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Galatians 3:3
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Justification by Faith

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you1 that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed2 among you as crucified?  
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, aor by the hearing of faith?  
3 Are you so foolish? aHaving begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by bthe flesh?  
4 aHave you suffered so1 many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
6 just as Abraham a“believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  
7 Therefore know that only athose who are of faith are sons of Abraham.  
8 And athe Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, b“In you all the nations shall be blessed.”  
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Galatians 3:2   Galatians 3:4 >>


Galatians 3:3

begun—the Christian life (Philippians 1:6).

in the Spirit—Not merely was Christ crucified "graphically set forth" in my preaching, but also "the Spirit" confirmed the word preached, by imparting His spiritual gifts. "Having thus begun" with the receiving His spiritual gifts, "are ye now being made perfect" (so the Greek), that is, are ye seeking to be made perfect with "fleshly" ordinances of the law? [ESTIUS]. Compare Romans 2:28; Philippians 3:3; Hebrews 9:10. Having begun in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit ruling your spiritual 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 divine life that proceeds from faith, are ye seeking after something higher still (the perfecting of your Christianity) in the sensuous and the earthly, 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 into the Spirit; for the flesh may be easily mistaken for the Spirit, even by those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain a pure faith [BENGEL].




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Galatians 3:3:

1 Kings 11:1-2
2 Corinthians 7:1
Galatians 2:1
Galatians 5:4
Philippians 3:2
Philippians 3:15

 

<< Galatians 3:2   Galatians 3:4 >>

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