“Bewitched!”
(Galatians 3:1-9)
Series: Set Free To Be Free (Galatians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Take your Bibles and join me in Galatians chapter 3 (page 784; YV).
While you are finding that, let’s remember our vision for Henderson’s First Baptist Church this season, #40ByFall, 40 new believers baptized by fall of this year. We will celebrate this evening, three more baptisms and we thank God for that.
Thank you for your embrace of this vision, #40ByFall, and know that every week as you invite people to come worship with us, they will receive this First Steps Devotional, a 21-Day devotional on spiritual things including teachings of the church. Days 4 and 6 are especially helpful as you have opportunity to talk with someone—day 4 about how to become a Christian—what the Bible teaches about the gospel, and then Day 6 is about the ordinance of Christian baptism—what the Bible teaches about why to baptize, how to baptize, and so on. So this is a very helpful book we include in our gift bag and is a simple and helpful tool for you as you share with someone else.
Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Paul is writing to the Galatians, Christians in churches in Galatia, these are Gentile believers, non-Jewish believers, and these Galatians had been visited by traditionalist Jews who were trying to get them to convert to Judaism in order to be accepted by God and approved by God. They were telling these new Christians that believing in Jesus was not enough, they had to add to their faith in Christ “works of the law” such as Jewish circumcision in order to really be saved. Listen for Paul’s correction here in the text:
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you [that you should not obey the truth, (not in NU)] before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed [among you (not in NU)] as crucified?
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Pray.
Bewitched. That’s the word Paul uses to describe what happened to these Galatians. He cries in verse 1, “Who has bewitched you?” And all week as I read that word I couldn’t help thinking of the television series I watched when I was small, saw a lot of it in reruns in the 70s, “Bewitched” with Elizabeth Montgomery. Folks my age and older will remember that one, the theme song, “Dah da, Dah da, Dah da da da da dah.” Right? Stuck in your head now all day.
Or if you’re younger than I maybe you saw the movie some 10 years ago with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. Bewitched.
It’s not a word we use a lot. I’m not sure I have ever used it outside of a reference to the tv show or movie. It’s a word from the occult, from pagan magic, casting spells on people. When you stop to think of it, however, there are a lot of similar words we use to describe our being utterly captivated by some person or some teaching—all of them words from the occult: We speak of being hoodwinked, beguiled, enchanted, spellbound, all of these words describe the effect of being captured by some sort of force, pulling us into a direction we would otherwise not go.
That had happened to these Galatians. The Judaizers, the Jewish teachers who were trying to get these non-Jewish believers, these Gentiles, to add to their faith, works of the law had, to use Paul’s word “Bewitched” them. So Paul seeks to “break the spell” of the false teaching by reminding them of the true teaching of the gospel.
We ourselves may be influenced by false teaching and may also need to free ourselves from false things we learned when we were younger or some teaching in the past that captured our thoughts and influences them even today. So Paul seeks to correct all of this and he does so in our passage by directing our gaze away from the bewitching and beguiling false teachers, and directing our eyes in three directions. Let me give them to you as they occur in the text. First:
I. Consider the Portrayal of the Savior (1)
That is, look to Jesus. Look to the cross. Look to the crucifixion. Read verse 1 again:
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you [that you should not obey the truth, (not in NU)] before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed [among you (not in NU)] as crucified?
In essence, Paul says, “I so preached the gospel of Christ, and Christ crucified, as though you could see Him on the cross with your very eyes. It was as if you stood there on Mt Calvary watching Him die.” In other words, “I was very clear when I preached the gospel and you saw! You saw Christ ‘clearly portrayed as crucified’ in my preaching.”
This verse teaches, among other things, that the gospel is essentially the message of Christ crucified. Hard not to think of what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “I determined not to know anything among you except Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).” That is the essence of the gospel, the essence of Paul’s message to the Galatians.
The message of the gospel is first about an historical event—about what Christ did for us—before it is a message of what we do for Christ.
