Paul begins by asking a series of questions to shock them into the reality concerning what they were actually doing, which was turning away from the grace of God.
Paul is amazed that they are being enticed by the Judaizing teachers to return to a covenant of condemnation, Galatians 1:6. Paul says the Galatians are so spiritually dull that he asks the question, ‘Who has bewitched you?’
This carries with it the idea of someone casting a spell over you, and in the original Greek, it literally says, ‘to give an evil eye.’ In other words, they have temporarily lost their reasoning concerning the very nature of how a person is saved.
And because some were giving them the evil eye, they were seduced into taking their eyes off Jesus, Hebrews 12:2. Paul reminds them of who they should be looking at by saying, ‘before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.’
The Galatians had taken their eyes off the Jesus that had been preached to them by Paul. They had cast their eyes upon the proposals of the Judaizing teachers and were fascinated by what they were teaching.
Paul says Christ and His crucifixion were ‘clearly portrayed’ to them. In other words, it was announced publicly. Paul had preached Jesus Christ and His crucifixion in such a vivid manner that it was as if they had personally experienced the crucifixion in Galatia.
They took their minds off Christ, Colossians 3:1-2, and started to focus on themselves, and Paul was astonished by how quickly they were turning away from the Gospel.
The word ‘fixing’ in Hebrews 12:1-2 literally means to glue, to stick, and so we need to permanently glue our eyes on Jesus because whenever we take our eyes off of Him, we can easily be led astray by the fascination of something else. After asking the first question, Paul goes on to ask another question.
What does Paul mean here? Is he referring to their baptism when they received the Holy Spirit? Or is he referring to the time an apostle laid his hands upon them to receive the miraculous gifts? The simple answer is, we don’t know.
Paul worked many miracles, among them, Acts 15:12, and we know that he had established churches in this region on the first missionary journey, as well as visiting them on the second. And I’m certain that he would have laid hands on those members with whom he had personal contact.
We also need to remember Peter later went through this region and also would have laid hands on the members of the church on whom Paul hadn’t laid hands in order that they receive the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. We can’t be sure, but if Paul does have in mind the miraculous receiving of the Spirit by the laying on of his hands, then his argument is quite forceful.
He’s actually telling them that if they had received the Spirit by the laying on of the hands of those who preached the Gospel of grace, then they didn’t receive the Spirit as a result of some meritorious work they performed or by their perfect obedience to law.
Because the Spirit Himself was a free gift that came as a result of God’s grace. The authority to exercise the miraculous gifts of the Spirit was a free gift; the apostles didn’t earn the gift, and neither did the Galatians, Matthew 10:7-8 / 2 Corinthians 5:7. Paul continues and asks yet another question.
Paul says that they are so ‘foolish’, which in Greek means, ‘spiritually dull’, they can’t see just how foolish their actions are. The Holy Spirit initiated salvation by bringing to them the Gospel through inspired preaching.
They now assume that they can complete the work of the Spirit by adding their meritorious deeds or works of law-keeping through circumcision and ceremonies.
In the previous chapter, they were thinking that Christ didn’t do enough on the cross and here in this chapter, they are thinking that the Holy Spirit didn’t do enough. They forgot how their spiritual life began; it began in Christ.
And so, Paul is asking them how they can add or do anything more to complete their salvation? Galatians 3:11 / Galatians 4:9. We must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that observing law and keeping traditions will actually help us spiritually.
We know that when Paul was preaching in Galatia, he suffered great persecution, Acts 14:19-20, and this persecution originated from the Jews who wanted to stamp out the movement of Christianity since it was taking many from Judaism.
This persecution was certainly one motivation for the Judaizing teachers to go on their campaign to recruit the Galatian churches, Galatians 4:17. We also know that these legalisers wanted to escape the persecution their fellow Jews were receiving, Galatians 6:12.
Remember, in the early years of the beginning of the Galatian churches, there was a lot of persecution from the Jews, and so, Paul is basically asking, what was the point of going through all that persecution, if you’re going to give in to them and compromise the Gospel? Paul moves on to his next question.
