Gal 3:1–5 — The Folly of Adding to the Cross
Paul’s Argument
Section titled “Paul’s Argument”We come now to the second major section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Section one is chapters one and two, the Apostle of Gospel Liberty, and now we come to section two on the Doctrine of Gospel Liberty. Although we do note that even at the end of the section on the Apostle of Gospel Liberty, that is in chapter 2 verses 14 to the end, 14 to 21, we have a transition that naturally segues into part 2 concerning the doctrine of Gospel Liberty.
Although at that point in the argument, he is simply recounting what he said to Peter. But Paul’s confrontation with Peter now segues into a sharp rebuke of the Galatian Christians themselves, who are in need of the same confrontation, the same rebuke, the same call to remember that they are saved by faith alone and not by being circumcised and committing themselves to keeping the Mosaic Law, especially all of the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law. So Paul now turns directly to the Galatian Christians, to the Christians that he had preached the gospel to on his first missionary journey, recorded in Acts 13 and 14. These Christians who, they are just baby Christians, they have just come to know the Lord through the preaching of the gospel, but already, within a short time, they are being tempted to fall away from that gospel, that pure gospel doctrine that they had received from Paul. And they are beginning to dabble with the idea that maybe Christ is not enough. Maybe we should listen to what these Judaizers are saying, that we need to add to faith in Christ circumcision and keeping the law to be right with God.
Galatians 3:1–5
Section titled “Galatians 3:1–5”“O Foolish Galatians”
Section titled ““O Foolish Galatians””Paul begins with a severe rebuke: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” He urgently warns them not to follow this path or allow themselves to be beguiled by the Judaizers, who are exerting an evil influence upon their minds.
They do not seem to realize it. They are just somewhat following along and listening to what they are saying and not really waking up to the reality that this is a serious error. Paul says that they are so foolish that the folly of what they are doing when they had come to faith in Christ and received forgiveness and received the Spirit simply by believing in Christ and not by works of the law. The folly of listening to this false doctrine of the Judaizers that they need to be circumcised as well. It is so foolish that they would even entertain this idea. It is so foolish on their part that there must be some malign influence at work? He says, who has bewitched you? That word bewitched can be translated different ways.
It may mean “beguiled” or “cast a spell upon.” This folly of turning from Christ to the false teaching of the Judaizers is so foolish that there has to be some malign influence at work. Even the devil himself must be at work in drawing them away, drawing their affections away from the sufficiency of Christ. Anytime the sufficiency of Christ and His cross is doubted, anytime the sufficiency of Christ and His work is attacked, whether by false doctrine on the part of the Judaizers, or whether it is in our own hearts that we are being drawn away like the Galatian Christians, to be dabbling with works as the means by which we are reckoned righteous before God, anytime that happens, anytime the sufficiency of the cross is doubted, that is an indicator that the devil is at work. The devil is at work because that is the essence of the devil’s attack, is to attack Christ and to attack the sufficiency of the cross. Paul goes on, he says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
Christ Crucified
Section titled “Christ Crucified”“It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” Paul recalls the gospel preaching through which they first came to know the Lord. His message was focused upon the cross. He asks them to remember how, only a few months or perhaps a year earlier, he proclaimed Christ among them, and they believed and were baptized.
I dwelt upon every aspect of the sufferings and death of Christ, just like in the Gospel accounts. You know how when you read through the Gospels, and all four Gospels are the same, in this regard, that you have the whole story of the life of Jesus, the miracles, the teachings, and so on. But then when they come to the Passion narrative, that is the last part of the Gospels, the story of how Jesus was handed over, how he was crucified, and so on, suddenly the narrative slows down and lingers on every detail of what happened when Christ was crucified. That was how Paul preached. He preached that same way, just the way the Gospels do, when the Gospels linger upon the sufferings of Christ and show us in detail how Christ suffered for us and how he was doing this all for us.
He was experiencing hell itself for us. He was absorbing the wrath of God. He was accursed of God for us because of his love for us in order that we might be forgiven and saved. So Paul here is recounting his initial gospel message and he is showing us that it was focused upon the cross in a very vivid way.
