we learn that the promise made to Abraham was not affected by the law which came 430 years later. This is because the promises were given to Abraham and his seed whom was Christ. Weirsbe explains that God's promise to Abraham involved being justified by faith and having all the blessings of salvation. Even though it preceded the law by centuries, the law still did not change the original covenant promise. With a covenant, once two parties make an agreement, a third party cannot come along and change it. God made the covenant with Abraham. He made promises to Abraham. It was a covenant of grace. God made this covenant of promise with Abraham through Christ, so that the only two parties who can make any changes are God the Father and God the Son. The Judaizers were not part of the original covenant, so they could not add to or take away from God's original promises.
Verses 19-25 reveal what the purpose of the law was. The law was given because of sin until Christ, whom the promise referred to had come. The law is not opposed to the promise because although it cannot save in itself, it serves to reveal sin and show the need for the salvation that the promise offers. The promise if for all who believe because everyone is a prisoner of sin. The law was given as a supervisor until we were adopted into God's family through faith and given full rights and privileges as an heir.
In verses 26-29 we learn what position and the benefits of this position is given to those who come to faith in Christ. Those who place their faith in Christ are adopted as full adult heirs into God's family, with all the rights and privileges of a son or daughter. We are declared righteous before God. Faith in Christ also makes us one with God. In Christ we are united. In His grace, God declares all believers to be on the same level. If we are in Christ, then we are Abraham's seed and heirs of the spiritual blessings of God which were promised to Abraham (NIV; WW).
As a daughter of the King, I am redeemed, loved, cherished, and valued. I enjoy the sweet fellowship experienced with other believers who desire to also live their lives for Christ. I continue to grow in joy and contentment and I experience peace because I know my Father is with me wherever I go.
-Information taken from:
The Power of the Gospel by Trudy Ries and Karen Scotti pp. 16-18
The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan
The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, The Complete New Testament by Warren Wiersbe pp. 558-564
In their conversion experience, the believers in Galatia had received the Spirit by faith and not by the works of the law. Paul asked, in the form of five rhetorical questions if they began with the Spirit, how could they go on to maturity without the Spirit, depending on their flesh? Since we were saved through the Spirit and not the flesh, through faith and not the law, then we should continue that way. (WW)
We may try to be perfected through human effort such as going to church, tithing, serving, or trying to be "good"; but salvation and sanctification are the work of the Holy Spirit. The presence and work of the Spirit in the life of the believer is the only real evidence of conversion. All believers begin in the Spirit. Warren Wiersbe reminds us that first, the Holy Spirit convicts the lost sinner and reveals Christ to him. The sinner can either resist the Spirit or yield to the Spirit and trust Christ. When the sinner believes in Christ, he is then born of the Spirit and receives new life. He is also baptized by the Spirit so that he becomes a part of the spiritual body of Christ. The believer is sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee that he will one day share in the glory of Christ. Since the Holy Spirit does so much for the believer, the believer has a responsibility to the Holy Spirit, who lives within. The Christian should walk in the Spirit by reading the Word, praying and obeying God's will. When we disobey, we grieve the Spirit and if we continue, we quench the Spirit - meaning the Spirit cannot give us the joy and power we need for daily Christian living. Believers should be filled with the Spirit which means "controlled by the Spirit." This is a continuous experience.
In John 7:37-39 we read that if we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit will be given. Wiersebe writes that when we drink the living water, we become channels of living water to bless a thirsty world. Just as water satisfies thirst and produces fruitfulness, so the Spirit of God satisfies the inner person and enables us to bear fruit.
John 16:7-11 tells us that Jesus had to go to heaven so He could send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit convicts us of sin. Apart from the Spirit people will not see themselves as sinners because they do not believe. Only the Spirit can reveal to a person that a righteous status before God does not depend on good works but on Christ's death on the cross. Wiersbe adds that there can be no conversion without conviction, and there can be no conviction apart from the Spirit of God using the Word of God and the witness of the child of God.
We read in Ephesians 1:13-14 that when we heard the truth and believed we were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Warren Wiersbe tells us how the sinner becomes a saint. First, he hears the gospel of salvation. Having heard the word, he believes. His faith brings salvation. When the sinner believes, he receives the Spirit immediately and is sealed by It. The sealing of the Holy Spirit shows a finished transaction. It implies ownership and means security, protection, and authenticity - proving the believer is genuine. The Holy Spirit is the first installment to us guaranteeing God will finish His work and bring us to glory.
