Bewitched
Galatians 3:1-5
Our study tonight takes us to the third chapter of the book of Galatians in our continuing look at this most exciting and helpful book. We will be considering verses 1-5. Galatians 3:1-5.
Defection is an ugly word. So is the word deserter. Certainly, there is nothing more bewildering, and few things more sorrowing, than to see a Christian who defects, or deserts, the purity of the Christian faith by which he has been born again and by which he has been nurtured, to settle for something less. But strange as it may seem, many Christians do. We find that they begin well. They receive the grace of Christ extended in salvation; they live in humble faith, but soon they fall into systems of legalism, systems of ritual, systems of works. I wonder how many Christians, for example, have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ in a very personal way and have then fallen into a very liturgical church pattern, where they merely go through formalities and functions that have only external symbolism and no internal significance. I wonder how many people begin well, but then begin to substitute things like confirmation and communion and baptism and the Mass and any other kind of particular church rite for the realities of the Christian faith.
This is an issue that comes to full force in the book of Galatians, because this is the issue that confronts the heart of the Apostle Paul. He had been used as the mouthpiece of God to introduce the Galatians to the truth of the Gospel. He was the one who preached the gospel of grace; he was the one who exposed them to the magnificence of the Christian experience (which was by faith plus nothing) in the perfect and finished work of Jesus Christ. But since that time when he had begun with them, they had defected. They had deserted the simple purity of a grace gospel and substituted a form of religion, inferior and impotent.
This is not to say they had lost their salvation. It is to say, rather, that they substituted for the fullness of their life in Christ a form of religion that had no power and no joy. Furthermore, the unsaved world would get it's doctrine of salvation from their lives and if they live legalistic lives, the world then is to conclude that salvation comes by legalism and nothing could be further from the truth.
So Paul, in the book of Galatians, is extremely concerned about the defection of the Galatians to a legalism-oriented life. They have: one, robbed themselves of the fullness of blessing, two, robbed the world of a right view of the doctrine of salvation. Though they themselves are saved, they are living in non-conformity to the very doctrine by which they were saved.
Now we know that Satan never stops trying to destroy God's plan of salvation, so if God's plan is a plan of grace, Satan will try to overbuild grace with works. If it's a plan of faith, he'll try to add, on top of faith, something else. This is his plan. He did this in Galatia as he has done it throughout all of history. Remember a few weeks back when we saw how he did this at the very beginning with the case of Cain and Abel? That was the first conflict between grace and law, it's raged all through history, and is no different in Galatia. Satan moves in and tries to destroy grace by adding to it law (legalism) and law works as a way to please God, to gain God's favor.
In Galatians 4:13-15, the Apostle Paul reflects on the gracious, warm reception he received when he came to the Galatians. Notice verse 13. "You know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel to you at the first. My trial, which was in my flesh, you despised not nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is, then, the blessedness you spoke of? For I bear you witness that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me!" That's a startling statement. Paul says, "When I came to you, you received me as if you were receiving an angel, or as if you were receiving Christ Jesus. You would have plucked out your own eyes for my sake. What a reception I had among you!" Fantastic.
But just as amazing as the reception was the defection, and he is astonished, as he says in 1:6. "I am astonished that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." He marveled over the reception, and he also marveled over the defection. He was astounded at the way they had received him, and he was astounded at the way they had deserted his Gospel. Now, they had not given up their salvation, they had simply, having received Christ by faith, decided then that they would live by works. They decided they would impose works as a way of salvation on others, even though they didn't get into the Kingdom that way. They were saved purely by faith, but now, because of the efforts of the false-teaching Judaizers, they were going to make everyone else get saved by works. They themselves were going to live by works, thus robbing their own joy and destroying the doctrine of salvation in the eyes of the watching world. So, they had turned from grace to law, from Calvary to ceremony, from freedom to bondage, from faith to works.
Paul writes this epistle to counteract the work of these Judaizers. We've seen that the Judaizers were Jewish false teachers who traveled around, used by Satan, to teach people that they were saved only when they were circumcised (a literal, physical operation) and when they kept all the ceremonial law. It wasn't a question of moral law, that is, of murder and lying and stealing and adultery. It was a question of ceremony. They were saying, "To be saved, you have to be circumcised, keep all the feasts, go through all the sacrifices, do the whole thing." Paul writes this letter to counteract that.
It falls into three parts. The first section is personal. In chapters 1-2, he defends his apostolic authority. The second section is doctrinal, where he defends his gospel of grace. The third section, in chapters 5-6, is practical, where he defends his liberty living. So there is a personal section in the first two chapters, a doctrinal section in the next two, and a practical section in the last two. We're at the beginning of the doctrinal section in chapter 3.
Here, Paul fully answers the Judaizers who have condemned salvation by grace through faith alone. You see, the Judaizers came along and said, "You can't say you're saved by faith alone. You've got to be saved also by faith and works. You have to be circumcised, you have to keep the ceremonies, you have to do this." They were placing on these people the burden of self-righteousness. As Paul said in Romans, "They go about trying to establish their own righteousness." So the section of our interest, chapters 3-4, is a classic defense of the doctrine of justification by faith, which Paul stated in 2:16. You remember that statement; look back at it. We studied this last time.
