O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified [among you]?
Paul breaks off his argument and sounds an alarm: he had shown the Galatians a crucified Christ, and now they were turning to law to be right with God. Two questions drive the verse — how could believers act so foolishly, and what power was behind the change?
Paul's word points to a lack of spiritual sense. These believers had not seen where their new teachers were taking them.
The apostle calls them "foolish" or senseless. They had not had the spiritual sense to see where these false teachers were leading them. They were like men bewitched, under an evil spell. They had been led to the edge of a dreadful conclusion: that Christ had died for nothing — that His death was in fact a huge mistake!
The word "bewitched" pictures a fascination that holds someone helpless. What held the Galatians was the pull of law-keeping as a way to be right with God.
There was folly in looking to the law for righteousness after they had known the grace of the gospel. A "bewitching" power drew them away from the cross and made them turn to the law for righteousness. It was as though the law had fixed its eyes on them, like a snake on its victims. They had no power to get away from it... Some would gladly add their own moral righteousness as extra weight in the scales of their justification. Others turn to a system of religious ceremonies to make up for what their moral righteousness lacks. In either case, it is the fascinating power of law that stops them looking to Jesus Christ.
Paul's word points past the human teachers to the power working through them.
"Who has bewitched you?" Those false brothers had turned the Galatians' eyes away from Jesus Christ crucified to something else. How little the Galatians had realised that these men were under the power of witchcraft. That is, they were the ministers of Satan, under the power and guidance of a false, evil spirit. To Paul it was either this witchcraft or the Spirit of God.
"Publicly portrayed" translates a word used for a public notice. Paul did not merely mention the crucifixion. He put it on show.
Jesus Christ crucified had been "placarded" before their eyes. Paul had told them the story of that terrible day at Golgotha, outside the gates of Jerusalem, when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Paul had told them that story until the Galatians saw it all... They saw Him hanging on the cross between two thieves and they gazed on all His agony... They had heard that cry, "It is finished." But how little it had entered into their souls!
Paul could have written of Christ's blood or His death. He wrote of the cross, and one writer explains what that word carries.
It is plain that he draws particular attention to the cross of Christ — not merely to His blood, or His death, but to His cross... The crucifixion puts shame upon man, and upon the flesh, more than anything else... The cross does more than show what the flesh is, and what the world is. It also proves that there is no hope of blessing through the law, except in a negative way. The law has power to kill, but not to give life; Christ alone gives life.
A crucified Christ is not neutral ground. The manner of His death exposes what religion in human hands did to Him.
Christ had been plainly set before the eyes of the Galatians — crucified. It was not the Saviour on earth, preaching good news and going about doing good; in that character men rejected and killed Him. It was Christ crucified. That truth spoke plainly of the sin of man under the law. The Jews used the law to kill the Holy and Just One. They said, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die." How senseless to go back to that religion of the flesh which had crucified Him! Let us note this well: we can never turn back to the old "I" in any way without turning back to the flesh that crucified Christ.
The Galatians would not have said they were rejecting Christ. The apostle tells them what their step really amounted to.
The apostle has shown what turning back to the law meant. The Galatians were setting aside the work of Christ and belittling the glory of His Person as the Son of God. To act like this was so unnatural that it would seem as if they were bewitched. In practice they were denying the truth of the cross — the great central fact of the gospel Paul had preached to them.
- Sight given. Paul put Christ crucified on public show before the Galatians. He told the story until they saw Golgotha and heard the cry, "It is finished."
- Sight lost. Something drew their eyes away from the cross to the law, holding them like a snake holds its victim.
- Sight named. Paul calls the pull by its name: bewitching. Either the Spirit of God leads, or an evil spirit does.
- Sight tested. Paul names the cross, not merely the blood or the death. The cross shames man and the flesh, and shows that law can kill but never give life.
- Sight restored. Look at the cross again and the folly ends. The law killed the Holy and Just One. To go back to it sets aside Christ's work and dims the glory of His Person.
This only I wish to learn of you, Have ye received the Spirit on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?
The Galatians had begun to look to the law for blessing. So Paul stops arguing and asks one question about their own experience. Everything hangs on one fact they cannot deny: how did the Holy Spirit come to them?
Paul brings one argument, and he expects it to settle everything.
"Let me ask you only this." It was as though Paul says: The one argument I now bring before you is enough to prove to you that you are wrong. That argument is the presence of the Spirit of God. It is, in truth, a mighty argument. The Galatians knew well that they had received the Spirit of God. They knew the mighty change which He had worked in themselves and in each other. Was this by keeping the law? They had never heard of having to keep the law when they received the Spirit of God; so certainly it was not by law.