It was so vivid that it is as if the audience was there at the foot of the cross. It is as if with the eye of faith they were beholding Christ hanging upon the cross and seeing his work of dying for our sins and atoning for us and giving us eternal life. Do you not remember that? Do you not remember how I painted this vivid picture of Christ crucified before your very eyes? He is calling them back to remember how he first proclaimed Christ to them.
The Hearing of Faith
Section titled “The Hearing of Faith”He did not tell them that they needed circumcision or law-keeping to be forgiven or assured of their standing with God. He proclaimed Christ and him crucified. Paul therefore asks, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” He directs them back to their conversion, when they first came to saving faith in Christ.
Did you receive the Spirit because you were keeping the law? No, these were uncircumcised Gentiles. All they did was hear about Christ and Him crucified and believe. That is why he uses this interesting phrase there. He says, did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? The hearing of faith, that is, Did you receive the Spirit by being circumcised and keeping the law? Obviously not, you were uncircumcised Gentiles when you were saved.
Spirit or Flesh?
Section titled “Spirit or Flesh?”Paul continues in verse 3: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” These uncircumcised Gentiles began simply by hearing the message of the cross, proclaimed so vividly that it was as though Christ had been crucified before their eyes. They beheld him by faith and received the Spirit through faith in the gospel. Paul repeats the word from verse 1: “Are you so foolish?”
notice there in the ESV, there is a footnote next to the word suffer, and it says it could be translated as experience. This Greek word could be translated as experience. I think that is actually correct. Did you experience all these things? That is, hearing the gospel, believing, receiving the gift of the Spirit. Did you experience all these things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, Their experience of salvation is what Paul is talking about here. Their experience of the hearing of faith. The experience of receiving the Spirit simply by believing in Christ.
And he continues on in verse five. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? According to the Apostle Paul, the answer is obvious. The Spirit works in us through the Word as the Word is received by faith. The Spirit works not by circumcision and keeping the law. The Spirit works through the preaching of the Gospel as the Gospel is received by faith, the hearing of faith.
Does He who supplies the Spirit to you as a Christian, as you are growing in the Christian life, as you are working to serve the Lord and to bring forth the fruits of obedience to Him, does He do so by the works of the law? Or does he do so by means of the Spirit working through the preaching of the gospel as the gospel is received by faith?
It is the latter, it is obviously the latter. We are not sanctified by our works, rather the good works that God works in us are the fruit of faith. They are the fruit of receiving the gospel and believing in it. The Christian life, according to the Apostle Paul in this opening paragraph of the doctrinal section of the letter, the Christian life is by faith from first to last. It is not that we start off with somewhat of faith at the beginning and then we have to supplement works to it to finish the job. Either Christ saves us completely through his cross or not at all. This description here of the Christian life, having begun by the Spirit, we are now perfected by the Spirit, not by the flesh.
Application
Section titled “Application”Faith from First to Last
Section titled “Faith from First to Last”This description of the Christian life recalls Galatians 2:20, where Paul describes the life of faith.
He says, the life of faith is this, that I have been crucified with Christ. And that is not merely a past thing that happened 2,000 years ago, but I am now crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live. But Christ, who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, that is in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
The life of faith is not merely at the beginning when you are converted. It is the entire life of faith in the Lord, even until the day we die. The Apostle Paul here is very clearly speaking about the folly of attempting to add to the cross, of adding to Faith that justifies a means of trying to not only be right with God, but to also be sanctified by means of our own works. The folly of adding to the cross. The Christian life is by faith from first to last. And you cannot argue that we begin with faith and then we need to supplement our faith by adding works to make ourselves perfect. To do so is to add to the cross.
Adding to the Cross
Section titled “Adding to the Cross”It is sheer folly, Paul says. You Galatians, you are entering into this terrible folly, this madness to think that. Why is it folly to add to the cross? One reason is because adding to the cross is a rejection of the cross. To add to the cross is to deny and to reject the cross.
It would be like Israel in the Old Testament saying, I worship Yahweh, but I also want to add somewhat of Baal worship and some other idols over here. I found that these other idols that the Canaanites do are really helpful with increasing fertility and prosperity and so on. So I believe in Yahweh, but I am going to add these idols. To my worship of Yahweh. No, doing that is rejecting Yahweh?
Doing that is rejecting the true God. Or it’d be like a married man saying, I am going to add a mistress. I will keep my wife, but I am going to add a mistress as well. No, to do that is to reject your wife? You cannot reject the cross by adding to the cross. If you add to the cross, or if you attempt to do that, then you are rejecting the cross. It is madness. It is folly.
How could we imagine that we are forgiven and justified simply by the grace of God shown to us in the work of Christ upon the cross, and then say, “That is good, and I am appreciative, but I also want to add my own works to supplement it”?
It is also folly, Paul says, not only because adding to the cross is rejecting the cross, but also because It goes against our own experience. Now is it not interesting that Paul appeals to experience? Usually we think in theology that is a bad thing. We do not want to appeal to our experience because Theology is based on divine revelation, apart from our experience. And that is a very accurate thing to say, because it is very dangerous to use our experiences as the yardstick of truth. Our experiences can easily mislead us?
But it is interesting that in this one paragraph here, Paul does appeal to their experience. He is saying, just think back. It was not that long ago, maybe a year before, when you first heard the Gospel and you first received the Spirit. How did that happen? How did your experience of salvation, how did your experience of receiving the Spirit go? It is obvious?
These Gentiles were not circumcised when that happened. They were not law keepers. They were Gentiles. They were unclean Gentiles, in the eyes of the Jews anyway. And these unclean Gentiles were simply accepted before God, had their sins forgiven, and were reckoned as clean and righteous in the sight of God, simply by believing in Christ and trusting in His cross.
So it is folly to add to the cross, first because adding to the cross is a rejection of the cross, and secondly because doing so goes against our own experience of God’s grace. What are some ways that people add to the cross and deny the sufficiency of Christ today?
A number of ways. Any teaching or doctrine which you might hear which mixes human merit with Christ. The classic example of this is the Roman Catholic Church and its teaching at the time of the Reformation as codified in the Council of Trent. The Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1547 said, we do not deny the cross. Of course, the passion of Christ, the most holy passion and death of Christ is the whole basis of our salvation. We are not denying Christ, we are not denying the cross.
But what we are saying is, is that in addition to that, we have to cooperate with grace and add to the merit of Christ our own merit. Now, of course, that merit, they would say, is from Christ and from the Spirit working in us, but it is our works, it is our obedience. And so the Roman Catholic Church was mixing human merit with Christ. They are saying we do not deny the merit of Christ, but we also want to say that in addition to the merit of Christ, we can achieve our own merit working with Christ and on the basis of the work of Christ.
Today there are those who also teach something similar. They teach that there are two justifications. Your initial justification is by faith alone, but your final justification at the Day of Judgment is by faith and works. It is by your works as the evidence of the reality of your faith. That then God looks at to justify you at the Day of Judgment. That there is a final justification by works. Again, it is this idea of mixing? They are not denying the cross. They are not denying Christ. They are not pagans and saying that we can just be saved simply by our good works apart from Christ. They are saying, no, we believe in Christ. Yes, Christ is important.
But it is more like he is there as the way of giving us a chance, giving us the opportunity. To be able to merit. Christ has to set up the ladder, but then you have to climb it. If it was not for Christ dying on the cross, the ladder would not be there, but then once the ladder is there, now you have a chance to do it, and now you must get on that ladder and climb up it to achieve heaven by your merit cooperating with God’s work in Christ. That is the first way that people add to the cross and deny the sufficiency of Christ.
Ways of Adding to the Cross
Section titled “Ways of Adding to the Cross”Any teaching that mixes human merit with Christ. Another way we see this is any teaching which says that there is a second stage of the Christian life. This is a teaching that is known as the Higher Life Teaching. This Higher Life Teaching, which was very popular in the 19th century, had a huge impact on the Pentecostal movement. The Pentecostal movement, which built upon that higher life doctrine and said, there are ordinary Christians who simply believe in Jesus, and yes, they have their sins forgiven and they will go to heaven, but the really godly Christians, the really holy ones, they are the ones who receive a second blessing. Such as speaking in tongues, or some would say, maybe the non-Pentecostals would say, it is not necessarily speaking in tongues, but there is this second stage of the Christian life where you really go to the cross and you lay everything on the altar, and at that moment you are completely sanctified. There are some who actually believe in that, that you could achieve almost perfection in this life if you reach this second stage, this second blessing in the Christian life.
