The Christian life is begun “by the Spirit” (vs. 4) because God has provided us “with the Spirit” (vs. 5). This is a miracle of the first rank, that the Spirit of the very God of the universe should become ours. The greatest miracle we can experience is spiritual regeneration, for that moves a soul from spiritual death to eternal life in the Spirit. This is nothing less than spectacular, from God’s perspective. He is not the least bit influenced by any person’s ability to perform “works of the Law.” In fact, all of us fall far short (Rom 3:23). The only hope is in God doing the work that we couldn’t do. That is miraculous!

Knowing that we are prone to believe what we can physically see, the Lord also provided outwardly tangible miracles to confirm the inner workings of the Spirit: “God [was] also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb 2:4). Paul’s gospel ministry likewise was confirmed in the same way, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor 12:12). These “proofs” during the foundational time of the church and early spread of the gospel gave assurance to the divine origin of the gospel message.

Whether or not God is still doing miracles today to the same extent and character as in the beginning, we can clearly see that the miraculous does not happen as a result of good moral or religious behavior. Even faith does not cause miracles, so that one person’s faith in miracles is somehow better than another’s lack of faith in miracles. Abraham had virtually no miraculous events to aid his faith. He simply, at the Lord’s behest, observed the starry sky and believed His promise that the number of his descendants would rival the number of stars in the sky (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3, James 2:23). God may or may not give miraculous signs to affirm His message—faith is not to be in miracles, but in God whose Spirit sovereignly and graciously works in supernatural ways. Abraham’s faith came through hearing of the Word of God (Rom 11:17).

The result was the patriarch being declared righteous in God’s eyes. The same is true also for the Galatian believers and for us today. Righteousness does not come by human efforts, but through faith in God, particularly in what He has done in “Jesus Christ who [was] publically portrayed as crucified” (vs. 1).