1

Galatians 3:1-14
Declaration of Independence
Galatians 3:1-14
Anthony D. Clinkscales

This sermon is about Gods grace and Gods provision that puts us in right standing with
God. Gods grace and provision include propitiation, justification, reconciliation, adoption, and
sanctification. I submit to you that having faith in Jesus and having the faith of Jesus are
expressions of true Christianity and acceptance of Gods grace and provision

(1) For Paul, one is not saved by faith. God saves. We are saved by grace (= Gods
initiative). Faith is the human reception of salvation. So we are saved by grace and through
faith.1 (2) For Paul, faith is not a work (= something we do to cause God to respond
favorably to us). Faith responds. It is not because of our faith that God justifies us but
through our faith. Even justification by faith can be understood legalistically if faith is looked
upon as the necessary precondition required for salvation. 11 Faith is not the condition of our
justification. It is our acceptance of it or our experience of it. (3) For Paul, faith is not
believing doctrinal propositions. The object of faith is a person: either God (Rom 4:24; 1
Thess 1:8) or Christ (Rom 10:14; Gal 2:16). Believing that God has raised him from the
dead (10:14) is synonymous with believing in Him who raised Jesus from the dead (4:24).
This means that faith is a religious/relational term rather than an intellectual one. Out of a
faith-relationship with God in Christ may come intellectual conviction and clarity. Belief, in
the modern intellectual sense, arises out of faith, in the Pauline relational sense. A person
thus both has faith (in something or other) and has a faith (a belief system by which his or
her life is ordered).13 From a Pauline perspective, the latter arises out of the former. (4) For
Paul, faith is not a subjective feeling or attitude that is acceptable to God when our actions
are not. The difference between works and faith is not that one (works) is action and the
other (faith) is feeling or attitude. In Paul, works can be a feeling or attitude as well as
actions. Likewise, faith involves action as well as feelings and attitudes. At this point Paul
and James are one. The difference between faith and works lies in whether ones
feelings/attitudes/actions are done to gain Gods approval (= works) or whether they are
done in response to Gods prior initiative (= faith). Anything that seizes the initiative from

2
Galatians 3:1-14

God in the relationship is works. (5) For Paul, faith is not a one-time event. It is both an act
that begins the Christian life (Rom 10:9) and an orientation by which the Christian life
continues (Gal 2:20). A Christian believes in Christ and then goes on believing. This means
that the Christian life does not begin with faith and then passes on to something else like
love or knowledge or works. The Christian life, for Paul, begins and ends with our faithful
response to God in Christ. Our faith may deepen, but it is never displaced by something
else. (6) For Paul, faith is not a partial response to God. It is not a response of action only or
attitude only. It involves the whole person. It is not a response of trust only or of obedience
only. It is both together. Faith is ones total response to the total relation with God. An
analogy might be a human love relationship. To enter such a relationship, one must trust the
other party. Once in the relationship, the other party gives verbal and nonverbal signals
about what pleases or displeases him or her. Following the other persons guidance
(=obedience) is necessary if the relation is to continue and flourish. Just so in our relations
with God. Faith is the acceptance not only of the offer of grace, but also of the obligation of
grace. (7) Faith is not only my decision to follow Jesus. It is Gods gift (Phil 1:29). Just as
one cannot merely decide to fall in love with another person because the time seems right
or because the person meets all the specifications, so one cannot merely decide to have
faith. For a love relation to exist, something has to happen. An event has to take place that
enables one to enter the relationship. Just so, for a relation with God to exist a happening
has to take place. There must be an event that enables one to respond to God in Christ.
The event is the grace nature of the relationship. The enabled response is the faith
dimension. In his On Grace and Free Will, XXIX, Augustine put it this way: Now if faith is
simply of free will, and is not given by God, why do we pray for those who will not believe, that they
may believe? This it would be absolutely useless to do, unless we believe, with perfect propriety, that
Almighty God is able to turn to belief wills that are perverse and opposed to faith.

Gods grace dealt with the sinner and with sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as the propitiation for sins2 Justification is wholly on the merits of Jesus Christ by grace,
and not by works of the law.3 When a sinner believes in Jesus, the merits of Christs perfect
righteousness is imputed unto him or her4 so justifying him or her in Gods sight5

Justification here does not mean to be acquitted or to be made moral. It means rather to be
given a free gift of righteousness (= covenant faithfulness) and to be made righteous (=
faithful to God). This is the language of divine enablement. God gives divine righteousness
(= faithfulness) to the believer to enable that one to be faithful to God. 6 Insofar as this

3
Galatians 3:1-14

happens, the person has been made righteous (= not acquitted or made moral but enabled
to be faithful to the relation with God). Justification here, then, means more than
forgiveness. It means divine enablement to be righteous (= faithful to God). Righteous in
Romans 5, then, is neither a legal nor a moral term but rather a relational one.
How is the faithfulness of Christ related to being justifiedthat is, being given a gift
of righteousness from God? In his letters Paul expressed himself in multiple ways, but we
will note two to illustrate his thinking. First, the apostle could speak about the living
Christ indwelling the believer and then living through the believer with the same faithfulness
to God that he manifested in the days of his flesh. Galatians 2:19-20 puts it plainly. I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And
the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God. The image of
indwelling is one way of speaking about divine enablement. Second, Paul could also speak
about being clothed with Christ. To put on something or someone meant in antiquity that
one took over that things or persons qualities, energies, and abilities. Galatians 3:27 puts it
well. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
This is the equivalent of LXX Baruch 5:2 where the readers are exhorted to cast about
themselves a garment of righteousness from God. To be clothed with Gods righteousness
means to experience the salvation that comes from God. This is the equivalent of being
justified. The Christians can receive a righteousness from God or be made righteous
because of Christs own faithfulness. Because he was faithful, he enables those whom he
indwells or clothes to be righteous (= faithful). This enablement is called here justification
(v. 18).
In Christ you experience no condemnation, in Christ you experience personal liberation,
in Christ you see Gods ultimate intentionreconciliation, that is, restoration to divine favor.
In Paul, God who is righteous (= faithful) reveals His righteousness (= saving acts),
resulting in justification (= salvation) of people. Of what does that salvation consist? It involves
at least (1) acquittal/forgiveness of guilt, so that one is at peace with and able to stand before
God at the Last Day; (2) freedom from sins power and enablement to be faithful to God; (3)
freedom from legalistic religion; (4) freedom from deaths ultimacy; (5) participation in the people
of God made up of Jew and Gentile who are justified through Christ; and (6) involvement in a
distinctive lifestyle that reflects a transformed mind.
We are adopted into the family of God by faith in Jesus and by the faith of Jesus (which
is nurtured by hearing, singing, and praying the inspired Word of God)... Every believer is heir to

4
Galatians 3:1-14
the gift of the Holy Ghost7, essentially the Holy Ghost is the energy of God; she speaks through
the Scripturesand she works through the scriptures and influences persons through words
and ideasShe stimulates the church and molds the Christian character of individuals8She is
the gift of God in Christ to Gods people whereby they receive sanctifying, illuminating and
witnessing power. She becomes as the sanctifying presence of Christ as she is submitted to
she is the leader and spiritual teacher in the breast of every believer who receives her
My aim in this sermon is to move hearers to acknowledge that Gods grace is sufficient
for us; Gods grace is efficacious in our lives through faith, thus we can live each day in victory
trusting in Gods provision. Moreover, our call from Christ is to spiritual liberty, not bondage;
Christian freedom does not mean the absence of conflict. We are in a lifelong, close ordered
conflict with the appetites that reside in our flesh. The method of Christian victory is simply for
us to live by the spirit.9 The legalistic method screams Thou shalt not and is then powerless to
help us. The law lames us and then damns us for limping! But, Christ says, Thou shalt and
gives us his spirit to enable us. Considering all of this, I think it is interesting how our liberty has
made us free to be bound. Ordinarily we think about being bound to be freeor that its
getting betterthe best is yet to come. But the same word bound can be a word that
connotes movement in one context as in Im bound for Mt. Zion, however, bound also can
connote constriction and lack of mobility due to some imposed restrictions, as in being bound
by fears, traditions or embedded theologies.
My brothers and sisters, when I think about the fact that we are free to be bound, I see
that many have unknowingly been bound, ironically when they have been bound for the
Promised Land. Im a history buff, and if I may, let me build my case At the turn of the 20th
century there was an increased interest in the doctrine of entire sanctification, which led to the
formation of several holiness sects. My maternal grandfather decided in the mid-20th century to
leave the Baptist denomination, taking my grandmother and rearing his children in the Holiness
denomination. He left Wilson Calvary Baptist Church, which was directly across the street from
his home in North Anderson County, SC, to join Zion Church of God, Holiness which was
around the corner from Wilson Calvary. The Churches of God, Holiness were formed by Bishop
King Hezekiah Burruss, formerly of C.P. Jones Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. Burruss
began a church in Atlanta in 1914 that belonged to that organization, and by 1920, the Atlanta
congregation was large enough that it hosted the national convention of the Church of Christ
(Holiness) U.S.A. Shortly after that Atlanta meeting, however, Burruss formed his own church.
Quiet as it is kept there had been some disagreement on the interpretation and the
implementation of Scripture. Id be remised if I failed to mention another prominent figure in the

5
Galatians 3:1-14
beginning of the Holiness Movement, namely, Bishop Charles H. Mason. Mason came back
with a new concept of holiness after he spent time at the Azusa Street revivals in California.
The founders were former members of the Southern Baptist denomination prior to organizing a
holiness sect. These men of God vehemently disagreed on the Holiness doctrine and gifts of the
Spirit. It got so heated that they had to go to court over who could use the name Church of
God In Christ; thats why the names Church of God in Christ, Church of Christ Holiness and
Church of God Holiness are so similar. Essentially, all of the churches worship experiences
and ministries juxtapose Baptist tradition, The Methodist Articles of Religion, and variations on a
doctrine of entire sanctification. My grandfather, like many at the turn of the century, decided
that in order to be a people pleasing in the sight of God, there was a need to do more and be
morein accordance with the Scriptures. Holiness is the choice word. Back home, in
Anderson, the elders and deacons affectionately call our reformation true holiness. To them,
all others are not preaching true holiness.
What is it about church that believers are so quick to divide over interpretation, and will
leave the Church? Some will join other congregations; others will start their own Church. I see
people disagreeing on what day to go to church on. My great uncle pastors an apostolic church,
and they insist on baptizing in Jesus name; all my other family members prefer to be baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some say women shouldnt wear
pantsmen shouldnt wear short pantsyou cant wear a beardyou cant go to the movies
you cant go to the mall on the weekendyou cant play drums in the churchyou cant do
this.you cant do thatthis and thatthis, this and thatthis, this, this and that.
I think its a crying shame, that I read this text, written in the first century, and the first
thing that comes to my mind is that it shouldnt say you foolish Galatians!it should say, you
foolish African Americans! O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless
African Americans! Who has bewitched you? Who has cast a spell over you? Clearly, someone
has harmed you with an evil eye, and now you have forgotten the basic tenets of the faith. You
are making things harder, trying to appeal to the eyes of men and women. You have
misappropriated a free gospel and put a price on it. You were once bound for the Promised
Land, but now you are bound by reckless teaching and preaching. So, let us consider how Paul
dealt with the controversies in the churches of Galatia in order to understand how to address the
modern distortions of our faith and faith communities. Pauline literature very typically
undermines cultural traditions, codes, and laws that conflict with Pauls indoctrination including
his interpretation of the Christ event. For Paul, believers have only one obligation: they should
simultaneously love God and love their neighbor as themselves. Accordingly, this interpretation

