seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Galatians 3:1 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? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a] 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? 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. 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.
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.”[e] 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”[f] 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.
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[i] meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith,[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
a. Galatians 3:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
b. Galatians 3:4 Or suffered
c. Galatians 3:6 Gen. 15:6
d. Galatians 3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18
e. Galatians 3:10 Deut. 27:26
f. Galatians 3:11 Hab. 2:4
g. Galatians 3:12 Lev. 18:5
h. Galatians 3:13 Deut. 21:23
i. Galatians 3:16 Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7
j. Galatians 3:23 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus … 23 Before faith cam
This is from the easy English site.
Most of the Christians in Galatia were not Jews. They did not know the Jewish laws. But they had received the Holy Spirit. It happened when they trusted Christ. God gave the Holy Spirit to the Christians because they trusted Christ. They could not earn the Holy Spirit. They did not have to work hard to receive the Holy Spirit. They did not need to obey the laws and traditions of religion. They did not even need to obey the Jewish laws. They did not have to become Jews. They simply had to trust Christ.
All the Jews come from Abraham’s physical family. The Jews are proud of this. They often say that Abraham is their ‘father’ (for example John 8:37-39). But Paul said that Abraham’s true family behave like him. Now God accepts everyone, Jews and Gentiles, who trusts Jesus Christ. So Abraham’s family is a spiritual family.
The ‘Scripture’ refers to the part of the Bible that we call the Old Testament. In Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18, you can read what God promised to Abraham. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus was born. So, a long time ago, God decided what he would do in the future. And he kept his promise when Jesus came to this world. To ‘bless’ means to be kind to people. And it means to do good things for them. God did not bless just Abraham’s family. God did not bless just the Jews. God promised to bless people in every nation. This means that Gentiles did not need to become Jews. God blesses the Gentiles when they behave like Abraham. They simply need to trust God.
In this verse, Paul was referring to the false teachers. The Jewish laws are not bad. God gave his laws to the Jewish people for a purpose. The laws teach God’s holy standards to people. They show people how to live in the right way. But they cannot make people good. Paul referred to Deuteronomy 27:26. God will accept a person who obeys completely all the Jewish laws. However, nobody is perfect. Nobody can obey the Jewish laws completely. So nobody can make God accept them by means of their own efforts. God will not accept a person who obeys only some of the laws. If someone does not obey a law, then he sins. God is angry about sin and he punishes it. The false teachers thought that God accepted them. Instead, God was angry with them.
Most Bibles translate the word ‘judgement’ as ‘curse’. To ‘curse’ is the opposite of to ‘bless’. A curse is a judgement with a suitable punishment. Nobody has obeyed all God’s laws. We have all sinned. Therefore, we all deserve God’s punishment. But Jesus Christ was perfect because he always obeyed God. Jesus received God’s judgement and punishment instead of us. Jesus freed us from that punishment. Paul then referred to Deuteronomy 21:23. In the Old Testament, the officials killed criminals as punishment. But if someone was a very bad criminal, they put his body on a wooden pole. It brought shame to the person. ‘Tree’ refers to wooden poles. They made a cross for Jesus from two wooden poles. He died on that cross because of God’s judgement.
The false teachers said that the Christians in Galatia needed to obey the Jewish laws. But God’s blessing does not come as people obey the laws. (‘God’s blessing’ means the good things that God gives to his people.) Instead, people can have a right relationship with God because of God’s promise to Abraham. Abraham did not earn or deserve God’s blessing. God chose Abraham simply because God is kind. And Abraham received God’s promise because Abraham trusted God.
The Christians in Galatia may have wanted to know why God gave his laws. God’s laws show what God’s holy standards are. Those laws clearly describe what is right and wrong behaviour. Before God gave his laws, people had sinned. But they did not realise how much they sinned. They had no standard to compare their behaviour with. As soon as God gave his laws, people were aware of their sin. God’s laws continued until Jesus Christ came.
In those days, rich families had slaves. Some of the slaves would look after the young children in the rich family. The slaves took the children to the children’s teachers. And the slaves guarded the children on the way. The slaves also trained and controlled the children. When the child became an adult, he did not need the slave any more. The slave did not control the adult child. Paul said that the Jewish law was like the slave. It taught people how to behave. It controlled people’s behaviour until Christ came. But the law could not give people a right relationship with God. Only Jesus Christ can do that.
This outtake caught my eye.... it's from the blueletterbible.org site.Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified: The idea behind clearly portrayed is something like “billboarded,” to publicly display as in setting on a billboard. Paul wondered how the Galatians could have missed the message because he certainly made it clear enough to them.
Oh I like that twist.... Billboarded.... what a word....
Twice a year my dad would load up the wife and kids in the car and travel from Gales Ferry, Conn to Front Royal, VA and on to Charlotte, NC. The trip was long and before we moved to Virginia Beach... there were four kids in the back of the car.... sharing limited space. The ride wasn't like it is now... there wasn't anything to keep us occupied.... no tablets... no videos... not headsets.... we had to like Dad's music or sit for days with our hands over our ears. We couldn't sleep.... there were too many of us in that back seat.... we were stuck.... and then I learned to read... and then the billboards became my game. I read them all... hunted them... by the time I hit town... I knew where to get tires, food and a place to play. Bill Boards... the tablets of the past.... Bill Boards were the TV commercials before TV was available on a road trip.
I think the commentary hit the nail on the head. God sculpted humans for the earth. He put them on the earth.... breathed into them so they would be animated [alive] and then he went back and sculpted more.... and people started bumping into each other. So God had to show them how not to bump into others.... God showed them how to step aside and let someone else pass. God gave them ten rules to keep them from hurting one another.... He wrote those rules down so that the humans could see them. The 10 Commandments written in stone were the first bill board.... right?
God knew those stupid ignorant humans wouldn't be able to keep to themselves.... they just kept bumping into one another... doing stupid ignorant human things.... chasing any shiny little object that caught their eye.... and so God sent His Son to straighten them out.
Jesus taught us that we should love God and we should love one another.... for that he was beaten and hung on a cross, pole, tree [stick or what ever needs to be the post] so everyone could see how horrible the stupid ignorant humans thought he was. How horrible... teaching people that if they love God and they love each other.... they will get along just fine and they would see Heaven.
We have the internet now.... so we can post job notices... sale notices... invitations and just thoughts all day long every day... but back in those days... people hung notices on a board or a post so others could see them.... that's where bill boards started.... posting a bill.... a notice...
The law... the 10 commandments.... was written on stone.... Jesus was hung on a post......
Bill boarded......