Galatians 3:14
14that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Truth to Learn
Like Abraham, we receive God’s blessing through faith AND we also receive God’s guarantee through faith.
Behind the Words
In order to get the fill impact of this verse, let’s look carefully at the Greek grammar used. We have a tendency to read this verse as: “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise …” In other words, we read this as a sequence of two events: first, we receive the blessing, then we receive the promise. The Greek construction, however, seems to say that these are parallel events, so it could be translated as: “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Meaning Explained
We’re just splitting hairs, right? No. You see, the blessing that Abraham received is the righteousness that was graciously given to him by God. And, as we saw in verse six, this righteousness was accounted to him as a result of his faith (not a result of works), because he believed God’s promise. We also receive the blessing of imputed righteousness by faith, not by works. Likewise, Paul now tells us, we also receive the promise of the Spirit through faith at the same time. He said a similar thing in Romans:
Romans 8:15, 16 15For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
You see, if we have truly submitted ourselves to God, in recognition of our sinfulness, and have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we are given the Holy Spirit as a promise (a guarantee) that God will complete His work in us. That’s what Paul tells us in Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:13, 14 13In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
It is through faith that we receive the blessed declaration that we are righteous and it is through this same faith that we receive the Holy Spirit as God’s promise that we are eternally His.
So What?
Now, I ask you: “Do you want to try to earn this righteousness and this promise from God, neither of which is possible to earn? Or do you want to simply believe the Good News about Christ’s payment for your sins and receive this blessing which you don’t deserve? ”
It’s one or the other, there is no middle ground!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2007 Will Krause. All rights reserved.