When Paul demonstrated his work among the Galatians before the Jerusalem meeting in Acts 15, the Jerusalem brethren stood silent. Paul and Barnabas had preached the cross on the first missionary journey, and the Lord confirmed their preaching by the miraculous works of the Spirit, Acts 14:3 / Acts 14:8-10 / Acts 15:12.
Jesus said this would happen, Mark 16:20, and the Hebrew writer says the same, Hebrews 2:3-4. But not only had the Spirit worked miracles through Paul and Barnabas, but also the gifts of the Spirit were given to the Galatians through the laying on of Paul’s hands, Acts 19:1-6.
Paul is questioning their sensibility, and he’s asking them, did the Spirit do all this miraculous work based on their meritorious law-keeping or their hearing and obeying the Gospel? Galatians 3:2. And once again, the answer is obvious: the Spirit was working in and through them because they simply obeyed the Gospel.
Paul now resorts to the Judaizer’s favourite Old Testament characters whom they used in their arguments to convince the Galatians to return to circumcision and the ceremonies of the Old Testament law. Paul lays out God’s salvation by grace under the Old Testament law and how the obedient life of Abraham proves that we are justified before God by faith.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It mattered a great deal to the apostle that God saves people by grace, not on the grounds of their human achievement, and he found Abraham an excellent example of that truth.’
Paul tells them that Abraham was justified, Galatians 3:6, which means being right with God before he came into a special covenant relationship with God. In other words, Paul is saying that the covenant didn’t make Abraham righteous before God.
A little later, Paul is going to remind them that Abraham was made righteous even before the Old Testament Law was given, Galatians 3:17. Paul’s point is that neither the Old Testament law nor God’s personal covenant with Abraham or Israel is now necessary for the salvation of the Galatians.
Remember, we’re dealing with a bunch of legalisers who are trying to teach that Jesus didn’t do enough to save us, and so, they said, we have to accept Jesus but also keep the old laws and be circumcised. But what Paul wants to do is remind them that it was Abraham’s obedient faith, not his meritorious works of law, that justified him before God, James 2:21.
It was Abraham’s faith that moved him to obedience because without that faith, he wouldn’t have acted, Hebrews 11:17-19. The Hebrew writer tells us that the justifying action of offering Isaac was founded upon Abraham’s faith, and he trusted that God could raise people from the dead.
And it was because of that faith, his actions and trust in God, that it was ‘credited to him as righteousness,’ Galatians 3:6 / Genesis 15:6. These words are quoted four times in the New Testament, Galatians 3:6 / Romans 4:3 / Romans 4:9-10 / Romans 4:22.
The Greek word translated as ‘credited’ means something is credited to the account of another. In other words, righteousness is accredited to the account of Abraham and all who walk by faith.
The accounting or accrediting doesn’t happen as a result of our performance of the law in order to earn righteousness. No one is credited as a result of meritorious good works. When Abraham had no son, God made the promise that He would be the father of many nations, Genesis 15:5, not just the nation of Israel.
A little later in Genesis 17:3-5, God makes another promise to him and says, Gentiles, who were without the Old Testament law before the coming of Jesus, were considered sons of Abraham, not because of a special covenant-law relationship they had with God, but by faith, Galatians 3:7-8.
They are justified by faith in the work of God on the cross, and salvation by faith has always been in view of the cross. Salvation by faith and grace before the cross was made possible because those who were obediently faithful were looking forward to the cross. By faith, those whom God justified in view of the cross, trusted that He would do so according to His eternal plan.
We today are justified because our faith looks back to the cross, because we trust in the blood of Christ and trust that God will redeem us from our sins, Ephesians 1:7. Notice what Paul says, ‘those who have faith are children of Abraham’, Galatians 3:7. We can just imagine the anger in the Jew’s mind when he said those words.
We can imagine them thinking to themselves, ‘What! Faith doesn’t make you a child of Abraham! Being a Jew makes you a child of Abraham!’ Matthew 3:9. Remember that the Jews regarded Moses as the father of the law, and Abraham was the father of the nation.
But the problem was that the Jews forgot who Abraham really was; Abraham wasn’t a Jew, he was a Gentile, Ezekiel 16:3. Paul says being a spiritual child of Abraham doesn’t come as a result of being born a Jew; being a spiritual child of Abraham is based on faith, Galatians 3:7.
