Sermon Tone Analysis

‘FOOLISH FAITH?’

PAUL DEFENDS HIS DOCTRINE OR TEACHING OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE WITHOUT WORKS, AGAINST THE JUDAIZERS WHO TAUGHT THAT THE WORKS OF AN INDIVIDUAL GAVE THEM ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD.

THE SUSPICION ABOUT PAUL AND HIS AUTHORITY HAS BEEN CLEARED.

HE IS SEEN AS AN APOSTLE AND HAS THE SAME AUTHORITY AS THE OTHERS IN JERUSALEM.

READ 3:1-4

THE GOSPEL HE HAS BEEN PROCLAIMING IS CORRECT AND ON TARGET.

NOW HE IS READY TO ESTABLISH THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE MAIN POINT OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL IS THAT JUSTIFICATION COMES THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AND THAT WORKS OF THE LAW HAS NOTHING DO WITH SALVATION.

REMEMBER FROM LAST WEEK THAT JUSTIFICATION MEANS:

IT IS THE ACT OF GOD WHEREBY HE DECLARES THE BELIEVING SINNER RIGHTEOUS IN JESUS CHRIST.

THIS THEME, GOES ALL THE WAY THROUGH CHAPTERS 3 AND 4. AND WE FIND THIS DEVELOPED THROUGH THREE AVENUES;

A DOCTRINAL ARGUMENT (3:1-4,11); A PERSONAL HUMBLE REQUEST (4:12-20); AND AN ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION (4:21-31).

AN ALLEGORY EXAMPLE IN LITERATURE IS A BOOK I REMEMBER READING IN HIGH SCHOOL.

‘ANIMAL FARM’ BY GEORGE ORWELL IS THE STORY WHERE A GROUP OF FARM ANIMALS REBEL AGAINST THEIR HUMAN FARMER, HOPING TO CREATE A SOCIETY WHERE THE ANIMALS CAN BE EQUAL, FREE, AND HAPPY.

ULTIMATELY, HOWEVER, THE REBELLION IS BETRAYED AND THE FARM ENDS UP IN A STATE AS BAD AS IT WAS BEFORE, UNDER THE DICTATORSHIP OF A PIG NAMED NAPOLEON.

BASICALLY ANIMALS TAKE ON HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS AND THE FABLE REFLECTS EVANTS LEADING UP TO THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917 AND THE RISE OF COMMUNISM.

THIS FABLE IS A POLITICAL ALLEGORY.

THIS MORNING IN CHAPTER 3 WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE DOCTRINAL ARGUMENT.

IN VS 1-5 PAUL REMINDS THE GALATIANS OF THEIR EARLY XIAN EXPERIENCE.

THEN IN 6-14 HE USES THE WITNESS OF THE SCRIPTURES.

IS THE ACT OF GOD WHEREBY HE DECLARES THE BELIEVING SINNER RIGHTEOUS IN JESUS CHRIST.

PAUL IS TELLING THE GALATIANS THAT THEY RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ANSWER TO THEIR FAITH IN CHRIST, NOT THROUGH OBEDIENCE OT THE LAW.

READ 3:1-14

PAUL SHOWS THAT THEIR PRESENT ATTITUDE IS A CONTRADICTION OF THEIR PAST SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

HE REMINDS THEM THAT THEIR DOORWAY INTO THE XIAN LIFE WAS AFFECTED NOT THROUGH THE LAW BUT BY SIMPLE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

YOU STUPID GALATIANS, WHO HOODWINKED YOU? THE MESSAGE OF JESUS, AS A MESSIAH WHO DIED ON A CROSS, WAS PLASTERED ON THE BILL-BOARDS BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES.

PAUL SHOWS THAT THEIR PRESENT ATTITUDE IS A CONTRADICTION OF THEIR PAST SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

HE REMINDS THEM THAT THEIR DOORWAY INTO THE XIAN LIFE WAS AFFECTED NOT THROUGH THE LAW BUT BY SIMPLE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

AND BECAUSE OF THIS FACT THEY SHOULD NOT REVERT BACK TO BEING UNDER THE LAW IN AN ATTEMPT TO PERFECT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.

