January 11, 2023

Galatians 3: 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (NIV)

Nobody was ever saved by keeping the Law.*

Paul is my hero. Not because of all the adventures he survived; not just for the sermons he preached. I admire him because when something needed to be said, he said it. Speaking the truth in love has its place but there really isn’t a tactful way to say, “Are you crazy?” 

So what were the Galatians doing that so alarmed Paul? After believing and accepting the gospel, they were foolishly trying to earn salvation by imposing elements of the old law upon the church. Paul needed to convince them of the law’s futility as a way to God. 

What led to this perversion of the gospel? Simply stated: human nature. Jews and Gentiles were still getting used to the idea that they were expected to co-exist in the church. It seems to be the way of every culture to feel superior to every other culture. The Jews, with their “exalted history and highly developed religion,”* were especially snobbish. These Galatian Jews may have been converted to Christianity, but they struggled with turning their backs on their Jewish heritage. And so, they developed the theory that before you could be a Christian, you first had to become a Jew. A similar situation used to be prevalent when foreign missionaries tried to force their western culture upon their converts. It is never right to add steps to God’s plan for salvation. 

Besides the culture wars being fought among the Galatian churches, another problem seems to have existed: lack of leadership. Christianity was still fresh and new so there was probably a shortage of leaders who possessed the depth of knowledge and spiritual maturity to help keep young churches on the right track. 

Paul’s outrage is a warning to us that we should be careful not to allow unscriptural and extra-scriptural teachings to creep into our churches. Strong spiritual leadership is crucial to the life of the church. We are also reminded that heaven will contain people from every “tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5: 9) for whom Jesus died – and cultural differences, if they exist at all, will have nothing to do with how we worship in eternity.

Disaster is inevitable when religious leaders encourage people in unbiblical ways.*