July 30 | Galatians 3:1-5; 5:22-25

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DAILY READING

Galatians 3:1-5

Galatians 5:22-25

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REFLECTION

The Work of the Spirit

By Dave Thompson

It must have been frustrating for Paul when he heard that the Galatians had turned from being saved by belief in Christ and were once again caught up in salvation through the flesh and works.

It reminds me of my past work for a school district in Indiana. I was the technology director and I would have a number of people forget the things I had taught them, especially over the summer, and go back to ways that just didn't work. They would call or email me with complaints that they were doing everything just the way they had been doing them, but now their computer or other electronic systems just would not work. Now, I only taught it one way, the right way and nothing changes over the summer break other than the person using the technology. They could not be blamed really as others might have come to them and explained it a different way. Let's look at the Ephesians and Galatians for good examples of this phenomenon.

We can look at Ephesians 2:8-9 for a good example, it reads "For by grace you are saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Paul taught this thought exclusively throughout his ministry, without wavering a little bit. Let's look at these two verses a little closer. "For by grace you are saved through faith..." In this first phrase is Christianity in a nutshell. Grace is unearned and unwarranted favor. How do we get it? We received it on the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ and it became available the day Christ was crucified. At that point, the Old Covenant died (that of earning our salvation through works). Now, not to blame the Ephesians, nor the Galatians too strongly. There were influencers of the Jewish faith called the Judaizers that had the sole mission of coming behind the apostle Paul and through casting doubt and confusion started to change the new Christians' minds. They would teach that it still was mandatory to be circumcised in order to be saved. They would cast doubt on how believing in Christ was all that was needed to be saved. They taught that you still had to earn your salvation through works. Through all this backbiting about the validity of Paul's teaching many Ephesian and Galatian Christians fell back into their old testament Jewish habits.

Like me in dealing with misinformation, Paul being human must have been quite upset. Paul showed the same emotion that I sometimes showed. In Galatians 3:1-3, Paul states his frustration. It reads, "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish?"

Man was he miffed by what was happening. He appears to have calmed down a little as seen in Galatians 5:21-22. Here it restates Paul's original teaching. It reads, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

We are the winners in this New Covenant. When we mess up we don't need to kill a lamb or two doves, etc. All we need to do is to understand our sin and ask forgiveness for it. We are saved through faith and not by works. Works are good as a thank-you to Jesus, but it is not a means of salvation. Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for this wonderful gift.

PRAYER

Dear God, thank you for giving us your New Covenant and a less stressful way to know we are positionally right with you. This is through faith in you and believing on your Son. You are the best.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE THOMPSON

I am the administrator of the Daily Worship Blog. My wife, Carla, and I have been attending UALC for seven years at the 9 o'clock service at Mill Run. We have two children, Catherine and Aaron. I have been a Christian for 53 years and am thankful that my Savior has given me two spiritual gifts that have carried me both spiritually and vocationally all my life: they are teaching and administration. I look forward to spending many years here at UALC to serve my Lord and Savior.