Sha’ul’s Letter to the Galatians ~ Part 6

We pause the ongoing story of Sha’ul to examine his Letter to the Galatians.

Note: To examine the graphics in this series, click on them for a pop-up version.

 In our last post, we left off in Chapter 2:21 with Sha’ul describing his travels to Yerushalayim. In this post, he continues to explain his Doctrine of Justification.

The Law & Faith

 ¹ You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes, Yeshua, the Messiah, was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal!

 WOW!!!! I guess Sha’ul never read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Oh, yeah, that was written a couple of centuries later.

Elsewhere, Sha’ul displayed his amazement at their going astray (Galatians 1:6) and his pain and confusion over what to do with them (Galatians 4:19–20). Here, expressing his exasperation, he tries to arouse his charges with ridicule and shame. Yet all this is in the context of his loving them dearly; one piece of evidence for this is that he calls them“brothers,” a favorite term of endearment among the early Believers, no less than nine times in this letter (Galatians 1:11; 3:15; 4:12, 28, 31; 5:11, 13; 6:1, 18).

 Who has put you under a spell? The Judaizers (see 2:14b), whom he sees as under demonic influence. The Adversary uses human instruments to turn Believers away from God’s truth to“some other so-called ‘Good News'” (1:6). In every chapter of this letter Sha’ul condemns these deceivers, often in powerful language (Galatians 1:7–9; 2:3–5, 12; here; 4:17–18; 5:7–10, 12; 6:12–13).

 Before your very eyes, Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed by Sha’ul as having been put to death on the stake as a criminal in our place. This is the central fact and the faith seed of born-again living. Its significance is unpacked in the following four verses and, more generally, in the rest of the letter. The main implication is that the Judaizers’ legalistic rule-following is a tragic exercise in futility (Galatians 2:21): the Galatians should wake up from their stupor and not be taken in by it.

² I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of Torah commands or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it?

What Sha’ul does here is very Jewish – he announces that he is about to ask just one question and then asks five!

³ Are you that stupid? Having begun with the Spirit’s power, do you think you can reach the goal under your own power? ⁴ Have you suffered so much for nothing? If that’s the way you think, your suffering certainly will have been for nothing! ⁵ What about God, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you—does he do it because of your legalistic observance of Torah commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it? ^[1]

 

 

 

 

In our next post, we will continue to explore Sha’ul’s Doctrine of Justification, starting in chapter 3:6.

Click here for the PDF version.

 

^[1] Galatians 3:1–5.