Freedom From The Law

Topic: Feelings
Passage: Galatians 3:1–5

May 10, 2022

Commentary

Paul rebukes these Galatian believers for backsliding into false teaching. They had turned from the Gospel of Grace and were following the path of legalism. Paul uses the following six arguments to prove that God saves sinners through faith in Christ and not by how they feel:

  1. The personal argument (3:1-5)
  2. The scriptural argument (3:6-14)
  3. The logical argument (3:15-29)
  4. The historical argument (4:1-11)
  5. The sentimental argument (4:12-18)
  6. The allegorical argument (4:19-31)

The key to verses 1-5 is the word suffered (v. 4), which can be translated “experienced.” To begin the personal argument Paul asks, “Have you experienced so many things in vain?”

  1. The believers experience with Christ (v. 1).
  2. The believers experience with the Holy Spirit (vv. 2-4).
  3. The believers experience with the Father (v. 5).

The Holy Spirit gives Christians great power to live for God. Some Christians want more than this. They want to live in a state of perpetual excitement and if they don’t feel a certain way they think something is wrong spiritually. A holy life doesn’t depend on feelings but on God.

Application

I am not saved because I feel saved. My salvation does not depend on my feelings or on what I have done or have not done but on what Christ did for me on the cross of Calvary.

Galatians 3:1– 5 (NET)

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so many things for nothing?—if indeed it was for nothing. 5 Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?