SO AS WE LOOK AT VS 1-5 YOU CAN SEE THAT THEY ARE MADE UP ALMOST ENTIRELY OF QUESTIONS, AND THE BEST WAY OF EXPLAINING THESE IS TO LOOK AT EACH ONE INDIVIDUALLY IN ORDER.

#1.... YOU FOOLISH GALATIANS, WHO HAS BEWITCHED YOU, BEFORE WHOSE EYES JESUS WAS PUBLICLY PORTRAYED AS CRUCIFIED?...

VS1 COULD BE READ THIS WAY:

YOU STUPID GALATIANS, WHO HOODWINKED YOU? THE MESSAGE OF JESUS, AS A MESSIAH WHO DIED ON A CROSS, WAS PLASTERED ON THE BILL-BOARDS BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES.

THESE WORDS ARE EXPRESSIONS OF SURPRISE, OF BEING PERPLEXED, AND OF ANGER OR ANNOYANCE WHICH IS SIMILAR TO 1:6.

TO PAUL IT WAS MIND BOGGLING THAT THE GALATIANS WERE TURNING AWAY FROM A GOSPEL OF GRACE TO A SYSTEM OF LEGAL BONDAGE.

THEIR COURSE OF ACTION MADE NO SENSE IN LIGHT OF THE CHARACTER OF PAUL’S PREACHING AND IN LIGHT OF THE MARVELOUS THINGS GOD HAD DONE FOR THEM IN THE WAKE OF THAT PREACHING.

…YOU FOOLISH GALATIANS…IS ALMOST AN EXCLAMATION OF CONDEMNATION AND PITY.

THIS WORD FOOLISH; SUGGESTS THAT THE READERS WERE ACTING UNREASONABLY, THEY WERE NOT USING THEIR BRAINS.

BEING SENSELESS.

PAUL IS POINTING OUT THE IMPROPER THINKING OF THOSE WHO SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO WISE IN THEIR THINKING.

IN OTHER WORDS THEY ARE CAPABLE OF THINKING WISELY BUT THIS CHARACTERISTIC OF FOOLISHNESS MUST RESULT IN SOME ‘MAGIC SPELL’ WHEN HE USES THE SARCASTIC QUESTION...‘WHO HAS BEWITCHED YOU?’... PAUL IS NOT REFERRING TO THEIR MENTAL INCOMPETENCE, BUT TO A LACK OF WISDOM.

FOR EXAMPLE: I CAME ACROSS THIS STORY OF A MAN WHO WOKE ONE MORNING IN THE DEAD OF A MINNESOTA WINTER TO FIND THAT THE ENGINE OF HIS CAR HAD FROZEN.

HIS SOLUTION?

POUR HOT GASOLINE INTO HIS CAR.

SO HE PUT SOME GASOLINE INTO A POT AND WARMED IT ON HIS KITCHEN STOVE.

AS YOU CAN GUESS, THAT DID NOT GO SO WELL!!

THE REASON PAUL IS SO CLOSE TO THE POINT OF BANGING HIS HEAD AGAINST A BOULDER IS BECAUSE HE SEES THE XIANS IN GALATIA ARE TRYING TO FINISH THE XIAN RACE IN THEIR OWN STRENGTH.

AND PAUL IS BESIDE HIMSELF AS A RESULT.

HE CAN’T BELIEVE IT; SURELY SOME BEWITCHING IS AT WORK, PROMPTING THIS KIND OF THINKING.

THE CONDUCT OF THE GALATIANS WAS SO IRRATIONAL AS TO SUGGEST THAT SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE …BEWITCHED…THEM; TRANSLATED; IT SUGGESTS THAT THE ART OF A SORCERER IN PUTTING AN ‘EVIL EYE’ ON A VICTIM.

ONE RENDERS IT AS SAYING; WHO IS IT THAT HAS CAST A SPELL ON YOU.’ PAUL OF COURSE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS LITERALLY HAPPENING.

