Rachel Workman: 3 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced[a] so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?
5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
It's as if God knew we would have a harder time believing than we do with working for our salvation. Wouldn't that be easy? If we could say I did this many works now I get salvation. But then what did Christ do? Nothing. I would have made the cross meaningless. And what Christ did for you and me is not meaningless. I choose to believe.
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John Burnett: You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of [b]the Law, or by hearing [c]with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun [d]by the Spirit, are you now [e]being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you [f]suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works [g]miracles among you, do it by works of [h]the Law, or by hearing [i]with faith? Paul is chastising the Galatians as they keep reverting back to a works-based religion instead of the faith and Holy Spirit given through the grace shown to us by Christ. In verse 3, he basically calls them fools for thinking that their works have anything to do with their salvation.
Happy Reformation Day. Satan created Halloween to take our mind off of one of the most important days in the history of the church. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517.
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Tomorrow’s reading for Galatians 3:6-9.
6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”[b] 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”[c] 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
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