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GALATIANS - I Have Been Crucified With Christ
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Galatians
PART 3: THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE GOSPEL, THEIR INTENTION AND THEIR RESULTS (Galatians 3:1 – 4:31)
1. Only the believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:1-5)
GALATIANS 3:1-5
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? 5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Having evidenced historically, in the first two chapters, the validity of his apostolic power, and his gospel to his disturbed churches, Paul began to teach them, in detail, how man is justified before God only by faith, and not by his conduct, or his keeping of the laws and rites.
The Galatian churches were active and full of life in their first stage, but suddenly they became weak, as if a spell were cast among them. Their astute powers of judgment, discernment of spirits, and courageous faith disappeared, and nothing remained but doubts and questions about the principle of faith.
The Galatians never heard Paul preaching humanism, or submission to the laws as a condition of the new covenant. Contrarily, he portrayed to his hearers the Son of God nailed to the accursed tree when he atoned for the sins of the world. Is he who was crucified the end and business of your life? Do you have other ends? Let not his image and his stretched hands leave your mind day and night, for he is your only refuge in this world, and the only Intercessor in the other world.
He, who confesses his sins before Christ, and believes in his substitutionary atonement for us in the wrath of God, becomes sanctified, and receives the life of God in the gift of the Holy Spirit. How great is the divine approach to us, for the Spirit of the Lord is the Lord himself. This Holy Spirit dwells in us, not because of our goodness, but on the contrary, because we confess our malice, and our inability to do good, the power of God makes us good and filled with the eternal love.
The dwelling of the Holy Spirit in man is a result of the death of Christ. There has been no prevention from the coming of the comforting Spirit to the repentant ever since the crucifixion of Jesus. However, this Spirit does not dwell in those who do not believe in the Son of God and his atonement. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. Yet, he who loves the lover is changed to his love.
Did your life mix with the Holy Spirit? He does not sanctify you formally in external ways, such as abstention from smoking, playing, or fashion, for nothing sanctifies you except the blood of Christ and his Holy Spirit. Christ is our holiness.
Where the Spirit of the Lord dwells in the justified believer, he sanctifies him completely, changes his mind and his conduct, and leads him to the works of love. The most important question in your faith life is: Did the Holy Spirit dwell in your heart?
Do not escape this essential question, but ask your Lord prayerfully, where are you in your spiritual state?
If you asked us how to obtain the power of God, we would answer: Your faith unites you with the merciful Son of God, who establishes his essence in you. Without holding fast to Christ willfully and forever, the Holy Spirit does not continue in you. So, do not deceive yourself. If you do not commit yourself completely to your crucified Savior, you will not experience the power of his Spirit, even if you learned the Holy Bible by heart, or you were born Christian, or you were formally baptized. Your faith saves you. It is your final commitment to Jesus Christ, your Lord.
The devil tempts the saints in Christ, by urging them on compliances, which Christ did not call them to practice, as if the cross were not sufficient for them, or the holiness of the Spirit needed human additions. Remember, dear brother, that by faith only God gave you the power of his Spirit. Just believe, and heaven will open its windows to you.
Ripe believers are not protected from this temptation. Even those who overcome persecutions, sometimes fall to self- sanctification in full contempt of the death of Christ. Even those who are gifted with healing powers and effective prayers stumble in the question of how Christ died for their sanctification.
PRAYER: O Father, we thank you because you reconciled the world to the sacrifice of your Son, and you justified and sanctified us completely by his death. We worship to you as dead to whom you gave life by your Holy Spirit, and we ask you to keep us, together with all your saints, away from self-sanctification by human laws and judgments that we may not despise the great cross of you Son, who perfected us by redemption once and forever.
QUESTION:
- How are we saved?