Gálatas 3
William Barclay · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gálatas 3
Barclay comments that "The Greeks had a great fear of a spell cast by the evil eye. Time and again, private letters end with a sentence such as this: ‘Above all I pray that you may be in health unharmed by the evil eye and faring prosperously."
Gálatas 3
Barclay reminds us that in New Testament times the word was used to describe what a father did when he proclaimed publicly that he would no longer be responsible for his son’s debts. Richard C. Halverson points out: When Paul says, “by grace you are saved,” he is not referring just to a fraction of salvation—two thirds, for example—as though justification and glorification, but not sanctification, depended upon grace. He is referring to the total work of God in the Christian: the past, the continuing present, and the future; the beginning, the end, and all in between. Grace is as necessary for the continuity of the Christian life as it is for its conception and consummation. One has little difficulty in apprehending the fact that the new birth is a work of grace. There is nothing one can do to be born anew. “The wind blows where it desires to blow and you hear the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The mystery of spiritual birth, it is relatively easy to me, must be a work of grace. Furthermore, there is a little difficulty in understanding the resurrection of the body to be a work of grace. It is quite obvious that man can do nothing to expedite this event. But when it comes to the interlude between regeneration and resurrection the inclination is to think of it as man on his own, or at least man doing his best with token help from God. It is at this point that the Christian is constantly in danger of developing a doctrine of works that will defeat the very thing he is desiring in his life. A famous story tells of the tight-rope walker Charles Blondin (1824-97), who set up a rope across Niagara Falls and walked across several times. So confident did he become that he made the journey backwards as well as forwards, and performed various tricks on the way, like sitting on a small stool and eating a meal. But the most famous trick was when he asked for a volunteer to be carried over on his back. In what must be one of the most supreme acts of physical trust ever placed by one human being in another, a brave, or perhaps foolish, man stepped forward, and was carried over on the great man's shoulders. Now supposing, halfway across, the man had said to Blondin: 'Look here, this is all very well, but I really don't trust you any more. I think I'd better do the rest by myself. Let me down and I'll walk from here without you.' One can only imagine the retort he would have got, not only from the professional, but from any watching friends or family. Had he taken leave of his senses? How did he suppose he would get across by himself? That is exactly the reaction Paul has on hearing that his beloved Galatians are thinking of getting circumcised. (Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians) Galatians 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Greek - touto monon thelo (1SPAI) mathein (AAN) a humon ex ergon nomou to pneuma elabete (2PAAI)e ex akoes pisteos Amplified: Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?] Barclay Tell me this one thing—did you receive the Spirit by doing the works the law lays down, or because you listened and believed? Phillips I will ask you one simple question: did you receive the Spirit of God by trying to keep the Law or by believing the message of the Gospel? Wuest This only am I desiring to learn from you. By means of law works did you receive the Spirit or by means of the message which proclaims faith? (Eerdmans Publishing) NET Galatians 3:2 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? GNT Galatians 3:2 τοῦτο μόνον θέλω μαθεῖν ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν· ἐξ ἔργων νόμου τὸ πνεῦμα ἐλάβετε ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως; NLT Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. KJV Galatians 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ESV Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? ASV Galatians 3:2 This only would I learn from you. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? CSB Galatians 3:2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? NIV Galatians 3:2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? NKJ Galatians 3:2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? NRS Galatians 3:2 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? YLT Galatians 3:2 this only do I wish to learn from you -- by works of law the Spirit did ye receive, or by the hearing of faith? NAB Galatians 3:2 I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard? NJB Galatians 3:2 There is only one thing I should like you to tell me: How was it that you received the Spirit -- was it by the practice of the Law, or by believing in the message you heard? GWN Galatians 3:2 I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to live according to a set of standards or by