3You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.G5599G453G1052G5101G940G5209G3982G3361G3982G225G2596G3739G3788G2424G5547G4270G4717G1722G52132Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you?G5124G3440G2309G3129G575G5216G2983G4151G1537G2041G3551G2228G1537G189G41023Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?G2075G3779G453G1728G4151G2005G3568G2005G45614Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!G3958G5118G1500G1489G2532G15005Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?G3767G2023G5213G4151G2532G1754G1411G1722G5213G1537G2041G3551G2228G1537G189G41026Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.G2531G11G4100G2316G2532G3049G846G1519G13437Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith?G1097G686G3754G1537G4102G3778G1526G5207G118It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you."G1161G1124G4275G3754G2316G1344G1484G1537G4102G4283G11G3754G1722G4671G1757G3956G1484G17579So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine!G5620G1537G4102G2127G4862G4103G1110And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law."G1063G3745G1526G1537G2041G3551G1526G5259G2671G1063G1125G1944G3956G3739G1696G3756G1722G3956G3588G1125G1722G975G3551G4160G84611The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life."G1161G3754G3762G1344G1722G3551G3844G2316G1212G3754G1342G2198G1537G410212Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping]continues to live by them."G1161G3551G2076G3756G1537G4102G235G444G4160G846G2198G1722G84613Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse.G5547G1805G2248G1537G2671G3551G1096G2671G5228G2257G1063G1125G1944G3956G2910G1909G358614And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.G2443G2129G11G1096G1519G1484G1722G2424G5547G2443G2983G1860G4151G1223G410215Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it.G80G3004G2596G444G3676G444G1242G2964G3762G114G2228G192816Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ.G1161G11G2532G846G4690G4483G1860G4483G3004G3756G2532G4690G5613G1909G4183G235G5613G1909G1520G2532G4675G4690G3739G2076G554717This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will.G1161G5124G3004G1242G4300G5259G2316G1519G5547G3551G1096G5071G2532G5144G2094G3326G3756G208G1519G2673G1860G267318No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will. What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham.G1063G1487G2817G1537G3551G3765G1537G1860G1161G2316G5483G11G1223G186019The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses.G5101G3767G3551G4369G5484G3847G891G3739G4690G2064G3739G1861G1299G1223G32G1722G5495G331620But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.G1161G3316G2076G3756G1520G1161G2316G2076G152021If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.G3551G3767G2596G1860G2316G3361G1096G1063G1487G1325G3551G1325G3588G1410G2227G3689G1343G302G2258G1537G355122(SEE 3:21)G235G1124G4788G3956G5259G266G2443G1860G1537G4102G2424G5547G1325G410023Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law.G1161G4253G4102G2064G5432G5259G3551G4788G1519G4102G3195G60124The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.G5620G3551G1096G2257G3807G1519G5547G2443G1344G1537G410225But now you have arrived at your destination:G1161G4102G2064G2070G2089G3765G5259G380726By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God.G1063G2075G3956G5207G2316G1223G4102G1722G5547G242427Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.G1063G3745G907G1519G5547G1746G554728In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.G1762G3756G2453G3761G1672G1762G3756G1401G3761G1658G1762G3756G730G2532G2338G1063G5210G2075G3956G1520G1722G5547G242429Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.G1161G1487G5210G5547G686G2075G11G4690G2532G2818G2596G1860
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