“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” Gal. 3:1,2
Devotional Thought For The Day
This chapter of Scripture, written to the Galatians, deals with the age old issue of what people put their faith and trust in when it comes to their relationship with God. There are essentially but two options, just as there are but two parties involved in the relationship – the individual, and God. The most popular option by far, based in sinful confusion and ignorance, a “bewitching,” is that our “works of the law,” our good works and goodness of character is determinative of our relationship with God, our karma, our eternal future, our place in the universe. The other option, the message of Scripture literally from cover to cover, is the promise of God to be working to provide us with forgiveness, eternal life and salvation, and spiritual renewal. This message, this work of God, centers in the crucifixion of Jesus as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” [Jn. 1:29], the One in Whom “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” [Eph. 1:7], the One in Whom God has “reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” [2 Cor. 5:19] It is this latter which is the true and only “gospel” message [Gal. 1:6,7], and it is by this message, conveying this reality of God’s gracious mercy and gift of redemption, “hearing by faith,” by which we “receive the Spirit.”
This is not the option of choice for the vast majority of people living in the world. It never has been, and according to Jesus, it never will be [Matt. 7:13,14]. Though it was the one option of redemption which God expressed to Adam and Eve in the Garden [Gen. 3:15], and the nature and essence of the Messianic covenant given to Abraham and his descendant [see Gal. 3:6-9, 16-18], human beings from Cain downward have resented the judgment of God’s Word on human sin and our inability to save and reform ourselves, and have insisted upon believing in the impossible – that by our “works of the law” we can procure salvation and “receive the Spirit.” This is a “bewitching,” a satanic delusion, but its popularity with sinful and stubbornly rebellious and spiritually insane human beings has always meant violent persecution for those who trust God’s Word and rely upon His promises and His work in Christ Jesus. Still, this was the proclamation of Jesus and of all His apostles, as recorded in His Word, the Bible, and it remains the one way of eternal life and salvation – faith in Christ.
That this message, the true gospel of God, is difficult to hold on to and keep straight, is evidenced by the “bewitching” suffered even by this Galatian congregation founded by the apostle Paul. It is also evidenced by the rejection of the faith of Abraham for the legalism of Judaism – which was the essence of the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of His time. All of the prophets battled the perversion of the true knowledge of God and the consequent immorality that prevails when people put faith and trust in themselves, their own keeping of God’s law. All religions in the world promote the “anti-gospel” of works righteousness and salvation. Even the institutional Christian church succumbed to this “bewitching” through the Middle Ages, and to this day the two largest “denominations,” Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, continue to teach a form of “works of the law” salvation and spirituality. This same intoxicating leaven incessantly intrudes itself into our thinking, and into the message of the churches today, and like a strong narcotic bewitches our own hearts and minds. Lord, have mercy!
So Paul emphasizes, and we must remember: the Spirit is not received by “works of the law,” but rather by “hearing with faith,” faith in the proclamation of Christ crucified, the gift of God, the work of God, the provision of forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, and inner spiritual renewal by apprehension of the love of God. This is miraculous work in us, work which only God can accomplish by His Spirit. If the message is perverted the blessings cannot be received by “hearing with faith.” If “works of the law” are the focus and the hope presented and pressed upon people, then the Spirit is not received. Then faith is not in Christ but in ourselves. The difference, and the importance of the difference, simply cannot be overemphasized. May God grant us always a clear and faithful presentation of Christ crucified and the gifts His work brings to us, and “hearing with faith,” that His Spirit be working His miracles within us – the renewal of our whole being. Then our blessedness will be sure and certain, the work of God, and our “goodness” will not be external and hypocritical – “of the law,” but rather the genuine fruits of the Spirit. And may God grant that we never become confused about this, “bewitched.”
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, thanks and praise be to You for the wondrous blessings You have wrought for us in Your crucifixion and resurrection. Thank You also for the clarity of Your Word, so that by the power of Your Spirit we are able to know and believe the love that You have for us, and to hear with faith. Continue to do Your miraculous work within us, wooing us away from our love of sin, softening and warming our hardened hearts so that we grow in true and genuine love. Remove all bewitching thoughts from our hearts and minds. Amen.