believing what you heard? BBE Galatians 3:2 Give me an answer to this one question, Did the Spirit come to you through the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Receive: Ga 3:5,14 Acts 2:38 Acts 8:15 Acts 10:44-47 Acts 11:15-18 Acts 15:8 Acts 19:2-6 1Co 12:7-13 2Co 11:4 Eph 1:13,14 Heb 2:4 6:4 1Pe 1:12 by the hearing: Ro 1:17 10:16,17 Galatians 3: The Purpose of the Law - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-5 Bewitched - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-3: Whatever Happened to Holy Spirit? - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-5: Ministries of the Holy Spirit- 1 - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-5: Ministries of the Holy Spirit- 2 - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-5: Ministries of the Holy Spirit- 3 - John MacArthur Galatians 3:1-5 Bewitched: An Argument from Experience - Phil Newton Galatians 3:2: The Hearing of Faith - C H Spurgeon Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse - Kenneth Wuest Galatians 3 Resources - Multiple sermons, commentaries, etc THEY RECEIVED THE SPIRIT BY FAITH This is the only thing I want to find out from you: "Let me ask you this one question" (Amplified); "I will ask you one simple question" (Phillips) "It is not that he is uninterested in anything else but that this one issue is of supreme importance, crowding out all other considerations." (Osborne) Although Paul asks 5 questions in Galatians 3:1-5, this question should have been sufficient to convict the Galatians of the folly of their drifting from the truth of the Gospel that initially saved them! As
Gálatas 3
Barclay adds that "the words Paul uses for to begin (enarchomai) and for to complete (epiteleo) are technical terms for the beginning and the ending of a sacrifice. There was an initial ritual in connection with a Greek sacrifice. A torch was lit from the fire on the altar and then dipped into a bowl of water to cleanse it with its sacred flame; and with the purified water the victim and the people were sprinkled to make them holy and clean (ED: NOTE HOW SATAN COUNTERFEITS TRUTH). Then followed what was known as the euphemia, the sacred silence, in which the worshipper was meant to make his prayers to his god. Finally a basket of barley was brought, and some grains of the barley were scattered on the victim, and on the ground round about it. These actions were the beginning of the sacrifice, and the technical term for making this beginning was the verb enarchesthai which Paul uses here. The verb used for completing the whole ritual of sacrifice was the verb epitelein which Paul uses here for to complete . Paul’s whole sentence (Php 1:6) moves in an atmosphere of sacrifice. Paul is seeing the life of every Christian as a sacrifice ready to be offered to Jesus Christ. It is the same picture as he draws when he urges the Romans to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Ro 12:1+, 2 Ti 4:6+) (Philippians 1 - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) Flesh (4561)(sarx) has a variety of meanings but in the present context "refers to all that a person is as the product of natural generation apart from the morally transforming power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The word speaks of the unsaved man, body, soul, and spirit, controlled by his totally depraved nature, together with all his human accomplishments, positions, capabilities, and philosophies. See the following scriptures as illustrations of this use: Jn 3:6; Php 3:3, 4+; Ro 6:19+, Ro 7:5+, Ro 7:18+, Ro 7:25+, Ro 8:3+; 2 Cor 1:17." (Wuest) "Flesh is here a reference to man unaided by the Spirit of God. It refers to what is earthly and human; and inasmuch as man is a fallen, sinful being, “flesh” is opposed to the operation of the Spirit." (Vos)
Gálatas 3
Barclay says "therefore the only logical choice is to abandon the way of legalism and to venture upon the way of faith, of taking God at His word and of trusting His love." Eadie says "Justification is not of works, for legalists are under curse, since they cannot render perfect obedience, is the one argument (Galatians 3:10); but the second is, Justification cannot depend on works, for the Scripture (REFERRING TO Hab 2:4) asserts its connection with faith. Justified (declared righteous before God) (1344)(dikaioo from dike = right, expected behavior or conformity, not according to one’s own standard, but according to an imposed standard with prescribed punishment for nonconformity) primarily means to deem to be right. Dikaioo describes the act by which a man is brought into a state of right relationship with God. Dikaioo is a legal term having to do with the law and the the courtroom, where it represented the legally binding verdict of the judge. This is the sense in which Paul uses dikaioo in this passage. Evident (1212)(delos) is an adjective which means clearly visible and hence clear, plain, clear to the understanding or mind. Delos pertains to that which can be clearly and easily able to be known. In 1 Cor 15:27 Paul writes "For HE (GOD THE FATHER) HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS (CHRIST'S) FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He (THE FATHER) is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him (CHRIST)." Delos is found only 3x in the NT - Matt. 26:73 (Peter "your talk gives you away" as a follower of Christ); 1 Co. 15:27; Gal. 3:11. Delos in the Septuagint - Num. 27:21; Deut. 33:8; 1 Sam. 14:41; 1 Sam. 28:6; Hos. 3:4 Don Anderson on Habakkuk 2:4 - This verse became famous in the REFORMATION in that this is the verse the Lord used with MARTIN LUTHER. On this occasion Martin had gone to Rome. It was considered to be an act of great merit to climb the SCALA SANCTA, the great sacred stairway, on hands and knees. He toiled upward seeking that merit that he might win and suddenly there came to him the voice of heaven, “the just shall live by faith.” “The just shall live by faith,” not by works of the law. This is the whole argument of the epistle. (Notes) For THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH: The Amplified Version has "The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live." Here in Galatians 3:11 Paul uses Habakkuk 2:4 to explain how the just shall live which is by faith, not by law. The point is that NO ONE except Jesus Christ Himself has lived his entire life by faith...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Paul’s earlier OT quote (Gal 3:10. Dt 27:26+) showed that justification does not come from keeping the law. This quote from Hab 2:4 shows that justification is by faith alone. Habakkuk 2:4+ “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Romans 1:17+ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” Hebrews 10:38+ BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. Righteous (1342)(dikaios) describes being in accordance with what God requires. The righteous man does what he ought, not to gain favor but because he has favor (grace). He is the person who conforms to the standard, will or character of God. It is interesting that dikaios was applied to model citizens in the Graeco-Roman world, but even they fell far short of God's standard, because He demands perfect obedience to the Law, something only achieved by Christ and something reckoned to those who put their faith in Him. So when God the Father looks on our account ledger, He sees we are no longer spiritual debtors because His Son has paid the price in full for our sin debts. Spurgeon on SHALL LIVE BY FAITH - The apostle quotes from the Old Testament, from Hab 2:4, and thus confirms one inspired statement by another. Even the just are not justified by their own righteousness, but live by faith. It follows then most conclusively that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. If the best of men find no justification coming to them through their personal virtues, but stand accepted only by faith, how much more such imperfect beings, such frequent sinners as ourselves? Cross References on Righteous Man - Ge 15:6 Hab 2:4 Ge 6:9 2 Sa 4:11 Ps 5:12 64:10 92:12 Pr 9:9 Pr 12:10 Pr 13:5 Pr 20:7 Pr 24:16 Pr 25:26 Eccl 3:17, 7:15, 7:20 Isa 57:1 Ezek 3:20, 21 18:24, 26 33:12 Mt 1:19, 10:41, Mt 27:19 Luke 23:50 Ro 1:17, 5:7 Gal 3:11 1 Ti 1:9 James 5:6,16 2 Pe 2:8 Genesis 15:6+ Then he (Abram) believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness Genesis 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. How was Noah "righteous"? There is only one way -- by faith in God's promises just Abram (ultimately in His promised Seed, the Deliverer, Christ Jesus). While we do not fully understand all of the specifics, Paul tells us that even in the OT, the Gospel was preached to Abraham (Gal 3:8+). And in Genesis 3:15+ we have the so-called the first form of the Gospel. So even before the flood, there was good news available to sinners for Peter describes "Noah, a preacher of righteousness." (2 Peter 2:5+). 2 Peter 2:8+ for by what he (NOAH) saw and heard that righteous (dikaios) man, while living among them, felt his righteous (dikaios) soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds Shall live (2198)(zao) refers literally to natural physical life (Gal 2:14+) but in this passage zao refers to supernatural, spiritual life which was Paul's meaning in Galatians 2:20+ Paul explaining that " it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." So there Paul describes his "faith life" in Christ, clearly referring to his supernatural, spiritual life. Similarly in Galatians 2:19+ Paul testified “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live (spiritually live) to God." And in Galatians 5:25+ Paul said "If (SINCE) we live (spiritually, supernaturally) by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." Zao in Galatians - Gal. 2:14; Gal. 2:19; Gal. 2:20; Gal. 3:11; Gal. 3:12; Gal. 5:25 By faith (ex pistis) - Literally out of faith. Faith (4102) see preceding discussion of pistis frequently used in Galatians and especially in Galatians 3: Gal. 1:23; Gal. 2:16; Gal. 2:20; Gal. 3:2; Gal. 3:5; Gal. 3:7; Gal. 3:8; Gal. 3:9; Gal. 3:11; Gal. 3:12; Gal. 3:14; Gal. 3:22; Gal. 3:23; Gal. 3:24; Gal. 3:25; Gal. 3:26; Gal. 5:5; Gal. 5:6; Gal. 5:22; Gal. 6:10; Gutzke on by faith - Believing is to the soul what swallowing is to the body. Now swallowing is something a person does. When it is said that swallowing is the way one lives, what is really meant is swallowing food, not just any substance. A person could swallow poison, but that would be fatal. The same thing is true of believing. When it is said “the just shall live by faith,” it is meant that the just man will live by believing the promises of God. It does not mean believing anything and everything. As a person can swallow poison to his hurt; so he can believe error to his hurt. Both will be fatal. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ brings life eternal, and that is vital. To say, “It doesn’t make any difference what you believe, just so you believe,” means that one might just as well say, “It doesn’t make any difference what you swallow.” But that is obviously false. It’s what a person believes that makes the difference. Or should it be said whom a person believes makes the difference? Believingly only commits the person to the things in which he believes. If he happens to believe the right thing, he is fortunate. If he believes the wrong thing, he’s fooled. How is anybody ever cheated? How does one person ever take advantage of another? Is it not true that one person believes in the other? It happens when one believes another person is honest, when he actually is not. Believing in his honesty did not make him honest. It does make a difference whom one believes, what one believes; even so with reference to the things of God. It makes a difference whether a person believes in Him. (Plain talk on Galatians) Hendriksen on by faith - It is the man who has placed his entire confidence in God, trusting him implicitly, and accepting with gladness of heart the gracious provision which that merciful Father has made for his salvation, it is he, he alone, who shall live. This living consists in such things as: a. enjoying the peace of God which passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7), in the knowledge that in the sight of God’s holy majesty the believer is righteous (Rom. 5:1; 8:15); b. having fellowship with God “in Christ” (John 17:3); c. “rejoicing greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8); d. “being transformed into the image of the Lord from glory to glory” (II Cor. 3:18); and e., last but not least, striving to be a spiritual blessing to others to the glory of God (I Thess. 3:8). Harrison says: God’s method of making men good is through the goodness of Another; not by man’s doing anything, but rather by his believing what God Himself has done. (Galatians 3 Faith versus Works) Strauss: "This secret which God made known to the prophet Habakkuk had its primary application to Israel in those dark days following the cutting-off of King Josiah. Israel's hope was in the coming of Messiah, and it is to His coming that the five 'its' of verse three refer (Read Hab 2:3+). They were to wait for HIM. But the Hope of Israel is also the Hope of all nations in all ages, for the five 'its' in the prophecy of Habakkuk become 'He' in Hebrews 10:37+, where we read: 'For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' If all seemed hopeless to Israel, God would assure His people that there was still hope if they would but believe in Him who was to come. But faith must be exercised. In this vision given to Habakkuk Israel would find food for her faith. Though circumstances all around them seemed to contradict their hopes, they would live in the present through faith in Messiah's coming." Spurgeon on by faith - It is through faith that a man becomes just, for otherwise, before the law of God he is convicted of being unjust: being justified by faith, he is enrolled among the just ones. It is through faith that he is at first quickened and breathes the air of heaven, for naturally he was dead in trespasses and sins. Faith is the first sure sign of the spiritual life within the human breast. He repents of sin and looks to Jesus, because he believes the testimony of God’s Son; he believes that testimony because he has received a new life. He depends upon the atoning blood of Jesus because his heart has received the power to do so by the Holy Ghost’s gift of spiritual life. Good Works Cannot Liberate Us - When I was a teenager, I became fascinated, appalled, and grieved by the literature of the Holocaust . . . One scene that haunts me is a picture from Auschwitz. Above the entryway to the concentration camp were the words, Arbeit macht frei. The same thing stood above the camp at Dachau. It means, “work makes free”—work will liberate you and give you freedom. It was a lie—a false hope. The Nazis made the people believe hard work would equal liberation, but the promised “liberation” was horrifying suffering and even death. Arbeit macht frei. One reason that phrase haunts me is because it is the spiritual lie of this age. It is a satanic lie. It’s a religious lie. It is a false hope—an impossible dream for many people in the world. They believe their good works will be great enough to outweigh their bad works, allowing them to stand before God in eternity and say, “You owe