HIS USE OF THE WORD IS IN THE SENSE OF ‘TO CONFUSE THE MIND.’

AND WITH THIS THOUGHT OF THE EVIL EYE; MANY COMMENTATORS THINK THE WORDS,…BEFORE WHOSE EYES JESUS CHRIST WAS PUBLICLY PORTRAYED AS CRUCIFIED?...

IN THE TIME THE POPULAR THINKING, THIS COULD TAKE EFFECT ONLY IF THE EYE OF THE VICTIM MET THE SORCERER’S GAZE.

THE SUGGESTION IS THAT IF THE GALATIANS HAD ONLY KEPT THIER GAZE STEADILY FIXED ON THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN IMMUNE TO THE ‘MAGIC’ OF THE JUDAIZERS.

…WAS PUBLICLY PORTRAYED…IS TRANSLATED FROM A SINGLE GREEK WORD WITH ITS LITERAL MEANING BEING ‘TO WRITE PUBLICLY’; ‘TO PLACARD’; OR ‘TO BILLBOARD.’

IN OTHER WORDS THINGS USED FOR PUBLIC NOTICE OR PROCLAMATIONS.

THE COMMENTATOR LIGHTFOOT COMMENTS …THE APOSTLE IS SAYING THAT HIS PREACHING OF CHRIST HAD THE CLARITY OF AN ADVERTISEMENT ON A BILLBOARD.

OR THAT THERE WAS A POSTING, IN A PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE FACT THAT JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED.

THIS PLACARD OR BILLBOARD NOTICE OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH TO KEEP THE EYES OF THE GALATIANS FROM BEING ENTICED BY FALSE TEACHINGS.

BUT THIS SHOULD REMIND US OF THE TIME WHEN PETER WAS ABLE TO WALK ON WATER TOWARDS JESUS AND WITH JESUS UNTIL HE ALLOWED THE WAVES AND THE STORM AROUND HIM TO TAKE HIS EYES OFF OF JESUS AND ON WHAT WAS AROUND HIM AND IN DOING SO HE BEGAN TO SINK.

THE WAY THIS IS WRITTEN WITH THE WORD AS CRUCIFIED AT THE END IS WRITTEN WHERE THE WORD CRUCIFIED IS IN THE PERFECT TENSE.

MEANING THE FACT THAT THE APOSTLE IS NOT SPEAKING OF THE FIGURE OF A DEAD CHRIST ON A CROSS, BUT OF THE RISEN, ASCENDED CHRIST WHO HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED, WHO WAS ALIVE, WHOSE GLORIFIED BODY STILL BORE THE MARKS OF THE NAILS AND THE SCARS OF THE CROWN OF THORNS AND WHO IS THE LIVING SAVIOR BECAUSE OF HIS ATONING WORK ON THE CROSS.

NOTICE THAT

NOTICE THAT

#2 QUESTION IS VS 2…DID YOU RECEIVE THE SPIRIT BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW, OR BY HEARING WITH FAITH?...

PAUL IS ASKING; HOW DID YOU BECOME XIANS?

AND PAUL WAS WILLING TO STAKE EVERYTHING ON THIS ONE QUESTION BECAUSE HE KNEW THERE COULD AND IS ONLY ONE ANSWER.

THAT ANSWER WOULD SETTLE THE MATTER.

THE SPIRIT IS OF COURSE THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH CAN ONLY BE RECEIVED AT THE TIME OF EMBRACING THE GOSPEL; SALVATION.

BASICALLY PAUL CLEARLY ASKS; ‘THIS ONE QUESTION I HAVE FOR YOU; IS IT ON THE BASIS OF OBEYING THE LAW THAT YOU RECEIVED THE SPIRIT, OR IS IT BECAUSE YOU HEARD AND BELIEVED?

AND TO ASK THE QUESTION WAS TO ANSWER IT.

WORKS OBVIOUSLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT.

PAUL WROTE:…SO FAITH COMES FROM HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF CHRIST...

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MENTIONED 18 TIMES IN THIS EPISTLE AND PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN PAUL’S DEFENSE OF THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.

