Galatians-Week 3-It's grace, people, get the message

Ok, so we've laid just a very little background for Chapter 3. In this chapter, Paul is going to annihilate the idea that the law could ever surpass or supplant or in any way challenge the grace offered through Jesus Christ.


14. How do you know you're saved in the first place? Answer: Hello, Holy Spirit, come on in.

1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Here Paul says "Don't you remember how you even came into the family in the first place? It wasn't through anything you did, but through something that Jesus did and because you believed. You experienced it for yourself and you saw the effect of this change in the lives of the people around you. Why would you think you can change it now? Oh, and you know that feeling of difference that you have...let's just call that the 'Holy Spirit.' That's proof of God's favor, proof of salvation, and your guarantee that no matter what happens here, your future is secure. Forever."

I could be paraphrasing, but really, he has an excellent point. The Holy Spirit, which is God, comes to the believer at salvation. And never leaves.

1 John 4:13: We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13-14: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Here's how someone smarter than I am said it:

No ritual, ceremony, regulation or any other thing devised or accomplished by men can pick up where the cross leaves off--because the cross never leaves off. The cross is the continuing and eternal payment for all sin, and every sinner who puts his trust in the cross is forever and continually being forgiven. A believer can no more stay saved by works than he could have been saved by works in the first place. The cross keeps moving powerfully and relentlessly through history, and it will stand forever as living proof that men cannot redeem themselves.