Foolish!
Galatians 3:1-5 · Vern Peterman · Jul 22, 2007
Galatians (2007), No. 14
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492603455362

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

This is a really special passage that we have the privilege of looking at here this morning. One of the things you may have noticed, it's all questions. All questions. But it's interesting, for asking all questions, we're going to get a lot of answers. Isn't that amazing?

Let's take a look at it. There's a few things before we dive into the details. I'd like us to look, just sort of observing overall, some of the things that are in the passage. This passage has a repeated set of words at the end of verse 2 and then again at verse 5. The dividing point that we had up front there as you came into the room was by the works of the law or by hearing with faith.

He ends two questions with that. Essentially, the whole passage is centering on that question. Is it this or this? This or this? Another point is that he mentions the Spirit three times in this passage. We're going to see the Holy Spirit brought up more than once in every single chapter from here on out. The Holy Spirit becomes a central theme. Why? Because the way the Lord has set things up for us in the church is the Spirit's presence and the Spirit's ministry stands in sharp contrast to living by the law. That's why he brings it up.

We'll see that more as we go along. There are also words of emptiness, words of incredulity, words of amazement. that are spread throughout this passage. Foolish, bewitched, foolish again, in vain, in vain. Those kinds of words of emptiness, words of intensity. Something else we brought out last week, this collection, ties into the verse that we ended with last week. And that's where it says, If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Meaning, for nothing. for nothing.

And he continues that theme. The chapter break kind of loses that continuity, but we want to be sure that we don't lose it as we examine the passage. There's a cluster of similar extreme words, and so we'll be examining the last part of that in today's passage. Something else you may have noticed, he starts off this passage here with this diplomatic set of words, you foolish Galatians. That's diplomacy, right?

You may have heard of this book here that's sold 16 million copies here, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Some of you may even have read the book or had some other exposure to the things that Dale Carnegie has taught. Paul didn't read that. Paul instead wrote his own book. It's How to Win Brethren and Influence Saints. So he wrote his own book, and rather than 16 million sold, its grace is 100% free. And your position is entirely by faith. Now, we're going to dive into the details of this passage, step through it one verse at a time.

Here is this word foolish. We encounter it early and substantially. When Paul asks these questions here, he is stating that the Galatian believers are foolish. He says, you foolish Galatians, and then follows on with an immediate question. In each case, the use of this word, and he uses it again in verse 3, the word translated foolish literally means not thinking. Not thinking.

But there's a special significance. He's not saying that these believers are of low intelligence. He is not insulting their intelligence with this word. This is a carefully chosen word, not designed to call them someone of low intellect, low intellectual capacity. He is calling them foolish because he uses a word that tells them, you are not using the information and the intelligence that I know you have. That's the word he's using.

In Matthew 5.22, which we'll be studying shortly in the elective downstairs, Christ will warn the people that he's speaking to against saying, you fool. So you think, wow, is this a contradiction? Is Paul violating what Christ laid out? Well, it turns out that Jesus warned them about calling someone a fool, but this word means to insult their intelligence. To insult their intelligence. It's the word moros from which we get our word moron.

Now, Jesus himself used the same word that Paul is using here in Galatians 3.1 when he met two others on the road to Emmaus after he was resurrected. You recall the account? It's in Luke chapter 24.

And after speaking to these men for some time, he says, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. He's not insulting their intelligence. He knows that the prophets have spoken things and they are even well aware of them. The problem, they're not believing what they know. That's the problem. Not believing what they know.

Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Christ's death on the cross is even the very point at which he calls them this word, not an insulting of intelligence, but telling them you're not recognizing and believing the truth that you know and using the ability that I know you have. So now, here we have the next word that pops up that's a pivotal word, bewitched.

This has nothing to do with the TV series from back in the 60s, nor the recently made movie. It's not about that. It instead has a different idea. A number of you may have been aware, maybe even seen TV presentations. Back in 1983, David Copperfield, made the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of a live audience and with cameras, and this has been put on television. As a matter of fact, the whole presentation that's the better part of an hour is available on the internet if somebody wants to watch it. Here are these people, they're sitting there in a group watching the Statue of Liberty just like that, and then he makes it disappear. with searchlights going through the space and helicopters flying through what appears to be the space, makes it seem to disappear.

