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?
They should have known better, the Galatian believers! They had left the truth for an error. Paul is flabbergasted by the report of how they had so quickly devolved from a life of faith into life under the law. It is the propensity of fallen human nature, as evidenced in the multitude of human religions, to move in the direction of spirituality through human efforts, that is, through law. The Galatians, even though redeemed people, were proving this to be so.
It was not for lack of knowledge that they fell into error, for Paul had himself “portrayed” to them the Lord as crucified. It was “before whose eyes,” that is, they had personally seen and heard Paul’s testimony about Christ and the crucifixion of Christ. There was simply no excuse.
His use of “foolish” to describe the Galatians is reminiscent of Jesus’ word to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25-26). Foolishness is to clearly know the truth and turn away from it—there is no rationale or justification for it. It can only be described as foolish.
The Galatians were deceived, as though under a spell, into embracing something infinitely inferior. They were rejecting the central significance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The source of this deception, according to the Greek syntax, is singular. This could refer to a single, unnamed false teacher. But it more like refers to the father of lies, Satan himself, in contrast to the Spirit in verse 2. The devil is the master of deception, subtly perverting the truth ever so slightly, yet with eternal ramifications. Does it not appeal to the fallen human nature to think that laws are required in order to receive blessings from God? This plays into the prideful thought that possibly a person can become good enough in himself if he could only follow the right behavior. Yet Paul undercuts this by simply noting, with rhetorical question, that they received the Spirit of God, the ultimate blessing, simply through faith, and not by keeping any law. The truth continues today. No works of the law are required: neither baptism, nor church membership, nor the ten commandments, nothing is required to become right with God. We only need believe in Christ, crucified for our sins!
Lord, I do believe that Christ died for my sins because I could not be good enough in keeping the works of the law. Your grace is my hope!
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