Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 3:3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
3. The contrast is still maintained in other terms. Here the ‘flesh’ is used for that which is external and material, compliance with outward observances, as opposed to the spiritual principle of faith. These two “are contrary the one to the other”. It is folly, having begun your Christian life spiritually ( Gal 3:2), to finish it carnally to descend from the higher to the lower, from the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to the law of sin and death. The same collocation of the verbs ‘begin’ and ‘finish’ is found, Php 1:6; comp. 2Co 8:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Are ye so foolish? – Can it be that you are so unwise? The idea is, that Paul hardly thought it credible that they could have pursued such a course. They had so cordially embraced the gospel when he preached to them, they had given such evidences that they were under its influence, that he regarded it as hardly possible that they should have so far abandoned it as to embrace such a system as they had done.
Having begun in the Spirit – That is, when the gospel was first preached to them. They had commenced their professedly Christian life under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and with the pure and spiritual worship of God. They had known the power and spirituality of the glorious gospel. They had been renewed by the Spirit; sanctified in some measure by him; and had submitted themselves to the spiritual influences of the gospel.
Are ye now made perfect – Tyndale renders this, ye would now end. The word used here ( epiteleo) means properly, to bring through to an end, to finish; and the sense here has probably been expressed by Tyndale. The idea of perfecting, in the sense in which we now use that word, is not implied in the original. It is that of finishing, ending, completing; and the sense is: You began your Christian career under the elevated and spiritual influences of Christianity, a system so pure and so exalted above the carnal ordinances of the Jews. Having begun thus, can it be that you are finishing your Christian course, or carrying it on to completion by the observance of those ordinances, as if they were more pure and elevating than Christianity? Can it be that you regard them as an advance on the system of the gospel?
By the flesh – By the observance of the carnal rites of the Jews, for so the word here evidently means. This has not ever been an uncommon thing. Many have been professedly converted by the Spirit, and have soon fallen into the observance of mere rites and ceremonies, and depended mainly on them for salvation. Many churches have commenced their career in an elevated and spiritual manner, and have ended in the observance of mere forms. So many Christians begin their course in a spiritual manner, and end it in the flesh in another sense. They soon conform to the world. They are brought under the influence of worldly appetites and propensities. They forget the spiritual nature of their religion; and they live for the indulgence of ease, and for the gratification of the senses. They build them houses, and they plant vineyards, and they collect around them the instruments of music, and the bowl and the wine is in their feasts, and they surrender themselves to the luxury of living: and it seems as if they intended to perfect their Christianity by drawing around them as much of the world as possible. The beautiful simplicity of their early piety is gone. The blessedness of those moments when they lived by simple faith has fled. The times when they sought all their consolation in God are no more; and they now seem to differ from the world only in form. I dread to see a Christian inherit much wealth, or even to be thrown into very prosperous business. I see in it a temptation to build himself a splendid mansion, and to collect around him all that constitutes luxury among the people of the world. How natural for him to feel that if he has wealth like others, he should show it in a similar manner! And how easy for the most humble and spiritually-minded Christian, in the beginning of his Christian life, to become conformed to the world (such is the weakness of human nature in its best forms); and having begun in the spirit, to end in the flesh!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 3:3
Having begun in the Spirit.
I. The commencement of salvation is the holy spirits work. Salvation is not begun by–
1. The means of grace alone.
2. The minister or priest.
3. Self-effort.
II. What the holy spirit does at the beginning. He–
1. Regenerates the soul.
2. Teaches the soul that it is incapable of saving itself.
3. Gives the grace of faith, and applies the cleansing blood of Christ.
4. Brings all precious things to the believer.
Apply–
1. To the sceptic.
2. To the self-righteous.
3. To the morally estimable. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A good beginning and a sad ending
I. A good beginning.
1. In the faith given by the Spirit.
2. In the enjoyment of the Spirit through faith.
3. In the experience of spiritual privileges.
4. In the use of spiritual powers.
5. In the discharge of spiritual duties.
6. In the exercise of spiritual hopes of perfection and heaven.
II. A sad ending. Flesh may mean either
(1) the beggarly elements of Gal 4:9, or
(2) the works of the flesh, Gal 5:19.
1. The works of the law will not secure perfect holiness: as shown in the ease of Paul and Luther.
2. The works of the flesh will not give perfect happiness, as shown in the case of Augustine and John Newton.
3. Because both alike throw away the means by which both holiness and happiness are promoted here and consummated in heaven.
Learn:
1. To begin as you intend to continue.
2. To continue as you have begun.
Though the man of mean estate, whose own want instructs his heart to commiserate others, say to himself, If I had more good, I would do more good; yet experience justifieth the point that many have changed their minds with their means, and the state of their purse hath forespoken that of their conscience. So they have begun in the charity of the spirit, and ended in the cares of the flesh. (T. Adams.)
Changeable Christians
There are impetuous good people; fickle good people; unwise good people; let us say it out, foolish good people, who lack wisdom, and do not know they lack it. A certain sober judgment ought to mark Christians. They should be like the needle in the mariners compass, not like the pendulum which, within its limited range, is always going from one extreme to another. They should not startle people with paradoxes, nor banish all confidence in them by the wildness with which they unfold their ideas to minds quite unprepared. (Dr. John Hall.)
Love of change
It will be found that they are the weakest-minded and the hardest-hearted men that most love variety and change; for the weakest-minded are those who both wonder most at things new, and digest worst things old; in so far that everything they have lies rusty, and loses lustre from want of use. Neither do they make any stir among their possessions, nor look over them to see what may be made of them, nor keep any great store, nor are householders with storehouses of things new and old; but they catch at the new-fashioned garments, and let the moth and thief look after the rest; and the hardest-hearted men are those that least feel the endearing and binding power of custom, and hold on by no cords of affection to any shore, but drive with the waves that cast up mire and dirt. (John Ruskin.)
