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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
3:1-5:12 Direct Appeals to the Galatians. Paul offers a variety of reasons why the Galatians should resist the seductive teaching of the people troubling them.
3:1-5 The Galatians' Experience of Conversion. Paul interrogates the Galatians, with five questions in as many verses. He despairs that they have come under the spell of the false teachers, and so he returns to their experience of how they first came to know Christ.
3:1 Who has bewitched you. Paul uses the language of pagan magic to characterize the pernicious activity of the false teachers and the perilous situation of the Galatians. publicly portrayed. Paul believes that his proclamation of the gospel was so vivid in the Galatians' presence that it was as if they had been eyewitnesses of the crucifixion.
3:2 Let me ask. Using rhetorical questions, Paul shows how illogical it is for the Galatians to seek a fuller Christian life through observance of the law. Did God give them the Spirit and work miracles in their midst (v. 5) because they observed the law? No, it was the result of their hearing the gospel and believing it. Receive the Spirit refers to the new covenant work of the Holy Spirit that comes after saving faith, at the beginning of the Christian life, to sanctify and to empower the believer in life and various kinds of ministry. Paul knew this experience was so real for the Galatians that they would remember it.
3:5 supplies the Spirit . . . works miracles. In v. 2 Paul mentioned the Holy Spirit's work at the beginning of the Galatians' Christian lives; here he mentions an ongoing, day-by-day work of the Spirit. Though Paul had long ago left these churches, and there were no other apostles present, the Holy Spirit was still present and was still working miracles in their midst. By hearing with faith is not only the way to start the Christian life but is also the way to continue it day by day.
