Galatians 3:1-3 (NASB)
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
The Gospel
The Apostle Paul had brought the gospel message to these Christians in the Galatian region. Paul and many other new Christians had been persecuted horribly. Paul was even stoned, to the point where his attackers actually thought he was dead. Years later, some men had come into these churches and told them that Paul was wrong. These Gentiles (non-Jews) needed to still follow all of the Jewish regulations, and essentially convert to Judaism, if they wanted to truly follow God.
Paul told them that they did not have to do this. They simply needed to follow Jesus, as he had taught them before.
Adding To
At the end of the book of Revelation, we have one of the clearest warnings about adding to or taking away from (changing) the words of God’s word, the Bible.
Revelation 22:18-19 (NASB)
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
This is what the false teachers were doing with the Galatian people, and some of the people were believing them. They were adding to the simple message of salvation in Jesus. Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Old Testament Law. We no longer have to follow all of the ceremonial laws and regulations in the Old Testament. Of course, the moral laws, such as the Ten Commandments, still apply, as we see in many places in the New Testament.
Additions Today
Human nature hasn’t changed. For some reason, at times, we convince ourselves that we have to do more than what the Bible says. We have to “earn” our way into heaven by doing good works. The problem is that we can never be good enough.
Isaiah 64:6 (NASB)
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
What we think are good deeds are usually “filthy garments.” Why? It’s probably because of our motives. Instead of doing what God clearly says, we say that we can do something else to earn God’s approval, so that He has no choice but to welcome us into His presence. It might also be so that we can show (to ourselves or others) how much better we are than other people — religious pride.
Salvation is easy, but it is also the hardest thing you will ever do.
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Taking Words Away
Probably more common than adding words to what God says is taking words away. Our society says that there is nothing wrong with premarital sex. It also says that homosexuality is just as normal as heterosexuality. That is taking away from what God clearly says, though.
Romans 1:25-28 (NASB)
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Some people would actually call this “hate speech”, but in reality, it is love speech. Real love is willing to tell someone else the truth, even if it costs them a friendship or jail time. Simply reading this passage, in a Christian church, in some countries would be considered a crime, at that person could go to jail. This is happening almost every day, and not just in communist countries; it’s happening in England, Canada, and many other Western countries.
Many people will preach “tolerance”, but they themselves will only tolerate what they want to believe; in other words, a one-way tolerance.
Truth
Facts are not something that we have the right to vote on. A fact is either true or it’s false. If it’s false, it’s a lie. In a free country, people don’t have to be Christians. To call yourself a Christian, though, and not follow what the Bible says, is a lie.
1 John 1:6-7 (NASB)
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Following Christ means that we actually follow Christ — what He said and did. We don’t have the right to change what God said, any more than we can say that 2 + 2 does not equal 4. Facts are facts, whether we choose to believe them or not.
Daily Life
It might not seem like it, but these are very basic things. If we are going to live godly lives, we need to follow God. Following God needs to be a daily way of life, not something that we do once a week or when we are around certain people. It’s also not about “big” sins. It can simply be not taking the time to listen to God, to find out what He wants us to do. There is an old parable about putting a frog in cold water, then gradually heating it up, and the frog doesn’t even notice it until it’s too late.
1 Corinthians 15:33 (NASB)
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.
Little Changes
As we said, living a godly life is a daily thing, a way of life. When a person gives their life to Christ, they become a new creation. A butterfly can’t crawl around on the ground anymore. It now has to fly and live a new life. God has called us to live new lives, not being swayed by so-called “popular opinion.”
When we start to say to ourselves that something is “not that bad”, we are in danger of compromising God’s holiness in our lives. We should always strive for His righteousness, not our own. The only way to do that is to walk by and live in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
Galatians 3:1-3 (NASB)
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
More…
We would love to speak with you or have you worship the Lord with us. Please let us know how we can serve you.