John Stott, in his inimitable way with words, puts it this way: “The gospel is…not an invitation to us to do anything, but a declaration of what God has done; not a demand, but an offer.”
The context reminds us why Paul states this as he does in verse 1. These Judaizers are like, “If you want to be accepted by us and accepted by God then you need to do these things—keep the ceremonial law, dietary law, circumcision. But the gospel is not, “Do these things,” the gospel is, “Accept this offer.” Believe what Jesus has done for you—lived and died to make a way for you to be saved from sin, death, and hell.
And Paul is adamant here: “O foolish Galatians!” If that sounds strong, hear the words of the JB Phillips paraphrase, “O you dear idiots of Galatia!” Can you tell Paul is upset by the bewitching influence of the false teachers?!
So Paul asks this question in verse 1; it is the first of five questions in the text. With a precision of the finest prosecuting attorney, the Apostle Paul asks a series of five questions in as many verses. And again, the first is, “Who has bewitched you?!—you, you before whom I preached, I portrayed, clearly portrayed Jesus Christ crucified?”
That word translated “portrayed” is countenanced by most of the English translations. The New Living Translation puts it in even more modern words, “Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.”
Paul had painted a picture for them—metaphorically speaking—his preaching was so clear it was as if Christ had been visible, Christ on the cross taking our sins upon Himself, imparting to believers His righteousness; “clearly portrayed as crucified.”
The participle “crucified” is in the perfect tense, describing a completed act with ongoing, abiding effects, reminding us that this one-time completed act of crucifixion renders ongoing, abiding benefits to all who believe. Believing Christians are continually accepted by God because of the one-time act of Christ upon the cross. Believers are continually approved and accepted not on the basis of their works, but on the basis of Christ’s work.
Consider, then, the portrayal of the Savior. Secondly, Paul invites Christians to:
II. Consider the Presence of the Spirit (2-5)
And what Paul does in verses 2-5, still asking these thought-provoking questions, is to ask, “If you are a believer, how did you receive the Holy Spirit?” And of course he is asking this question so that we will conclude that we received the Holy Spirit not be works, by earning it, but rather as a gift that comes when we believe in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 2:
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
And of course the answer is, “Well, we received the Spirit when we believed the Gospel.” And that is exactly how it works. We hear the gospel and believe by faith. At that moment we receive the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
The salient verse that nearly always comes to my mind is Ephesians 1:13, “In Him (Christ Jesus) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…”
So the order is, “Believe in Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit.” When we trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, two things happen at once. First we are justified—set right with God; declared by God to be righteous—and then, along with that once forever act of justification is the beginning of the ongoing work of sanctification, our becoming more like Jesus Christ through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We receive the Spirit by “the hearing of faith,” or hearing with faith; believing what we have heard; believing the gospel.
So all who receive the Spirit are justified and all who are justified receive the Spirit.
Then, Paul goes on to argue, “So if you have received the Holy Spirit, evidence of God’s acceptance of you, and guarantee of completing you to the final state, why would you abandon the Spirit and try to complete yourself by doing works of the law?” Verse 3:
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect (or complete) by the flesh?
Put another way: “Are you crazy?! You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit as evidence that you are God’s child. And the Holy Spirit will guide you to completion as you grow in Christ. And that future and ultimate completion is a guaranteed fact because Jesus lived for you, died for you, and was raised from the dead for you. You are accepted by God not on the basis of your works, but on the basis of Christ’s work for you.”
There’s an old hymn that goes:
Lay your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet.
Stand in Him, in Him alone—
Gloriously complete.
Or as the choir sang in the anthem this morning:
Listen to the hammer ring
For He’s taken everything
That was agains us
And nailed it to His cross
Jesus has done for us what we could not do ourselves. He lived a perfect life for those who believe. He kept the works of the law perfectly. We don’t do that. We don’t keep them perfectly. Then He died in our place, taking our sins upon Himself, taking our punishment, and if we believe, God imputes our sin to Jesus on the cross and then credits to us His righteousness. He does the work. That’s why He is our Savior. He is the one who perfects or completes us.
