Galatians 3:4-11 Bible Teaching

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So we left off with Paul asking the believers who had re-embraced the law

Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Then he added:

3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Let’s continue forward at verse 4 through verse 12 where he says:
Galatians 3:4-11
April 14th 2019
Milk

Galatians 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

So after asking them how foolish they could possibly be Paul then asks them
(at verse 4)

Galatians 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Converting to Christianity came with a cost in that day and age – one of persecution and therefore suffering.

Paul seems to be asking them if the suffering that they had endured was in vain, meaning did they do it in vain. We remember that Paul addressed this approach with the church at Corinth in chapter 15.

But we note he adds a glimmer of hope by saying: “If it be yet in vain,” meaning,

“It’s my hope that you are not so far gone that all the suffering you have gone through as Christians has been for nothing.”
(verse 5)

5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Verse five is really just a rewording of verse 2 (which we covered last week) and where Paul asks:

“This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

At verse five, it appears Paul wants to build on this question and so with reiteration writes:

5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

The question now is, who is the “he” that Paul is talking about here?

Some think the “he” was the Holy Spirit which was imparted to them and worked miracles and ministered to them.

Most ancient scholars believe that Paul was speaking of himself.

I tend to agree with their assessment and the reason come clear by a re-reading with emphasis and explanation:

5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, (that line appears to mean a being who administers the spirit and to think that he is speaking of the spirit that administers the spirit is an awkward redundancy) and worketh miracles among you (Paul was called to work miracles to prove his apostleship), doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

In other words, in verse 2, Paul asked the Gauls if they received the Spirit by the working of the Law or by the Spirit, and then here in verse five he applies the question to his own apostolic efforts.

The nail in this coffin seems to come with the next verse as he now appeals to another distant hero of faith Abraham and says:

6 Even as Abraham believed (had faith in) God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

This is very much the logic of Paul at work as he systematically works through the individual, then includes himself, then appeals to the most prominent figure of faith – the father of faith – Abraham.

The principle of Abraham’s faith is addressed in Romans 4 where Paul wrote:

Romans 4:1 What then shall we say about Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” (that was all the way back in Genesis 15:6 folks! Then Paul adds the following example and says something really super important. Ready?)
4 Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.
5 And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Holy camole, batman! It is so clear isn’t it?

When WE work and labor for something – anything – we are OWED. I go to a job and work for eight hours THEY OWE ME – FOR MY LABORS, Damnit. And I wanna be paid!

The problem with this model is when we apply it to our relationship with God WE CANNOT put Him in our Debt!

It’s impossible!!

What can we do – if we slaved every day 18 hours a day, fasting, never touching alcohol, selling all we have and giving it to the poor, sharing jesus every waking minute for 70 years – He who gave us life, breath, love, experience OWES US NOTHING. We merely did what one really should do in the face of the living God.

So works can never justify us because works create a debt – and debts need to be paid!

Therefore, Paul says (ready?)

5 . . to one who does not work but trusts him (who justifies the ungodly), his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

This was what happened with the father of the faith, Abraham.

All the way back in Genesis 15, we read:

2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.”
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

You get the picture? Abraham and his wife were old. There was no chance that Sarah’s womb could or would bear a child for this childless couple. No chance.

And yet God takes Abraham outside and shows him the stars of the sky, asks him to count them (if he could) and then promises Abraham that he would have as many descendants – real descendants who would be his children.

Are you ready for the whole point?

Verse 6 And he believed the LORD; and he (the LORD) reckoned it to him (imputed) as righteousness.

In the Hebrew the literal phrase is, “Abraham believed Jehovah.”

Believed what? That even in the face of the impossible, being old and barren, that God promised him that his posterity would in number be like the stars of heaven.

Paul further articulates this Abrahamic faith and its application to believers in Romans 4 when he says at verse 17 through the end of the chapter and says of Abraham:

. . . “in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.”
19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
22 That is why his faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness.”

So, the reason why it was counted to him for righteousness was that it was such a strong, direct, and unwavering act of confidence in the promise of God – especially in the face of such insurmountable odds.

Abraham trusted God could and would come through. Such faith God counts as righteousness (Listen) because it IS righteousness. (I’ll get back to this in a minute).

But isn’t that interesting? That human righteousness, in God’s eyes, is the product of believing and trusting that He and what he says will come through.

We read his word. We hear promises of love, promises of provision, promises of salvation through faith on his Son – and we either believe them, or we don’t.

We say, “that’s just not possible, not reasonable, not gonna happen,” OR we say, “I will trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not unto my own understanding. In all my ways I will submit to Him and I trust that He will direct my path.”

And God sees this attitude toward him from us as righteousness!

NOT, folks, the works of the Law. They are in reality, a form of faithlessness for the simple reason the end result is we THINK we are putting God in our debt – which is not possible!

Paul continues at verse 18 in Romans 4 and says, making application to Abraham’s faith to Christians:

23 But the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone,
24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Just as Sarah’s womb was dead as a doornail and could not possibly bring forth life, but Abraham believed in the promises of God, so we too, looking to Jesus of Nazareth, dead as a doornail on that cross and laid in the tomb, trust that he was raised to life by God and bears spiritual children in and through faith.

And so it is with all of the promises of God to us – do we believe them? Place our faith in him when success and fulfillment of his promises seem utterly impossible?

(beat)

Getting back to salvation in and through Christ, the point Paul is making to these believers at Galatia, the question has become will they trust and believe that the righteousness of Christ will be imputed to their account?

Will the merits of his birth, life, death, and resurrection be trusted as enough?

Listen – Faith is always an act of the mind. God makes a promise and we choose to believe it or not.

Sometimes the choice is easy and in accordance with what we naturally would concur. Sometimes it is not easily accepted. But those who live by faith, in the thick and thin of life, choose to believe God and his promises over all the odds, all the naysayers, over ever other thing – including their own labors to make things happen.

Scripture uses the term “faith” sometimes to describe religious doctrine or the system that is to be believed as a whole, (Acts 6:7; 15:9; Romans 1:5; 10:8; 16:26; Ephesians 3:17; 4:5; 1st Timothy 2:7) but when it is used to describe that which is required of human beings it always describes an act of the mind toward an object or promise or principle.

Now, when we read that “it was counted” this same word in Romans 4:22 is translated, “it was imputed.”

And it is a word the word occurs frequently in the Scriptures.

In the Old Testament, the verb means, (get ready) “to apply to a man what belongs to himself,” or “what ought to be imputed to him.”

It occurs only in dozens of places in the Old Testament:

(1st Samual 18:25; Esra 8:3; 9:24,25; Isaiah 33:8; Jeremiah 49:20; 50:45; Lamentations 2:8; 2nd Samual 14:14; Jeremiah 49:30; Genesis 1:20; Job 35:2; 2nd Samuel 14:13; Ezekiel 38:10; Jeremiah 18:8; Psalm 21:11; 140:2,4; Jeremiah 11:19; 48:2; Amos 6:5; Psalm 10:2; Isaiah 53:3, Jeremiah 26:3; Micah 2:3; Nahum 1:11; Jeremiah 18:11; Job 13:24; 41:27,29, Psalm 32:2; 35:5; Isaiah 10:7; Job 19:11; 33:10; Genesis 15:6; 38:15; 1st Samuel 1:13; Psalm 52:2; Jeremiah 18:18; Zechariah 7:10; Job 6:26; 19:11; Isaiah 13:17; 1st Kings 10:21; Numbers 18:27,30; Psalm 88:4; Isaiah 40:17; Lamentations 4:2; Isaiah 40:17; Lamentations 4:2; Isaiah 40:15; Genesis 31:15).

In all of these passages there is not one where the words means something other than “reckoning or imputing to a person that which does not strictly belong to him; or of charging to him that which ought not to be charged on him as a matter of personal right.

The word is never used to denote imputing in the sense of transferring, or of charging something that a person does not deserve.

The same is true in the New Testament where the term occurs about forty times
and in a similar signification.

In other words the idea that transferring either sin or righteousness that does NOT belong to the individual is not biblical.

