Galatians 3

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Amplified:
O you foolish
and
thoughtless
and
superficial
Galatians,
who has bewitched you [that you would act like this],
to whom—right before your very eyes—Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [in the gospel message]?

Scathing!!!

WHO! Bewitched!
Definition:

• cast a spell on and gain control over (someone) by magic.
  “his relatives were firmly convinced that he was bewitched”
  synonyms: cast/put a spell on, enchant;
• enchant and delight (someone).
  “they both were bewitched by the country and its culture”
  synonyms: captivate, enchant, entrance, enrapture, charm, beguile, delight, fascinate, enthrall
  “we were bewitched by the surroundings”

Strongs(Blue Letter Bible Resource) (G940) defines it:

1. to speak ill of one, to slander, traduce him
2. to bring evil on one by feigning praise or an evil eye
3. to charm, to bewitch

Thayers Greek Lexicon explains this word:
“of those that lead away others into error by wicked arts”

Witches were not looked upon favorably!
Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood [shall be] upon them.
Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Revelation in 21:8 and 22:15 place witchcraft and sorcery outside of the Kingdom of Heaven.
King Saul is said to have died for seeking the insights of a witch in 1 Chronicles 10:13-14

Paul says in Galatians 1:8-9

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

He is coming from his understanding of the old testament – the Jewish Bible – witchcraft is a destructive force! He is using very strong language, and stating that they should be accursed is just agreeing with God’s words!

Witchcraft is idolotry – and God does not look kindly upon idolotry:
Exodus 20:1

And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Somewhere around 2001, I wrote a web page on Eclectic, dealing with Witchcraft.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

The books of John – First, Second and Third – speak a lot about how to test the spirits.
Jesus warned us of False Prophets –

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Jesus warned us that the closer to the time he returns(and we are closer now than in Peter, James and John’s day) the more danger there will be: Matthew 24:

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

This cry of Paul’s to the Galatians is as important to us today as it was in the first century.
And, between he and John(as well as the written gospels which give us Christ’s words) – we can KNOW how to beware of the bewitching of false prophets.

2 Timothy 4
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Paul even warned the Corinthians!

2 Corinthians 11:3-4
3 But I am afraid that, even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from the simplicity of [your sincere and] pure devotion to Christ.
4 For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception].

I’m not sure if the Galatians were as aware of the seriousness of this accusation, but I do know that Paul is going to try to lay it out for them. I’m glad, because I know that I become a little jew – leaning on rules – to not have to seek God’s face for answers. I KNOW, because of Paul’s writings, that I do not want to fall again into the darkness of the law, rules, and works. I KNOW I do not want to be judged by them! Paul’s writings are deep, wide, and thick. Let’s dive in.

Galatians 3
3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 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—

I have to keep floating between versions, and the one that helps me the most is the Amplified.

Galatians 3:2-5 AMP
2 This is all I want to ask of you: did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying [the requirements of] the Law, or was it the result of hearing [the message of salvation and] with faith [believing it]?
3 Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]?
4 Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing—if indeed it was all for nothing?
5 So then, does He who supplies you with His [marvelous Holy] Spirit and works miracles among you, do it as a result of the works of the Law [which you perform], or because you [believe confidently in the message which you] heard with faith?

How did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Did He show up because you were doing good works?
Or did you HEAR the preaching, and believe it – and received it!

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Ephesisans 2:8-9AMP
8 For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;
9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].

The point is, if there is any way that our works can save us, then Christ’s death is in vain!

Galatians 2:21 AMP
21 I do not ignore or nullify the [gracious gift of the] grace of God [His amazing, unmerited favor], for if righteousness comes through [observing] the Law, then Christ died needlessly. [His suffering and death would have had no purpose whatsoever.]”

I want to follow closely the true Gospel – because Hebrews 6:4-6 puts the fear of God into my heart:

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Hebrews 10:26-27
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

In this last day – nearer to the end of the age – I want to make sure that I cling to the right gospel! To trust in works is to nullify, negate, or diminish the work of Christ on the cross.
On this web site, if one does a search for the tag grace, you will find many many blogs that I have tagged grace over the years. It is by GRACE! I am saved!

Romans 7 explains the purpose of the Law – Paul explains the struggle.
He concludes this chapter crying out:

Romans 7:24-25
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Apparently the Galatians had ‘suffered’ many things on behalf of the gospel – whether dying to the flesh personally, or actually having persecution. Paul asks them basically – is it worth it to go back to being a slave to the law? Was that the price you were wanting to pay?
We are asked to count the cost…is that gospel worth that price?

Galatians 3:6-9
AMP –
6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, [as conformity to God’s will and purpose—so it is with you also].

ESV
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Abraham?

I’m going to try this…I hope it works!
The Bible Guy at The Bible Helper shares a power point on Abraham!

I’m going to cut Galatians short here – because there is something that Paul is trying to say…

EVEN as ABRAHAM believed GOD!
THAT faith is what was counted to HIM as righteousness!

Where did Abraham come from?

From Adam to Noah – Genesis 5
Noah’s Grandfather was Methuselah. LONGEST LIVING HUMAN!
Enoch was his Great Grandfather. HE WALKED WITH GOD!
This is the ancestry of SHEM!

Thanks to Knowing Jesus – here is a list of scriptures about Abraham, his family and his descendants.

Genesis 11 gives us the whole lineage, following the Tower of Babel.

Noah believed God – AND BUILT AN ARK FOR A FLOOD!

Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

SHEM! The son of Noah!
Shem RODE IN THE ARK!Genesis 6; Genesis 9; Genesis 10

Abraham descended from Shem, and is one of the heroes of the faith!
Genesis 11:26-32 give the snapshot of Abraham’s Beginning in the Bible.

Hebrews 11:8-10
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

The key here is Hebrews 11:6

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Jesus asks at the end of a parable:

Luke 18:8b
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

How is a heart blameless(or other versions say perfect) towards God?

Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 4:29
But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Matthew 22:36-39
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Also in Mark 12:29-31;

This passage is interestingly titled “Circumcise your Heart”

Deuteronomy 10:12-15
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

How?

Psalm 119:9
BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Psalm 119:11
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

And what were those commands?

Luke 10:26-28

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-38
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

AND

John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

AND

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

AND

James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

And now we are right back at the beginning!
How did we receive the Holy Spirit? By works or by faith?

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And that is only because:

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Ephesians 2
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Our salvation IS ALL A WORK OF GOD!
Yes, we have freewill.
Yes, we have to receive Him, and believe –
but that very ability is a gift from God!
The downside is that we can say no –
or we can follow “another” gospel:

Galatians 1:6-7
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Oh Father God, let us NOT be bewitched by the false teachings of this current age.
Oh Father God, deliver us from evil!
Oh Father God, open our eyes that we might see clearly!
Oh Father God, make the “tickling ears” teachings ring so false in our ears, because we have hidden YOUR word in our hearts, and we have been like Bereans and searched out the scriptures, and we love you with our WHOLE heart!
In Jesus’s precious name, I Pray!
Amen.

Itty Bitty Bible Study On Galatians 1:1-10
IBBS on Galatians 1:11-24 & 2:1-10
IBBS on Galatians 2:11-21

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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