Paul said, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith [faith of Jesus Christ], even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." There, in three ways, he states the same thing. Nobody is saved any other way than by faith in the historic act of God in Christ, in His death and resurrection.
He has stated it in 2:16, and in chapters 3-4, he defends it. You here have a classic defense of the doctrine of justification by faith. He defends it from two views; just make a mental note in your head and we'll come back to these in the coming weeks. He defends the doctrine of justification by faith from the standpoint of experience and from the standpoint of Scripture.
The standpoint of experience is in verses 1-5. The standpoint of Scripture is in 3:6 through 4:7. So all the way from 3:6 to 4:7, he defends justification by faith on the basis of Scripture. But his first defense, in our five verses for tonight, is on the basis of experience. Incidentally, from 4:8 on, he makes a plea to the Galatians based on his defense.
Tonight, we're going to look at this first defense, the defense on the basis of experience. Justification by faith - what do we mean by that? We mean, in terms of justification, to be declared righteous. How shall a man be just before God? How can a man enter God's presence? How can a man be acceptable to God? The New Testament says, "By faith alone." That's the doctrine of justification by faith, that a man is made acceptable to God by his faith in the perfect work of Christ, no other way. Nothing that man does, nothing that man attempts in the sense of self-righteousness, has anything to do with it at all. It doesn't matter how good he is or how bad he is, it's only a question of believing in Jesus Christ that justifies a man.
Paul defends this on the basis of the experience of the Galatians. In verses 1-5, he says, in effect, "How in the world could you people ever accept a doctrine of salvation by works when you have already experienced salvation by faith? You found that when you experienced salvation by faith, you got everything there was to get. What are you looking for in works that you didn't get in salvation by faith?" He does three things. He pinpoints their experience three ways: their experience with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, and with God the Father. So he says in these five verses, "Based on your experience with Christ, your experience with the Holy Spirit, your experience with the Father, you know justification is by faith. What are you doing messing around with a salvation by works doctrine?" That's basically what he says in these five verses.
Paul, then, already having established his authority, proceeds to defend his message on the basis of experience. In a sense, experience is a great defense, a great apologetic, because while a lot of people have experiences, it is still true that some experiences are true. My experience is a way to defend my faith. In other words, if I say to you, "I believe in Jesus Christ because I have come to Him on the basis of the terms which He laid down, He said, 'Come to Me, believe in Me, receive Me by faith, and you will live,' I did it and I live," that's an experience verifying the truth of the statement. That's the thing that Paul is trying to say here.
Look first of all in verse 1 before we get into the formal outline and just get a beginning here. Verse 1. "Oh foolish Galatians." Remember, the Galatians were not just one city, but an area in which there were at least four churches, so this was kind of a circular letter. "Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth?" Stop there. Now, like so many who are victimized by Satan, the Galatians were bewitched. He says to them, "Oh foolish Galatians." In looking at that, what is his attitude? With what emotion does he say this? Well, probably a combination of anger and love, mixed in with surprise. Sort of, "I can't believe this! You foolish Galatians! Who bewitched you?"
The word there for 'foolish' is a most interesting word loaded with insights. The word anoetos seems to indicate the stupidity that comes from deadness of intellect. It is very difficult to sometimes pinpoint Greek words in English, but if we can get back into this one, maybe we'll be able to pin it down a little bit. Literally, it would say this: "You are lacking in the power of perception." Charlie Brown would say, "Oh you blockheads!" What it literally means is 'one who does not think.' It is not talking about the absence of intelligence; it is talking about the failure to use it. It is not saying, "Oh you morons," or "Oh you imbeciles," in a categorical sense of an inability to think; it is saying, "You blockheads who aren't using your brains!" That's basically what the word is saying. "You're not using your heads! The Judaizers arrive and teach you a doctrine that you can be saved by works; you are stupid to believe that!" J.B. Phillips said, "Oh you dear idiots."
What Paul is saying is, "Think it through! Foolish Galatians!" Also implied in the word is an attitude of the heart as well as the mind. The word is used several places in the New Testament, and if we are to look at those places, we'll find ourselves getting a clear view. Luke 24:25, the road to Emmaus. Jesus is walking along and they don't know who He is, right? He says to them, "Oh foolish ones [same word], slow of heart." Notice that. When He said 'foolish,' He wasn't talking about their brains; He was talking about their hearts. In other words, they were stupid for not studying all the prophets had said so that they would have known that He should rise. They were walking with Jesus and moaning about the fact that the Messiah was dead, and they didn't even know who He was. He said, "Oh foolish. Foolish! You're not thinking. If you knew the information in the Scripture, you'd know what was going on. Think it through."
So when we talk about 'foolish,' we're talking about someone, not who is stupid and has no capacity, but someone who doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to learn the truth. What he's saying to the Galatians is just that. "You never examined the truth. You got into this mess because you never examined the truth. You never thought it through."
