July 1, 2024

Galatians 3:1-9 (HCSB)
Justification through Faith 
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified? 2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? 5 So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? 6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, 7 then understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons. 8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. 9 So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

Sherry Dorris
In the early church, those who taught a combination of God’s grace and human effort were called “Judaizers.” The word Judaizer comes from a Greek verb meaning “to live according to Jewish customs.” The word appears in Galatians 2:14 where Paul describes how he confronted Peter for forcing Gentile Christians to “Judaize.” According to gotquestions.org, a Judaizer taught that, in order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he must conform to the Mosaic Law. Circumcision, especially, was promoted as necessary for salvation. Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first, and then they could come to Christ. The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). This false doctrine was dealt with in Acts 15 and strongly condemned in the book of Galatians. In these verses Paul asks the Galatians who mesmerized them, causing them to lose the freedom they had concerning their salvation because they had fallen back to the way of the law of the Old Testament. The people of Galatia had heard the gospel, knew who Jesus was, and that He had been crucified, but they still fell for the false teachings and just an overall lack of spiritual sense. Sounds a lot like the world we live in today! How easily we are swayed to follow the ways of the world believing that there is a magic cure for everything and that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Of course, that is just a lie from the devil. God requires complete faith in that we believe He will do as He has promised. No matter how hard we work, we cannot earn our way to Heaven. In Genesis 15:6, Abraham believed God when He promised he would have numerous descendants and that all nations would be blessed through him. “Father Abraham had many sons; I am one of them and so are you so let’s just praise the Lord.” Keep the faith!