Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: Chapter 3 begins a new section of Galatians. Although Paul wove theological arguments into his description of the incident where he corrected Peter’s lapse, it was still part of the first primary point of Galatians: That Paul’s gospel — Paul’s teaching about Christ — was inspired by God. Paul's teachings were not the product of his own mind or something he learned from others (in particular from Peter, John, or James). He received it by revelation, directly from Christ. Chapter 3 is a meaningful break point. Paul's argument of divine inspiration concludes at the end of Ch. 2 and he begins to address the primary purpose of the letter. Some members of the Galatian churches had begun to follow aberrant and incorrect teaching. He has not identified the specific error (as he will later in Ch. 3), but he considers it serious; he seems to imply that following these false teachers will deprive their followers of salvation altogether. But even if not, the false teachings are “cursed,” certainly detrimental to growth in the faith. Killing the serpent Satan, illustrated Bible Fighting Satan Paul wastes no time. He really lights into them. His first words are “ignorant Galatians,” which is hardly flattering, but the implications of “what (or who) has bewitched you” is even more dire. Those promoting the false teachings are witches, people using magic to work supernatural corruption on the Galatians' minds. The connotation of “bewitched” is much more serious than it sounds to us now. Witches were not a harmless Halloween legend, silly crones riding brooms and turning people into frogs for children's stories; they were people doing Satan's work, by his dark power. Exodus 22:18 required the Jews to put witches to death. The implication is that the false teachers are not innocent and misinformed; they are evil. They are actively fighting for the forces of hell. Paul goes on to argue that the Galatians must understand the crucifixion, because it has been clearly represented to them (either in words or in pictures). There could conceivably have been witnesses to the actual crucifixion who visited Galatian churches -- the Bible does not tell us. But Paul brings an important point home: Jesus was crucified in public, his body put on display for the world to see. Nobody (even today) can argue credibly that the crucifixion did not occur. Crucifixion, Velazquez There are people who say that the crucifixion was invented, of course. People also say that the earth is flat. But the execution of Christ on a cross is historical fact, even to honest atheist historians. Tacitus, a renown secular Roman historian, relates the event, as does the 1st century Jewish historian, Josephus. Neither mention is flattering — Tacitus called Christians “hideous” and “shameful” — so there is no suspicion of a Christian forgery. Paul thus begins his argument in Chapter 3 with a point that any church member must concede. Christ was crucified and died; people were alive who had seen it with their own eyes. A reader who had put the fact out of his mind might well be disturbed by Paul's words. “Why have I not been thinking about the crucifixion?” “Was it not the most important event of all time, to me?” And it is just as disturbing to most of us, when we ask ourselves the same question. Most Christians have the experience of doing something (or many things!) not totally consistent with their faith, in response to an un-Christian message: a post on social media, a tv commercial, a suggestion from a nonbeliever, etc. They might not be using black magic; but they “bewitch” us, for the image of Jesus on the cross recedes from our minds, and the image of a car with Napa leather seats or a tight bare midriff replaces Him. Perhaps we look at our horoscope “just for fun.” And a man hanging in agony on a Roman cross, to pay for our sins, fades from our thought.