Don’t lose your senses
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]? 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]? 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]?
Foolish and thoughtless and superficial. That's quite the indictment to a church Pau; is in relationship with. He asks them a simple question. Did you receive anything through the law? Did you receive the Holy Spirit at salvation because of obedience or because of your trust in the cross? You were saved through the cross not because of your obedience to Jesus. Paul makes the point that God did not give his blessings that way then and he doesn’t know. He gives it to those who lean on the cross. The truest obedience comes through the cross anyway.
Our own works can’t add anything to what Jesus has done. Our job is to appropriate by faith and trust all that he has accomplished. Basically our job is to the point to the job being done. We can walk in certainty with his promises. If we declare the finished work then his works invade our unfinished space here on earth. Heaven meets earth this way.
