1 O 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 works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

3 Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

6 So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Paul Bogg

As a new Christian, I remember the time it really started to hit home to me that God the Father would give up his very own Son to death in order to purchase my life into his wonderful eternal family. It was very moving – that anyone might do something for me was hard to fathom, let alone God himself. This was completely amazing on another level. The wonder of this has never been lost on me, and I have been helpfully reminded throughout the years through fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ and listening to sermons preached faithfully on the Bible.

The Galatians had heard this gospel too. But what started off well in faithfulness, looks like it's finishing off poorly in faithlessness – or at least, this is what the apostle Paul is warning them about. Not only had they heard and believed the gospel, but they had also been lavished with God's Spirit and experienced miracles among them. But now, a kind of faithlessness has set in – a type of works-based religion, instead of faith based on God's grace in Christ alone. And that works-based religion is a danger to their relationship with God.

I have to ask myself based on today’s passage: Am I so foolish? Or do I know, in the depths of my heart, that Christ was crucified for me, to cover all my sins and bring me forgiveness for all time, no matter what my life circumstance may be? Because to receive this gift, to be right with God, and to continue to benefit from this gift, my response today only needs to be in faith: Yes, I believe. And my response tomorrow only needs to be in faith: Yes, I believe. And my response every day just needs to be in faith: Yes, I believe. So let's remind one another regularly of the truth of this gospel, lest we too start to forget that there are no works that our hands need to accomplish to be right with God. God has done every work necessary to make the way back to him through his Son, Jesus Christ, and his death on the cross.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul is a member of our Bossley Park morning congregation.