Galatians 3:1 - Meaning and Application

Paul is dealing here with people who had accepted faith in Christ, yet still tried to be made right with God by keeping the law. That means they trusted their own obedience to God’s moral commands as their righteousness before him, and, where they fell short, they turned to the law’s sacrifices and washings to make up the difference. Paul first rebukes them sharply, then tries to persuade them with clear truth. That is the right way to correct error, first show that it is wrong, then show why it is wrong.

His rebuke is strong and close. He calls them foolish Galatians, meaning Galatian believers who were acting unwisely (Galatians 3:1). As Christians, they were children of wisdom, but in this matter they were acting like foolish people. He even asks, Who has bewitched you? In other words, he treats them as if they had been spellbound by false teachers and led into behavior that was not like them at all.

Their folly showed itself in this, they were not obeying the truth. That is, they were not holding firmly to the gospel way of being made right with God, the way they had been taught and had claimed to accept. It is not enough to know the truth and say we believe it, we must also obey it. We must willingly submit to it and stay with it. Those are spiritually fooled who, when the truth about Jesus is clearly set before them, still refuse to obey it.

Several things made their foolishness even worse. First, Jesus Christ had been clearly set before them as crucified. They had heard the message of the cross preached, and they had also shared in the Lord’s supper, where Christ crucified is shown to believers in a sacred sign. It was great folly for people who had been brought near to such holy things, and had seen them so plainly set before them, not to obey the truth they heard. The honors and privileges we receive as Christians should shame us out of backsliding and turning away.

Second, Paul points them to their own experience of the Spirit’s work in their hearts (Galatians 3:2). He reminds them that when they became Christians, they received the Spirit. Many of them had received not only the Spirit’s saving work, which changes the heart, but also his miraculous gifts. These were strong proofs that Christianity is true, and especially that people are made right with God through Christ alone, not by works of the law. Paul asks how they received these gifts and graces. Was it by the works of the law, meaning by teaching that law-keeping was needed for justification? They could not honestly say that, because that was not the message first preached to them, and as Gentiles they had no claim to righteousness that way. Or was it by hearing with faith, meaning by hearing the gospel that teaches faith in Christ as the only way of justification? They had to admit that this was so, and that should have kept them from rejecting a doctrine that had already brought such good fruit into their lives.

The lesson is plain. The Spirit is usually given through the preaching of the gospel. And it is very unwise for people to turn away from the very teaching that God has already used to bless them spiritually. They should have learned from their own experience that the gospel way was right.

Third, Paul asks them to think about their past and present behavior and judge whether they were acting sensibly (Galatians 3:3, 4). He says they had begun by the Spirit, but now they were trying to be made complete by the flesh. They had received the gospel, and through it they had received the Spirit and learned the only true way of justification. So they had started well. But now they were turning back to the law and expecting to become more mature by adding law-keeping to faith in Christ as the basis of justification. That could end only in shame and disappointment. It was not an improvement on the gospel, but a twisting of it. And while they tried to be justified that way, they were not becoming more complete Christians. They were in danger of becoming no Christians at all, because they were pulling down with one hand what they had built with the other.

Paul also reminds them that they had not only believed the Christian message, they had suffered for it too. That made their present drift even worse. If they now abandoned the faith for which they had already suffered, then all that suffering would have been wasted. It would show that they had suffered for something they were now leaving behind. Their pain would have been in vain and would bring them no profit. Apostates lose the value of all they have done in religion, and all they have suffered for it. It is a sad thing to live through times of worship, teaching, and holy ordinances in vain, so that former righteousness is never remembered for good.

Fourth, Paul reminds them that they had ministers among them, especially himself, who came with God’s seal and authority. They had ministered the Spirit to them and worked miracles among them. Paul asks whether these things came by the works of the law or by hearing with faith. They knew very well that the message preached and confirmed among them was not justification by the law, but justification by faith in Christ. That made them without excuse if they now abandoned a doctrine so clearly approved by God and exchanged it for one that had never been so confirmed.