The Gentiles hadn’t received the Old Testament law, nor had God established a covenant relationship with them. But Paul says, those who walked by faith during the Old Testament times were children of Abraham by faith, and therefore they were justified before God by their faith, Galatians 3:8.
The spiritual nations of whom Abraham was the father have always been justified by faith. Abraham was justified by obedient faith, and so are we. The Jews were claiming to be right with God based upon their claim that Abraham was their father, John 8:39.
Don’t misunderstand what Paul means when he’s talking about faith here. The faith which Paul is talking about is obedience to Him in whom we have faith. The saving faith which Paul is talking about is a responsive and responsible faith, Galatians 5:6.
In Galatians 3:8, Paul quotes from Genesis 12:3 / Genesis 18:18 / Genesis 22:18, and tells us that Abraham was the first to hear the Gospel, and he says that all nations were blessed in the coming of Jesus for the atonement of men.
The good news of justification by faith was first announced to Abraham, and God revealed to Abraham that righteousness comes through faith. And those who would follow in the steps of Abraham’s faith would receive the blessing of salvation of the promise that God made to Abraham, Galatians 3:9.
In other words, those who express their trust in God for salvation by faith are blessed by the faith of Abraham. They are blessed because God promised Abraham the blessing of salvation. It was through his seed that the Redeemer came, as Genesis 12:1-3 reminds us.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘They who are of faith are those whose characteristic is faith; it is not that they sometimes have an impulse to believe, but rather that believing is their constant attitude; faith is characteristic of them.’
Notice, since the blessing came as a result of God’s promise, its fulfilment didn’t depend on the meritorious work of Abraham or even upon Abraham’s faith. In other words, the totality of the blessing was based solely on the grace of God to save man through Jesus.
When Paul says, ‘for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse’, Galatians 3:10, he isn’t talking about some kind of voodoo curse; he’s talking about the difficult circumstance a person may find themselves in when they try to keep the law.
He’s arguing against the Judaizers by showing them the teaching of the Old Testament concerning those who would seek justification by law-keeping. Those who choose to be justified by law-keeping must suffer the curse that law brings, Galatians 3:10.
And what is that curse? The curse of condemnation. It brings condemnation because no one can live perfectly under the law in order to be sinless, and, therefore, be justified.
But who are those who are cursed? The cursed are those who seek to use law with the illusion that they can justify themselves before God by their meritorious performance of the law.
The problem with this teaching is that if anyone wants to be right with God through law-keeping, you can’t break one law; you have to keep the law perfectly, James 2:10.
And so, in Galatians 3:10, by quoting Deuteronomy 27:26, Paul argues that man has no hope of justification if he tries to be legally justified before God on the basis of his ability to keep the law.
We must note the word, ‘the’ in Galatians 3:11, in relation to law, isn’t in the original Greek text, and that’s important because what Paul is saying is that no one can be justified before God by the perfect keeping of any law.
It was never the purpose of law to produce salvation. The purpose of law is to direct our attention to our inadequacies in reference to law, and therefore, plead for God’s grace.
It’s the purpose of law to manifest sin and death, and therefore, direct us toward the atonement of the cross. It’s the purpose of law to direct our lives in the direction of God’s grace and what He would have us do. In other words, all law directs our lives, but the grace of God through the cross takes care of our misdirections.
In Galatians 3:11, Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4. This statement is quoted in three contexts in the New Testament, Romans 1:17 / Hebrews 10:38. In each example, the Jewish Christians were seeking to return to law-keeping as a means of salvation.
Notice what Paul is doing here; he is contrasting words. The words ‘by faith’ emphasise total reliance on God for our salvation. ‘Works’ or ‘flesh’ are words that Paul uses to emphasise the fact that there are those who trust in their own ability to keep the law and do good works.
Paul is saying that no one can save themselves, no matter how obedient they are to God and His will. Those words are offensive to the legalist, and the reason they are offensive is that they want to feel as if they are contributing in some way towards their salvation. Law in and of itself doesn’t demand faith; it doesn’t demand that we trust in God, which again isn’t a New Testament idea.