This is the kind of point that Paul is making in Galatians 1.3.

Who was it that made Christ, whom you knew was crucified, disappear from your view? I portrayed Christ before you Who made him appear to vanish from your eyes? Did you just completely forget all that's been laid out? It was there. How did it disappear from your minds?

This word bewitched here means to make a false representation. When we put the meaning of the first line together, Paul is saying that these Galatian believers have erred by not thinking, which he knew they were capable of doing, using the information, the facts that they had right in front of them, and they have allowed someone to deceive them. They have allowed themselves to be duped. There is this connecting thought at the end of verse 21 in chapter 2, connected up with this first part of chapter 3.

If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. You Galatians who are not seeing and thinking about the very things that I know you've been told about. I know that you had Christ portrayed as crucified right in front of you. And you're not seeing it. You're not thinking about it. You've somehow had it disappear from your mind's view. So now we have this outrageous conclusion. Christ died for nothing. linked together with, I know that you have had Christ portrayed before He was crucified. How did He disappear from your view?

They have allowed someone to pull one over on them. Before whose eyes Christ Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified, Paul asked them who bewitched them. Who was it who created the illusion with secretive technique that Christ's death was just for nothing? That Christ died for no good reason at all? Who was it that presented that before you?

Paul was in a position to ask that question. Why? He knew, having personally been with them, spending several years with them, having personally spent time with these people, he knew that he had presented Christ crucified and what that meant. He said, how could you possibly lay that aside? How could you possibly have had that vanish from your mind's eye?

This word crucified in Galatians 2.20, and now only here just a few verses later, is in the perfect tense in both places. A completed past action with ongoing results. How is it possible that it was portrayed before you that Christ was finally and fully crucified, died, with ongoing results into the future and that somehow those results and the event itself has disappeared from view.

That's what he's laying out in front of them. In the book of Hebrews, the author conveys the same message in a different way and he does so repeatedly. He uses the Greek word hapax. Simple enough, hapax. Let's take a look. It means once done, perpetually valid.

Here is Hebrews 7.27. Because this he did, that is Christ, once for all when he offered up himself. Once done, perpetually valid. Always valid. The Greek word there, hapax. 9.12, just a couple of chapters later, what does he say again? But through his, that is Jesus' own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Once done, perpetually valid.

Hebrews 10.10.

By this will, that is from the context, the will of God the Father, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctified, what does that mean? We have been made holy. That, like crucified twice in the Galatians there, is in the perfect tense. We have been permanently and completely and totally, once for all done, sanctified, made holy. Our position in Christ is one of having been made holy completely. It's a completed past action with ongoing results into the future.

Also once for all here's the Greek word again hapax Offered the body of Christ once for all crucified once for all Crucified for you once for all you crucified for him once for all done Romans 6 10 similar message so why did Paul say what he said here or ask the question that he asked and The reason that Paul has presented Christ crucified as a completed past action, which the book of Hebrews underscores with that special word hapax, once done perpetually valid, both in Galatians 2.20 and in this verse, Galatians 3.1, is this. A pivotal reason why anyone would insist that believers need to live under a law principle is because they don't understand the real nature of what Christ accomplished on the cross. Got that? The reason that someone would propose that we live under a law principle is because they don't understand the nature of what Christ did on the cross.

It was complete. When Christ was done, he also used the perfect tense, it is finished. Once for all, once done, perpetually valid, complete, total, absolute, done deal. That's his point. Once Christ has been presented as crucified, what else do you need?

Now, what he's trying to present here is God's grace is big. God's grace is really big. Big enough there's not room for anything else. God's grace is so big that we looked at passages previously in Ephesians. The surpassing riches of His grace. Overwhelming wealth. Awesome wealth. Massive, unbelievably huge wealth of grace. Infinite wealth of grace. God's grace is huge.

That's the point. Paul had presented the gospel to these people. Now I make known to you, brethren, and this is a similar presentation out of 1 Corinthians, the gospel which I preach to you, by which also you are saved, for I delivered to you as of first importance, top priority, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and so you believed. That's the gospel. That's what they believed. Christ died. And one of the things he's underscored, it's a completed past action. It's a done deal. When Christ said it is finished, he meant finished. When Paul said Christ was crucified, it's a done deal.