Paul said to Timothy, regarding rich people, in I Timothy 6:9, "They that will be rich fall into temptations and ensnare into many foolish lusts." In other words, people plunge after money, and don't think about what the consequences are going to be. It's just stupidity from the standpoint of the failure to use the perceptive powers that God has given. The same word is used again in Titus 3:3. "We ourselves also were once foolish." The idea, then, is someone who doesn't take advantage of all the available information to find out the facts. This is a tremendously important thing. Let me see if I can put it another way so that you can understand it. It is not a question of mental inability; it is a question of sinful neglect of one's available resources. The Galatians, in listening to the legalizing Jews, were stupid because they didn't think it through. Incidentally, so is everyone who barters Satan's lie for the truth of God.
Listen to this: it was a sheer failure to use their brains that led them into the sin of legalism. Hang on to that thought because it's really important. Paul is going to spend two chapters using his brain to re-think for them.
You know what I believe? I believe that right here, you have a tremendous insight as to why people get into false doctrine. It's because they follow their hearts, they follow their fancies, they follow their whims, and they don't think it through. They don't study the Scripture and apply their mental processes to the available information. You always hear people say, "Oh, they were such wonderful people, it all seemed so good!" Blockhead. Think it through. The Christian faith is not just a bunch of floating whims and fancies. No. Some people just float, you know, just grab onto whatever breeze is blowing, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. They follow their whims and fancies; they follow their emotions rather than their intellects. There are all kinds of things that can stir up your emotions.
Did you know that total misinformation and total untruth, if presented to you in the right salesmanship patterns, can stir up your emotions to wrong behavior? Believe it; it happens all the time. You can respond emotionally to lies just as well as you can to truth. But your mind, when it is confirmed in the truth, can become a rock. Follow your head, not your emotions. That's what gets people into trouble; that's why people get wrapped up in false systems. Not because they have been intellectually convinced but because they have been emotionally victimized. Think it through.
Listen to Romans 12. "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Now listen to this. "And be not conformed to the system, but be transformed," how? "By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God." The word 'prove' implies an intellectual process. If you want to be a transformed person, it's not going to be an emotional thing, it's going to be an intellectual thing. Your faith ought to be established not on your emotions but in your head. Your emotions will come along, believe me.
Listen to Ephesians 4:23. It's a straight shot; one little sentence makes up the verse. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Listen to Colossians 3:10, a similar statement. "And have put on the new man that is renewed in knowledge." You are transformed by what you know; you are renewed by what you know. You put on the new man, the new man is renewed in knowledge.
Beloved, let me tell you something about the Christian life. The Christian life is not an emotional gig. The Christian life is an intellectual pursuit. Now, I don't want that to be cold, hard academics. But it's basically true. There's plenty of emotion, believe me. If you could sit through the service tonight and not feel emotional, there is something wrong with you, because there is joy, glory, praise, love, and all the things that come along the way. But those are byproducts of an intellectual apprehension of truth.
I don't want to be emotionally victimized by people, but I certainly want my emotions to run the gamut on the basis of what I know in my mind. So many people who profess Christ as Savior by faith get sidetracked into legalistic systems because they fail to use their brains to examine Scripture, to think things through, and they listen to so-called experts whom Satan uses to play on their emotions.
"Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" Another very interesting phrase from the word baskaino, which literally means 'who has fascinated you?' Now you see, there is the area of emotion. "Who tickled your fancy?" Paul knows that when you get dragged away, it is because you're not rooted, grounded, settled in the faith. You have not made an intellectual apprehension of truth and committed yourself to that. That's why we say the study of the Word of God is a great protection against false doctrine, because you get rooted in truth. He says, "Who tickled your fancy and drew you off?"
The Judaizers cast a spell on them. It wasn't a hocus-pocus, evil eye type thing, even though the word here is used in historic reference to the evil eye. That's not what he's saying here. It's not some kind of sorcery, but they had been bewitched by the words and teachings and emotional appeals of the Judaizers. They were saying to them, "Oh, faith is not enough. If you want to go further than that, you can have works and gain the fullness of God's blessing." They were pushing them to a greater thing, a greater experience of God. They were trying to supplement salvation. Hendrickson says, "A supplemented Christ is a supplanted Christ."
Notice what it says. "Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?" That's an important phrase. What does it mean to obey the truth? It means to receive the Gospel. Basically, that's all it means, to receive the gospel of grace. Galatians 2:14 has the same phrase. "When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel," there it is. The truth he's talking about here in Galatians is the Gospel, the good news of salvation by faith.
Galatians 5:7 is the same thing. "You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?" The point is, he's saying, "You knew the truth, you heard the Gospel, you heard the facts, you heard it straight, it is by grace through faith plus nothing. Who bewitched you, fascinated your emotions, that you didn't use your heads and fell into legalism?" You say, "How could Paul call them blockheads? On what basis does he say, 'You didn't use your heads'?" First of all, on the basis that they didn't even look through their own experience. Secondly, on the basis they didn't examine Scripture.
That's the whole argument of the rest of the chapter. First of all, you're a blockhead because you didn't check out your own experience. Secondly, you're a blockhead because you didn't ch