In Galatians 3:5 Paul masterfully links the Holy Spirit of God with the amazing works of God!

Then the Apostle teaches us that both phenomena come by “the hearing of faith!”

Yes, the Personality (God the Third Person) and the Power (here called “miracles”) … intricately associated.

To alliterate the thought: both the Deity and the Demonstration!

Nothing “earned” here … but Gifts from God!

“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Galatians 3:5

This verse clearly puts a lot of emphasis on this matter termed “the hearing of faith!” (As in … “NOT the works of the law!”)

As in: “Faith cometh by HEARING, and hearing by the WORD of God.” Romans 10:17, Paul preaching this same truth to another group of Churches!

As in: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that HEARETH my word, and BELIEVETH on him that sent me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Jesus preaching to a group of unbelieving Jews! (Although keep in mind, many Jews did believe in His Name.)

One more example … Ephesians 1:13 eloquently gives us the sequence: “In whom ye also TRUSTED, after that ye HEARD the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye BELIEVED, ye were SEALED with that HOLY SPIRIT of PROMISE.” 

“Trusted” … that’s faith!

“Heard” … that’s its preliminary, prerequisite!

“Believed” … a synonym of “trust!”

“Sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise” … the Aftermath, being indwelt by the good Holy Ghost!

Wow!

Believing faith is the “trigger,” ordained of God to bring Salvation to a lost soul. That’s trust in Jesus Christ as Son of God, His Shed Blood on Calvary, to wash away one’s sin(s)!

This mental, heart-felt, sincere BELIEF, given through the HEARING of God’s Word, God’s Truth … in Galatians 3:5 … does two things:

The new-born individual is (1) given a relationship with the Holy Spirit! And becomes (2) the vehicle through whom God does some “miraculous” (“powerful,” in Greek “dunamis”) things!

“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

In context, Paul is defending the Gospel of the Grace of God, re-stating that Gospel in the face of some “loving-Moses-too-much” proponents! That equates to “not-loving-Jesus-enough” proponents!

The Holy Spirit and His work are so closely linked in this single verse, that they are tandem, really! The Spirit being the Cause … the miracles being the effect! 

Wow!

What beautiful, variegated Truth Paul can weave into a line of Scripture. Via the Inspirational Power (miraculous!) of the Holy Spirit of God!

Read it one more time, please, our Text for today. Then ponder it again and again!

“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Galatians 3:5, King James Version: “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

Another question!

The Apostle’s most inquisitive Book of all, I believe, Galatians.

And Paul’s question here to the Galatians prompts me to ask a question!

“Who is the Subject of this interrogative sentence, of the verse?”

In other words, who is the “HE?”

“HE therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you?” Then, “Doeth HE it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

The answer is undoubtedly, Almighty God!

God the Father!

Wow!

God as “Minister!”

Now with that question settled … “He (God as Father, the First Person of The Trinity) therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

This must be correct!

Because God the Holy Spirit is One of the Gifts given!

And Jesus, God The Son, is the Recipient of the faith mentioned at the end of the verse!

Then, logically, God the Father is the Orchestrator of all the workings of the spiritual life, of the born-again man!

As Such, God “gave” us the Holy Spirit when we first believed on Jesus.

As Such, God “empowers” and “works” (“energizes”) mighty things among us!

“He (God The Father) therefore that ministereth … and worketh …!”

Now for today’s Lesson … I’d like to concentrate on one of those verbs, learning better what God does in “providing” us the Holy Spirit.

“Ministereth” is the Greek word “epichoregeo.” Compound indeed! The prefix “epi” is a preposition meaning “upon” something or someone.

The verb’s root, “choregeo,” literally means “to lead the choir!” (Yes, the English noun “choreographer” is certainly derived from it!)

But it means more than just “to lead” the community chorus!

It, in ancient Greek culture, also meant to supply the funds to rent the recital hall, to purchase the robes, to print the song books (sheet music), the ______________, the blank line simply meaning everything (anything) else need to make the concert (cantata) possible and successful!

The “choreographer” (here “minister”) provides it all!

Wow!

Yes, God the Father, in “ministering” to us the Holy Spirit … has provided us ALL we need to live (successfully, victoriously) the Christian life!

Amazing!

The Sufficiency of the Holy Ghost, all He is, All He does! !