100%. God's grace is entirely and completely sufficient. Then there are all the multitude of blessings and benefits that result from having been identified with Christ in His death, His burial, His resurrection, ascension and seating. There where we are with Him, where He is seated, where we're now seated with Him. in the heavenlies where Ephesians 1 3 says we have every spiritual blessing in him in the heavenlies right there. Let's look to verse 2 here. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Essentially what he's going to do is continue asking some questions but they're all centered around a key theme. Let's look at them.

This word, to find out, or in the King James, learn, is a verb form of being discipled. Oddly enough or ironically, Paul is saying, I want to be discipled by you about something. I want to learn from you. You teach me something. Something I need to learn here. I don't understand it. He's asking this question by placing himself as their disciple to learn from them because he's baffled as to what they're thinking.

Did you receive the Spirit? That's what he starts off with there. These believers had, in fact, received the Holy Spirit. We know that. Later on, Paul's going to tell them in Galatians 4, verses 5 and 6, Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The Spirit into our hearts. You have received the Spirit. And here's the pivotal question.

By the works of the law or by hearing with faith? One or the other? Paul's question to them was, by what means had they received the Holy Spirit? Which one? Did you receive the Holy Spirit by this means or this other means? By doing the works of the law, option number one, or behind door number two? by hearing the gospel truth and placing faith in those truths. The gospel that we just talked about a minute ago. Did you believe that Christ died for your sins and that he was buried and raised again on the third day? If you believed that, then you were saved. At that point in time, you received the Spirit.

That's the issue that he's got here. We need to look at what faith is and what faith isn't. Okay? Biblical saving faith is our dependence upon the works of Christ. We don't add something to the process of salvation. That's right, we don't. We add nothing. We depend upon the work that Christ has done. That's what faith is. Faith isn't a work. We don't get any merit for our faith particularly, nor does faith add anything to Christ's works on the cross. Faith is dependence on His works, on what He has done. It is what Christ did on the cross that is of substance.

That is the key thing. Even being thankful, and certainly that's the only response that we can have, isn't it? Even being thankful is not counted as merit. But it is still the only response that we can have. We cannot even hope to pay back the Lord for what He did for us. The works that He accomplished that we never could. We don't even begin to think that we're going to pay it back. No. It is entirely depending on what He has done. All we can do is respond by being thankful for what He's done and that for endless ages.

The Galatians believed and heard. Here's in the book of Acts, Acts 13-48. When the Galatians heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Notice, they heard the gospel and they responded by believing. The very same thing that Paul just wrote about.

How did you receive the Spirit? When you believed. By the way, this appointed to eternal life or appointed to eternal life and believed. It may be one of those things that raises a question in your mind about, does God have to appoint me in order for me to be able to believe? So we've got a supplemental handout that you're free to take advantage of as you exit on the right. And feel free to grab that if you would like to. Let me know if you run out.

Here in chapter 14, the Galatians also believe in Iconium, one of the cities in Galatia. Paul and Barnabas entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner that a large number of the people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. They believed after they heard what Paul spoke.

And finally, in Acts 14.23, just a couple dozen verses down, when they Paul and Barnabas had appointed elders for them in every church. Having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. They had heard the gospel. They believed the content of the gospel, depended upon the works of Christ who died for our sins and was buried and was resurrected in order to be saved. Here's a timeline in order to make the point clear.

An unbeliever has not received the Holy Spirit. An unbeliever has not received the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit has a ministry of conviction to the unbeliever. That's made clear in John chapter 16. The Holy Spirit does have a ministry with the unbeliever, and that is one of conviction. For us who have believed, a believer is the one who has come by faith to believe the three key points of the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was resurrected. That believer has received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells every single believer all the time. That's the assurance that we have.

Now, so he asks the question, and this is like starting back at verse 1. Are you so foolish? Same word for foolish as before. He brings it up again. He is puzzled that the believers in Galatia are not using the understanding that he knew that he gave them. He knew that they responded to. They aren't responding to the spiritual facts by faith that He knew He had passed along.

