1 John 3:16


"By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Sunday 24 January 2010

Foolish Galatians

O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth…This only would I learn of you, Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:1-3).

The first point that we see here is that receiving the Spirit is new birth. Paul is speaking here about the beginning of our Christian life. What makes us Christians? We have received the Spirit of God.

But how did we receive the Spirit? Was it by fulfilling certain conditions, or was it by the hearing of faith? The hearing of faith means Jesus speaking into our heart, to give us His faith. It is an unconditional entrance of faith into our heart, by which we believe and by which our heart is changed. This is hearing, the entrance of His word/faith by grace.

Paul is pointing out that the Galatians were not born again by meeting a list of conditions from law, i.e. by their own efforts in the flesh. The Christian life begins by grace without us having anything to contribute to it. Paul then rightly asks, “If that is how you began, why do you think you can continue some other way? Why do you think that you can sustain yourself, if you could not start yourself?”.

This teaches us that we walk the same way that we start, through the faith of Christ. Sanctification is given and sustained the same way as justification, by Christ’s merits and not by our merits. Just as we are not born by the law, neither do we live or walk by the law. Sanctification is part of the finished work, just as justification is. This is our correct biblical heritage as Pentecostal/Evangelicals.
We will find this difficult to understand if we do not have a gospel foundation. If we do not know that repentance is a gift then we will not see that sanctification (continued lived out repentance) is a gift.

No comments: