Faith
Introduction
The place of faith in the believer’s walk is crucial. Key
verse is Heb 11:6 ‘ But without faith it is impossible to please God, for it is
necessary for the one approaching God to believe that He is, and that He
becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’
This verse should be held in contrast with Rom 8:8 ‘And
those that are in the flesh cannot please God.’
However, our taking off point in our study of faith is Gal
3:1 ‘O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the
truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed publicly among you as
crucified?’
We need to remind ourselves the whole thrust of Paul’s letter
to the Galatian church is a rebuke and admonition to them to return to the
gospel of Christ, and not follow ‘a different gospel’ (Gal 1:6). This section
is put down here:
Gal 1:6 I marvel that you are turning so quickly from
Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
Gal 1:7 which is not another; except there are certain
people who trouble you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach a gospel to you other than what we preached to you, let
him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we have said before, and I say
again just now, if anyone preaches a gospel to you other than what you received,
let him be accursed.
From
here, we move on to Galatian chapter 3.
In
chapter 3, Paul rebukes the foolishness of the Galatian church who has been ‘bewitched’.
Could he be referring to their past, and current cultural context of a nation
of people who grew up amongst charms, amulets and much bewitching?
This bewitching
has caused them not to obey the truth. This truth is located in Jesus Christ
and His crucifixion. It is interesting that Paul’s concern is on crucifixion. He
is battling Judaizers who were insisting on circumcision. In his Galatian
epistle, Paul is continuously contrasting the gospel of Christ and His
crucifixion with the Judaizers insistence on circumcision as an ‘add-on’ to the
gospel, and Paul is going to strenuously resist this add-on.
In
chapter 3, Paul is going back to gospel basics. The truth is in the message of
Christ crucified for the remission of sins – the basic gospel message. Then, in
verse 2, justification and its effect, the Holy Spirit, is brought to the fore.
And with the next verse, the centrality of faith is introduced, apart from
works, and kind of works.
Gal 3:2 This only do I wish to learn from
you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith?
The
gospel message is Christ crucified for the remission of our sins, and the
receipt of the Holy Spirit. And this receiving of the Holy Spirit, according to
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is ‘by the hearing of faith’.
In the
following verses, we track Paul’s argument as he builds his case for faith.
Paul
is astonished. In verse 3, he asks, rhetorically, ‘Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the
Spirit, will you now be made perfect in the flesh?’
Our
new life in Christ as new creation began ‘in the Spirit’. Paul is teaching what
the Lord clearly taught in the gospel of John, chapter 3. In the discourse with
Nicodemus, Jesus said, ‘John 3:5 Jesus
answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water
and of Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’
This
being ‘made perfect in the flesh’ can reasonably be referred to our
sanctification process. Paul is saying here that our sanctification is no less
a work of the Spirit, and requiring the hearing of faith, as our regeneration and
genesis of new life in Christ did.
He goes
on to use Abraham as the illustration of what he is trying to teach the
Galatian church, and in doing so, he begins to build the argument for faith,
referring back to the hearing of faith. As he touched on the ‘hearing of faith’,
he is now going to discuss and assert the importance of faith by using the
foundational verse, ‘Gal 3:6 Just as Abraham
"believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness." And he
accords Abraham as ‘of faith’, and then attributes all those ‘of faith’ as sons
of Abraham.
The
emphatic promise is, ‘Gal 3:9 Therefore those
who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.’ This can be
cross-referred to Heb 11:6, and again contrasted with Rom 8:8.
Gal
3:22 But the Scripture has confined all
under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those
who believe. Gal 3:23 But before faith
came, we were kept in custody under the law, having been hemmed in for the
faith which was to be revealed.
The above two verses is a strong evidence from Scriptures
that ‘faith came’, and ‘that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be
given to those who believe’. Faith has to ‘come’, before we can ‘believe’. This
puts paid to the Arminian, semi-Pelagian, and all Pelagian ideas that man’s
will and therefore man’s part is needed in God’s work of salvation.
How wonderful the feet of those who come bearing good news. The
good news of Christ Jesus produces faith in all those who hear it as the Spirit
of God quickens the message to hearts. And this is not a one-time matter as the
apostle clearing explains in this chapter. This same process works all
through-out the believer’s life. All we need to do is ask for His grace which
is mediated to us through His word and Spirit.
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