The phrase points to something very ordinary.
The Galatian believers had experienced this abundant supply of the Holy Spirit; and now the apostle asks, Was it by law or by a message of faith? Or, perhaps we should translate it "a hearing of faith." They heard the message and believed it.
One writer draws a line between two things that are easy to confuse.
It is important to see the difference between "hearing with faith" and receiving the Holy Spirit. A soul hears the gospel of salvation and believes it. That soul is cleansed and receives the forgiveness of sins. This comes before the Spirit's seal. No one denies that all that comes before is His work. Apart from the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, no one grieves over sin. No one listens to the gospel. And no one trusts the Lord Jesus for salvation... But while all this is true, the gift of the Spirit to live in a person is a completely distinct thing. It is as if a man first built a house, and then moved in to live there. The Spirit is God's great gift to every Christian.
The Galatians could not answer "by law." The law never held out such a promise.
The law holds out no promise that if a man obeys it, God will send His Spirit into his heart to live there and make him a temple of the Holy Spirit. The law does not promise even the Spirit. Ezekiel 36:27 does promise, "I will put my Spirit within you." But the context shows this looks ahead to the future, when the remnant of Israel will turn to the Lord... The Galatians knew nothing of the law and were not under the law, for they were, by nature, idolaters. They had received the Spirit by hearing of faith.
The Galatians were in a poor state. Even so, Paul treats their having the Spirit as a fact no one disputed.
Do not let failures make us doubt that we have Him. The Galatians had fallen into a low and wretched state. Yet they never doubted they had the Spirit of God. What they got wrong was the ground they stood on: how they had received Him. So the apostle had to ask them, "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?"
One writer turns Paul's question on the reader, and uses it to test assurance.
"Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?" So Paul could speak to them. But can he speak like that to you? Professing Christians, have you received the Spirit? If so, why those repeated prayers that you may receive the Holy Spirit?... Christ crucified had been set before the Galatians. By faith in that sacrifice they received the Holy Spirit. But people today who are given the law instead stay unsure whether they have received the Spirit at all.
Going back to law does more than add rules. It cuts at the very thing Paul appeals to here.
Law recognises man in the flesh and gives him a place in this world. It makes blessing depend on man meeting his responsibility. So it shuts out God's grace. It makes the work of Christ for us of no profit. It sets aside the work of the Spirit in us. And it turns Christianity into a religion of outward forms and ceremonies.
- Hearing — the Galatians heard a message and believed it. That is what "hearing with faith" means, and it is where everything started.
- Gift — God answered that faith with the Spirit. The law never promised Him, so the law cannot explain the gift they clearly had.
- Ground — their failure never put the gift in doubt. They were wrong only about how they received Him.
- Test — the question still works today. People who look to law and ceremonies keep praying for the Spirit, instead of resting in the gift God gave them.
- Loss — going back to law shuts out grace. It sets aside the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit, and leaves only outward forms.
Are ye so senseless? having begun in Spirit, are ye going to be made perfect in flesh?
Paul has just reminded the Galatians how they received the Spirit — by hearing with faith, not by keeping law. So how can people who started that way expect the flesh to finish the work?
Their Christian life had already begun, and it began in the power of God's Spirit. The question is whether they will now hand the rest over to their own effort.
They had begun their Christian life in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. Were they now going to turn back to the law, as if their own efforts could make them walk rightly as Christians? The law applies to man in the flesh. So in turning back to the law they were not only ignoring the Holy Spirit. They were also reviving the flesh, and seeking perfection in the flesh and by the flesh.
The verse describes something still under way. Kelly works from an older translation, which reads "made perfect" where the ESV has "being perfected."
"Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" — or, "are you being made perfect by the flesh?" They were hoping to be perfected by a process, because flesh can easily be satisfied with itself.
Paul says "flesh" where we might expect the word "law." The flesh is what a person can do by his own effort, and it belongs with the law, not with the Spirit.
But why did the Apostle speak of our being made perfect by the flesh? First, because the flesh is the very thing that opposes the Spirit. Second, because the flesh is tied closely to the law. Faith and the Spirit belong together. The law and the flesh belong together. The law was given so that the flesh might keep it, if it could. In the end it could not. Nor could the law curb the leanings of the flesh, for the flesh "does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot" (Rom. 8:7). Yet here were the Galatians, ready to turn from the all-powerful Spirit to the flesh — strong for evil, but useless for good. It was folly indeed!