Having begun by the Spirit. They began by the Spirit. Why? The Holy Spirit had convicted them. They had come to a place of believing in the Gospel. They had received the Holy Spirit. So having begun by the Spirit, is something that is quite clear and not by the works of the law.

It says, are you now being perfected by the flesh? This Greek word here that's translated being perfected has a couple of messages for us here. This word means to being spiritually matured or being brought to spiritual maturity. The bringing to spiritual maturity is the work of the Lord upon us. And number two, it's in the present tense. That means right now is it continuing to go on. So Paul is focusing on how that being brought to maturity is happening in the present, right now.

The word translated flesh is used again in Galatians 5 and 6 for human efforts that are through our human bodies energized by the sin nature. The sin nature has to work through this body. That's the reason for the message in Romans 6, right? These are the members through which the sin nature can operate, and Paul says, don't give it a chance. Here, he expresses that working of the sin nature through these bodies as the flesh. That's the term that he'll use, and he'll use it again in chapters 5 and 6.

Now, this doesn't mean that our bodies are inherently evil, because in fact they're not. But rather, our bodies can be used to glorify God. That's the last verse in 1 Corinthians 6. He tells the believers in Corinth, glorify God in your bodies. Your bodies can be used to glorify God, or your bodies can be used as instruments of the sin nature. They're not inherently evil, but we as believers have presented before us this, not this. Glorify God in your body. Don't let the sin nature Use your body as an instrument.

Paul will later on make it clear, this is Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 through 18, that pursuing righteousness by means of the law means depending upon the flesh to be brought to spiritual maturity. Got that? Let me repeat it. Pursuing righteousness by means of the law means depending on the flesh, the sin nature energizing this body, to be brought to spiritual maturity. It doesn't work.

Now, if you look at it, only by dependence upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit are we brought to maturity. Key point. Only by dependence on the ministry of the Holy Spirit are we brought to maturity. Our own self-effort doesn't arrive there, doesn't get there, doesn't bring about spiritual maturity.

The law appeals to the flesh. Oh yeah, I can do it. Just give me the list. The sin nature energizing the activity of this body. The sin nature says, give me the list. I'm ready to go. I can pull it off. Just tell me what to do. That's what the sin nature wants. In 1 Peter, as we studied in our elective Not too long ago here.

Like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, the Greek text of 1 Peter 2.2, this long for is actually an imperative and growing is the outcome. Growing is the outcome.

Now one of the things that we put together as we're going through the elective is that, interestingly enough, 2 Peter 3.18 is but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Grow is an imperative.

And we'll see in the verse above that that growing starts by our longing for the Word. Our beholding the Lord through His Word. Spiritual growth, as we put together from these passages, is from, by, and in. This spiritual growth here is motivated from our having, as we look at the 1 Peter passage, motivated from our having once tasted the kindness and goodness of the Lord Himself. The Lord's very character, His amazing, astounding, infinite, endless riches of grace are the motivation for the believer. Not law, but His amazing grace. Spiritual growth is by God's Word and is grace motivated. God's Word is the instrument.

We saw that as we looked at 2 Corinthians 3.18 in times past. Beyond that, spiritual growth also has a defined direction and location. And what does that mean? In the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In this growth in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is glorified.

That's the message that we pull together from these passages. It's grace motivated. It is by grace. It is by means of God's Word. We grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we grow in grace, the Lord is glorified. And amazingly, he shares his glory with us. we are changed by the Lord's doing from glory to glory. Spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit's work in us. Having begun by the Spirit, because this is the question that Paul's asking, having begun by the Spirit, our spiritual growth is the work of the Spirit in us.

We have received the Spirit. The Spirit indwells every person who believes this morning. Everyone, all the time. He is the author behind the authors of the Word of God. The instrument, according to 1 Peter 2, according to 2 Corinthians 3.18, the instrument that the Lord uses to grow us is inspired by those authors, about 40 who wrote the Word of God. Beyond that, it's the Spirit's work to change us from glory to glory as we behold the Lord Jesus through his word, as we behold the very Savior with whom we are identified in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and now his seating. As we behold him, we are changed from glory to glory. And the Spirit, the Holy Spirit's work is to direct our focus upon Jesus Christ. That is a ministry of the Holy Spirit in each believer here today.