But also … the Liberality, Depth, Thoroughness of God the Father! God the Provider, God the Minister! God the Overseer! God the Director! God the Benefactor! 

And (insinuated) the Willingness of Jesus God’s Son to come die on the Cross, so we can place our faith in Him as Saviour and Lord!

God … that Father!

God, period!

Oh today, all day long … let us BLESS HIS NAME!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

In none of Paul’s Epistles does he “fight” any harder for his people, his converts, than he does in Galatians! Fight for the purity of their faith, I mean. For their orthodoxy, “right belief!”

It is clear that infiltrators have “crept in” those Assemblies (in Galatia), several little Bible-believing Churches! (“Crept in” in Jude’s language!)

Men who say Paul has been “wrong” in his preaching, wrong about the Gospel! That salvation is NOT A GIFT! That Jesus ALONE can NOT save! That the august Law of Moses, obeying it, is the way into God’s good Favor!

And these “Judaizers” have been successful, at least to some degree, in  tragically “turning” the Galatian believers, themselves fairly new converts to Jesus!

Paul has begun to believe his loved ones in Galatia have been “bewitched!”

Or “removed” from faith in Jesus! (That they have now placed their faith elsewhere, “metatithemi” in Greek.)

To “another Gospel,” a false gospel!

They are leaving the true Faith, enough people in number, that Paul has even called them “foolish!” (As in … “have you lost your minds?”)

And by Galatians chapter 4, the great Apostle will finally admit: “I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” See that concession? “I STAND IN DOUBT OF YOU!”

Wow!

But, and here’s the point of today’s Lesson, it took Paul quite a while to ever “doubt” his little “family” (in the Faith) there in Galatia, that whole area.

He does not “want” to concede defeat to the devil in this vital matter!

Paul is burdened, maybe even pained, over this issue.

Like a mother “in travail” with child! (“My little children, of whom I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH again until Christ be formed in you.” Galatians 4:19)

But now let’s look at today’s Text, Galatians 3:4. (We only discussed the first half of this verse yesterday.) “Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.” 

Notice Paul hopes: “IF IT BE YET IN VAIN!”

Paul does not want to give up!

“Vain” (in Greek “eike”) means “without purpose.”

Almost “to the point of failure!”

Paul may “lose” these fledgling believers … but not “yet!”

He even employs a compound word for “yet!” Three letters in English, and still “compound?” Yes!

A lot must be hinging on Paul’s “yet” here!

It’s (“yet”) spelled “eige” in Greek. A blend of “ei” and “ge,” literally. Four (4) letters in that precise language! Folks, “ei” alone is the word for “if,” but its accompanying “ge” here means “indeed, truly, doubtless!” Very strong!

See it?

Paul is reluctant to “lose” a single soul from any of his Churches!

He wants his “fruit” to “remain!” That was Jesus’ Desire for us too: “That ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your FRUIT should REMAIN.” John 15:16

But how do we apply this tenacity of Paul, this Spirit induced optimism?

DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOUR LOVED ONES, EITHER! THOSE WHO HAVE SHOWN EVIDENCE OF SALVATION … BUT ARE TOTTERING ON THE BRINK OF UNFAITHFULNESS!!!

Keep praying for him!

Talk to her and uplift our Lord every chance you get!

Build that “bridge of communication!” (That’s exactly what Galatians is, the whole Epistle! True, it is also a superb “defense” of the Faith!)

No matter how bad things look, think about them like Paul did about his beloved Galatians … “If it be yet in vain!”

“Lord, give us that kind of hope, we pray.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Paul has become a veritable “question box!”

And he’s at it again today, in our Bible Study Lesson!

“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.” Galatians 3:4

Yes, this particular question to the Galatian Christians does teach us something, although indirectly.

They, as a group, had apparently “suffered” (“pascho” in Greek, meaning “to hurt, endure sorrow” … the verb used of Jesus’ Suffering on Calvary) numerous things … for the sake of Christ, for the cause of the Gospel!

Remember, the Roman Province of Galatia was a “rough” area in which to live. (Maybe a little like the old, wild American West in pioneer days!) Even generally speaking “hardships” in life were normal, for everyone. And thus “persecution” for the saints … a clear and present reality!

Paul even suffered in some sense when he was in Galatia preaching. “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.” Galatians 4:13, an upcoming Lesson, Lord willing. What that “infirmity” was, no one knows for sure.