The Spirit given to them was itself God's own mark of approval on the righteousness they already had.
What folly! They had received the Spirit, the seal of divine righteousness. Yet now they wanted to seek righteousness by the means of the flesh — by human faithfulness to what the law requires. The law addresses man in the flesh, and the flesh does not submit to it, and cannot.
The answer to Paul's question is no. The reason lies in God's consistency, not in our staying power.
God's ways with us are not haphazard, nor the subject of whim. They rest on His own settled purpose. What He starts with, He continues with. If He saves us by the hearing of faith, on that principle He will continue with us to the end, and we shall not be made perfect by the flesh.
The danger here is that the error sounds so reasonable. Nobody in Galatia was attacking Christ.
The Galatians had sought to hold the flesh in check by law. Restraints treat the flesh as alive, whereas God's method is to treat it as dead. That does not suit human nature! The Galatians did not take away from the Lord's person (as the Colossians did), but they sought to add to His work. The idea that God does part and man completes the rest is very plausible! Living by law works against grace, and in fact declares that Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21, also v. 4).
The same question reaches us. Will we swap the power that brought us this far for our own strength near the end?
Any effort at spiritual progress made in the power of the flesh is like the effort of drowning men. We live in the Spirit; let our actions be by His power. Think of the traveller who began his journey to America on a strong Atlantic steamer. Near the end he decided that the best way to finish the voyage was by the strength of his own arms, so he leaped overboard. Having begun in power God gave, are we to finish in our own?
- Begun — the Christian life starts in the power of the Holy Spirit. You receive Him by hearing with faith, not by keeping law.
- Perfected — "being perfected" is a process, and the Galatians expected the flesh to carry them through it. Flesh is easily pleased with itself.
- Paired — faith belongs with the Spirit; law belongs with the flesh. The flesh is strong for evil and useless for good, so it can never finish what the Spirit began.
- Unchanged — God does not start on one principle and switch to the opposite. What He begins with, He continues with to the end.
- Plausible — the error adds to Christ's work instead of denying it. That is why "God does part, man does the rest" still sounds sensible — and is still folly.
Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if indeed also in vain?
Paul now turns to what the Galatians had already suffered for Christ. He has just asked how people who began by the Spirit could hope to finish by the flesh. Now he points to their scars and asks whether all of it counted for nothing.
Paul's question looks back at what their first faith once cost them.
Here we have further proof that the faith of those he addresses was once genuine, and with it a matching increase in the weight of their present blame. By pointing straight at the way they once shared in the afflictions of the gospel, he shows their later change in the worst possible light. In the abundant joy of their first love they had gladly and thankfully carried the reproach of Christ. His glory was their shame, His shame their glory, before men. But if the legalism they now prize so much is a thing of real value, all of that was both pointless and wrong. The chief thing was no longer Christ, but law. In fact, law and grace are so opposed in principle that to follow the law they must first give up grace.
It matters who was persecuting them, and why.
Third, were the things they had suffered for the truth's sake all in vain? The persecution they had endured had mainly come from the Jews, who, in seeking to maintain the law, had crucified Christ and resisted the Spirit. If these Galatian believers turned back to the law, the Jews would have no quarrel with them. Then the persecution had been unnecessary, and it would surely stop.
There is a kind of religion the world never objects to. Galatia was not the last place to find it.
If the works of the flesh never yet brought blessing to anyone, why should the Galatians turn to them? Were they really ready to give up everything they had suffered for? Ordinances and legalism do not bring persecution and suffering. The natural man can take them up and appreciate them. When those who bear the Lord's Name sink to this level, the world and they agree and can walk together. How sadly and how long this has been true in Christendom!
Later in the letter Paul names the motive behind the men pushing circumcision.
We should compare these sufferings with Galatians 6:12. There we find the real secret behind the motives of those who preached circumcision. They did it "only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ." It is the cross that brings suffering. The enemy hates the cross. He is willing to have the law, but not the cross. Leave out the cross and you can avoid suffering for Christ's sake.
The question in this verse follows on from something Paul said one chapter earlier.
The last verse of chapter 2 says, "If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." Now Paul turns to what the Galatian Christians suffered when they first confessed Christ. Back then they thought it was well worth suffering for Christ's sake. But if they are justified by law, it was all a terrible mistake. Christ died for nothing, and their own sufferings were all without reason, all in vain.
Paul does not finish the sentence with a verdict. The added words hold the question open.
"Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain?" He will not give them up. He will not allow the thought that the enemy is winning such a victory over them. He believes they can still be recovered from this state.
- Cost — Their past suffering shows their first faith was real. That makes the drift back to law all the more blameworthy.
- Relief — Turning to the law would have ended the persecution, since the quarrel came from those defending the law. Comfort was the bait.
- Cross — Rules and ceremonies never provoke the world. The enemy will tolerate the law, but he hates the cross. Drop the cross and the suffering stops.
- Waste — If righteousness comes by law, Christ died for nothing. Every scar they carried was pointless too. The two stand or fall together.
- Hope — "If indeed it was in vain" leaves the verdict open. Paul refuses to write them off and looks for them to come back.
He therefore who ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, [is it] on the principle of works of law, or of [the] report of faith?
Paul has already asked the Galatians how they first received the Spirit; now he asks about what God is still doing among them. The question is simple: did the Spirit and the miracles come by keeping the law, or by hearing with faith?
Paul does not begin with theory. He points to a power the Galatians had actually felt, and asks where it came from.
When did they have this power? It was in the Spirit. The law never pretended to give power.
Paul's phrase here — "ministers to you the Spirit," in older translations — meant nothing to an outsider, but everything to the Galatians:
In Galatians 3:5, Paul speaks of Him "who ministers to you the Spirit." Ask an ordinary person what ministering the Spirit means. He does not know what you mean by it. But to the Galatians, who in their minds were falling from grace, he could say, "How did you get the Holy Spirit?"
The verb Paul chooses is not a bare word for giving. It carries the idea of generous, lavish provision.
John 3:34 says, "God gives the Spirit without measure." It is God who gives the Spirit, and He supplies the Spirit abundantly. In Greek this word first meant someone who supplied a "chorus" — a group of singers — with everything they needed. A wealthy man would do this very generously, so the word came to mean "supplying abundantly."
Commentators differ on who does the supplying. Some read it of God Himself:
The Supplier of the Spirit is the God of truth and righteousness. He sends out the Comforter as the living seal and witness of His own new creation in Christ Jesus. Paul's language here makes it clear that the Galatians still had visible signs among them of God's active power as the worker of miracles.
Others read it of Paul, without denying that God is the giver:
This refers to Paul himself. God gave the Spirit, but He worked by means. They had received the Holy Spirit through those who had been preaching the gospel. The gift of the Spirit follows the hearing of faith, after we have received Christ; but the two things are always distinct.
The signs among them were not permanent features of Christian life but marks of a beginning.
The Holy Spirit was working miracles in those early days. Hebrews 2 shows that these miracles and signs were taking place at the start of a new age in God's dealings. Then Paul asked, "Was this on the principle of the works of the law, or was it because of the hearing (or report) of faith?" ... The Holy Spirit works in connection with the Word of God and with faith, because the death of Christ set aside the law of works. It would be foolish to go back to the law and try to produce works in order to have a status before God, or to enjoy blessings from God. On that principle it will never work, because, as he proves later, on that principle we are under the curse.
Pridham asks in whose name those wonders were done, and what they showed about the Galatians themselves:
In whose name were these wonders done — in the name of Moses, or in the name of Jesus Christ? Did anyone through whom God worked so wonderfully among them ever trace those miraculous powers to the law? Is the very question not a self-contradiction? ... God's gifts and power were at work among the believers in Galatia, though the personal state of those among whom they appeared was anything but right. For the Lord cannot work mightily where there is no faith (Mark 6:5).
The verse sets two systems side by side, and each has its own character.
The gospel is "the ministry of the Spirit," and of righteousness too. The law is not. On the contrary, the law is a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Corinthians 3). Paul preached the gospel to them, not the law; as a result of "the hearing of faith," they had received the Spirit.
Because the two are so distinct, the answer to Paul's question was never in doubt:
There could be but one answer. This immense privilege had no connection with law whatever. God gives the Holy Spirit as the seal of faith in Christ once redemption is finished — not before, and in no other way.
- Hearing. They received the Spirit the same way they received Christ — by hearing a message and believing it, not by works of law.
- Supply. The word behind "supplies" pictures generous provision. God gives the Spirit without measure.
- Power. The miracles proved the point. The law never claimed to give power, and no one who worked wonders traced it to Moses.
- Ministry. The gospel is the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness. The law brings death and condemnation instead.
- Seal. God gives the Spirit as the seal of faith in Christ once redemption is finished. So going back to works of law for standing or blessing throws away the ground they started on.