The work of the Spirit in the Church
I. The Church is the product of the Holy Ghost. This is the doctrine of the whole of this text; it is the cord by which all its parts are bound together. Throwing the minds of the Galatians back upon the beginning of their religious life, whether as Churches, or as individual believers, the apostle reminds them that then they received the Holy Ghost. They began in the Spirit. This truth admits of a twofold application. First, in relation to the Church as a whole; secondly, in relation to those who compose its members.
1. The Church of Christ had no existence before the Holy Spirit was given. In the Old Testament, and also in the New, an assembly or congregation of men received that name (Deu 18:16;: Neh 5:13; Psa 22:22; Act 7:38; Act 19:32-40). But the Church of Christ, which is His body, has been originated by the Holy Ghost (Act 2:38-41; 1Pe 1:2). Before the coming of Christ, and during His ministry on the earth, the Holy Spirit was in the world.
2. Believers enter upon the new life through the Holy Spirit. They are born of the Spirit.
II. All the attainments of the Church are reached through the help of the Spirit.
1. That the Spirit dwells in His people that they may make progress in the Divine life. Truth relating to salvation is revealed by Him (1Co 11:10). Guidance is given through Him (1Co 8:14). Liberty (2Co 3:18). His presence is the earnest of the future inheritance (Eph 1:18; Eph 1:14).
2. Through the Holy Ghost the conditions and circumstances of this present life are made subservient to spiritual ends.
III. The efficiency and power of the Church depend upon the Spirit.
1. It is possible for Churches, after having received the Holy Spirit, to lose His gracious presence and power.
2. The most fatal means to this end is renouncing faith in Christ as the all-sufficient Saviour.
3. Turning from Christ, and from the Spirits work, is conduct most foolish in its commencement, and most disastrous in its final results.
4. Avoiding the errors described in the text, all Christians should seek to profit by instruction and correction, and through the Spirit to become thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (R. Nicholls.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Having begun in the Spirit] Having received a spiritual religion, which refined and purified your hearts; and having received the Holy Spirit of God, by which ye were endued with various miraculous influences; and the spirit of adoption, by which he were assured of the remission of sins, and incorporation with the family of God:
Are ye now made perfect by the flesh?] Are ye seeking to complete that spiritual religion, and to perfect these spiritual gifts, by the carnal rite of circumcision? It appears that by the Spirit, here, not only the Holy Spirit, but his gifts, are to be understood; and by the flesh, illud membrum in quo circumcisio peragitur; and, by a metonymy, circumcision itself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The doctrine of their false teacthers was, that to faith in Christ, an obedience also to the law of Moses was necessary to justification; they did not deny Christ, or the doctrine of the gospel, only they pleaded for the works of the law as necessary to be superadded. The apostle calls this first owning of Christ, and embracing the doctrine of faith, a beginning
in the Spirit; their adding the necessity of obedience to the law of Moses, a being
made perfect in the flesh; and argueth the unreasonableness of it, that their justification should be begun by a more noble, and made perfect by a more ignoble cause. He calls the doctrine of the gospel,
Spirit, because (as he said in the former verse) they had received the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith; that is, by hearing and receiving the gospel. The works of the law he calls flesh, because the ordinances of the law were (as the apostle calls them, Heb 9:10) carnal ordinances, imposed on the Jews till the time of reformation. He elsewhere calls them the rudiments of the world, Col 2:8,20; and in this Epistle, Gal 4:9, he calls them beggarly elements. For though the ordinances of the law were in their season spiritual, they being commanded by God; yet they being but temporary constitutions, never intended by God to continue longer than the coming of Christ, and the law being but a schoolmaster to lead to Christ; Christ being now come, and having died, and rose again from the dead, they became useless. Besides that God never intended them as other than rudiments and first elements, the end of which was Christ; and the observance of which, without faith in Christ, was weak and impotent, as to the noble end of justification. It spake great weakness, therefore, in the Galatians, to begin with what was more perfect, (the embracing of the gospel, and Christ there exhibited for the justification of sinners), and to end in what was more imperfect, thinking by that to be made perfect; or else the apostle here chargeth them with a defection from Christ, as Gal 4:9-11, and Gal 5:4; and so calleth them foolish, for beginning in the Spirit, (the Holy Spirit inwardly working in them the change of their hearts, and regenerating them), and then apostatizing from their profession to a carnal life. But I had rather interpret Spirit in this text, of the doctrine of the gospel, dictated by the Spirit; and with the receiving of which the Holy Spirit was given. And so their folly is argued from their thinking to be made perfect by the beggarly elements and worldly rudiments of the law, whenas they had first begun their profession of Christianity with embracing the more perfect doctrine of the gospel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. begunthe Christian life(Php 1:6).
in the SpiritNotmerely was Christ crucified “graphically set forth” in mypreaching, but also “the Spirit” confirmed the wordpreached, by imparting His spiritual gifts. “Having thus begun”with the receiving His spiritual gifts, “are ye now beingmade perfect” (so the Greek), that is, are ye seekingto be made perfect with “fleshly” ordinances of the law?[ESTIUS]. Compare Rom 2:28;Phi 3:3; Heb 9:10.Having begun in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit ruling yourspiritual life as its “essence and active principle”[ELLICOTT], in contrast to”the flesh,” the element in which the law works [ALFORD].Having begun your Christianity in the Spirit, that is, in the divinelife that proceeds from faith, are ye seeking after something higherstill (the perfecting of your Christianity) in the sensuous and theearthly, which cannot possibly elevate the inner life of the Spirit,namely, outward ceremonies? [NEANDER].No doubt the Galatians thought that they were going more deeply intothe Spirit; for the flesh may be easily mistaken for the Spirit, evenby those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain apure faith [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Are ye so foolish?…. Is it possible you should be so stupid? and do you, or can you continue so?