In the hands of a just God all people reap what they sow and the idea of having unmerited righteousness to our account is simply not biblical.

So when we read, about Abraham:

That he believed and God accounted it or imputed it to him as righteousness, we are NOT saying that God assigned righteousness to Abraham something that was not deserved.

Abraham deserved what God gave him because Abraham chose faith – chose to believe – and that IS righteousness to God.

It was not a work, however. And this is important. Abraham did not earn God’s favor. He chose.

This is my point. We all choose, in our minds, how we will respond to God and His promises. All of us who have the capacity to think, reason and make a choice. We will choose to believe Him and His promises . . . or not.

If we choose to believe them, that choice is seen as actual righteousness on our part by God and that righteousness IS imputed to our account.

That is how important faith is to God in the life of His creations. It is really quite remarkable.

And the point is when God sees his creations as righteous, we are therefore justified before him.

In reference to all this I want to reiterate:

that while the act of choosing faith is seen as righteousness and that God see it as righteousness, the merit is in the choice not in a work.

(2.) We know this because Paul’s purpose is to show that by the works of law or anything else, nobody could not be justified before God.

(3.) Faith is not what the law requires. It demanded complete and perfect obedience; and if a man was justified by faith, it had to be in some way other than by the law.

(4.) Remember, the law was justification by personal merit. Therefore, faith is NOT justification through personal merit. The best way to put it is justification can only be by non-personal merit, and appears to be the choice – simple and not – of believing God.

Faith or believe does not require merit. I think it is given by God and every individual chooses to receive or reject it.

Remember, God chooses to view faith as righteousness. So the value of faith has been determined by Him, not ourselves. Quite frankly, the world deems faith in God and his promises as a failure of man, not a virtue.

Therefore faith is an indication of something very important:

The love we have for God – which is the first great commandment.

Faith is the demonstration of our love for the character of God, for His will and ways – because faith says I will place my opinions and choices at the foot of his throne and choose to believe in what he says, not what I think and want to do.

He says to love others, I will choose to love others.

He says that he gave His only son to save the world, I believe it.

He says he raised his son from the grave, I trust it.

He says forgive, I will forgive.

IT IS the FAITH HORSE THAN PULLS THE WAGON FILLED WITH THE FRUITS OF LOVE.

In the end, it remains his grace as faith cannot be deemed a meritorious work.

In all of this we are reminded that we are truly saved by grace through faith, which God has decided makes a person righteous before him.

Paul here introduces Abraham and his faith to show that even the most eminent of the patriarchs was not saved by the deeds of the law. He was saved (seen as righteous) by faith, and this fact proved that it is possible to be saved in that way, and that it was the design of God to save men in this manner.

Because Abraham “believed God and this was accounted to him as righteousness,” BEFORE the law of Moses was given, Paul is proving that justification does not come by the law because if it did, Abraham could not have been seen as righteous. Paul now adds (verse 7):

7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

In other words, all who walk by faith in God and his promises, like the father of the faith did, are the Children of Abraham or part of that vast family God promised him.

As such they are justified in the same way Abraham was and therefore in the same way – by faith – meet the approbation of God.

At verse 8 Paul continues:

8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

The word Scripture here, as it typically does when used in the Apostolic Record, refers to the Old Testament.

Paul personifies the scripture almost as it is human, saying that it foresaw that “God would justify the heathen through faith.”

The Syriac translation write it this way, saying:

“Since God foreknew that the Gentiles would be justified by faith, he before announced to Abraham, as the Scripture saith, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

But . . . are all Nations physically descendants of Abraham?

I used to get really confused about this. Simply put Abraham’s physical descendants include both Jewish and Arabic peoples.

Through his son Ishmael, (who was of the handmaid Hagar) Abraham gave the world a rich heritage of Arab culture and achievement.

Through his son through Sarah, Isaac, Abraham gave the world a Jewish family line that was chosen by God to be a special servant nation that brought forth the law and the prophets along with the Messiah.

Of course, it was through Israel that God also gave the world a spiritual revelation of Himself that includes the Old and even most of the New Testament Scriptures.

