Our Bible Text today is Galatians 3:8 …

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

This Verse is literally “loaded” with truth! With “insight” after “insight!”

Look here how God’s Word is said to be “alive!” That first clause … “And the scripture, foreseeing …” Traits of intelligence (the ability to see, even to foresee) now belong to “Scripture!” A Greek noun (“graphe”) meaning Writing (singular number, the Bible as a Whole, as a Unity) is employed here. A Wise Book indeed! It “thinks!”

Paul elsewhere gives “life” to the Bible. (In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, for example. “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course ….” Here the verb “have free course” is “trecho,” meaning “to run, to run freely, to run without hindrance!” A vibrant, living, running, active Bible!)

Next Paul has the Scripture “preaching!” (Another proof of “Life!”) As in the Text: “And the scripture … preached before the gospel unto Abraham!”

Wow! This verb, “preached” in English (“euaggelizomai” in Greek) means “to declare the Good News!” Telling (here foretelling) the Death and Burial and Resurrection of the coming Messiah, of Jesus Christ the Son of God!

Plus … God is going “so save” (“justify”) sinners (non-Jews here, “heathen,” ethnic groups other than the literal seed of Abraham) “through faith.” Not by human works, but by belief, simple trust in Jesus and His Finished Work!

“By Grace through faith,” folks!

But then even more thrilling, Paul here tells us exactly how that Gospel was worded to Abraham! (This becomes then a superb Lesson in hermeneutics, in Bible interpretation.) ” … saying, in thee (Abraham) shall all nations (“ethnos,” the very same word used for the “heathen” in the verse) be blessed.”

In Abraham?

Is he a savior?

No!

But from the loins, the body of Abraham comes Isaac, then Jacob, then Judah … then a long (godly) line of descendants unto/until a virgin named Mary who was to marry a man named Joseph … Mary through whom (via a miracle called the Holy Ghost overshadowed Virgin Birth) JESUS was born!

And HE is The Saviour!

That’s the Gospel, when the Blood of Calvary is mixed therein!

Abraham and Jesus?

Matthew 1:1 says it well: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Wow!

Jesus … Son of God, of course … but also “Son of Abraham!” 

And in HIM … in Jesus, Descendant of Abraham, physically speaking … through HIM … all the nations of the earth shall be (have already been) blessed!

Have been given salvation, eternal life!

“Whosoever will may come!”

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Revelation 22:17 … “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” 

 

Children of Abraham?

That’s what Paul claimed, in Galatians 3:7, for every child of God! Everyone who has trusted Jesus God’s Son for salvation!

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Again, this is Galatians 3:7, King James Version.

Everyone “out of” faith (“ek” is the preposition, translated “of” in our Text), having been born-again via reliance, trust, confidence, (hence “faith”) in Jesus and His Shed Blood on the Cross.

Faith in Jesus saves!

But here, Paul says it also makes one a (true) “child” (“huios,” a masculine plural noun meaning “descendant”) of Abraham!

Not in a physical sense, of course.

There is no Jewish blood flowing in the veins of any given (gentile) Believer in Christ! Not literally so, of course!

But he or she (the trusting Believer) has become a spiritual child (brother, family member) of Abraham, because Abraham also is related to God, to God’s Son Jesus, via believing faith! A son of daughter of Abraham that great man of faith!

The Judiazers (Jews who still trusted Moses for salvation) bragged and bragged on being physical descendants of that great man!

But Paul just told his gentile converts in Galatia that THEY were the descendants of Abraham too, without circumcision or Sabbath worship or those numerous dietary laws being adjunct (necessary) for their kinship!

No, they were related by faith!

“BY FAITH Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Hebrews 11:8

“BY FAITH Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” Hebrews 11:17-19

Amen!

Now this does NOT mean that we saved gentiles have displaced the nation of Israel and negated all God’s promises to that (some day) converted People! 

It does mean that we (along with every other true Gospel believer since Adam, including Abraham) are “by faith” followers of Almighty God, His Son, the Holy Spirit (the Godhead) … again by faith! (Implied … NOT BY WORKS!) 

Wow!

In that sense, Paul boldly declared, unashamedly preached: “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Some will disagree with my approach to today’s Text, Galatians 3:6. “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

One verse earlier (Galatians 3:5) we were taught (again) that “the hearing of faith,” not “the works of the law” brings salvation. Brings the Holy Spirit and the power of God into our lives; simple, pure “belief” in Jesus does this.

Then Paul illustrates this Truth, this Bible means of salvation! From, of all places, the Old Testament! From the life of the Jewish Patriarch Abraham! 

Here is Moses’ Account of the event:

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he BELIEVED in the LORD; and he (the LORD) counted it to him (Abram) for righteousness.” Genesis 15:1-6

Eternal life!

Eternal blessings!

An indestructible nation!

A pristine testimony!

All given to Abraham … because of the non-meritorious act of believing!

“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Our Text once again.

“Believed” is “pisteuo” in Greek, the word Paul would have written here. “To think to be true!” Or “to credit, give credence (confidence) to!”  Or even “to be persuaded of!”

The accompanying verb “was accounted” is “logizomai,” meaning to Paul and his generation … “to reckon, to calculate, to compute!”

Abram “trusted” GOD!

GOD consequently “deposited” to Abram “righteousness!

Oh yes, “righteousness” means “being in a perfect state,” having no wrong (in Almighty God’s Eyes, mind you)! “Straight,” not crooked!

Abraham was “saved” by “faith!”

What a logical thinker, the Apostle Paul!

He has here demolished any “salvation by works” theology! And he used Scripture to do so! No wonder he could preach so freely to a man under conviction … “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31, spoken to the broken, repentant Philippian jailer.

By Grace, through Faith!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

An “anachronism” is placing a newer truth somewhere way back in time and forcing it to apply to an ancient age! I have just said Abraham was “saved” (basically a New Testament term) by “faith,” applying that terminology to an Old Testament character! (Hence the charge: anachronism!)

But I am not going to change a word in the Lesson! Abraham WAS INDEED SAVED (counted righteous) by “BELIEVING GOD!” By faith!

That’s not anachronism, that’s realism, folks!

 

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