Galatians 3:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—

NIV: So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

NASB: So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

CSB: So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard--

NLT: I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.

KJV: He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

NKJV: 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?—

Paul is asking the Christians in the region of Galatia a series of leading questions. Apparently, some of them have started to believe false teachers who are insisting that even those who trust in Christ must follow the law to be truly saved. Paul wants to help his readers to see how foolish that idea is (Galatians 3:1).

Now he asks them about the undeniable supernatural things they have seen the Holy Spirit do, including miracles. The earliest Christians often received God's Spirit with some display of God's power, such as the sudden ability to speak in languages they didn't know. In many cases, more miracles followed, including supernatural healings. That happened in Galatia (Acts 14:3, 8–11).

Paul repeats his question from Galatians 3:2. Did God give them His Spirit and display His power by works of the law? Or did He do so in response to their hearing the truth and receiving it with faith? It should not be a hard question. After all, the Galatians had not yet done any works of the law when God sent His Spirit to them. The Spirit had come immediately after they had believed and before they could "do" anything.

Galatians 3:1–9 begins with Paul calling the Galatian Christians he loves ''foolish.'' They have begun to believe they must follow the law of Moses in order to be included in the family of God. Paul asks: did God give His Spirit to them with great power after they believed, or after doing works of the law? Clearly, the Spirit arrived in response to their faith. Abraham also was declared righteous by God in response to his own faith. Paul insists God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him pointed to this time when Gentiles would be saved by faith in Christ.

Paul indicates the Galatian Christians are foolish for believing they need to follow the law of Moses to be right with God. He offers three specific arguments to support this. First, they received God's Spirit in a powerful way after believing in Jesus, but before doing any works of the law. Second, Scripture itself shows God's blessing coming by faith, and His curse coming by the law. Christ paid the price of that curse on the cross. Third, God's covenant with Abraham is like a legal document, and it cannot be revoked.

In Galatians chapter 2, Paul declared that we can only be justified—''made right with God''—by faith in Christ and not by following the law of Moses. In chapter 3, Paul offers three arguments for why that is true. He argues from the Galatians own experience, from the Scriptures themselves, and from the legal standpoint of a covenant contract. Finally, Paul answers what the law is for if it cannot save us from our sin. In part, it reveals our sinfulness and convinces us of our need to be saved by faith in Christ. The following chapter will expand on what it means to be an ''heir,'' spiritually.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.