The Things that Divide Us: Galatians 3:1-14

• The Thing that was dividing the church at this moment was circumcision, but really, it was something (tradition, doctrinal position, etc.) that they valued MORE than the people within the church
  • Things that similarly divide us:
    • Most denominations are break-aways from other established church traditions (you have a “new” tradition formed out of the weakness of a previous, or vice versa)
    • Style of worship
    • Bible translation
    • Preaching style vs. content
    • Politics / relation with government
    • Mode of baptism
    • Theology
• Galatians 1-2 Paul goes after Jerusalem church leadership
  • He demonstrates their hypocrisy in message and mission
    • No problem with his message or mission to gentiles before…?
    • Peter sat with Gentiles then retreats later?
  • Paul addresses the charge against him as a “people-pleaser”, to which he shows that Peter and Co. are the real people-pleasers (pleasing the Jewish and Roman authority)
  • He’s upset because they are treating gentile believers as outside of Abraham’s family unless they get circumcised
  • He’s upset because there is a young gentile church in need of real discipleship and they are confusing them with things that they do not know (Ever try to push your will by confusing the one your trying to convince)
• Now, Galatians 3 Paul shifts focus to the Galatian church themselves!
  • Paul’s problem with Galatian church is not that they don’t know what they do not know, rather, what they DID KNOW was enough for them to not adopt it

Galatian Church

• Much like 29 Palms, the Galatian community was a collection of retired Roman soldiers and families
  • Roman soldiers would serve, depending on the Roman age, a minimum of 12 to 22 year mandatory service contracts
• Just like America’s supreme ideal is freedom, Rome’s supreme ideal was the glory of Rome
  • Anything that would act contrary to the Roman ideal would have been met with violent resistance from a community who fought and bled for that Roman ideal
  • The primary road (like a highway) that ran through Galatia was called Via Sebaste, which is Latin for Augustus Road. To travel this road was to pay homage to Caesar Augustus and the Roman occult, or the “good news of Augustus” being spread at that time in Southern Turkey
  • One of the Galatian cities was Pisidian Antioch, which styled itself and was called the “New Rome”
    • Paul and Barnabas met this zeal and resistance when they brought the gospel to the Galatian church
      • Refers to his persecution in Galatians 3:1, 4:13-15, and 6:17

Galatians 3

6 Questions

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 

• Fill in your “works” here. Did you receive the Spirit by singing a hymn versus a contemporary song, or did you receive the Spirit by believing the gospel?
• More so, for Galatians, we must remember not simply what the Spirit does (powerful works, special gifts, producing fruit, etc.) but what the Spirit signifies
  • The Spirit is the guarantee of the inheritance (see Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, and Ephesians 1:14)
  • To receive the Spirit means you belong to Jesus. If you belong to Jesus you receive the inheritance, and to receive the inheritance means you are part of Abraham’s promise i.e. the inheritance and family

³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?

• This is how many Christians end! Our metric for faith shifts as we “mature” and we drift further from grace towards dogmatics
  • Often, we have more joy, peace, and passion the closer to grace we remain
• Do not confuse this with the process of sanctification. Jesus saves, the Spirit sanctifies…the church does neither. The church is its public display (Paul addresses later in the letter)
  • Anything someone says that functionally “earns” your acceptance into the family or to receive the inheritance is what Paul is angry about. Anything the Spirit tells you is instruction on proper management of the inheritance.

*There is nothing better than the Spirit. It would be foolish for someone who inherited a mansion to desire to go live in a dumpster! To win a super bowl leads you to want to win a pre-season game.

 ⁴ Have you experienced^[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 

• Think about your God moments. Times God came through. When He was faithful. When He saved. When He loved. When He comforted.
  • Did God do all that because you were faithful to a theology? A doctrine? Or because you cried out and prayed in desperate, sincere faith?
  • Did God do all of that, give you that experience so you can simply murmur, complain, argue, and bicker about wearing sandals in church?!

⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[c]7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 

• What matters to the zealous Jew is to be within the Abrahamic covenant and promise of inheritance, to be part of Abraham’s seed (Genesis 15 & 26)
  • Thus, it is simply by faith (pristis) we receive that inheritance

*This chapter is not about “how people get saved,” rather how does Abraham get his promised family

⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^[d] 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

• “Announced the gospel in advance”
  • The good news is that we all can receive the inheritance. We all can participate in God’s good, original design.
  • Think about God’s perspective here: A united humanity (family) is beautiful! Its what He created us to be!

*Example: My kids when they are playing nice versus when they are fighting

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

• Remember Galatians 1:8-9…if they want to live under a curse, let them. But you live free
• Paul understands something, if your going to follow Torah, you have to follow ALL of it. There is no such thing as a partial-Torah requirement. If Torah is required, then all of it is required. If its not, then none of it is.

*Do not confuse remembering or honoring portions of Torah (e.g. celebrating Passover, not eating pork, etc.) as applying to this…AS LONG AS nobody states it is required or puts you in better standing with God

¹¹ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith. ¹² The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” ^[g] 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”^[h] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

• Why is no one justified by the Law? Because if you follow the Law:
  • You believe we are still under the Deuteronomy 27-29 curse…and therefore not redeemed = How many Christians doubt their redemption?
  • Then Jesus died for nothing, therefore you dilute the blood of Jesus and the grace of God = You don’t’ think your sin is bad enough requiring Jesus to die for
  • Jesus’ faithfulness was not enough = You believe God is not smart enough, strong enough, or loving enough
  • To live under the law means you live by your own faithfulness to it, and no one is faithful to the law = You think higher of yourself or mistrust God so you rely on your intelligence, strength, and love of self

*Simply, one anchors on Jesus, the other anchors on yourself

Questions for Guided Discussion

1. What are your “circumcision” issues, or what are some things that you’ve experienced as a “circumcision” issue in the church. Why do you, or those churches hold such a high view of it? Who or what has bewitched us?
2. Think of a time you were “Church searching” or left a church. Think of the reasons why you left or didn’t stay. You separated yourself from that church family, meaning the reason you left was MORE important to you then the people there. Was it valid and would Jesus agree?
3. Why is it so easy to “end in the flesh” when we start with the Spirit? Was the Spirit not enough? Do we get bored, or do we easily forget the grace to which we were saved? How do we guard against it?
4. Why do “mature” disciples want to so easily influence less-mature disciples in their own dogmatics? Share some good and bad advice you received as new believer. If you are a newer believer, what are some things you’d like advice on?
5. Share some of your “God-moments.” Times God came through, was faithful, loved you, or rescued you. Do you think that has anything to do with your dogmatics? Your theology? Your faithfulness? If not, then does that change how you disciple people?
6. Like the Judaizers in Paul’s day, we often can miss, or forget the “whole gospel.” This leads us to rely on our own capacities to get through life. In what areas are you currently not trusting the strength, faithfulness, knowledge, and power of God? What part of the gospel are you missing?

Weekly Challenge: Spend this week reflecting on where you started in faith, the situation you were saved from, or a powerful “God-moment.” Reflect on God’s character in that situation. Then, make a list of adjectives that would describe you or your situation. Then, make a list of your “circumcision” issues you hold now. Cross off any issue that didn’t matter to you in that condition or situation. What are you left with on the list?