Galatian Brethren … “Have ye suffered so many things in vain?”

“Vain” means “empty,” or better yet, “without purpose” … in Greek “eike.”

Have you wasted all that pain?

Trials for Jesus’ Sake, for which (if you stay faithful) you will be richly rewarded! (Jesus in Mark 10:29-30 … “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Wow!)

Or Paul to Timothy, one short line: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” 2 Timothy 2:12

In all four cities of Galatia; Antioch (of Pisidia to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria) and Iconium and Lystra and Derbe … Paul and his company were brutally treated! For preaching the Gospel of the Grace of God … freely offered to lost sinners!

Now we apparently have learned … the Galatian Believers suffered as well. Maybe even after Paul’s departure.

You can read much of this (in more detail) in Acts chapters 13 and 14. (Paul “found” Timothy in Lystra, for example.)

Oh, today’s verse again … “Have ye suffered so many things in vain?”

Are you Galatians willing to just throw it all away, all those tests you passed, all that “gold, silver and precious stone” that you have accrued (and will be given at the Judgment Seat of Christ)?

Throw it away?

Make it vain?

By abdicating from the Gospel of Grace!

And returning to some false Gospel?

What a thought!

More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, IF WE FAINT NOT.” Galatians 6:9, written to these very same Christians, the Galatians! And “fainting” certainly includes “leaving the faith!” Trading Jesus for Moses!

 

Paul is frustrated!

He is such a staunch defender of the Gospel of the Grace of God!

And his congregations (plural, in several cities) in the area of Galatia have been duped into accepting (or are on the verge of doing so) the Law of Moses as an adjunct (integral companion, vital aid) to salvation!

“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” … the great Apostle writes to his converts, asks of them. In Galatians 3:3.

The adjective “foolish” (in Greek “anoetos”) means “not thinking.” It is not an accusation of immorality or filthiness as it often is in the Old Testament. Once in the King James New Testament it is even translated “unwise.” 

But Paul here intensifies the “foolishness” question by adding the adverb “so.” Furthermore, “houtos” is here placed at the head of the sentence, its very first word! This gives it even more gravitas in Greek! More weight!

Then Paul admits something. In his heart he must have believed that the Galatians were genuinely saved! He gives them this much: “… having begun in the Spirit ….” employing the root verb “archo” … from the very first of their Christian lives. In other words, the HOLY SPIRIT birthed them into the family of God!

(Elsewhere in the Epistle to the Galatians Paul seems to have begun wondering if many of the believers there in Galatia were really born-again! “I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; FOR I STAND IN DOUBT OF YOU.” Galatians 4:20)

Wow!

Sounds like Paul is sure of this fact! THE HOLY SPIRIT (THE GODHEAD) WHO SAVED US … YES, HE IS GOD … IS NOT GOING TO LATER TURN US OVER TO MOSES, TO THE LAW, TO HELP US GROW IN CHRIST JESUS!

We Christians (of course) do not mock the Law, but it is not our rule of thumb either. The Holy Spirit is our Law … since we have come to Christ! (In Romans 8:2 Paul actually mentions “the LAW of the SPIRIT OF LIFE” … that’s Him!)

Back to our Text, its last clause: “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, ARE YE NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH?” 

Astounding logic!

Paul now equates the Law, Moses’ alone, with the “flesh!”

Because the Law puts emphasis on the externals … shows on the outside, human behavior. That’s how Pharisee-ism became so dangerous! In the area of the flesh!

But the Holy Spirit puts emphasis on the inside! The human heart! And NOT primarily the flesh!

“Are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

The verb “made perfect” is “epiteleo.” Meaning “having come to maturity!” Having “accomplished one’s goal!” Or just “finished, accomplished, performed!”

The question, as asked, obviously begs for a negative answer!

No … only the Same Holy Spirit Who put us into the family of God, by Grace through faith … can make us perfect, “mature” us, in the things of God! 

Is the Law bad?

Paul is not saying such.

But the Law cannot saved a lost soul.

And the Law cannot bring to maturity a fledgling Christian either! 

I guess this Saturday morning in May we had best be praising God for His “Amazing Grace!”

This Saturday morning, May 26, 2018 … my 72nd Birthday in fact!

The Holy Spirit, God in us!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell