Paul’s Warning: “O Foolish Galatians!”

Part 9:

Today many Christians understand that a mix of grace and self-effort will never save us. Martin

Luther clearly taught the truth that we are justified by faith alone. Eternal life is not earned by

works of the law, but by faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

However, Luther did not teach Jesus' New Covenant love. He did not emphasize that "We

love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). He did not clearly portray the lifechanging sig-

nificance of Jesus' New command, "Love one another as I have loved you" ( John 15:12). Luther re-

alized the importance of love in Scripture, but he seemed to see it as something to be earned under

the Old Covenant—rather than as something to be received in the New. Therefore, even though

he knew the law was impossible to obey, he treated love as a work to be accomplished under the

law—by the independent soul. After trusting God for eternal life, Luther tried to live his life on

earth by loving God and others with his own self-effort. He wrote, "Since you have found Christ

by faith … begin now to work and do well. Love God and your neighbor."1

Many of us today have inherited that same wrong thinking. For living a life of love on earth

we are trapped into relying on a mix of grace and works. We are caught in the bondage of the Old

Covenant. Despite having a born-again spirit, we keep trying to do "good" things to live rightly on

earth. We ask God to help us with our plans, rather than embracing His. Adam's independent, sin

nature has a deep-rooted strangle hold.

Before we are saved, Satan fights to keep us from Spirit-to-spirit relationship with God.

However, once we have God's Spirit in us, his tactic is to keep the Holy Spirit bottled up inside our

spirit so God, who is love, cannot express Himself to the world. One of the ways he does this is to

disguise evil by calling it "good." He masquerades as an angel of light bombarding us with "good"

things for the independent soul to do after receiving Christ by faith. He deceives us into thinking

that after we are born again, we can somehow—by following a set of rules or good advice—love

others and live on earth as God intends.

That is a lie.

In the New Testament, Paul confronted Peter for teaching similar falsehood. When Peter

was teaching faith in Jesus and obedience to Jewish laws and traditions, Paul "withstood him to

his face" (Galatians 2:11). Paul did not want Christians falling back into living under the bondageof the law. Jesus did not begin a good work and then leave it to Moses to finish. Any mix of faith

and flesh—any combination of grace and law—is toxic and cannot produce life as God designed.

With strong words, Paul warned the believers in Galatia: "O foolish Galatians! Who has

bewitched you that you should not obey the truth ... Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the

law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being

made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1–3). The believers in Galatia had begun well; they were

born of the Spirit. But now they were attempting to live their Christian lives in the flesh—by the

strength of the independent soul.

Flesh is the combination of soul and body. Just as the heart refers to the spirit and soul to-

gether, the flesh refers to the soul and body together. The flesh is neither sinful nor righteous. It is

made sinful or righteous depending on who leads it.

When the flesh controls itself—when the soul is master—it is sinful. Although it may look

good on the outside, such as when it does good and avoids evil, the flesh, cut off from God, can-

not produce life as He intends. At its best, flesh describes a Pharisee in the temple; at its worst, it

describes an unrepentant murderer in prison. Paul says, "In me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good

dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find" (Romans

7:18).

However, when the Spirit is Master, the flesh radiates the nature of God—the glory of God.

It is through the flesh of the Man, Jesus Christ, that we see spiritual God in a physical, earthly

form we can understand. The Bible says, "And the Word [ Jesus] became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we beheld His glory" (John 1:14). Paul goes on to tell us, that the life of Jesus is "manifested

in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11). When God's Spirit lives in our spirit and when the Spirit

leads our soul, we function in the Spirit and radiate God to the world. When I surrender my I will

to God's will, God pours through my spirit-soul-body channel and waters the world with His love.

Paul also said to the Galatians. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gala-

tians 5:25).To live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit are two different things. The first begins at

the moment of salvation. When we live in the Spirit, we are born of the Spirit and become children

of God. Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of

God."

The second—walk in the Spirit—happens in a continual love-relationship with God as we

walk out our life on earth. We walk in the Spirit by living our lives guided by God. Our soul gives

up its own will and surrenders to the Spirit. We die to our will and desires and become one with

Jesus. When we let God lead, we become mature sons and daughters of God. Romans 8:14 says,

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

But how does one become a son or daughter of God who is continually led by the Spirit? If

choosing to walk in the Spirit is something I try to do, I put myself back under the law. If I makewalking in the Spirit (or loving others) a rule, I put myself back under the impossibility of the Old

Covenant. Even if I am born-again in my spirit, my independent soul won't be able to consistently

yield to the Spirit. The soul, with all its good rules and self-effort will fail. (I know. I have tried and

failed miserably.)

Yet the Bible clearly tell us, "Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8). God has done it. Jesus

accomplished for us everything we need for eternal life and for living lives of love on earth. We just

need to believe in Jesus as He really is—full of love for us. God is the source of the love for which

our soul so desperately longs. His love completely satisfies the soul and holds it in a position of

surrender to the Spirit. The love of God draws us and cradles us in unity with Him.

Earlier in Galatians, Paul put it this way: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I

who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of

God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Paul is living life on earth, by faith in

Jesus who he knew loved him. Obedience to both parts of the New Covenant—the faith command

and the love command—brings life as God designed.

Paul longed for the believers in Galatia to live life as he experienced it. He address-

es them, "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you"

(Galatians 4:19). Paul had labored for their salvation. They were born again—children of God. But

now he was laboring again—in order that Christ might be formed in them. Paul desired that they

be remade in the image of Christ—and become sons/daughters of God.

But what does it look like to have Jesus formed in us? Is such a life really possible?