6
Galatians 3:1-14
of keeping the law, Jesus midrash is the substratum of Pauls teachings. Thus, Paul seems to
have this in mind as he responds to the issues with fellow believers and with the congregations
he establishes. In the Letter to the Galatians and the Letter to the Romans, Paul positions faith
in contradistinction to works, making it clear that faith, not works, is the doorway to right living.
Faith releases a heavenly power that enables us to walk right before God and to fulfill our
destiny in this world.
That the Galatians had entrusted themselves to God as presented in the gospel, had
been baptized and so received the Spirit, was not in question. In question was whether that
was good enough, whether circumcision could enhance what they already received. The
community of Christians at Galatia generally ignored any notion of spirit and drifted toward the
legalistic doctrines of the past. Paul urged them to cultivate the sense of spirit; otherwise their
religion would harden and die. Pauls letter to the Galatians bears witness to the fact that early
Christianity ran into a conflict which concerned several related items: It was a conflict with
Gentile converts where Jewish Christians differed considerably in their approach. It was also a
conflict of how to perceive the work of Christ. Should the effects of his death and resurrection
be harmonized with a Jewish concern for the Law and national identity? Or should it rather be
taken as a decisive turning point that created a new basis for the inclusion of Gentiles? It was a
conflict concerning the interpretation of Hebrew Bible as the main authority for Christians.
Should it be interpreted in harmony with Jewish conventions, or should the Christ-event be
understood as throwing new light on the text of the Scripture in a way that causes a deeper
understanding of its initial intention? Above all it was a conflict of the mark of identity for the
Christian movement. Should Christians also cling to obedience of the Mosaic commandments
as an outer sign for their adherence to the people of God? Or should this old mark of distinction
be exchanged for a concern of faith in Christ as a new act of participation, as an interpersonal
act that overturned the division between Jews and Gentiles? It was thus a conflict moving at a
deep emotional level with major consequences for everyday life, both for Jews and Gentiles.10
Paul was challenged by opponents who considered that faith in Christ, the faith of Christ
was necessary but not totally sufficient for salvation. Paul, who established churches in Galatia,
teaching the good news, gospel of Jesus Christ, is clearly upset that Gentile Christians are
being influenced negatively by Jewish Christians.

It was offensive that his opponents are

undermining his inclusive good news. Paul, in 3:3, is rebuking them for reducing to the outward
expression of cutting the flesh as sign of righteousness, when they had already received the
Spirit. For Paul, the Spirit comes in and with the preaching of the crucified Christ. God Spirit
had worked to bring about changes in the lives of individuals and to create a community of faith

7
Galatians 3:1-14
and support among the Galatian Christians. The Spirit had become an energizing reality in their
midst. Paul reminds them that the beginning of their new life came to be through the preaching
of the crucified Christ. It is neither liturgical form nor the lack of it that assures the coming of the
Spirit to a group or to individuals. God is free to act where and when God wills. But in the past
God has accompanied the statement of the gospel with Gods Spirit. Seeking for the Spirit
means returning in faith to the message!
The Spirit is set in radical opposition to the flesh (3:1-5). Paul declares circumcision to
be a fatal step backwards. The Spirit is that power which joins Christians to the new age; the
flesh belongs to the enslaving but transitory world out of which they had been liberated. To
forsake the new world would be a big mistake. The more sinister enemies of the faith are not
always the obviously irreligious practices of the world but often the potent forces of morality and
religion which operate within. The latter tend to undermine the gospel by a preoccupation with
the particular form an obedient response ought to take. Rigid lines are drawn between those
who do and those who do not, with the result that the law becomes again a dividing wall. The
Spirit is the power of the new age and thus the source of vitality and mighty works (3:4-5). Was
the life of these congregations begun in the context of charismatic activity and extraordinary
phenomena? Miracles are mentioned (3:5); the account of Pauls healing of the crippled man at
Lystra found in Acts 14:8-10 might provide an example of one such miracle. Paul is talking
about a beginning for the Galatians in which the Spirits activity had been prominent and
productive. He asks them did you experience so much for nothing? The Spirit comes to the
whole community and not simply to a few, select leaders. For Paul, belonging to Christ (to be a
Christian) and receiving the Spirit are inseparable. Paul is opposed to any notion of a caste
system within the church, any idea of cultivating elitist groups.11

In ancient Judaism there were basically two avenues by which Gentiles could
facilitate their entrance into Gods people and/or the Age to Come. The first was by
becoming a proselyte. In the case of native-born Israelites, circumcision was a response to
the grace of election. They were in unless they gave evidence of being apostate. In the
case of Gentiles, proselytes had to bear the burden of proof to show that they accepted the
covenant and intended to keep the law. That is, they had to take a human initiative to align
themselves with the elect peopleby works of the law.
These other proclaimers were persuading Gentile Christians of the need to be
circumcised and obey the laws of Moses in order to be truly spiritual and pleasing to God. The
Gentile Christians had received the Spirit after hearing and believing the Gospel about the
crucifixion. Christ took on himself the curse of the law, liberating humanity and ushering in the

8
Galatians 3:1-14
new age of living under the auspices of the Holy Ghost. Humankinds pride to trust individual
accomplishments, frustration and guilt because of failure despite good intentions, the
estrangement of the outsiders who must sacrifice their identitydeath by crucifixion (3:10)the
threat of the law is all over because Christ gives a new fellowship transcending any and all
division, and full participation with him in Gods community.
Paul was met with much resistance from the tradition, culture, and sentiment of his day.
In Pauls day, the laws of Moses played an extremely important role to the Pharisaic teachers;
many Jewish teachers asserted that the laws of Moses predated the creation of the world.
Torah, the laws of Moses was associated with Wisdom as personified in Proverbs 8:22-31, a
passage that describes wisdom as an elegant woman who worked with God in creating the
universe. Symbolically this text teaches that God used wisdom to create the world, so people
should guide their lives by wisdom. In other words, Gods wisdom is expressed in the laws of
Moses. It was so serious that they believed that Torah would even govern the after-life, so that
in heaven people would obey the laws of Moses perfectly. Given their emphasis on Torah, we
can see why Pauls view of the law infuriated Jews (including Jewish Christians) who believed in
the eternity of the law. For the Jews: God formed the law, God created the world according to
the law, God gave the law on Mt. Sinai, a Messiah will bring on authoritative interpretation of the
law, and in an age to come, the law will be kept perfectly.12
The view of law that Paul presents in Galatians 3 radically rejects this notion. Paul
relegates the law to the status of an add-on, something temporary that was given between
Gods promise to Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise in the coming of Jesus Messiah
something given in response to sin, not the perfect expression of Gods will for human good.
Pauls view of the law in salvation history is such that God created the world, a promise was
given to Abraham, 430 years later, the law was added because of sin, but the Messiah comes to
fulfill the promise given to Abraham and ushers in the Age of the Spirit. Pauls vigorous and
fundamental challenge to the dominant Jewish view of the importance of Mosaic Law put him in
radical conflict with many Jewish Christians.13 After chiding the Galatians in 3:1-5 for having
been bewitched by the dominant ideology, Paul in 3:6-14 takes his readers on a whirlwind
excursion across the terrain of various biblical texts. Those who were troubling the Galatians
taught them that they must be circumcised in order to be Abrahams descendants. Paul
responded by introducing Abraham into his argument. In 3:6, quoting Gen 15:6 Paul shows that
God justified Abraham on the basis of faith. In 3:8 Paul concludes that people of faith are
Abrahams descendants. Having always intended to justify the Gentiles by faith, God
announced this good news to Abraham beforehand (Gen 12:3). The purpose of the excursion is

9
Galatians 3:1-14
to substantiate that God had always intended justification to be on the basis of faith and that
God from the very beginning had the Gentiles in mind when the promise was given.14
Paul preaches a liberating gospel, where he shows that it is faith and not works of the
law which puts us right with God. For Paul, the law, including dietary laws, Sabbath
observance is the very thing that places us in slavery. The law is impossible with all of its
observations and prohibitions; we would inevitably fail at trying to keep it. A person is
established in a right relationship with God not by external observance of commandments but
by a fundamental response of faith (3:11). The solution is wrapped up in the Greek phrase,
pistis christou. The expression can be translated either faith in Christ or faith of Christ. It
seems that Paul means both at different times.