having begun in the Spirit; that is, either in the Spirit of God, whom they had received through the preaching of the Gospel. They set out in a profession of religion in the light, under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit; they began to worship the Lord in spirit, and in truth, without any confidence in the flesh; they entered upon the service of God, and a newness of life, a different conversation than before, a spiritual way of living in a dependence on the grace and help of the divine Spirit: or in the Gospel, which is the Spirit that gives life, is the ministration of the Spirit of God, and contains spiritual doctrines, and gives an account of spiritual blessings, and is attended with the Holy Ghost, and with power. This was first preached unto them, and they embraced it; this they begun and set out with in their Christian profession, and yet it looked as if they sought to end with something else:
are you now made perfect by the flesh? or “in” it; not in carnality, in the lusts of the flesh, as if they now walked and lived after the flesh, in a carnal, dissolute, wicked course of life; for the apostle is not charging them with immoralities, but complaining of their principles: wherefore, by “the flesh” is meant, either the strength of mere nature, in opposition to the Spirit of God, by which they endeavoured to perform obedience to the law; or else the law itself, in distinction from the Gospel; and particularly the ceremonial law, the law of a carnal commandment, and which consisted of carnal ordinances, and only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; and also their obedience to it; yea, even all their own righteousness, the best of it, which is but flesh, merely external, weak, and insufficient to justify before God. This is a third aggravation of their folly, that whereas they begun their Christian race depending upon the Spirit and grace of God, now they seemed to be taking a step as if they thought to finish it in the mere strength of nature; and whereas they set out with the clear Gospel of Christ, and sought for justification only by his righteousness, they were now verging to the law, and seeking to make their justifying righteousness perfect, by joining the works of the law unto it, which needed them not, but was perfect without them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Are ye now perfected in the flesh? ( ?). Rather middle voice as in 1Pe 5:9, finishing of yourselves. There is a double contrast, between (having begun) and (finishing) as in 2Cor 8:6; Phil 1:6, and also between “Spirit” () and flesh (). There is keen irony in this thrust.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
So foolish. Explained by what follows. Has your folly reached such a pitch as to reverse the true order of things? Comp. 1Co 14:46. Having begun. [] . P o. Comp. Phi 1:6; 2Co 8:6. Having commenced your Christian life. The verb is common in Class. in the sense of the beginning a sacrifice or other religious ceremony; but it is not likely that any such figurative suggestion is attached to it here, as Lightfoot.
In the Spirit [] . Or, by means of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, as the inspirer and regulator of the life.
Are ye made perfect [] . The word is found in connection with ajnarcesqai to begin, in 2Co 8:6; Phi 1:6. The A. V. and Rev. render here in the passive voice. The active voice, always in N. T. with the object expressed, means to bring to completion. See Rom 14:28; 2Co 7:1; Phi 1:6; Heb 8:5. The passive only 1Pe 5:9. It is true that the verb in the middle voice is not found in either N. T. or LXX; but it is not uncommon in Class. and answers better to the middle ajnarxamenoi having begun. It implies more than bringing to an end; rather to a consummation. Rend. : having begun in the spirit are ye coming to completion in the flesh ? The last phrase has an ironical tinge, suggesting the absurdity of expecting perfection on the Jewish basis of legal righteousness. The present tense indicates that they have already begun upon this attempt.
The flesh. The worldly principle or element of life, represented by the legal righteousness of the Jew.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “Are ye so foolish,” (houtos anoetoi este); “Are you all thus (this much) foolish?” Paul’s shocking question was in effect, “Can legal obedience complete something it did not even originate? If it can’t initiate or impart Spiritual life, how can it sustain Spiritual life?
2) “Having begun in the Spirit,” (enarksamenoi pneumati) “Having begun (started out) in (the) Spirit,” Gal 4:6; Gal 4:9. Conversion of the Galatians had occurred thru the power of the Holy Spirit. Were they now to expect the flesh-law ceremonies to keep them transformed.
3) “Are you now made perfect in the flesh?” (nun sarki epiteleisthe?) “Are you all now and hereafter being a perfected state in the flesh?” Heb 9:8-14; Gal 4:23; Gal 4:29; Php_3:3-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. Are ye so foolish? Commentators are not agreed as to what he means by the Spirit and by the flesh. He alludes, in my opinion, to what he had said about the Spirit. As if he had said, “As the doctrine of the gospel brought to you the Holy Spirit, the commencement of your course was spiritual; but now ye have fallen into a worse condition, and may be said to have fallen from the Spirit into the flesh.” The flesh denotes either outward and fading flyings, such as ceremonies are, particularly when they are separated from Christ; or it denotes dead and fading doctrine. There was a strange inconsistency between their splendid commencement and their future progress.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Foolish.See the Note on Gal. 3:1.
Having begun in the Spirit.Begun your career as Christians in a manner so entirely spiritualwith the spiritual act of faith on your part, and with an answering gift of spiritual graces and powers.
Made perfect by the flesh.Do you wish to finish and complete the career thus auspiciously begun under a system of things entirely differenta system carnal and material, narrow, slavish, and literalthe Law in place of the Gospel? By the flesh is here meant the Law, which, though described as spiritual in Horn. vii. 14, and though it really was spiritual in view of its origin, in another aspectas imposing a system of literal obedience upon its adherentswas carnal, earthly, rigid, petty, and low. It had none of that sublime expansiveness and aspiration which belongs to faith. It was a grievous reversing of the whole order of progressto begin with faith, and, instead of completing with faith that which faith had begun, to fall back upon a condition of things which was shared with the Christian by the unemancipated Jew.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Begun made perfect In the paragraph Gal 4:1-9 he more fully illustrates that advancing development is from law to spirit, as from childhood to adulthood.