Again, they are not denying Christ, they are not denying the cross, but they are saying there is something more, and this something more is beyond what Christ has done, that the work of Christ and His cross is not sufficient. Any teaching which mixes human merit with Christ, or any teaching which says there is a second stage of the Christian life, is not that exactly what Paul is talking about here?
Look at the text. Galatians 3, verse 3, are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? He is saying there is no second stage? Because the way we begin is with Christ and His work, and the Spirit that flows from the cross of Christ, and that is all we need.
The problem with these second stage teachings, this higher life teaching, whether it is the Pentecostal form with speaking in tongues, or the non-Pentecostal form of the second blessing, The problem with these second stage teachings is what? It casts a shadow, it calls into question the reality of the faith of the person who is only at stage one, who has not yet reached that second stage. The person who has not yet been able to speak in tongues. The person who has not yet laid everything on the altar and achieved Christian perfection.
And the reality is that all of us struggle, all of us sin? And so even the people that claim that they have reached the second stage will have these doubts. What about that little sin that I committed? What about that struggle? What about that thing?
And so it casts doubt upon the simple faith of the ordinary Christian who has not reached that critical second stage yet and who is simply saying, I am a sinner and I am trusting in Christ and that is my only hope. And that is dismissed as being, oh, that is just, that is a carnal Christian, that is ordinary, that is just like, that is basic Christianity, but we are the truly holy ones, we are the really pious ones, we are the ones that are close to God, and you are just down there somewhat in the suburbs of heaven.
We are in the holy of holies. I was actually raised in a church. Maybe church in quote marks, I am not sure if it really was a church, but they were more like a cult, and they taught this. They taught that the ordinary carnal Christians who are not a part of their group and who are not really achieving this high level of spirituality, that although they will go to heaven, but they are going to be experiencing weeping and gnashing of teeth outside of heaven, outside of the gates. They are not going to be in hell, but they are going to be in weeping and gnashing of teeth going, oh, I wish I had lived that Christian life.
I wish I had gone on to perfection. They are going to miss out on the inheritance. They will be in heaven, but they will not have the inheritance, is what they made this distinction between heaven and the inheritance. The inheritance is like this special thing. The special thing that only the elect, the special ones have. We, the enlightened ones, who are part of this mystical group, we are the ones that have the second stage, the higher life, the true thing. And all the ordinary Christians who are just carnal Christians, they are missing out. And they are in a lower place.
But is not that rejecting Christ? Is not that denying Christ? Is not that saying that simple faith in the shed blood of Christ is not enough? Any teaching which says there is a second stage of the Christian life then is belittling the cross. It is belittling the reality of faith in Christ and violates Paul’s teaching here.
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Another way in which we see people who are denying the sufficiency of the cross is anytime they say that there are ceremonies or rituals that you can do that promise to make you closer to God or more holy, that promise to make you perfected, to use the language of Paul, being perfected by the flesh.
That there are ceremonies or rituals that you can do. This is what the Galatians were about to do. They were about to agree with the Judaizers who were saying, it is great that you believe in Jesus and we are so thankful that you are a Christian now, but if you really want to be perfected, if you really want to become a full member of the people of God, you need to be circumcised. And in addition to that, that would be somewhat your entry point into a life of being committed to keeping all of the Mosaic ceremonies. The Galatians were about to do that.
They were about to adopt some ceremonies and some rituals that were being held out before them by the Judaizers as being, this is really what will help you. This is what will really make you closer to God. This will make you more holy and more pleasing to God. And we see the same thing today in the Roman Catholic Church and also in the Eastern Orthodox Church. And their rituals and their ceremonies that they are holding out to you as being these are the things that if you do these it will really help you whether it is praying the rosary or praying to the saints or various forms of asceticism and harsh treatment of the body or veneration of icons.
All of these things, all these ceremonies, they are completely man-made. There is nothing in the Bible that says to do any of these things. At least the ceremonies that the Galatians were being tempted to do are in the Bible? After all, they are in the Old Testament. Just read the Old Testament, read the Mosaic Law, it is right there. Circumcision and all the ceremonies are right there, commanded by God. But all these commandments, all of these ceremonies and rituals by the Roman Catholic tradition and the Eastern Orthodox tradition are all made up.
