Galatians 3
(1) You get God’s Spirit by Believing (not by Following Rules)
Oh, senseless Galatians… who cast a spell over you? You saw the Chosen One Jesus crucified publicly with your own eyes. So tell me: did you receive God’s Spirit by following His rules? Or was it by hearing the message and believing? Are you actually that senseless? Did you start out with God’s Spirit, but now you’re being completed by the flesh? Have all your past experiences been in vain? (If they really do turn out to be in vain after all.) When God gives you the Spirit and performs miracles among you, does He do it when you follow Jewish law? Or when you hear the message and believe?
(6) Abraham’s Alignment with God Came from Depending on Him
It’s the same way with you as it was for Abraham:
“Abraham relied on God, and ‘alignment with God’ was credited to his account.”
—Genesis 15:6
You should know that Abraham’s true successors are the people who rely on God. The ancient writings realized that God would regard the non-Jews as ‘morally perfect’ as a result of depending on Him. The ancient writings announced the good news to Abraham a long time ago when God told him,
“Every people group will be blessed in you.”
—Genesis 12:3
So whoever trusts God is blessed along with Abraham, the truster.
(10) Jesus Absorbed Our Curse to Offer God’s Spirit through Dependence
Everyone who tries to follow Jewish law is under a curse, just like the ancient writings say:
“Each person is cursed if they fail to live by every single one of the law’s teachings and implement them.”
—Deuteronomy 27:26
God doesn’t regard anyone as ‘morally perfect’ or ‘aligned with Him’ as a result of following the law. After all,
“The person who is aligned with God will experience life by depending on Him.”
—Habakkuk 2:4
But the law is not based on depending on God. On the contrary,
“Whoever practices the law will experience life from the law.”
—Leviticus 18:5
The Chosen One paid our ransom to bail us out from the law’s curse. Jesus became a curse for us, just like it’s written,
“Everyone who hangs from a beam is cursed.”
—Deuteronomy 21:23
Jesus became a curse so that Abraham’s blessing could extend to the non-Jews through Him. Jesus wanted us to receive the promise of the Spirit through depending on Him.
(15) We Receive the Inheritance through God’s Promise of Jesus
Spiritual family, let’s think about it in human terms: when two human beings make a contract, no one ignores it or tries to amend it when it resolves.
God’s promises were made to Abraham and his “seed.” Notice how it doesn’t say “seeds,” referring to many, but just to one. So when it says “seed,” it’s referring to the Chosen One.
My point is that when the law came 430 years later, it didn’t invalidate or revoke the promise God had previously made to Abraham. If receiving the inheritance was based on the law, then it wouldn’t be based on God’s promise. But God kindly gave Abraham the inheritance via a promise.
(19) The Law Defines Corruption
So then, what’s the point of the law?
The law was added so it could define what it means to “step over God’s parameters” until the Promised Seed would come. The law was instituted through God’s messengers by the hand of a mediator [Moses]. Mediators are only necessary when there are multiple entities, and God is just one entity.
(21) The Law Points Us to God’s Promise
So does the law oppose God’s promises?
No way! Because if God would have given a law capable of imparting life, then moral perfection would have been based on the law. But that wasn’t the case: the ancient writings circle everyone in corruption. The reason why the ancient writings describe all of us as ‘corrupt’ was so that God’s promise could be delivered through depending on Jesus (the Chosen One). The people who receive God’s promise are those who depend.
But before dependence came, we were kept under the law’s custody, closed off from dependence until the day it would be revealed. So the law functioned as a nanny who was leading us to the Chosen One. It led us to Him so we could be deemed “morally perfect” by dependence. But now that dependence is here, we aren’t under the nanny any more!
(26) We Receive God’s Promise if We’re in Jesus
Now that dependence is here, you’re all God’s children since you trust the Chosen One (Jesus)! Each of you who have been immersed into Jesus have clothed yourselves with the Chosen One. There’s no more Jew or non-Jew, slave or free, male or female—because we’re all one entity in the Chosen One, Jesus. And if you belong to the Chosen One, then according to God’s promise, you are Abraham’s descendants and heirs entitled to the inheritance.