Gal 3:3. Are ye so foolish, &c. “Having then set out so happily and hopefully in your Christian course, under the light and influence of the Spirit, with faith in Christ for divine acceptance, according to the tenor of the gospel; how surprisingly stupid and irrational is it for any one of you to imagine that your justification is to be completed by your obedience to the law of Moses, which may be termed flesh, in opposition to the gospel, as it is destitute of the Spirit (see 2Co 3:6-8.); and a man is bound to obey the whole of it by the fleshly ordinance of circumcision (Gal 5:3.); as its ceremonial rites sanctify only to the purifying of the flesh, (Heb 9:13.); and as seeking justification by any works of the law is pleasing to the flesh, is taught by the wisdom of the flesh, and gratifies the pride of corrupt nature, in giving it occasion of assuming glory to itself? (Rom 4:2.) But all this is so far from perfecting, that it is directly subversive of the gospel doctrine, in this grand article of it.”
Gal 3:3 . Are ye to such a degree irrational? pointing to what follows . The interrogative view (in opposition to Hofmann) is in keeping with the fervour of the language, and is logically justified by the indication of the high degree implied in . On , comp. Soph. Ant . 220, : Joh 3:16 ; Gal 1:6 ; Heb 12:21 ; and see Voigtlnder, ad Luc. D. M . p. 220; Jacob, ad Luc. Alex . p. 28.
, ;] After ye have begun by means of the Spirit, are ye now brought to completion by means of the flesh? The second part of the sentence is ironical: “After ye have made a beginning in the Christian life by your receiving the Holy Spirit (Gal 3:2 ), are ye now to be made perfect by your becoming persons whose life is subject to the government of the ? Do ye lend yourselves to such completion as this?” In the same measure in which the readers went back to the legal standpoint and departed from the life of faith, must they again be emptied of the Holy Spirit which they had received, and consequently be re-converted from into (Rom 7:5 ; Rom 7:14 ), that is, men who, loosed from the influence of the Holy Spirit, are again under the dominion of the which impels to sin (Rom 7:14 ff; Rom 8:7 f., et al .). For the law cannot overcome the (Rom 8:3-4 ; 1Co 15:56 ). According to this view, therefore, and [116] designate, not Christianity and Judaism themselves , but the specific agencies of life in Christianity and Judaism (Rom 7:5-6 ), expressed, indeed, without the article in qualitative contrast as Spirit and flesh , but in the obvious concrete application meaning nothing else than the Holy Spirit and the unspiritual, corporeal and psychical nature of man, which draws him into opposition to God and inclination to sin (see e.g . Rom 4:1 ; Joh 3:6 ).
] What it is which they have begun, is obvious from in Gal 3:2 , namely, the state into which they entered through the reception of the Spirit the Christian life. [117] This reception is “the indisputable sign of the existence and working of true Christianity,” Ewald.
] is understood by most modern expositors (including Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Hilgenfeld, Ewald, Wieseler, Hofmann) as middle (comp. Luther, Castalio, and others); although Koppe (with whom Rckert agrees) entirely obliterates the literal sense by the assumption, that it is put so only for the sake of the contrast and denotes “ tantum id, quod nunc inter Gal. fieri solebat, contrarium pristinae eorum sapientiae ,” etc. Winer explains more definitely: “carne finire, h. e. ita ad se applicare, ut in his studiis plane acquiescas;” and Wieseler: “instead of your advancing onward to the goal, ye make the most shameful retrogression;” comp. Hofmann. But and always denote ending in the sense of completion , of accomplishing and bringing fully to a conclusion ( consummare ): see especially Phi 1:6 , ; 1Sa 3:12 , : Zec 4:9 ; Luk 13:32 ; Rom 15:28 ; 2Co 7:1 ; 2Co 8:6 ; 2Co 8:11 ; Heb 8:5 ; Heb 9:6 . Comp. Thucyd. iv. 90. 4, : Xen. Anab . iv. 3. 13. If, therefore, the word is taken as middle , it must be explained: “ After ye have begun (your Christian life) with the Spirit, do ye now bring (that which ye have begun) to completion with the flesh? ” Comp. Holsten. But the active to complete is always in the N.T. represented by , not by in the middle (comp., on the contrary, 1Pe 5:9 ), however undoubted is the occurrence of the medial use among Greek authors (Plat. Phil . p. 27 C; Xen. Mem . iv. 8. 8; Polyb. i. 40. 16, ii. 58. 10, v. 108. 9). Moreover, the which follows (see on Gal 3:4 ) makes the subject of appear as suffering , and thereby indicates the word to be passive , as, following the Vulgate ( consummamini ), Chrysostom, and Theophylact, many of the older expositors have understood it, [118] viz., so that the Judaistic operations, which the readers had experience of and allowed to be practised on themselves, are expressed by antiphrasis, and doubtless in reference to their own opinion and that of their teachers, as their Christian completion ( !). Comp. also Matthias, Vomel, Reithmayr. But how cutting and putting to shame this irony is, is felt at once from the contradictory juxtaposition of carne perficimini! Nearest to our view (without, however, bringing forward the ironical character of the words) comes that of Beza, who says that perficimini applies to the teaching of the pseudo-apostles, who ascribed “ Christo tantum initia, legi perfectionem justitiae .” Comp. Semler. The present denotes that the Galatians were just occupied in this . Comp. Gal 1:6 . The emphatic (“ nunc , cum magis magisque deberetis spirituales fieri relicta carne,” Bengel) should have prevented it from being taken as the Attic future (Studer, Usteri).
[116] Following Chrysostom, Theophylact, and many ancient expositors, Rckert, Usteri, and Schott believe that is chosen with special reference to circumcision (Eph 2:11 ). But the context by no means treats specially of circumcision, and the contrast of itself necessarily involved .
[117] Bos, Wolf, and others, as also Schott, assume the figurative idea of a race in the stadium . But this reference would require to be suggested by the context (as in v. 7); for although is used of the completion of a race, as of every kind of completion (Herodian. viii. 8. 5, iii. 8. 17 f., iv. 2. 7), it has not this special meaning of itself, but acquires it from the context.
[118] Some of them indeed translating it passively, but in the interpretation (comp. Erasmus, Calvin, and others, also Bengel) not strictly maintaining the passive sense.
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Ver. 3. Are ye so foolish? ] Those then that have the Spirit may play fools in some particulars. Those that are recovered of a frenzy, have yet some mad fits sometimes.
Made perfect by the flesh ] As Nebuchadnezzar’s image, whose golden head ended in dirty feet.
3 .] Are ye so (to such an extent, emph.) foolish (as viz. the following fact would prove)? Having begun (see Phi 1:6 , where the same two verbs occur together, and 2Co 8:6 , where is followed by . Understand, ‘the Christian life’) in the Spirit (dative of the manner in which, reff. The Spirit, i.e. the Holy Spirit, guiding and ruling the spiritual life, as the ‘essence and active principle’ (Ellic.) of Christianity, contrasted with the flesh, the element in which the law worked), are ye now being completed (passive here, not mid., cf. Phi 1:6 , where the active is used: and for the passive, Luk 13:32 . The middle does not appear to occur in the N. T., though it does in classical Greek, e.g. Polyb. ii. 58. 10, . Diod. Sic. xii. 54, ) in (dative, as above) the flesh?
Gal 3:3 . . These two datives denote the two internal spheres susceptible of moral influence. Conversion had brought about a spiritual change as its immediate result: it was folly to look for a consummation of this change from an ordinance of the flesh like circumcision. This was to exalt flesh above spirit instead of rising from flesh to spirit. and are coupled together in 2Co 8:6 and Phi 1:6 to express the beginning and consummation of works of mercy and sanctification. Greek authors use with reference to the initial ceremony of a sacrifice (Eur., Iph. , A. 147, 435, 955), in Heb 9:6 refers to the performance of ritual. The middle voice is used here because the spiritual process is to be wrought by them upon themselves.
begun. Greek. enarchomai. Here and Php 1:1, Php 1:6.
made perfect = being perfected. Greek. epiteleo. App-125. See 2Co 7:1.
by = in.
3.] Are ye so (to such an extent, emph.) foolish (as viz. the following fact would prove)? Having begun (see Php 1:6, where the same two verbs occur together, and 2Co 8:6, where is followed by . Understand, the Christian life) in the Spirit (dative of the manner in which, reff. The Spirit, i.e. the Holy Spirit, guiding and ruling the spiritual life, as the essence and active principle (Ellic.) of Christianity,-contrasted with the flesh,-the element in which the law worked), are ye now being completed (passive here, not mid., cf. Php 1:6, where the active is used: and for the passive, Luk 13:32. The middle does not appear to occur in the N. T., though it does in classical Greek, e.g. Polyb. ii. 58. 10, . Diod. Sic. xii. 54, ) in (dative, as above) the flesh?
Gal 3:3. , so foolish) , makes an [Epitasis] emphatic addition [in Gal 3:1 it was merely ]; you not only neglect the evangelical portraiture of Christ [referring to , Gal 3:1], but also the gift of the Spirit, which came much more under your notice; see at 1Co 1:6.-, having begun) The progress corresponds to the commencement. There is no second [subsequent] justification given by the works of the law.-, now) Whereas having left the flesh, you ought to have become more and more spiritual.-), in the flesh) Heb 9:10. [Php 3:2; Rom 2:28]. No doubt the Galatians thought that they were going more deeply into the Spirit. The flesh may be easily taken for the Spirit, even by those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain a pure faith.-, are you consummated [made perfect?]) when verging to [aiming at] the end [, contained in , the end or consummation], you follow the flesh. All things are estimated by the end and issue.
Gal 3:3
Gal 3:3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?-They had trusted in Christ and received the benefits and manifestations in the Spirit and were foolishly turning from the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to the Jewish law with its carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation. (Heb 9:10). The religion of Judaism depended upon the fleshly relations and fleshly ordinances and services, that of Christ on the Spirit.
Chapter 12
Are ye so foolish?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
(Gal 3:3)
The Galatians were acting foolishly, in utter stupidity. They had received the message of the gospel under the powerful demonstration of the Holy Spirit. They had trusted Christ as he was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. They had received the great blessings of the gospel under the sovereign influence of the Holy Spirit. But now they were being bewitched.
The servants of Satan came among them preaching another gospel. The old serpent began to deceive many and turn them away from the simple faith of the gospel. These false teachers were saying that something must be added to faith; and that, though we are justified by faith in Christ, yet we are not perfected, or sanctified by faith. They taught that if men would be true Christians, if they would be sanctified, then the works of the flesh must be added to the righteousness of Christ to accomplish this. They did not openly deny the gospel. They did not come out and say, You must be saved by grace and by works. Satan is too slick for that. What these Judaizers declared is that though we are saved by grace, we must finish the work ourselves. Paul says, Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, having been justified by the work of Christ and having received it by the Spirit, do you now think that you can perfect yourselves?