me the right to enter into your heaven.” It is the hope of every false religion—arbeit macht frei. But it’s the love of God that liberates. It’s the blood of Jesus Christ that liberates. He died in my place, and I am free. (Johnny V. Miller -The Great Rescue) Habakkuk 2:4 The just shall live by faith - It was this text that revolutionized the life of Martin Luther. How hard he had tried, as a zealous and conscientious monk, to accumulate merit enough to earn his salvation! He had fasted and prayed until he was reduced to a mere skeleton. He had flagellated himself until he was a mass of cuts and sores. He had done penance and gone on pilgrimages. Then, one day, as he crawled on hands and knees up Pilate's staircase in Rome and prayed earnestly to the Virgin Mary on every step, the light dawned. The voice of God cut through his ritual prayers and thundered in his soul, "The just shall live by faith." He rose from his knees, brushed off the dust of that place, marched boldly back down those stairs, and on out of the Church of Rome altogether. (Phillips) Galatians 3:12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." Greek - o de nomos ouk estin (3SPAI) ek pisteos all o poiesas (AAPMSN) auta zesetai (3SFMI) en autois Amplified: But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith]. Barclay - But the law is not based on faith. And yet the Scripture says: 'The man who does these things will have to live by them.' Phillips And the Law is not a matter of faith at all but of doing, as, for example, in the scripture: 'The man who does them shall live by them.' Wuest And the law is not of faith; but the one who has done them shall live in them. (Eerdmans Publishing) NET Galatians 3:12 But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them. GNT Galatians 3:12 ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως, ἀλλ᾽ Ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς. NLT Galatians 3:12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life." KJV Galatians 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. ESV Galatians 3:12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." ASV Galatians 3:12 and the law is not of faith; but, He that doeth them shall live in them. CSB Galatians 3:12 But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. NIV Galatians 3:12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." NKJ Galatians 3:12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." NRS Galatians 3:12 But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, "Whoever does the works of the law will live by them." YLT Galatians 3:12 and the law is not by faith, but -- 'The man who did them shall live in them.' NAB Galatians 3:12 But the law does not depend on faith; rather, "the one who does these things will live by them." NJB Galatians 3:12 and the Law is based not on faith but on the principle, whoever complies with it will find life in it. GWN Galatians 3:12 Laws have nothing to do with faith, but, "Whoever obeys laws will live because of the laws he obeys." BBE Galatians 3:12 And the law is not of faith; but, He who does them will have life by them. the Law is not of faith: Ro 4:4,5,14,16 9:30-32 10:5,6 11:6 He who practices them: Lev 18:5 Ne 9:29 Eze 20:11,13 Mt 19:17 Lu 10:25-28 Ro 10:5,6 Galatians 3:6-14 Blessed or Cursed? - John MacArthur Galatians 3:6-14 Salvation Is by Faith Alone - John MacArthur Galatians 3:10-13 The Hopelessness of Sin - John MacArthur Galatians 3:10-14 Redeemed from the Curse of Law - John MacArthur Galatians 3:10-14: The Curse; and the Curse for Us - C H Spurgeon Galatians 3:10-14 Christ: A Curse for Us - Phil Newton Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse - Kenneth Wuest Galatians 3 Resources - Multiple sermons, commentaries, etc LAW SAYS DO AND LIVE Several commentaries suggest that the motivation for Paul quoting from Leviticus 18:5 is that some of the Galatians might be wondering "Perhaps both faith and works of the law are necessary for salvation. Perhaps both are needed." In other words, they would be saying something like "Yes, Paul was correct, but the Judaizers are also correct." Paul says absolutely not! The two ways are not compatible! Wiersbe for example proposes that "someone might argue that it takes faith even to obey the Law; so Paul quotes Leviticus to prove that it is doing the Law, not believing it, that God requires (Lev. 18:5). Law says, "Do and live!" but grace says, "Believe and live!" Paul's own experience (Phil. 3:1-10+), as well as the history of Israel (Ro 10:1-10+), prove that works righteousness can never save the sinner; only faith righteousness can do that. (Bible Exposition Commentary ) Guzik suggests why Paul quotes Lev 18:5 - Some might come back to Paul and say, “Look, I’ll do the best I can under the law and let faith cover the rest. God will look at my performance, my effort, and my good intentions and credit to me as righteousness. The important thing is that I am really trying.” Paul proved from the Old Testament itself that this simply isn’t good enough. No, the paths of approval by the law and faith don’t run together, because the law is not of