From the recording Galatians
Galatians chapter 3 verses 1 to 14 - Paul Calls the Witnesses - Dr J Stewart Gillespie
Thought of the court room scene in 2:16.
This time the man in the dock is the Galatian, a false professor, having gone so far with Christ but turned back & rejected Him.
Note that there was a variety of people in the assembly at Galatia:
Apostate – some verses can only apply to him (5:1-3). Example of apostate Judas Iscariot
Genuine Believer – some verses can only apply to him (3:26)
Backslider – Believer young in the faith & caught in the middle, not knowing which way to turn (4:9)
Sometimes speak of one, sometimes of the other, bear in mind that this mixture exists at Galatia.
Consider Chapter 3 as the apostle, not so much God, but Paul has put the Galatians in the dock. There charge: abandoning Christ. They plead innocent, they didn’t know they were rejecting/abandoning the saviour. Thought it was alright to go off after Judaism.
Paul calls the witnesses:
Witness 1 – The Cross (3:1)
Witness 2 – The Spirit (3:2-3)
Witness 3 – Their Experience (3:4)
Witness 4 – The Example of Abraham (3:6-14)
Witness 1 – The Cross (3:1)
Christ crucified presented in power by the best of preachers
Preached not just with fact but with feeling.
Taken them to the cross & showed them the saviour (v1b). “Crucified” – perfect participle, past event with present consequences. Almost as if they had stood there at the foot of the cross.
Had felt the burden of their sin. Had been moved by the thought of the vastness of the love of God towards them. Touched by the fact that Christ had died for them. Relieved to have unburdened themselves at the foot of the cross, like ‘Christian’ in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”:
Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing:
Thus far I did come laden with my sin;
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in
Till I came hither: What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack?
Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me!
How “foolish” to hear the testimony of the preacher, to feel the power of the message, hear the voice of God, but to disobey, to disregard it as fable, as fiction, as foolishness (1Co1:18).
2 main words for foolishness in NT:
“to fail to use intelligence” (Galatians 3:1) – not that they didn’t know – they didn’t care. Not that they couldn’t understand – they didn’t want to. They were culpable.
We hear the words of the saviour echoing down through the centuries, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger” (Lam1:12).
“evidently set forth”: ’to announce by posting up a written tablet to announce/promulgate.’
Witness 2 – The Spirit (3:2-3)
From Heb6:4 possible for an unsaved person to have some experience of the Spirit: objective miracles (3:5); convicted of sin – Felix (Acts24:25).
Christian knows far more of the Spirit:
Transformation of Character: Gal5:22-23; 1Jo3:9,10
Revelation of Truth: 1Jo2:27
Presentation of Christ: Jo16:13-15 – Person of Christ (v14), Path of Christ (v13), Possessions of Christ (v14,15)
Experience of God: Jo16:7
Intuitive Understanding & Insight: Rom8:26-27, 1Jo2:20,27
Conviction of Sin: Jo16:8-11
Have you known all of this & yet you still go back?
Witness 3 – Their Experience (3:4,5)
Things they suffered (v4) & Things they saw (v5).
Their initial fervour, attitude condemns there later backsliding.
We’ve tried this gospel message & there’s nothing in it! Their own experience contradicts this excuse.
What about 10/20/30yrs ago? When the Lord has dealings with you, when He touched your life, transformed your soul?
When you lived for Him & would have died for Him?
Sometimes our greatest condemnation comes from self condemnation!
You say there’s nothing in it & yet your life has been turned upside down by it!
“suffered” : ” pavscw” : to suffer, to be affected by something – could possibly refer to any experience good or bad, probably bad.
Witness 4 – The Example of Abraham (3:6-14)
Not only condemned by self, condemned by another
Since time in memoriam man has only been right with God by faith.
We have no excuse in believing that we should go after law keeping
Just in case in our defence we say that we were trying to find salvation the same way men of old found salvation.
This gospel message, never heard it anywhere else before. New fangled thing this. Better sticking to tried & tested religion. This must be a cult thing!
The Principle of Justification by Faith (v6-9)
Abraham justified by faith (v6) cf. Gen15:6.
Abraham – faith to commence his journey (Heb11:8) – “he went out,” faith to continue the journey (Heb11:9) – “he sojourned” – Faith to start (11:8), faith to stay (11:9).
“accounted”: “logizomai” (v6):to reckon, impute, number:
God could see all the faults & failings of Abraham’s life and how Abraham ‘fell short of the Glory of God’ but He credited righteousness to Abraham’s account.
“not something he earned or merited; it was something that God credited him with” (Leon Morris)
God who justifies, not our personal faith (v8), as if we deserve it.
“In thee shall all nations be blessed” (v8) – cf. the 2 fold illustration “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen22:17). Note that this blessing was independent of circumcision – which was to his family (Gen17:12,13) but the blessing was to “all nations.”
Note the personification of scripture in v8. When scripture speaks, God speaks.
The Principle of Law Keeping/Works Righteousness (v10-14)
Many sincere folk, who regard themselves as Christian would endeavour to seek salvation by law keeping, but note the standard set by law: “in all things” (v10). We choose a hard task master if we choose law!
“small lapses now & then are not to be overlooked” (Morris p103).
Verse 10, quotation from Deut27:26.
Verse 11, quotation from Hab 2:4.
Verse 12, quotation from Lev18:5.
Verse 13 – the engine that makes the whole thing work.
Principle of redemption from the law, cf. Ex21:30. A man goes free from the curse of the law by the payment of a ransom price.
Part of our sermon series in Paul's letter to the Galatians, a systematic, chapter by chapter study, expounding the truth, teaching and meaning of this epistle. Free to download ministry or listen online.
Yours by Grace in Christ
Dr J Stewart Gillespie