Flesh and Spirit
Our Savior declares, It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing (Joh 6:63). The Spirit is life. The flesh is death. The indwelling of God the Holy Spirit is the indwelling of Christ, the indwelling of Life. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are born again. We have faith by the gift and operation of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us assurance of the forgiveness of sin, and of sonship. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds, assure our hearts, and keep us sealed in grace as the purchased property of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who bears witness with us, and who enables us to bear witness to others. The flesh can do none of these things.
The flesh speaks of the absence of Christ. As it is used here, the word flesh indicates anything apart from Christ, or in addition to Christ, which we depend upon as meritorious before God. The Galatians were beginning to renounce Christ as the all-sufficient Savior. Having begun in the Spirit, they were now placing their confidence in fleshly things, such as legal works, the observance of ceremonies, the practice of circumcision, sabbath keeping, and even the things they ate and drank, or did not eat and drink! They hoped to make themselves perfect, complete, and holy by the works of the flesh. What stupendous, disastrous stupidity!
Paul seems to say, Your beginning was so hopeful, but your continuation is so sorrowful. And just think of it, those false guides whom you are following have a name for this process of going down hill. They call it becoming perfect. How foolish! What Paul here says of the Galatians applies equally to those who trust in anything except Christ for salvation in our day. If a man bases his hope for life, or anything in heaven upon anything apart from, or in addition to Christ, he is depending on the flesh. Christianity is Christ in you; and Christ in you is the work of God the Holy Spirit.
Trinitarians
Christians are Trinitarians. We believe, according to the plain statement of Holy Scripture, that there is one living and true God, and that there are three persons in the Godhead: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each is equal to the other in all things. This is what the Book of God declares. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are One (1Jn 5:7). Yet, for the purpose of our redemption, in the covenant of grace each of the Sacred Three voluntarily assumed to himself one aspect of the great work of saving the elect.
Ephesians 1 teaches this with complete clarity. In the covenant of grace God the Father is the great Architect of salvation. He purposed the great work (Gal 3:3-6). God the Son is the great Accomplisher of salvation. He purchased salvation (redemption and forgiveness) for his people (Gal 3:7-11). God the Holy Spirit is the great Applier of salvation. He produces the work of grace in the heart and effectually applies it to chosen, redeemed sinners (Gal 3:12-14). Let us never think lightly of God the Holy Spirit. He is not a mere influence upon us. He is our great God, and it is his office in the Covenant of Grace to apply the finished work of Christ to the hearts of the elect, and to bring them safely to heaven. Salvation, in the experience of it, is altogether the work of God the Holy Spirit.
The Beginning
At the very beginning of our experience of grace, in the new birth, in the gift of faith, and in effectual calling salvation is the work of the Spirit. Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly that our being born of God and our believing on him is not the result of something we do (Joh 1:12-13). He told Nicodemus that no man could either see or enter into the kingdom of God until he is born again; and that that new birth is the sovereign, irresistible work of the Spirit (Joh 3:1-8).
Yes, Gods elect were saved from eternity in the purpose of God. Let men argue with that as they may, God states it plainly (Rom 8:28-30; 2Ti 1:9). Yes, every chosen sinner was saved by Christ when he redeemed them from the curse of the law ((Rom 5:10; Gal 3:13). In preaching the gospel we declare to eternity bound sinners, utterly helpless before God, dead in trespasses and in sins, redemption accomplished, and salvation finished by the crucified Son of God. In that sense salvation is altogether outside our experience.
Yet, salvation is something every chosen, redeemed sinner experiences in time. The chosen must be born of God. The redeemed must be called. The called must believe. The believing must follow Christ. The follower must persevere unto the end. The whole of salvation, as it is experienced in time, is the work of God the Holy Spirit. Those who are spiritually dead can no more raise themselves up to spiritual life than the physically dead can raise themselves. Resurrection to life is the work of God the Spirit (Eph 2:1-5). Unbelievers can no more make themselves believers than blind men can make themselves see. Faith is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), the gift of his grace (Eph 2:8), and the operation of his omnipotent, irresistible mercy (Eph 1:19; Col 2:12).
It is God the Holy Spirit who, at the appointed time of love, causes chosen sinners to hear the gospel, not in word only, but in power and in much assurance, creating life and faith within (1Th 1:5; Rom 10:17; 2 Pet. 1:23-25). He makes the gospel effectual, making it to each of the redeemed the gospel of his own salvation accomplished by Christ (Eph 1:12-14).
He works faith in us by revealing Christ to us and in us by the gospel (2Co 4:4-6; Gal 1:15-16; Zec 10:12). When Christ is revealed, the Holy Spirit convinces the sinner of his sin, of righteousness accomplished, and of justice satisfied by the crucified Son of God (Joh 16:8-11). And it is God the Holy Spirit who preserves us, by whom we are sealed until the day of our resurrection (Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30). We persevere in faith because we are kept by his grace.
In all this great work there is nothing to be attributed to the flesh. The whole work is the work of grace, free, sovereign, irresistible, indestructible, everlasting grace. It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.
Indwelt
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer. The church universal is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19-20; 2Co 6:16). Every true local church is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 3:16-17), an habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph 2:22). He is the antitype of the Shekinah in the Old Testament (Num 9:15-20; 2Ch 7:1-3). And every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. He is our ever abiding, indwelling Comforter, Teacher, and Keeper. That is the doctrine of Christ in John 13-16. The Holy Spirit keeps every believer in absolute security (Joh 10:28; 1Pe 1:5). He is our Sanctifier, the One whose presence with us, giving us a new nature, has sanctified us in the experience of grace. He is the Anointing and Unction of God, by whom we are taught all things (Joh 14:26; 1Jn 2:27; 1Co 2:14).
He comforts our hearts by taking the things of Christ and showing them to us (Joh 14:16-18). He gives us the peace of pardon by revealing Christ to us, by sprinkling (applying to our hearts and consciences) the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God crucified for us (Heb 9:12-14). We know that we have the forgiveness of sins, because the Holy Spirit speaks pardon to our hearts, declaring that Christs blood has satisfied justice. We have assurance of salvation and eternal, immutable acceptance with God by the Holy Spirit who gives us faith in our immutably accepted Substitute (Rom 8:16; 2Co 1:22; Eph 1:14; Heb 11:1-2). It is this gift of faith that assures us that we are indeed the children of God (Gal 5:6).
Finish
Yes, the Holy Spirit began the work of grace in us, and he will finish it. That is what the word perfect means in Gal 3:3. The legalists who were seducing the Galatians away from Christ taught that, though saved by grace, we must now finish the work God began in us by contributing the works of our flesh (self-righteous, law obedience) to the work of the Spirit to make Gods work of grace complete. What horrid blasphemy! Yet, it is the commonly accepted religion of the world.
How often I have heard people say to me, after hearing the gospel of Gods free, sovereign, saving grace in Christ, According to what you preach there is nothing for me to do. God does everything. My response is always, Im glad you heard what I said. Did you get that? In this business of salvation, there is nothing for you to do. God does everything. He who called you will keep you. He said so. He who began his good work in you with finish it (without your help). He said so (Php 1:6; Joh 6:39). He who brought you out of the grave and raised you in the first resurrection spiritually will bring you out of the grave and raise you up to glory in the second resurrection. He said so (Rom 8:11-23).
Faith
To walk in the Spirit is to live by faith in Christ, trusting Christ alone for the whole of our salvation. To live after the flesh is to seek in some way, to some decree, by some means to establish some sort of righteousness for ourselves. Therefore, the Apostle Paul writes, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him (Col 2:6). Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
How did you receive Christ? We did not receive Christ by the works of the flesh, or by the hearing of the law, but by faith (Gal 3:1-3). That is how we must live, if we would honor God. We honor God, fulfill the law, and magnify our Savior, only by faith in him (Rom 3:31). There is no other way to do so.
How did you receive Christ? If you have received him, you received him by faith. You came to him as a sinner, trusting him as your Savior (1Co 1:30-31). You bowed to him as a servant, receiving him as your Lord. You came to him as a Bride, like Gomer, conquered by his love, embracing him as your husband. As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, trusting him alone for all things.
The flesh and the Spirit can never come together. Gods work of grace Paul refers to here as Spirit. The law he calls flesh. I know that appears strange to many, and offensive to others. The reason is clear. Multitudes seek to make themselves perfect by the flesh.
The works of the law he calls flesh, because the ordinances of the law were carnal ordinances (Heb 9:10). Imposed upon the Jews during the Old Testament. The commandments of the law are called the rudiments of the world (Col 2:8; Col 2:20) and beggarly elements of the law (Gal 4:9). In the Old Testament, for the Jews of that Mosaic age, the ordinances of the law were spiritual, the ordinances of God. But all the law was temporary by design, pointing to Christ who fulfilled the law and is the end of the law. The law was a schoolmaster to lead to Christ. Now that Christ has come, having died, and risen again from the dead, the carnal ordinances of the law became useless. Besides that, God never intended them to be anything other than temporary rudiments and first elements. We are no longer under the law. We worship and live after the Spirit (Php 3:3).
To return to the law is to become apostate. It is to depart from Christ and deny the grace of God. That is how serious the matter is (Gal 5:1-4). It is for that reason that Paul spoke so strongly about the believers freedom from the law in Christ. And it is for that reason that we must reject and flee from every attempt by men to bring us back under the yoke of legal bondage today, no matter what their pretense is for doing so. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
perfect
(See Scofield “Mat 5:48”).
having: Gal 4:7-10, Gal 5:4-8, Gal 6:12-14, Heb 7:16-19, Heb 9:2, Heb 9:9, Heb 9:10
Reciprocal: Gal 3:1 – Foolish Gal 4:9 – how Eph 5:15 – not Heb 10:32 – call
Gal 3:3. ;-Are ye so very foolish?- being used of degree or extent: Gal 1:6; Mar 7:18; Joh 3:16; Heb 12:21; , Soph. Antig. 220; Xen. Cyr. 2.2, 16. The folly is again noticed, and the refers to it.
