Do you enjoy magic tricks? Are you left amazed by how the magician manages to get the right card every time, pull the rabbit from a hat or make his assistant disappear. Of course, no one really thinks that it’s real magic. We know that the magician relies on slights of hand and diversion tactics to bewitch us. Whilst we are listening carefully to them and looking where we want them to, other things are happening that we miss.
How had a church that Paul had been involved in planting, that had got off to such a good start managed to go so wrong so quickly? If we find that a perplexing question, so too did Paul. The answer seems to be that they have been bewitched, entranced like people taken in by the conjuror’s slight
A look at the text (Read Galatians 3:1-6)
Paul doesn’t mince his words. The Galatians are being taken as fools, they’ve been enchanted, bewitched, conned. How can they go back on such a clear and vivid revelation? The preaching of the good news is portrayed here as a visual presentation of the crucifixion in order to emphasise its clarity and its effect on them (v1).
Paul now asks them a series of questions, turning his focus onto the work of the Spirit. How did they receive the Holy Spirit, by works or by faith (v2)? If it was the Holy Spirit that brought them into this new life, would they complete it by relying on their own human nature and natural abilities (v3)?[1] What was the purpose of them experiencing suffering, or was it pointless (v4)? On what basis do they know the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and the church now, by works or by faith? The last question asking them to consider the basis on which the Father supplies the Holy Spirit which parallels the question of justification in Romans 4, is it a gift or a wage (v5)?
To complete the link back to justification and the parallel to Romans 4, Paul reminds them that the way in which they received and have gone on in the Spirit is exactly the same way in which Abraham, the Old Testament patriarch and ancestor of God’s people was justified, declared right with God. Abraham believed in God and this was reckoned or credited to him as righteousness (v6).
Digging Deeper
The rhetorical point of Paul’s argument is that how they entered the Christian life is how they have gone on in it. To make the point, Paul offers too contrasts that should be familiar to anyone who has also read Romans. He contrasts faith with works and the Spirit with The Flesh or Human Nature. In Paul’s mind, faith and justification are connected to the Holy Spirit whilst “the works of the Law” are linked to flesh, or human nature. That is because, first of all, if they were attempting to please God by what they did, by their own abilities then that was a return to self-reliance, to personal autonomy from God. Secondly, because, as he argues in Romans 8, whilst the Law is not in itself bad, it is weakened and disempowered by human sinful nature.
The point is this, the whole of their walk with God so far has been about faith. They have enjoyed the privileges of that work, especially the experience of the work of the Holy Spirit both in regeneration and sanctification. The agitators are interrupting that walk with a completely novel idea that springs up out of nowhere. Their own testimony, their own experience of the Gospel and of the Holy Spirit should warn them off of the agitators false offering.
A Look at ourselves
One of the warning red lights for false teaching is that it will offer you something that appears novel, completely new. The offer will not only seem too good to be true, it will go against all the evidence you know from God’s Word and from your experience of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life.
All too often, the primary aim of false teaching is to take you away from complete dependence on Christ through faith and enjoyment of his grace in order to make you dependent upon others. There will be things you are expected to know, do and say in very specific ways and places, subject to the approval of very specific people.
We do not need to be foolish and bewitched. Keep your eyes open and remember God’s goodness and grace to you.
[1] i.e. Spirit v Flesh -an image we find in Romans 8.
Faithroots 