We must continually reject and repent of other ways of completing ourselves or other ways we may try to “find life;” other saviors, if you like; other saviors such as the savior of trying to complete ourselves through other means—outright sinful activities like gratifying ourselves through sexual sin, or drug and alcohol abuse, or other behaviors—and more subtle ways of trying to find completion—through relationships, like always feeling we need to have the approval of others, forever needing to be needed, and so on.
What we should be doing, instead, is looking to Christ, seeing Him clearly portrayed, seeing Christ crucified for us, and always and forever finding our acceptance and completion and joy “in Christ.”
We must remember who we are “in Him,” accepted in Him, dead to the law as a means of acceptance in Him, loved perfectly in Him, approved of in Him, accepted in Him, valued and forever deemed lovely in Him. Paul continues:
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
That is, “If you have, in fact, trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you have suffered for your faith in Christ, and what a vain thing it would be to have suffered for Christ and then abandon the gospel of Christ.” Verse 5:
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
Paul is likely still referring to the time he was there with them and had preached the gospel, clearly portraying Christ crucified for them, painting that picture. And God had given them the presence of the Holy Spirit and had worked miracles among them, the miracle of salvation, being the main work! So Paul reasons again, “Did all of this come by works of the law or by your hearing and believing the gospel message?” And the implication is, again, by the hearing of faith.
So in order to “break the spell” cast upon them by the bewitching Judaizers, Paul says, “consider the portrayal of the Savior and the presence of the Spirit. Thirdly, and finally, he says:
III. Consider the Promise of the Scripture (6-9)
And what Paul does in verses 6 and following is to demonstrate what is taught in the Scriptures, namely the Old Testament Scriptures. A consistent theme throughout the Bible is that man is saved not by works of the law, by performance, but by faith, by promise, by faith in the promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
I suppose these Jewish trouble makers from Jerusalem, these hardline Jews, the Judaizers, I suppose they would claim to have Moses on their side. God had given the law to Moses and they were merely following Moses.
So Paul goes back centuries before Moses. He goes to Abraham. And he does so to demonstrate yet again that man is not saved by performance, but by promise—not by keeping works of the law, but by believing in Jesus Christ. Verse 6:
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).”
It’s not as though the gospel is as new as Jesus; the gospel is as old as Abraham; and arguably older, but Paul is arguing here back to Abraham.
And Paul quotes from Genesis 15:6, the place where we are told that Abraham believed God, believed God’s promise, and God credited Abraham with righteousness. You’ll remember that passage where God promises to Abraham that while he and Sarah presently had no children, he would have a child and many children would be born from him. God tells Abraham to look up into the night sky and count the stars. And Abraham had to think, “Count the stars?! Why, there’s so many of them!” And God said, “So shall your offspring be.” Too numerous to count. But Abraham believed God.
And again, the reason Paul cites Abraham’s actions from back in Genesis 15 is to show that this was how Abraham was accepted by God, approved by God, not on the basis of his works, but on the basis of his faith.
He believed God, not that he believed in God, thought he most certainly did, but he believed God, believed the promise of God, believed His word.
Saving faith is not just believing in God, many believe in God, but not all are saved. We must believe God, believe what God says in His word, the Bible. So Paul reasons, verse 7:
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Only those who believe as Abraham believed will be considered his sons, true followers of the Lord just as Abraham. Verse 8:
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3, et al).”
So Paul is demonstrating that the gospel doesn’t just go back to Jesus, it goes back as far as Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. God had said to Abraham, “In you all the nations—literally all the Gentiles—will be blessed. They will be blessed the same way you are blessed, Abraham, by believing me, by believing my word, the promise of salvation that comes through faith.
“All the nations,” all peoples, all races, all ethnicities, all people groups all over the world, and all people groups all over your neighborhood. All who believe are blessed.