The faith of Christ, understood as Christs faithfulness, functions in a twofold way

in this covenantal thinking: one in relation to the Abrahamic covenant and the other in
relation to the new covenant. In relation to the Abrahamic covenant, the faith of Christ fulfills
the promise to Abraham and his seed. Christs faithfulness shows him to be the seed of
Abraham (Gal 3:16). People of faith who belong to Christ, Gentiles included, are Abrahams
offspring (Gal 3:29). They are blessed with Abraham who had faith (Gal 3:6-9). Christs
faithfulness makes him a part of the Abrahamic covenant and guarantees the inclusion of
the Gentiles in Gods promise. In relation to the new covenant of Jeremiah 31, Christs
faithfulness enables human faithfulness in the relation to God. It is important first to see that
Paul used a number of expressions that are virtual synonyms when speaking about Christs
relation to God. The faith of Christ (Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:20), the obedience of Christ
(Rom 5:19; Phil 2:8), the righteous act of Christ (Rom 5:18), Christs dying to sin (Rom
6:10) all speak of Christs dying on the cross as an act of
faithfulness/obedience/righteousness towards God and therefore as his death to sin. He
died rather than sin. It is important to see, second, that the transfer of Christs
faithfulness/obedience/righteousness to believers is spoken of in several different ways as
well. Sometimes Paul used the language of indwelling. Either Christ (Gal 2:20) or the Spirit
(Gal 5:25; Rom 8:14) or the spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9-10) or God (Phil 2:12-13) indwells the
believer(s) and lives through him/her/them enabling covenant fidelity. On still other
occasions, Paul spoke in terms of being clothed in the garments/qualities/person of another
(Gal 3:27; 1 Thess 5:8). When one is clothed with Christ, one is changed into another
person and becomes endued with the Christs qualities. This way of thinking is prefigured in
LXX Numbers 20:23-28; LXX 3 Kingdoms 19; and LXX 4 Kingdoms 2:13; LXX Baruch 5:2;

10
Galatians 3:1-14

2 Enoch 22; Biblical Antiquities 20:2-5. In the last of these texts, Joshua is told by God to
clothe himself in Moses garments and promised that he would be changed and become
another man. In these and other ways, Paul conceptualized how Christs faithfulness is
transferred to those who believe in him. On occasion the apostle may say that the risen
Lord lives in and through the believer with the same faithfulness that he manifested in the
days of his flesh (Gal 2:20). At other times he said the believer is clothed with Christ, which
makes the believer a new person endued with Christs own fidelity. On still other occasions
he spoke about how the Lord who is contemplated by the believer transforms the believer
into a new creature. It is in this sense that the righteousness (covenant faithfulness) from
God is given to believers through the faithfulness of Christ. It is in this sense then that Paul
could say that Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30). It is because of his faithfulness in
the days of his flesh that the risen Lord can now enable such faithfulness in his people who
have faith in him. Viewed in this way, Pauls soteriology is clearly relational, not juridical.
There is no legal fiction transacted in the heaven that leaves the human self on earth
untouched and untransformed. At the same time, any righteousness that a human may
manifest belongs not to him/her but to the Lord who grants His righteousness to that
human. There is human transformation by the Risen One who in the days of his flesh was
faithful/obedient/righteous to the point that his death was a death to sin. It is this dimension
of Christian soteriology that makes Christian preaching good news and power unto
salvation. Viewed in this way, there is a central place in Pauline soteriology for the faith of
Christ, understood as Christs faithfulness.
How is the faithfulness of Christ related to being justifiedthat is, being given a gift of
righteousness from God? In his letters Paul expressed himself in multiple ways, but we will note
two to illustrate his thinking. First, the apostle could speak about the living
Christ indwelling the believer and then living through the believer with the same faithfulness to
God that he manifested in the days of his flesh. Galatians 2:19-20 puts it plainly. I have been
crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life
that I now live in the flesh I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God. The image of indwelling is
one way of speaking about divine enablement. Second, Paul could also speak about being
clothed with Christ. To put on something or someone meant in antiquity that one took over that
things or persons qualities, energies, and abilities. Galatians 3:27 puts it well. As many of you
as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. This is the equivalent of LXX
Baruch 5:2 where the readers are exhorted to cast about themselves a garment of