THINK WITH ME: HOW DO WE TRUELY KNOW IF THERE IS TRUE CONVERSION OF SOMEONE?

THE ONLY REAL EVIDENCE OF CONVERSION IS THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER.

…HOWEVER, YOU ARE NOT IN THE FLESH BUT IN THE SPIRIT, IF INDEED THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU.

BUT IF ANYONE DOES NOT HAVE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, HE DOES NOT BELONG TO HIM...

SO PAUL ASKS THE QUESTION AND OF COURSE THE ANSWER IS THAT THE SPIRIT CAME INTO THEIR LIVES BECAUSE THEY TRUSTED JESUS CHRIST!

GOD POURS OUT HIS SPIRIT INTO OUR LIVES WHEN WE RESPOND CORRECTLY TO THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL.

BUT WE NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO HEAR.

WE CAN HEAR WITH THE EAR AND WE CAN HEAR WITH FAITH.

ONLY BY HEARING WITH FAITH OPENS THE DOOR TO THE SPIRIT’S PRESENCE.

TELLS US ....AND WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE HIM...

REALIZE THEN, THAT RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES IN THEMSELVES DO NOT PROVE THE PRESENCE OF THE SPIRIT.

WE CAN ENGAGE IN ALL SORTS OF CHURCH ACTIVITIES, BUT IF THE HEARING OF FAITH IS NOT THE FOUNDATION OF IT, THEN ALL WE HAVE IS LOTS OF ACTIVITY.

WE MAY BE BUSY, BUT WE’LL LACK THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT WITHIN US.

THIS SHOULD MOTIVATE US TO GIVE PRIORITY TO THE WORD OF GOD IN EVERYTHING WE DO.

IF WE WANT TO PRESENCE AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WE MUST BE BIBLE PEOPLE; WE NEED TO BE WORD-DRIVEN IN OUR APPROACH TO MINISTRY AND TO LIFE BECAUSE GOD’S PRESENCE COMES AS WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD WITH FAITH.

THIS TAKES US TO THE THIRD QUESTION:

#3 ARE YOU SO FOOLISH?

HAVING BEGUN BY THE SPIRIT, ARE YOU NOW BEING PERFECTED BY THE FLESH?

...HAVING BEGUN BY THE SPIRIT…REFLECTS THE TRUTH THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE ELEMENT IN WHICH THE CHRISTIAN LIFE HAS ITS BEGINNING.

…ARE YOU NOW BEING PERFECTED (COMPLETED) BY THE FLESH?… THIS ALLUDES TO THE FLESHLY CEREMONIES OF JUDAISM WHICH THE GALATIANS WERE BEING BEWITCHED TO OBSERVE.

‘PERFECTED’ PROBABLY WAS A TERM USED BY THESE FALSE TEACHERS AND IT SHOWS THAT PAUL’S READERS DID NOT THINK OF THEMSELVES AS ABANDONING XIANITY ENTIRELY; THEY WERE, IN THEIR THINKING, ADDING SOMETHING (JEWISH LAW) TO THEIR XIAN FAITH AS A MEANS OF REACHING PERFECTION.

IN OTHER WORDS; THEY MAY BE THINKING THAT FAITH IS USEFUL IN THE BEGINNING STEP OF XIANITY, BUT LAW IS NEEDED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MATURE RELIGIOUS LIFE.

THIS IS CALLED LEGALISM!

THE COMMENTATOR PHILLIPS PARAPHRASES PAUL’S EXPRESSIVE REACTION LIKE THIS: ‘SURELY YOU CAN’T BE SO IDIOTIC AS TO THINK THAT A MAN BEGINS HIS SPIRITUAL LIFE IN THE SPIRIT AND THEN COMPLETES IT BY REVERTING TO OUTWARD OBSERVANCES.’

#4 QUESTION: DID YOU SUFFER SO MANY THINGS IN VAIN - IF INDEED IT WAS IN VAIN?

PAUL IS APPEALING TO THE READERS NOT TO LET ALL THAT THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED IN CHRIST BE FOR NOTHING.