There was a time when my toddlers would put anything into their mouths. If it could fit in the hand, it would fit into the mouth. Actually, that isn’t entirely true. They went through a phase when they would pull themselves up to the coffee table and gnaw on it. The table didn’t fit in their mouths, but that didn’t stop them from trying.
Christians can sometimes act like toddlers. We can grab hold of an idea and swallow it before asking whether it is true. We hear a confident teacher, an emotional argument, a popular opinion, or something that simply sounds right, and we take it in without much thought.
Enter Galatia. False teachers had come behind Paul and taught the churches that Jesus was important, but not enough. To be fully accepted by God, they said, Gentile believers needed to become Jews and take on the rituals and requirements that marked Jewish life, beginning with circumcision.
The Galatians should have known better. In fact, they did know better. This is why Paul has such stern language opening up the third chapter of his letter to them:
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.”
Galatians. 3:1
He meant to alarm. When I was young, my mother could get my attention from the other side of the house by using my full name, “Jacob Paul Abshire!” If it were in a text message, which didn’t exist at that time, by the way, it would have been in all caps. I didn’t have to wonder what was meant. The use of my full name indicated that I was in some sort of trouble. I did something wrong, or needed to act quickly to do something right. Both were true of the Galatians. And, it was like Paul was hollering each of one of their names in full.
Despite how it looks, Paul was not insulting or questioning their level of intelligence. The word “foolish” carries the idea of turning your mind off, not having an empty mind. He wasn’t saying that they were ignorant, uneducated, or incapable of understanding. He was saying that they failed to employ their thinking faculties to filter using the truth they actually possessed. They knew the truth, but they were not using the truth.
It’s important to make that distinction. Jesus used similar language with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. After His resurrection, He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe” (Luke 24:25). Their problem was connected to belief. They heard the truth from Jesus and they knew the truth from the Scriptures. Yet, when everything around them became confusing and painful, they stopped interpreting their circumstances according to what they already knew to be true. Instead, they were interpreting the truth according to their circumstances.
The Galatians were doing something similar. They heard and believed the gospel. They received the Holy Spirit when putting their trust in Christ. Yet now they were allowing a new message to reshape the way they thought about their standing with God. That is worth repeating. They were genuinely born again, but willingly being fooled by a false gospel (Gal. 1:6-7).
Paul calls them “brothers and sisters” throughout the letter (Gal. 1:11). He reminds them that they received the Holy Spirit when they believed (Gal. 3:2). Later, he describes them as sons and daughters of God who have received the Spirit of His Son and can cry, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6). These were people who belonged to Christ. They had been born again by the Spirit of God. And they were still fooled.
Knowing the truth doesn’t automatically mean you are thinking with the truth.
Listen. Paul’s alert ought to cause all believers to sit up straight. “O foolish Christian!” This could be written to any of us. Genuine believers can be deceived. Genuine believers can think foolishly. Knowing the truth doesn’t automatically mean you are thinking with the truth. You can know your Bible and still let your emotions lead you. You can love Jesus and still be persuaded by a confident voice. You can hear something repeated often enough that it starts sounding true. You can follow somebody you respect and slowly stop checking what they say. You can want something to be true so badly that you stop asking whether it actually is. That is how foolishness works. We don’t always lose the truth. Sometimes we simply stop using it.
Paul’s concern is that the Galatians had stopped using the truth they already knew to evaluate what they were now being told. The false teachers didn’t have to erase everything Paul had taught them. They only had to convince the Galatians to stop thinking carefully about it. Christians are still capable of doing the same thing today.
Every sermon needs to be tested by Scripture. Every teacher needs to be tested by Scripture. Every idea needs to be tested by Scripture. Every feeling needs to be tested by Scripture. Every conclusion needs to be tested by Scripture.
That includes the things we want to hear. A teaching can make us feel secure and still be wrong. An idea can be popular and still be wrong. A preacher can be sincere and still be wrong. We can be sincere and still be wrong. Sincerity doesn’t protect us from error. Spiritual maturity requires us to think carefully with the truth God has revealed.
At the same time, this shouldn’t cause us to become cold, analytical, or suspicious of everyone. How miserable would we become if that were true! Paul is calling believers to biblical discernment. God’s truth becomes the standard by which everything else is measured. So, we should listen carefully, think carefully, and compare what we receive to what God has already said. This is done by becoming more and more familiar with the truth of God’s Word.
The Galatians were being offered a message that sounded religious, serious, disciplined, and even biblical. It came wrapped in the language of obedience and holiness. Yet, it distorted the gospel because it added human works to the finished work of Christ. So Paul sounds the alarm, “O foolish Galatians! Turn your mind back on. Recall what you know. Test what you are hearing. Refuse to swallow everything that lands in your hand.”
Knowing the truth is a gift. Learning to think with the truth is part of Christian maturity. And that raises Paul’s next question: “Who has bewitched you?” That is where we will go next.