In Galatians 3:12, Paul quotes from Leviticus 18:5. Why is Paul quoting this Old Testament passage? Simply to show us that if anyone could be justified by law-keeping, then they must keep all the law perfectly. Leviticus 18:5 is quoted in Nehemiah 9:29 / Ezekiel 20:11 / Ezekiel 20:13 / Ezekiel 20:21 / Romans 10:5.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Law and faith are as different as apples and elephants. The Law requires works, but the gospel calls for faith.’
Don’t you just love those words, ‘Christ redeemed us’? Galatians 3:13. They say it all, don’t they? Those words tell us everything we ever really need to know concerning our salvation.
Jesus ransomed us from the curse of having to live perfectly according to the law in order to be justified. He made us perfect in Him by His cleansing blood, and He became the curse by taking upon Himself that which condemned us through law, that is, our sin against law, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
There can be no salvation without the atonement of Jesus that takes care of our sin problem in relation to the law. God’s solution for our sin problem comes as a free gift to all who would submit to the obedience of the Gospel.
But what does it mean to be cursed on a tree? The NIV uses the word ‘pole’, Galatians 3:13. For most capital offences covered by Jewish Law, stoning was the form of punishment. On some occasions, the dead body would be hung in public as a deterrent to further crime, Deuteronomy 21:22-23.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following concerning Paul’s quote from Deuteronomy 21:23.
‘This passage did not refer to crucifixion (which the Jews did not practice), but to the hanging on a tree or wooden post of the corpse of a criminal who had been executed. But in the New Testament times, a cross was often called a tree, and there is no doubting that that is what Paul has in mind here.’
The apostle Paul referred to this law in relation to Jesus and His death on the cross. Paul is saying that Jesus was cursed for us, hanging on the cross as a substitute for our sins.
He’s saying that Jesus was willing to suffer the condemnation of hanging on a tree for our benefit. He took our condemnation by being condemned for us on the tree.
Jesus died in order to reaffirm the blessing of salvation by grace through faith. Salvation by faith that was promised to all nations through Abraham was fulfilled at the cross, Titus 2:11.
In other words, the Gospel is the avenue through which we must pass in order to receive the blessing of the promise of the Spirit, Galatians 3:14. In the context of this letter, Paul isn’t talking about receiving the Holy Spirit at baptism, Acts 2:38. He’s referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in Acts 2:1-4.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Paul was not saying that the Mosaic Law is valueless for Christians. The Mosaic Law is a part of the Old Testament, all of which is profitable for Christians, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. He was saying that obeying the Mosaic Law never results in the justification or sanctification of anyone, Jew or Gentile.’
Paul argues with the Judaizers by reminding them that when God makes a promise, He keeps it. Paul says that the coming of the law didn’t do away with or cancel the promise. Neither did the law become a condition upon which the promise was fulfilled or applied to our salvation, Galatians 3:15.
Paul is arguing that the promise from God to Abraham was superior to the law. In other words, God’s promise to Abraham to bring forth the blessing to all nations was unconditionally given.
Abraham didn’t earn the promise; God simply told him what He would do in the future through Abraham’s seed. Remember that the law was given through Moses, and he was told what he must do. In other words, the promise was given through grace, whereas the law was given in order to demand obedience.
The word ‘covenant’, Galatians 3:15, simply means agreement or contract, and Paul begins by reminding the Galatians of the nature of the covenants that are established between humans. He says these covenants or agreements aren’t changed after they have been approved.
A covenant is made between two parties, and only the parties involved can change the covenant. A third party can’t make changes to the covenant, nor can anyone other than the two parties cancel the covenant that has been made between the two parties.
Notice that Paul uses the word ‘promises’, Galatians 3:16, plural, but what promises is he referring to? Well, he’s referring to the promises God gave Abraham.
God gave Abraham four promises. He said Abraham would be given a land, and he would become a great nation. He would make Abraham’s name great, and he would be blessed and be a blessing to all men, Genesis 12:1-3.
Notice there are three physical promises, land, name, and nation, all of which had been fulfilled by the time of Jesus. The blessing promise was in reference to salvation and was fulfilled through the coming of the Seed, who was Jesus, Galatians 3:16.
