Chapter 3

3:2: Paul was the teacher of the Galatians and the preacher of the Galatians. After finding out that they had started to fall into this Judaizer heresy, he brought to their attention the fact that they did not labor in receiving the Holy Spirit in their own works rather they merely received the Spirit by hearing with faith.

3:3: Paul was rhetorically asking the Galatians a question. Nobody should expect to be perfected by following the fleshly ordinances of the law. Nobody can or will be made perfect if they are dependent on their own ability rather than on the Holy Spirit of God.

3:4: Paul was telling them that if they were perfected by the law and if the law was their salvation, all the persecution and affliction they had suffered was suffered in vain. It was for nothing.

3:5: It is by hearing with faith that we are given the Holy Spirit of God and that miracles are worked among us. Doing the works of the law cannot result or consequence in miracles and the Holy Spirit. It is by faith alone.

3:6: Verse 5 is here answered plainly and simply. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Just as Abraham was justified before God and counted as righteous not as a result of works but as a result of faith, God gives us the spirit and justifies us not as a result of works but out of faith.

3:7: All who believe are spiritual sons and daughters of Abraham regardless of race or ethnicity.

3:8: Salvation has always been by faith. The good news was proclaimed to Abraham before the coming of the law and it was known that the Lord would justify all nations by faith and faith alone.

3:9: Faith, not ethnicity is the factor that determines whether someone shares in the blessings of Abraham.

3:10: The curse of the law is perfect obedience. Without perfect obedience to the law we are unjustified before God. Everyone who does not abide by all things in the law, while being under the law, is condemned. Those who try to justify themselves will be unjustified but those who lean on the faithful and efficient grace of God will be wholly justified in Christ alone.

3:11: While it may appear on the surface that works justify men before other men, no works or obedience to the law can justify man before God. God is a righteous judge that requires perfection and this forensic or "legal" righteousness can only come through faith in Christ. The righteous shall live by faith but in this life and in the next. Our faith in this life, our daily course of living in faith as the foundational condition, will prove to bring us eternal life by Gods grace.

3:12: