Christians have a remarkable ability to complicate simple things. We know that salvation is a gift of grace. We know that Jesus did the saving. We know that we received Him by faith. Then, somehow, we can start reaching for scorecards to measure our standing with God. We count our Bible reading, our prayers, our church attendance, our giving, our serving, our discipline, and just about anything else we can put into a column. Those things have their place in the Christian life but they cannot carry the weight of our confidence before God.
This is where Paul finds the Galatian churches. He had preached the gospel to them. They heard about Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. They believed, and God gave them His Spirit. Then false teachers arrived and told them that Christ was only part of the pathway to salvation. If these Gentile believers really wanted to belong to God, they needed circumcision, Jewish ceremonies, and obedience to the law. These false teachers taught that Jesus was important, but not enough.
So Paul wrote with a high sense of urgency. In the first two chapters of Galatians, he defended the gospel. He showed that his gospel came from Christ, that grace had transformed his life, that the apostles in Jerusalem recognized the same gospel, and that he was willing to confront Peter when Peter’s conduct confused the truth of justification by faith. Paul has spent two chapters defending the gospel. Now, starting with chapter 3, he starts proving it.
Galatians 3 and 4 are packed with evidence. Paul will point to Abraham, the cross, the promise, the law, our identity as heirs, and our adoption as sons and daughters. Each argument presses toward the same conclusion—we are free by faith in Christ. And the first proof Paul puts on the table is the Holy Spirit.
He specifically points to their experience with the Spirit. They could debate the claims of the false teachers, wrestle with what the law required, and listen to somebody make a polished religious argument, yet they already lived through something that answered the question with great evidence. They had received the Holy Spirit with evidence of transformation. In other words, “Remember what God did in you through His Spirit!”
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?”
Galatians 3:1-5
With that, we begin a series of arguments why freedom is by faith alone in Christ alone. We will consider how genuine Christians can stop thinking clearly, why legalism can be so seductive, and why Paul directs our eyes back to Christ. The solution to foolish thinking is gospel mindfulness. “Look again,” he says. “Remember what you learned.” Confidence and assurance of salvation begins and ends with the gospel.
You can divide this passage into two parts. First, we see the foolishness of the flesh (Gal. 3:1), which will set up the series of arguments over the next two chapters of Galatians.. Second, we see the evidence of the Spirit (Gal. 3:2-5), which is the first argument. Together, we are reminded to remember what we saw—Christ crucified—and remember what God did—gave us the Holy Spirit. When these two truths stay in view, the argument becomes hard to miss. Jesus is enough. The Christian life begins by faith, continues by faith, and grows through dependence on the Spirit God has given us.
The Spirit proves freedom by faith.