The point Paul is making is that it was God who made the promises, and He made the promises without any meritorious conditions on the part of Abraham. God didn’t suggest any conditions to Abraham that he must keep in order to receive the promises.
And Paul says it was Christ who was the particular Seed around whom all the promises of the covenant were made, Galatians 3:16. It was through the seed or descendants of Abraham that the Seed would come into the world. In other words, it was through the seed of Abraham that God would show His grace in the world through the sacrificial blood of Jesus.
Paul’s argument to the Judaizers was that the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after God reaffirmed them to Jacob, the covenant he had made with Abraham, didn’t cancel the promise or become a condition for the fulfilment of the promise, Galatians 3:17.
The law didn’t set aside the promise by becoming a condition upon which it was to be fulfilled. Paul is saying that the fulfilment of the promise was based on God’s grace. The coming of the law didn’t offer a substitute for the promise; it only encouraged the fulfilment of the promise.
In other words, the law exemplified or displayed the sin of those to whom it was given, but the promise pointed the law-keepers toward salvation by faith and grace, Romans 4:13.
Paul is basically saying that the law drove men towards faith, and he says the promise was given as a gift to Abraham, regardless of the law. The law had nothing to do with the fulfilment of the promise; God fulfils His promises regardless of law, Galatians 3:18.
Cole, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Judaizers might quote Moses; Paul will quote Abraham. Let them quote law; he will quote promise. If they appeal to the centuries of tradition and the proud history of the law of Moses, he will appeal to the grander ‘covenant with Abraham’, older by centuries still.’
Dillow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The inheritance of Galatians 3:18 / Galatians 4:30 is parallel not with the land promises, Canaan, but with the gift of justification to the Gentiles. This is the major passage in the New Testament used to equate the inheritance of the land of Canaan with heaven, but the land of Canaan is not even the subject of the passage!’
We can imagine those legalisers thinking to themselves, ‘Paul, you don’t know what you’re talking about, what’s the point of the law? Why did God introduce law in the first place?’ And so, Paul, anticipating their questions, answers their questions.
God gave the law because He knew what was right and wrong, but we didn’t. People had already broken God’s holy standard of righteousness. The law was given so that people would know what was right and wrong and could therefore be corrected when they violated those commands.
The law was given to highlight how sinful we are, Romans 7:5-8, and in order to convince anyone of sin, there had to be a standard by which a person could self-inspect their life, James 1:22-25. The law was given to Israel, not to save those to whom it was given, but to show the need for God’s grace in the lives of those to whom it was given.
We know that the Old Testament law was given through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between Israel and God, Galatians 3:19 / Deuteronomy 33:2. And so, in effect, Israel received the law third hand, but the grace of God through Jesus was given directly to Israel from God as an offering for sin.
Paul says, though ‘God is one’, Galatians 3:20, the mediator doesn’t represent just one person. In other words, the law involved two parties; one party gave, and the other had to obey.
Paul is saying that the one God of heaven gave the promise directly to Abraham on behalf of many peoples, that is, all nations. The law required a mediator, but the promises given to Abraham didn’t need one.
We can imagine the legalisers thinking as they heard these words being read out, saying, ‘Paul, you’ve seriously lost the plot, do you really want us to believe that the law opposed the promises of God?’ And so, Paul, anticipating their questions, answers their questions.
Paul says the law didn’t set aside the promises; the law didn’t work against the promises. He says the law worked to fulfil the promises, Galatians 3:21. Paul says, if anyone could have been justified by law-keeping, then certainly the Old Testament law could have done that.
And it’s not the fault of the law that men can’t keep it perfectly in order to be right before God. The fault is with men, not the law of God, but what the law did was not only highlight our sinfulness but also confined us to condemnation because of our sin.
But the good news is that because the law highlighted that we are sinners and makes us hold our hands up to our sinfulness, we see our need to trust God and His grace for us.
Paul is saying that the law drove those who were the sons of Abraham by faith to accept the promise. The promise says that salvation comes through the grace of the cross of Christ, Galatians 3:22.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A law can lay down what people ought to do, but it cannot give them the power to overcome the temptations to do evil.’