, ;-having begun in the Spirit, are ye now being completed in the flesh? The words and occur in Php 1:6. See also 2Co 8:6. The two datives are those of manner. Winer, 31, 7; Bernhardy, p. 101. The two clauses are so arranged in contrast, that they make what grammarians call a Chiasma. Jelf, 904, 3. They had begun in or with the Spirit; that is, the beginning of their spiritual life might be so characterized. His influences, enjoyed through the hearing of faith, are the commencement-the one way in which life is to be enjoyed and sustained. The natural course would be, begun in the Spirit, and in the Spirit perfected-reaching perfection in Him as He is more copiously given and His influences work out their end more thoroughly, and with less resistance offered to them. But the apostle adds abruptly, are ye now being carried to perfection in the flesh? The verb contains more than the idea of end as in contrast to that of commencement in , the notion of perfection being in it, not simply and temporally-but a perfect end ethically. 1Sa 2:12; Luk 13:32; Rom 15:28; 2Co 7:1; 2Co 8:6; Rost und Palm, sub voce. The verb may be either middle or passive. In the former it often occurs in the classics, but usually with an accusative of object. Windischmann, De Wette, Hilgenfeld, Ewald, Bisping, Hofmann, Wieseler, and Winer so take it here. Some in this way render, Are ye now for finishing-do ye think that you can finish or be perfect, or do ye seek to be perfected, or do ye bring yourselves to perfection? But the passive form only is found in the Septuagint and the New Testament, and thus Chrysostom and others regard it; the Vulgate has consummamini. The use of the present (not the Attic future, Usteri) implies that they were at the moment cherishing this mistaken perfection. The language, perhaps, is not irony, but springs from a deeper source. It depicts their own experience and their folly. Is it possible that you can suppose that a beginning in the Spirit can be brought to maturity in the flesh? Are ye so senseless as to imagine it? Are you living under such a delusion? As the is repeated in his fervour from the first verse, it being there the warning epithet; so comes from the second verse, it being there the testing word. By is meant here again the Holy Spirit-the Life and Power of the gospel which fills the spirit of believers, and not vaguely the gospel itself; and by is designated, not the Jewish dispensation, but the sensuous element of our nature, which finds its gratification in the observance of ceremonial or of external rites. See under Php 3:4; Rom 4:1. It is too restricted on the part of Chrysostom, Rckert, and Schott to give any immediate reference to circumcision, though it is not excluded; and too vague on the part of Theodoret to render by , and on the part of Winer to describe it as indoles eorum qui mente Deum colere didicerunt. The folly was extreme-to go back from the spiritual to the sensuous, from that which reaches the soul and fills it with its light, life, and cheering influence, or from the gift of Pentecost, to the dark economy, which consisted of meats, and drinks, and divers washings. Shall he who has been conscious of his manhood, and exulted in it, dwarf himself into a child, and wrap himself in swaddling bands? It was so foolish to turn round so soon after they had so auspiciously begun; though there is no allusion here or in the context, as Wolf and Schott think, to the image of a race. Lightfoot’s allusion to a sacrifice is farfetched; as is the similar notion of Chrysostom, that the false teacher slew them as victims.
Gal 3:3. It is certain that God’s dealings with man would not decline in degrees of perfection or completeness, but would advance as humanity became able to receive them. On this principle, the things to be accomplished through the “ministration of the Spirit” (2Co 3:8) would be an advancement over that which was possible by the flesh, a term given to the ordinances of the law of Moses, because of its consisting of “carnal ordinances” (Heb 9:1 Heb 9:10). The Galatians were reversing the order and leaving the completeness of the system under the Spirit, in which they had begun their religious life, and going backward to finish (be made perfect) their religious lives by the ordinances of the law.
Gal 3:3. Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now ending (or finishing) in the flesh? A fine irony. The middle voice of the Greek verb () is preferable to the passive (are ye now brought to perfection) on account of the correspondence with begun, and on account of the parallel passages, Php 1:6 (he who began a good work in you will finish it), and 2Co 8:6. Spirit and flesh represent here the spiritual religion which makes man free, and the carnal religion which makes him a slave to outward forms and observances.
Observe here, the apostle calls the doctrine of the gospel, Spirit; because by hearing the gospel preached, they had received both the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. The law, with all its rites and ceremonies, he calls flesh; because they were now weak, and being but temporary institutions, were abolished by the coming of Christ and the gospel.
Observe next, how the apostle endeavours to convince the Galatians of the folly and absurdity of hoping to perfect that in the flesh, which they had begun in the Spirit: Are ye so foolish? As if he had said, “That having at your entrance into Christianity begun a holy life, by and according to the holy Spirit conferred upon you, that now you should think to be made more perfect by the flesh, by the external commandments and observances of the law; how unreasonable is it to suppose that your justification should be begun by a more noble, and perfected by a less noble cause?”
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?
Verse 3
Are ye now made perfect by; are ye going to end in.
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh?
Some further logic; if you started in the Spirit do you, can you, must you now perfect yourself by your own works? The construction here is of note. They began at a point in time, but have to perfect themselves on a continual basis. You were saved – fact – done deal – now you are saving yourselves by works of the flesh – how so is the implication.
How can you be saved by Christ, then you, by your works do it again? This should scream out to anyone that doubts their salvation and security in it. It was done once, how can you add to it? That is impossible.
This should also scream at the charismatic that was saved, but now seeks to finish the work by seeking some special unction from on high that allows them to do things that make them even more spiritual.
There is something deeply wrong in any thought that seeks by works to add to the salvation God has given, be it works relating to gifts, to the works of doing of good, or works of making oneself spiritual.
For further on this concept see Php 1:6 and Col 2:6.
3:3 {2} Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the {d} flesh?
(2) The fourth argument mixed with the former, and it is twofold. If the Law is to be joined with faith, this were not to go forward, but backward, seeing that those spiritual gifts which were bestowed upon you are more excellent than any that could proceed from yourselves. And moreover, it would follow, that the Law is better than Christ, because it would perfect and bring complete that which Christ alone began.
(d) By the “flesh” he means the ceremonies of the Law, against which he sets the Spirit, that is, the spiritual working of the Gospel.
Question 2: How is God sanctifying you? Their justification had been a work of the Holy Spirit in response to believing faith. Likewise their sanctification was also a work of the Holy Spirit in response to believing faith. The idea that keeping the Mosaic Law will somehow help the Holy Spirit is a fallacy that persists to our day.
"The Judaizers in Galatia, it seems, claimed not to be opposing Paul but to be supplementing his message, and so to be bringing his converts to perfection . . ." [Note: Longenecker, p. 106. Cf. Betz, p. 136.]
"Flesh" here refers to one’s sinful human nature, the seat and vehicle of sinful desires. This is a metaphorical use of the word. [Note: See I. Howard Marshall, "Living in the ’Flesh’," Bibliotheca Sacra 159:636 (October-December 2002):387-403, for an excellent word study of "flesh."] Notice that reception of the Spirit does not mark a second or higher stage after justification, a "second blessing." It belongs to initial justification and now takes place at the moment of conversion (cf. Joh 7:39; Joh 16:7; Joh 20:22; Act 1:8; Act 2:38; Rom 8:9; 1Co 12:13).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)