faith. The man who does them shall live by them: The quote from Leviticus 18:5 is clear. If you want to live by the law, you must do it. Not try to do it, not intend to do it, and not even want to do it. No, it is only the man who does them who shall live by them. Law says, "Do and live!" But grace says, "Believe and live! - Warren Wiersbe However, the Law is not of faith - The word for not (ouk) signifies absolute negation. "Absolutely not of faith" is the idea. The Amplified Version is helpful here (Click for a helpful explanation which will enrich your use of this version) is very helpful (I often use it as in this passage as a "mini-commentary"). And so the Amplified reads "But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith]," (The bracketed notes in the Amplified are just that -- notes but not translation per se (Click here for the distinction between words and phrase in brackets [ ], parentheses ( ) and italics in the Amplified Version). Paul is saying that keeping the Law to gain salvation is utterly incompatible with faith. Phillips paraphrases it this way "the Law is not a matter of faith at all but of doing." Law and faith are opposing principles. Law is antithetical to faith as a means of justification before God. Faith and Law are not two sides of the same coin! James Montgomery
Gálatas 3
Barclay on paidagogus - THE word paidagōgos occurs in the NT in only two passages; but it is a word the correct understanding of which is essential, if Paul’s thought is to be understood. In 1 Cor. 4:15 Paul says to the Corinthians that they may have ten thousand paidagōgoi, but they have not many fathers; that it is he who is their true father in the Christian faith. There, the AV translates the word ‘instructors’; Moffatt translates ‘thousands to superintend’; the RSV translates ‘guides’. In Gal. 3:24, 25 the AV says that the law was our ‘schoolmaster’ (paidagōgos) to lead us to Christ … but after faith comes we are no longer under a paidagōgos. There Moffatt translates, the law ‘held us as wards in discipline’. And the RSV has it that the law was our ‘custodian’. None of these translations is fully satisfactory, for the very good reason that the paidagōgos carried out a function to which there is nothing precisely corresponding in our educational system. Up to the age of seven the Greek boy was almost exclusively in his mother’s charge. But even then, if there was a paidagōgos in the household, he had his say. Socrates in Plato’s Protagoras (325 c) says of the child: ‘Mother and nurse and father and paidagōgos are quarrelling about the improvement of the child as soon as ever he is able to understand them.’ It was when he went to school that the paidagōgos really took over the management of the boy and retained it till the boy was eighteen. The paidagōgos was not in our sense of the word a teacher at all. His duty was to accompany the boy to school each day and to see that he got there safely; to carry the boy’s books and his lyre; to watch his conduct in school; to see to his conduct in the street; to train the boy in morals, in manners and in deportment. He must see that the boy walked modestly with downcast head in the streets; he must see that he gave place to older people and was becomingly silent in their presence; he must teach him to be well-mannered at table and to wear his clothes with grace. He had to teach him all the Greek meant by eukosmia, good manners, good deportment, pleasantness of life. K. J. Freeman says of the paidagōgos that he was ‘a mixture of nurse, footman, chaperone and tutor’. When in the Lysis (208 c) Socrates is trying to teach the lad that life does not consist in doing what you like, there is a conversation like this. ‘Are you your own master, or do they not even allow that?’ ‘Nay; of course they do not allow that.’ ‘Then you have a master?’ ‘Yes, my paidagōgos; there he is.’ … ‘And what does he do with you?’ ‘He takes me to my teachers.’ It was an anxious and a most practical job, especially if the lad was a high-spirited and independent boy....In any event the paidagōgos existed for no other reason than to make his charge independent of his care. Xenophon in his work on Sparta (3.1) writes: ‘Whenever they emerge from childhood to youth, they cease from paidagōgoi, they cease from teachers. No one governs them any more, but they let them go as masters of themselves.’ When Paul spoke of the law as our paidagōgos to bring us to Christ, in the very phrase he affirmed that the law was an inadequate, unsatisfactory thing, doomed to come to an end. It was another way of saying that Christ is the end of the law. (New Testament Words) Phillip Ryken - In wealthy Greek families, children were individually raised by pedagogues. From age six until late adolescence, the child was under constant care and supervision. The pedagogue was part babysitter and part chaperone. Since he was in charge of discipline, the pedagogue was also part probation officer. Ancient drawings usually depict him holding a rod or a cane to administer corporal punishment. The pedagogue was not primarily a teacher, although sometimes he helped a child review his lessons. Thus the King James Version is somewhat misleading when it translates the word as "schoolmaster." The pedagogue did have to make sure that his pupil made it to and from school. He helped to feed and dress the child, and also to carry the child's educational tools (tablet and stylus, book or scroll, musical instrument). Once at school, there was a special room where pedagogues waited for their young students until their lessons were finished. But the pedagogue was not the educator; he was the disciplinarian. A pedagogue served the best interests of the child in many ways, and a close bond of affection often developed. Discipline was not necessarily severe, and the pedagogue provided protection as well as punishment. He also served as a moral tutor, shaping the child's ethics. In the plan of salvation, the law is the pedagogue that raised the Jews from childhood through adolescence. It was not a schoolmaster to teach them how to get better and better until God finally accepted them. On the contrary, the law was for discipline. It told God's people what to do, and then it punished them for failing to do it. There were times when the Jews chafed under this discipline (chaperones never have been very popular!). But all the while, the law was preparing God's children to enter their majority. Like any pedagogue, the law eventually worked its way out of a job. When a child comes of age, it no longer needs constant supervision. The ancient Greek writer Xenophon (c. 428-c. 354 B.C.) explained, "When a boy ceases to be a child, and begins to be a lad, others release him from his 'pedagogue' and from his teacher; he is then no longer under them, but is allowed to go his own way." In much the same way, the law was needed only until the coming of Christ. This is what Paul means when he speaks of the coming of faith. In one sense, faith had already come, since God had always told his people to trust him. But what they trusted in was the Savior to come. The true object of their faith was Jesus Christ, and when he came on the scene, the time for the law was over and the era of faith had begun. (Galatians - Reformed Expository Commentary) So that - Always pay attention to this important term of purpose or result. So that we may be justified by faith: Judaizers wanted their hearers to go back to Moses (to be their "PP" their permanent pedagogue!), but that was not far enough. In fact they really needed to go back to Abraham where the promise of justification by faith was given (Ge 15:6-note). The Law came hundreds of years after Abraham's "conversion" by faith and notably did not annul the promise of salvation by grace through faith. To the contrary the LAW was given to reveal sin (Ro 3:20-note) and prepare the way for Christ to come and fulfill the promise (Galatians 3:24,25). The Law is a tutor, not a savior...a mirror, not a cleanser. Justified (acquitted, vindicated, freed) (1344)(dikaioo from dike = right, expected behavior or conformity, not according to one’s own standard, but according to an imposed standard with prescribed punishment for nonconformity) (Click for more discussion of dikaioo) primarily means to deem to be right. Dikaioo describes the act by which a man is brought into a right state of relationship to God. Dikaioo is a legal term having to do with the law and the the courtroom, where it represented the legally binding verdict of the judge. This is the sense in which Paul uses dikaioo in this section in Galatians and in the parallel passages in Romans (Ro 3:21-5:11) in which he unfolds the doctrine of justification. Martin Luther - The law does not lead us to another lawgiver requiring good works, but to Christ, our justifier and Saviour, so that we might be justified by faith in him, and not by works. But when we feel the force of the law we do not understand or believe this; that is why we say, “I have lived wickedly, for I have transgressed all God’s commandments, and therefore I am guilty of eternal death. If God would prolong my life for a few years, or at least a few months, I would amend my life and live a holy life from now on.” This is an abuse of the proper function of the law. Our reason is overtaken in these troubles and boldly promises God to fulfill the whole law. From this come many sects and many ceremonies designed to merit grace and forgiveness. Those who devised these things thought that the law led them not to Christ but to a new law, or to Christ as a lawgiver and not as one who has abolished the law. The true function of the law is to bring me to the knowledge of my sin and to humble me, so that I may come to Christ and be justified by faith. But faith is neither law nor work, but an assured confidence that lays hold of Christ, who is the end of the law (Romans 10:4). How? It is not that he has abolished the old law and given us a new one, or that he is a judge who must be pacified by what we do. He is the end of the law to all those who believe; that is to say, everyone who believes in him is righteous, and he will never accuse such people. The law, then, is good, holy, and just if we use it as we should. (Galatians 3 Commentary)