‘Crucial Questions’
The idea of merited salvation has tremendous appeal to human pride and it’s at the heart of every man-made religious system. This is true of all the major living religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judahism, and the Christian cults. In these systems, salvation is what we earn, not what we receive. This is why the Christian gospel is so different and so foreign to our basic religious instincts. Biblical salvation is grounded solely in God’s grace and mercy; it’s not God’s response to human goodness.
Paul, the Apostle, had planted churches throughout the region of Galatia in Asia Minor. These churches were composed of both Gentile and Jewish converts. Tensions developed between these two groups as the Jews in the church pressured the Gentile men to be circumcised and were teaching that all Gentile converts were to keep Jewish traditions. Paul objected to this attempt to mix law and grace and called it ‘a different gospel’ (Gal. 1:6). What made the Galatians’ actions even more disturbing to Paul was the fact that they understood the gospel - “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified (Gal. 3:1).” When Paul preached to them he focused on the Cross. The statement ‘publicly portrayed as crucified’ refers to the content of Paul’s gospel message. When he preached Christ crucified he proclaimed it to be a redemptive event, not simply historical. At Calvary, Christ died as an atonement for the sins of his people, and his sacrifice was sufficient to save; no human work was needed to be added.
Four Crucial Questions
The Apostle provokes the Galatians to consider the wrongness of their ‘works righteousness’ by asking them four crucial questions. The first was - “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith (Gal. 3:2)?” This is an important question - “did you merit the infilling of the Holy Spirit by law keeping or was it the gift of grace received by faith?” The plain answer is that they came into the life of the Spirit by placing their faith in Christ, not by keeping Jewish law. The same is true of us; we’re saved by faith, not by works (Eph. 2:8,9). Building on this first question, Paul poses three more - “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh (Gal. 3:3)?” Stated another way - “Since you have come into the life of the Spirit by faith, can you expect to come into Christian maturity through human effort?” The expected answer to the question is “no”; the redemptive work started by the Holy Spirit can never be completed by the flesh. Question three is - “Did you suffer so many things in vain…(v.4)?” There’s a variant in the text here. The phrase “did you suffer” can also be translated - “did you experience?”.....”did you experience so many things in vain?” With this idea in mind, the New English Bible translates the line - “Have you had such wonderful spiritual experiences all to no purpose?”....“Did you suffer for Christ and your Christian witness for no good purpose?” The answer to both of these questions is ‘no’. Then there’s a fourth question - “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith (v. 3:5)?” The anticipated answer is - ‘by hearing with faith.’ This faith principle has always been the way God’s saving provision is apprehended. Paul points to Abraham - “just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness (v. 3:6).” Abraham was declared righteous because of his faith, not because of any moral merit.
Righteousness Acquired by Faith
This is a counterintuitive idea and it’s unique to the biblical message. Right standing with God is acquired by faith, by “hearing with faith.” However, it’s not faith without an object; it’s faith in response to hearing the gospel and trusting God’s redemptive promise. It’s surrendering to the Lordship and rule of Christ. It’s turning away from a self-serving claim to goodness and turning to Christ and confessing our sin to him, believing that he alone is able to save! This understanding that righteousness is imputed to us by ‘hearing with faith’ forms the heart of primitive Judaism and is the core theme of the Christian gospel.
The message that we’re declared righteous by faith is what makes the Christian gospel so compelling. And when we embrace Christ by faith we in some mysterious way, even as Gentiles, become children of Abraham. Jewishness, then, is strictly an ethnic, cultural, and religious identifier which carries absolutely no spiritual or redemptive weight. The Jew-Gentile distinction is inconsequential; all people of every race, language, and ethnicity are reconciled to God the same way, by placing their faith in Christ. He’s the only redeemer, our saving substitute, the embodiment and giver of eternal life. This understanding of salvation strips away our pride and eliminates any basis for human boasting. Salvation comes from outside of us as a gift! Here’s the question we need to answer: are we foolishly trusting our good works, our family ties, our church membership, or have we abandoned this failed project of works-religion and embraced Christ by faith?