While the Spirit filled life leads to life and peace; we read in Romans 8:5-8, 13 that the sinful nature leads to death. This life style is bound up in hostility and insubordination to God and is unacceptable to God. Wiersbe writes that the unsaved person does not have the Spirit of God and lives in the flesh and for the flesh. He is alive physically, but dead spiritually. The old nature rebels against God and will not submit to God's law. This person lives to please himself and not God. The Christian, however, has the Spirit of God and his mind is fixed on the things of the Spirit. Those who have trusted Christ enjoy peace with God.
Paul continued in chapter three by using Abraham as an example of true faith. Abraham had believed God and he was considered righteous. Genesis 15:6 was the first reference to faith in God's promises. Like He did for Abraham, God graciously responds to a man's faith by crediting righteous to him (NIV). Those who believe are considered Abraham's children. God chose to save us by faith and gave the message in advance to Abraham so that all nations will be blessed through him. Weirsbe further explains that God's righteousness was placed to Abraham's account because he believed God's promise. "Accounted" means "to put to one's account". When the sinner trusts Christ, God's righteousness is put to his account in place of the believer's sins. From the beginning of Abraham's relationship with God, the blessing of salvation was promised to all nations of the world. The message God preached to Abraham was the same message Paul brought to the Galatians: Sinners are justified through faith and not by keeping the law. The true "children of Abraham" are not the Jews by physical descent, but Jews and Gentiles who have believed in Jesus Christ. All those who are "of faith" are blessed with "believing Abraham".
Next, in verses 10-12, Paul explained what the law cannot do for us that only faith in Christ can. Salvation can never come by obedience to the law because the law brings a curse. The law demands obedience in all things. It's purpose is to show the sinner he is guilty before God. (WW) Those who refuse God's offer of grace and insist on pursuing righteousness through works will never receive God's blessing because they can never perfectly keep the law. God's blessing has always been freely given. (NIV)
In verses 13-14 Paul showed that Christ is the basis for the believer's justification and promise. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He redeemed us so that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ. By faith we can receive the promise of the Spirit. Redeemed means to purchase a slave for the purpose of setting him free. By shedding His blood on the cross, Christ purchased us so that we might be set free from the bondage of sin. The Judaizers wanted to lead the Galatian Christians into slavery, but salvation is not exchanging one form of bondage for another. Salvation is being set free from the bondage of sin and the law into the liberty of God's grace through Christ.
In verses 15-18 we learn that the promise made to Abraham was not affected by the law which came 430 years later. This is because the promises were given to Abraham and his seed whom was Christ. Weirsbe explains that God's promise to Abraham involved being justified by faith and having all the blessings of salvation. Even though it preceded the law by centuries, the law still did not change the original covenant promise. With a covenant, once two parties make an agreement, a third party cannot come along and change it. God made the covenant with Abraham. He made promises to Abraham. It was a covenant of grace. God made this covenant of promise with Abraham through Christ, so that the only two parties who can make any changes are God the Father and God the Son. The Judaizers were not part of the original covenant, so they could not add to or take away from God's original promises.
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| Photo Credit |
In verses 26-29 we learn what position and the benefits of this position is given to those who come to faith in Christ. Those who place their faith in Christ are adopted as full adult heirs into God's family, with all the rights and privileges of a son or daughter. We are declared righteous before God. Faith in Christ also makes us one with God. In Christ we are united. In His grace, God declares all believers to be on the same level. If we are in Christ, then we are Abraham's seed and heirs of the spiritual blessings of God which were promised to Abraham (NIV; WW).
 |
| Photo Credit |
As a daughter of the King, I am redeemed, loved, cherished, and valued. I enjoy the sweet fellowship experienced with other believers who desire to also live their lives for Christ. I continue to grow in joy and contentment and I experience peace because I know my Father is with me wherever I go.
-Information taken from:
The Power of the Gospel by Trudy Ries and Karen Scotti pp. 16-18
The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan
The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, The Complete New Testament by Warren Wiersbe pp. 558-564
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