11
Galatians 3:1-14
righteousness from God. To be clothed with Gods righteousness means to experience the
salvation that comes from God. This is the equivalent of being justified. The Christians can
receive a righteousness from God or be made righteous because of Christs own faithfulness.
Because he was faithful, he enables those whom he indwells or clothes to be righteous (=
faithful). This enablement is called here justification (v. 18).
Faith in Christ is the kind of faith that is confessional: those who have faith in Christ
acknowledge that God has manifested Godself in Jesus the Messiah, and commit themselves to
that revelation. Faith of Christ refers to the human response of the man Jesus to God: the
faith of the Messiah. This response of Jesus is part of the salvific act. What Paul means by it
is the faithful obedience that Jesus showed to the Creator in his life and death. The faith of
Jesus is Jesus human response to God, which enables others to have faith and to be made
righteous by faith. In other words, God established the fundamental gift of righteousness
through Jesus obedience on the cross; humans appropriate that gift by trusting and obeying it
the same way Jesus did.15 Christ freed us from the Laws curse that we might enjoy the
blessing of Abraham, the Spirit.
Theologically, the demand for circumcision can take many forms even today. It
appears whenever one thinks along these lines: Faith in Christ is fine as far as it goes, but
your relation to God is not really right and your salvation not adequate unless It does not
matter how the sentence is completed. Whenever such fine print is introduced to qualify
trust/faith, there is circumcision, and Pauls defense of the adequacy of trust/faith can come
into its own again. The Galatians situation is never far; in fact, it is all too familiar.
Considering all of this, I leave you with these questions: In what sense might our
religious practices in fact be works of the law, as Paul understands things? What religious
practices do we put the most emphasis on? How do your religious practices distinguish you
from others in your thinking? How do they distinguish you from others in Gods eyes? Have we
systematically moved from biblical faith to cultural captivity? How will you respond to the truth?

Over and over again we propose that humans gain a relation to God by moral
actions, by inner attitude, by religious experience, or by human effort and initiative. These
are works of the law. Over and over we propose that now that we have been saved by
grace we move on to the maturity of charitable service and advanced spiritual disciplines in
order to gain Gods favor at the last judgment. This is works of the law. We find the apostles
guidance in his new covenant piety. Therein everything depends upon the divine initiative
and enablement. From start to finish, the Christian life is by grace through faith.

12
Galatians 3:1-14

Notes

. Ephesians 2:8-9.

. Rom 3:24, 4:24-25, 5:1-21, New Revised Standard Version

. Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16-21, New Revised Standard Version

. Rom 4, New Revised Standard Version

. Titus Paul Burruss, Star Book and Discipline of Churches of God Holiness (Atlanta: Bethlehem
Star Press, 1965), 16-20.
5

. cf. Phil 3:9; LXX Ps 71:1-2 [=72:1-2]; Ep Arist 280

. Gal 4:6-7, New Revised Standard Version

. D. Duane Cummins, A Handbook for Todays Disciples (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2003), 26.

. Gal 5:16, New Revised Standard Version

10

. Kjell Arne Morland, The Rhetoric of Curse in Galatians (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995).

. Charles B. Cousar, Galatians: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville:
John Knox Press, 1982), 66-70
11

. Michael R. Cosby, Apostle on the Edge: An Introductive Approach to Paul (Louisville:

Westminster John Knox, 2009).
12

13

. Ibid

. Brad R. Braxton, No Longer Slaves: Galatians and African American Experience (Collegeville,
MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002).
14

. Luke Timothy Johnson, The Writings of The New Testament: an Interpretation (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1999), 332-333.
15