But the greatest fulfillment of God’s promise comes through what he said to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 where we read:

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

How? In and through the Messiah who died for the sins of the world then rose out of the grave.

For this reason, Luke records in Acts 3:25-26, where Peter says the following to a group of Jews:

And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, “Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed” When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.

So through the Messiah, Christ Jesus, Abraham also has descendants who aren’t part of his physical line.

This is what Paul was saying here in chapter 3 verse 7 of Galatians when he wrote:

Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.

And why we will read him say in verse 29

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

In Ephesians 3 Paul speaks of a mystery made known to him by revelation. And then at verse 3 he tells us what the mystery is, saying:

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

As these scriptures show, today’s church represents the spiritual “seed” of Abraham which quite frankly are more of the seed of Abraham then those who are physically tied to him but lacking in faith.

In verse 8 Paul wrote:

8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed

I think its important to realize that the Gospel, unlike what our LDS friends maintain, was not preached unto Abraham.

This translation does not convey quite the idea to us which the language of Paul, in the original, would to the people to whom he wrote it to.

It’s because we have affixed a technical sense to the phrase, “to preach the gospel,” in our age and day.

We apply it to the formal and public annunciation of the truths of the Good news relative to the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Lord.

The Greek language here translated, preached the Gospel is a mouthful

pro-yoo-ang-ghel-id’-zom-ahee

and it means “the joyful news was announced beforehand to Abraham.”

What joyful news? That “in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

When we read this the implication is that the blessing would be in and through the Messiah but the distinct point of the “good news” to Abraham was that somehow through him all the nations of the earth would be made happy.

Tindal himself translated this as:

“Showed beforehand glad tidings (good news – not THE GOOD NEWS) unto Abraham.”

So, Paul concludes at verse 9:

9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Here, a number of assessments have been made regarding what it means to be “blessed with faithful Abraham.”

But the reality is Abraham was justified as righteous according to his faith. And that, to me, is the meaning of “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

I come to this conclusion based on what Paul says next (in verse 10) where he adds, after saying:

“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

Says:

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Those of faith are blessed as Abraham was, deemed righteous by God according to faith, but . . .

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse:

So we are forced to ask ourselves, are we of faith and justified and seen as righteous by God or are we “of the works of the Law, which means we are “under the curse.”

The proposition presented is general in nature and is designed to show that it is impossible to be justified by the works of the law, since, under all circumstances of obedience which we can render, we are still left with its heavy curse resting on us.

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse (WHY? Paul tell us, saying:)

“for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

Isn’t that interesting? Its repeated by the Apostle James who wrote:

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

The word translated curse is directly tied in scripture to punishment and loss, marring, destruction.

And so what he is saying is:

“All who attempt to secure salvation by the works of the law will by necessity be exposed to the penalty for failing to keep it – because none have the ability to comply with its demands.

James and Paul make it clear that the Law comes as a package deal – break one point of it and you have failed to keep it.
SO obviously, nobody has ever been successful in obeying it, have they. None but Jesus.

Entire perfect obedience or punishment – that is the deal. Paul supports this by saying, “For it is written.”

Where? In Deuteronomy 27:26

“Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.”

There is a real irony to those who believe that they can be justified by the Law before God.

And I mean any system of laws, as radical as that sounds – excepting the law of choosing faith and love.

And that is all of them MUST excuse themselves when they are guilty of breaking it.

My friend Eric pointed out something interesting to me last week relative to breaking the laws of the land when he said:

What happens to people when they break the laws (of the land) over and over again?

In some states there is something called a three strikes rule and once you break and are caught breaking three its bye-bye fathead, right?

And so looking at the Law of God, by which no flesh can be justified, and reading that to break one point of it makes the violator guilty of it all, we come to the serious conclusion that there is a serious result in the eyes of God who attempt justification through any means other than faith.

Paul concludes for us today with a summary statement, saying:

11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

The argument is repeated and simply – to the Galatians and to us today –

“It is impossible that any should be justified by the law, because God has appointed another way of justification.”

Ignore that way and justification is not on the table – again – because “the justified shall live by faith.”

Let’s stop here and pick it up next week.

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