They are man-made traditions. If what the Galatians are about to do, of succumbing to these rituals to make themselves closer to God. If what the Galatians were about to do is utter folly in the eyes of Paul, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you are contemplating doing this? How much more is it utter folly for people today to want to go to these man-made traditions and ceremonies and rituals held out by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Some people say, what is the harm? There is nothing harmful really in saying a rosary. It is just like beads that somewhat, help you to pray through the different parts of the prayer. There is nothing harmful in having an icon or an image that you can use to help you, somewhat like focuses your mind and helps you to be more focused upon God and Christ. What is the harm? These are, they are not evil things. It is not sin. It is just something that can help people. The harm is that they lead you away from the cross. The harm is they lead you away from Christ.
And they cause you to put your trust and your focus on yourself and your own works. Because I am doing all the rosary beads right. I am doing all these kneelings and prayers and rituals right. And that is what is giving me this sense of confidence and assurance that I am accepted, and that I am beginning to work up that ladder and I am starting to make progress. And pretty soon your eyes are taken off of Christ and put upon yourself.
Seeking a Deeper Experience
Section titled “Seeking a Deeper Experience”People may say, “But I crave a deeper experience of God.” These things promised to give that to me. And Paul replies, think back on when you first came to Christ and experienced the joy of salvation and the freedom of forgiveness simply on the basis of the work of Christ. How did you experience that deeper experience of God then? Was it by doing any of these practices? No, it was simply by hearing the gospel and believing it.
Do not fall for it. Do not fall for this lie, this promise that if you do these special things, somehow it will make you better. If you began by the Spirit, do you think you can now be perfected by the flesh? All of these things are simply the flesh. All of these things simply cater to the natural fallen tendency of the human mind, apart from the grace of God, to think that there is something we could do. If we just work a little harder, if we just put somewhat more effort, somewhat more discipline, if I just pray these right prayers, do these right rituals, then somehow I will be better off and closer to the Lord. Paul says it is total folly, it is total foolishness. Do not fall for it. You cannot add to the cross because even in attempting to add to the cross, you are rejecting the cross. The true experience of the Spirit of God.
And we all want that? Just like we look at our Pentecostal brothers and we somewhat think, man, I somewhat wish I had somewhat of that spirituality and excitement and holiness. We all want that. We want that experience of the Spirit? We want that experience of knowing that God is real and that he is really at work in us. Be nice to see a couple miracles, would not it? Be great. We want that. We want the power of God.
We want to see the Spirit working in us. But according to Paul, the way that that works, the Spirit flows from the cross. The Spirit flows from the gospel. The Spirit flows from the simplicity of receiving God’s mercy and grace at the cross of Christ. Not from anything that you do. Not from any rituals that you try to add, not from any techniques or spiritual practices that you might come up with.
It comes simply from the mercy of God revealed to us in the sheer reality of the preaching of the gospel. That is why Paul goes back and says, remember when I was with you? Remember what my preaching was all about? Did I preach to you all about circumcision and the validity of the law and how the law can help you to live a good life? No, I simply preached to you one thing and one thing only. I vividly portrayed before you the sufferings of Christ upon the cross.
The simplicity of the cross of Christ. All of our attempts to turn to things that we can do to supplement the cross is really born out of pride, is it not? It is born out of pride. It is thinking that somehow there is still something in us that we can do. There is still something in us. If we just muster up the energy, we can make ourselves more holy or closer to God or feeling like we have a deeper relationship with God. According to Paul, the secret is becoming a beggar. The secret is standing empty-handed at the foot of the cross to receive God’s sheer grace.
If we do that, we will grow and experience more of the Spirit’s work. The Lord will help us increasingly to put sinful deeds and desires to death and to live for him. Yet the Christian life begins and ends with the cross. We cannot begin there and then add something else to supplement what the Lord has done. We must reject our pride and recognize that we are beggars before the Lord. If we come not by works of the law but by the hearing of faith—hearing the gospel and believing it—we will know the Spirit’s power at work within us. We begin and continue the Christian life in the same way: by faith in Christ alone.