Now Galatians 3.4, Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?

In Acts chapters 13 and 14, Dr. Luke describes for us the things that have occurred just before Paul wrote this letter. He had just gotten back from Galatia where these believers were. And it summarizes the events there. Paul is described as suffering some things, but also the believers in Galatia.

They all suffered things for grace. They suffered things for the gospel of grace, not for the law. It was the gospel of grace that Paul and Barnabas brought in. The gospel of grace that he taught. It was for that that he suffered. Not because they brought in the law. The law was already there. The law had already been there for some time.

And now in verse 5, He does he who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by works of the law or by hearing with faith. He had already addressed this fact that the believers had received the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, but here his point is the question has to do with the continuing provision of the Holy Spirit in their life. right now are you continuing to have the ministry and presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life by works of the law or because you place faith in the spiritual facts laid out before you. There was also an apostolic era working of miracles, something that they had seen. It's described numerous times in the book of Acts and Paul makes reference to it in both of his letters to the church at Corinth. The apostles performed miracles. There was a gift of miracles that was present at that time.

And Hebrews 2.4 even points back to the testimony to the Spirit's work through miracles, through the apostles and those gifted alongside them. All those things, do those happen by the works of the law? Or do they happen by hearing with faith?

Which one? Which one? Paul asked the same question as he did in verse 2, didn't he? He said, you guys have a decision to make. You guys have an understanding to come to. Which one is it? Which will it be? What we'll see with greater and greater clarity as we go through the book of Galatians is that what God has done and what God is doing in our lives, you and me, our lives by faith and not works, God is working through our lives. He does presently work through our lives through the ministries of the Spirit, not by our efforts under any principle of law.

It is the ministries of the Holy Spirit present within us, within each one who believes here this morning. that carries these things out in each one of our lives. Now you have, at the very last part of your handout, the expanded and explained, and we'll forego that here this morning. We'll let you catch up with that at your own convenience. But I'd like for us to take a look at something that is on the last page of your handout here. We have some questions that come out of each verse. In verse 1, the question, which principle did God have in mind? Christ's death established what?

Law or grace? The principle of law or the principle of grace for you as a believer? Did he put law in place or did he put grace in place? Did you receive the Holy Spirit because you Stood by the law or because you believed. Spiritual growth. How does that happen? Does that happen because you really put your best effort into following the law? Or does it happen because of believing in what the Lord has done, in His provision, and in His enabling, in the Lord's accomplishments, all by grace? So which one? Did you suffer for a gospel of law or a gospel of grace? The Holy Spirit and miracles provided how? Principle of law or principle of grace?

I'll leave it for you to put in the x's there. One of the things that we presented last week, which is a point I want to continue to bring to mind here, is believers, we breathe in an atmosphere of 100% grace. Our every spiritual breath is by grace. That's God's intent.

This last week, we had an ozone alert here in Denver. by many an unnoticed contaminant is not a welcome thing. It's a problem. And some of those who suffer from breathing difficulties are more aware of it than others. But it's a good comparison. We don't need to have more ozone in the atmosphere, at least not at this elevation. And we don't need to have law. We breathe as believers in an atmosphere of 100% grace all the time. That's spiritually what we're designed to breathe.

Ever breathe something you're not designed to breathe? It's downright uncomfortable. Unless it happens to be a helium balloon. In that case, you just sound silly. It can be downright uncomfortable breathing something you're not designed to breathe. As believers, we are designed to breathe in an atmosphere of total grace, 100%. The percentage of law that we need to help us in breathing is zero. None. Totally by grace, all by grace, every breath, all the time. That's God's intent.

That's God's design. And that's the question that Paul answered with five verses full of questions. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, as we see what Paul answered with a series of questions here, we do look to you and recognize that you have been crucified for us, for our benefit, Entirely by your accomplishment. It's a completed past action.

It has ongoing results that continue right now and on into eternity. That you have indeed immersed us in an atmosphere of complete and total grace. And so we look to you for every spiritual breath, Lord. For that grace which is infinite in supply. That grace that is always adequate. every moment of every day till the day we see you face to face. We thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen.