Answer Just One Question
" Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?" (Galatians 3:2-4 - New Living Translation)
Paul considers the question of verse two enough to settle the whole matter. “Let me ask you this one question” carries the idea of when we say, “just answer one question.”
The question Paul wants the Galatians to answer is how did they get the Holy Spirit? It seems like they had forgotten. Did the works of the law earn them the indwelling of the Spirit? Or, did the Spirit indwell them when they heard and believed the Gospel?
The Galatians knew the answer. The Holy Spirit had entered them when they had by faith accepted Paul’s Gospel message. They had known nothing of the works of the Law of Moses at that time. They had heard. They had believed. The Spirit of God changed their lives. The law had no part in the beginning of their Christian experience.
Paul was amazed that the Galatians would even consider the possibility that what had begun in them through faith and the Spirit, could be completed through works of the flesh. The word perfect in verse three has the idea of coming to the end, completion. How could a spiritual journey begun through grace be finished in the strength of the flesh? It would be like a race car drive beginning a race using gasoline to power his car and then trying to finish the race by pushing the car. It makes no sense.
Experienced, in verse four, can refer to either good or bad experiences. From the context, especially verse five, I think it refers to the positive experiences that were the result of the Spirit’s work in their lives. However, many think that it refers to the persecution that they suffered after becoming Christians.
Paul is either asking if the work of the Spirit in their lives was for no purpose or if they needlessly suffered persecution, or possibly both. Had they experienced so many things for no purpose, for no reason? Was their entire Christian experience based upon an imperfect message from an inferior Apostle? The work of the Spirit in their lives should have convinced them that this was not the case.
Paul considers the question of verse two enough to settle the whole matter. “Let me ask you this one question” carries the idea of when we say, “just answer one question.”
The question Paul wants the Galatians to answer is how did they get the Holy Spirit? It seems like they had forgotten. Did the works of the law earn them the indwelling of the Spirit? Or, did the Spirit indwell them when they heard and believed the Gospel?
The Galatians knew the answer. The Holy Spirit had entered them when they had by faith accepted Paul’s Gospel message. They had known nothing of the works of the Law of Moses at that time. They had heard. They had believed. The Spirit of God changed their lives. The law had no part in the beginning of their Christian experience.
Paul was amazed that the Galatians would even consider the possibility that what had begun in them through faith and the Spirit, could be completed through works of the flesh. The word perfect in verse three has the idea of coming to the end, completion. How could a spiritual journey begun through grace be finished in the strength of the flesh? It would be like a race car drive beginning a race using gasoline to power his car and then trying to finish the race by pushing the car. It makes no sense.
Experienced, in verse four, can refer to either good or bad experiences. From the context, especially verse five, I think it refers to the positive experiences that were the result of the Spirit’s work in their lives. However, many think that it refers to the persecution that they suffered after becoming Christians.
Paul is either asking if the work of the Spirit in their lives was for no purpose or if they needlessly suffered persecution, or possibly both. Had they experienced so many things for no purpose, for no reason? Was their entire Christian experience based upon an imperfect message from an inferior Apostle? The work of the Spirit in their lives should have convinced them that this was not the case.
posted by David Frank Wilson | 3:57 AM
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