Deuteronomy 21
22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and then hanged on a tree, 23the body must never remain on the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God. Do not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23, NLT)
Galatians 3
1Oh, foolish Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. 2Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain, was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away?
5I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law of Moses? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
6In the same way, “Abraham believed God, so God declared him righteous because of his faith.” 7The real children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their faith in God.
8What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would accept the Gentiles, too, on the basis of their faith. God promised this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9And so it is: All who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
10But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all these commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11Consequently, it is clear that no one can ever be right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says, “If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands.” 13But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14Through the work of Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, and we Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1-14, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
In 1956, Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins recorded his most famous song, “I Put a Spell on You.” The song (which you can listen to here) became a cult classic that’s been covered by a number of artists over the years, including Nina Simone, Annie Lennox and Alan Price.
For me, I grew up listening to the Creedence Clearwater Revival Rendition of the song. It was classic rock at its best.
To have a spell put on you means that you’re completely held by something, whether a person or an idea. Dictionary.com describes it as “a state of being enchanted, entranced or fascinated.”
In this 3rd chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul is asking the question, “who put a spell on you?” Paul is so dumbfounded by the change he has seen in how the Galatians are living out the Christian life that it’s as if they have been put in a trance by an evil trickster posing as a servant of Christ.
The issue that Paul was addressing is highlighted in verse 3 where Paul says, “Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” [emphasis added]
This problem is one that is actually pretty commonplace among believers even today. Many Christians place their faith in Christ to BEGIN the Christian life, and then resort to a works based system in order to MAINTAIN the Christian life.
Paul is saying that this approach to the Christian life is so contrary to the actual gospel message that it’s EVIL.
Twice in the first 5 verses Paul asks the question: did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the Law? The question is rhetorical in nature, but Paul answers it anyway with an emphatic NO!
How does a person receive the Holy Spirit? Through belief, or “by faith”.
If you are a Christian, you came to Christ by placing your faith, or trust, in Jesus to pardon your debt of sin and provide forgiveness through His death on the cross. This is why Paul, in the very first verse, references the cross of Christ. Every Christian who has ever existed has come to Christ in the same way, by believing in Jesus and His death on the cross as a payment for personal sin.
According to Ephesians 1:13, at the moment of belief in Christ, all Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit, who comes to live inside the life of the new believer.
The problem for many Christians is what follows that initial conversion experience. After beginning the Christian life by placing their faith in Christ, many Christians fail to continue the Christian life in faith, empowered by the Spirit. Instead, they opt for a rules-based approach in which they seek to please God through their “human effort” (see verse 3).
This was not just a problem with the Galatians. Paul also addressed this issue in Romans 4. I wrote about it in my blog post, “How Good Do You Have to Be to Be Saved?”
This problem persists today as well.
In our rebelliousness, we desire to make ourselves the center of the universe. Most religions are man-centered, meaning that the religion is centered around human effort and good deeds.
Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, is God-centered. It is the ONE major religion or philosophy that does not depend on what man DOES but is instead ordered around what God DID via Christ’s death on the cross.
The issue with the Galatians was that while they began the Christian life in the Spirit by faith, they sought to maintain their standing with God by following the Law, the Jewish religious code.
Paul reasons that if you didn’t come to Christ by adhering to the Law, why are you trying to maintain your relationship with God by adhering to the Law?
Essentially, Paul is saying that you can’t mix and match these two approaches. They started out with a God-centered approach based on faith but then shifted to a man-centered approach based on human effort. This makes no sense. If you want to base it it on adhering to the Law, you will have to obey the whole Law. Otherwise, you are under a curse.
The other option is to base your approach on faith, which is preferable, because in this approach, Jesus was a curse for us via his death on the cross (see verse 13).
By switching from a God-centered approach back to a man-centered religion (the Law) as a means of seeking God’s approval, you are invalidating the whole reason why Christ was necessary in the first place, which is why Paul asks the Galatians, “Are you now going to just throw it all away?”
The Christian life is a life of faith. We don’t just come to Christ by faith. We live the Christian life by faith as well. In this way, God is the center at all times.
If you are under the impression that we come to Jesus by placing our faith in Him but then we must follow some sort of religious moral code in order to keep our standing with God, well then Paul’s question to the Galatians extends to you – who put a spell on you? That is not just a minor misunderstanding or small theological difference of opinion. Paul says this ideology is evil and man-centered, designed to keep people living as slaves instead of living in freedom and experiencing true transformation.
Reflection
What is your reaction to the idea that we are under the curse of the Law, but Jesus, by hanging on a tree, became a curse for us? What imagery does this create in your mind? What thoughts and emotions does it provoke?
What do you think are the reasons why Paul calls the Galatians approach to the Christian life evil?
What are some examples you can think of in which people tend to make Christianity man-centered instead of faith-based and centered on God?
What do you think it looks like practically to continue the Christian life in faith instead of human effort?
Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash
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