Paul says that before the coming of the fulfilment of the promise, people were held in the captivity of sin because the law could not make people right with God, Galatians 3:23.
He says that the law, any law, reminds us that we’re prisoners, we’re prisoners to our own sin, and he argues that prisoners want to be released; he’s arguing that anyone who lives under any law wants release from the condemnation of that law.
Notice that Paul says the law was our ‘guardian’, Galatians 3:24. The word ‘guardian’ is an interesting word; it’s the Greek word ‘pedagogue.’ It refers to the trusted slave in Roman and Jewish culture who was given charge of the children to both lead and supervise the children who were six to sixteen years old.
Israel as a nation was entrusted to the law in order to be directed to Christ, Galatians 3:24. The discipline of the law actually showed the immaturity of those to whom it was given.
The purpose of the ‘pedagogue’ was to lead to Christ, the undisciplined and immature, but once the ‘pedagogue’ had served his purpose, he was discharged from his duties.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The custodian was not a teacher, but a slave whose special task was to look after a child. He exercised a general supervision over the boy’s activities, and it was his responsibility to bring him to the teacher who would give him the instruction that befitted his station.’
Paul says this same idea applies to the Old Testament law, and we’re no longer under that guardian, Galatians 3:25. The law was a shadow of good things to come, and when the substance of the shadow came, the law was taken away, Hebrews 10:1. And what was the substance? The substance was found at the cross in the form of Jesus Christ.
Paul says that Christians are actually considered by God to be His children through Christ Jesus, Galatians 3:26. And how are we children of God? We are His children through faith, not through law-keeping. But how does a person get into that new covenant with God? How do we get right with God if we’re not under law?
Paul says we get right with God by being ‘baptised into Christ’, Galatians 3:27. Baptism is the point at which the believer comes into a covenant relationship with God, Matthew 28:19-20 / Acts 2:38, and therefore begins his or her journey of faith. Baptism is the point in time when a believer establishes and signs a covenant to trust in God for salvation by His grace.
And when a person’s faith moves them to respond to God’s grace, their response is an immersion into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, Romans 6:3-6. Baptism is simply a response to grace by the believer, who at the time of immersion contacts the blood of Jesus that came as a result of the grace of God.
In other words, the believer comes into a covenant with the One through whom the blessing was shown, that is, Jesus Christ. In the following two chapters of Galatians, Paul is going to discuss in great detail what he means by ‘clothing ourselves with Christ’, Galatians 3:27. Paul uses two metaphorical phrases in this passage that refer to the relationship a person establishes with Christ by obedience to the Gospel.
By being baptised in water ‘into Christ’, a person comes into a realm where they establish a spiritual relationship with Deity. And by ‘clothing ourselves with Christ’, a person takes on the spiritual nature of Deity by conforming to Christ.
Remember law tells us that we’re sinners and we need God to save us because we can’t save ourselves, no matter how good we think we are. The law created within Israel the differences and distinctions of race, class and sex but Paul says that the class distinctions of race, Jew or Greek, social class, slave or free and sex, male or female, all end in Christ, Galatians 3:28.
It’s not that these distinctions end within themselves in Christ, but that salvation by grace and faith are made applicable to all. In Christ, there is equality to all in reference to salvation. These social distinctions that bring division among men in the secular world are nullified when one is baptised into Christ, Colossians 3:11. All Christians are one in Christ, Galatians 3:28.
Christianity isn’t linked to anyone’s culture; Jews can’t culturally claim it, and Gentiles can’t claim it. And so, because Christianity isn’t culturally linked, it can go to all cultures of the world, all Christians are one in Christ, and anyone who becomes a Christian becomes an ‘heir according to the promise,’ Galatians 3:29.
Paul’s point is that being an heir of the promise didn’t depend on being a physical descendant of Abraham. It depended on being a ‘spiritual descendant’ by faith, Galatians 3:7. The Jews couldn’t, because of their physical heritage through Abraham, consider themselves to have a special relationship with God, Matthew 3:9.
If anyone obeys the Gospel in order to be clothed with Christ, then they are of the seed of Abraham. Abraham trusted God in His promise and looked forward to the cross of Calvary. As Christians, we look back to the cross of Calvary for our salvation.