It’s probably helpful here to remember that we as believing Christians today look back by faith to the cross, while Old Testament believers looked forward by faith to the cross. They lived before the coming of Jesus Christ, and looked forward by faith in the promise to come; we look back by faith in the promise of Christ who has come.
But salvation has always been not by works of the law, but by faith in Christ, believing God. Verse 9:
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
This is brilliant logic of the Apostle Paul. Abraham believed and was blessed. It wasn’t because Abraham had been circumcised that he was blessed. No. Abraham was not circumcised until 14 years later (Genesis 17). Nor was Abraham considered righteous because he kept the law. The law didn’t come until 430 years later. Abraham wasn’t an Israelite. He was actually a pagan first! But he believed God.
So Paul says, “Isn’t it clear? Abraham was not saved by keeping the law, but by believing God. He was accepted by God and approved by God through faith. He believed the promise of Scripture. He was declared righteous by faith in the promise. He was not actually righteous, but regarded as righteous, declared righteous.
This is the same way we are saved today. We are saved not by doing good deeds, being a kind person, keeping the works of the law, but by believing God, by faith in God, by believing the promise of Scripture.
So verse 9, “those who are of faith” (like you and I) are blessed with believing Abraham. We may be blessed the same way, by believing as Abraham believed. Abraham believed by faith, looking forward to the Christ who would come; we are saved by looking back to the Christ who has come.
And the moment we believe we are justified, set right with God, we are declared righteous by God. We are not actually righteous, but are regarded as righteous, declared righteous.
It’s important to realize the different ways of understanding righteousness. It certainly is true that after we have become Christians, our future days are marked by a life of walking in righteousness, living righteously, the results of following Jesus, including obeying the Scriptures, living out the moral law as the result of one who has been justified. That’s living a righteous life. But we can’t become righteous by our own efforts.
I heard a preacher illustrate it this way—and I can relate to this—it’s like the thing at the fairgrounds. And I don’t know whether there is one of these at the Tri-Fest here this weekend. But many fairs have this thing you know with the bell. And the guy gives you a sledge hammer and you swing that and hit the thing on the bottom and the other thing rises and rings the bell. I don’t ever try that thing. I’m not going to embarrass myself! I know I can’t ring the bell.
I can’t, with all my strength, ring the bell. So Jesus does what I can’t do for myself. He rings the bell for me. Because of Christ, I am righteous in God’s sight.
Being “credited with righteousness” means that God thinks of Christians as already having lived a righteous life. Christ has rung the bell for us. And God thinks of us—though we are actually sinners—He thinks of us as righteous.
Martin Luther had a phrase for this teaching. It’s one of those phrases that sort of sums up the Protestant Reformation; it’s the Latin phrase, simul justus et peccator—“simultaneously righteous and sinful.”
If we place our faith in Christ we are simultaneously righteous and sinful. We don’t become righteous. We’re not actually righteous. I know I am not actually righteous! You know you are not actually righteous, either! But we may be thought of as righteous if we place our faith in Christ.
We are simultaneously righteous and sinful. We live the remainder of our lives growing in Christlikeness, becoming more like Jesus, and less sinful. We grow each day, keeping the moral law—not as a means of acceptance, but as a means of saying, “Thank You” to God for His grace.
Here’s a question: Do you know whether you are accepted by God, approved by God? You can’t be accepted by Him by “trying your best,” doing good, living rightly. You are accepted by God when you repent, turn from sin and self, and turn to Jesus.
If you have already trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, have you become bewitched or enchanted by other saviors—displacing your love for Jesus for other things, or people, or sins? The answer is the same this morning: repent, turn back to Jesus.
Because the sinless Savior died, our sinful soul may be counted free—because God the just is satisfied to look on Christ and pardon me, and pardon you.
Let’s pray.
We’re going to sing our hymn of response. As we respond, it may be that you would like to come forward this morning and give your heart to Jesus. You may need to come forward this morning to recommit your life to Christ. Or come to be baptized or ask to join the church. We’ll sing and you come, respond however the Lord is leading you.
RESPONSE:
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me
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