This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul's single question presses the Galatians on how they received the Spirit, whether by works of law or by hearing with faith. The answer is that the Spirit comes by hearing with faith, not by works of law. Their own first Christian experience proves it, for they received the Spirit by hearing and believing the message of faith. That experience confirms that the gospel brings the Spirit through faith in Christ.
What had been taught them was righteousness by faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice, not reliance on works of law, and through faith in Christ they became children of God. After being converted through the doctrine of righteousness by faith, they were led into error by false teachers whose boasting and wonder-working powers blinded their spiritual eyesight. That turning was a removal from the grace of Christ unto another gospel.
The verse belongs to the controversy over the law in Galatians, a matter some addressed without fully understanding the issue and so took wrong positions, and those positions together with failure to cherish Christ's Spirit brought loss to the church. As a rebuke it calls them foolish and bewitched for not obeying the truth even though Jesus Christ crucified had been plainly set forth before their eyes. It teaches that having begun in the Spirit they cannot be made perfect by the flesh. God ministers the Spirit and works miracles among them by the hearing of faith.
It warns them lest they have suffered so many things in vain. The same rebuke applies to believers today to whom the truth has been opened. The glory of God's infinite truth grows the more it is contemplated, yet they allow themselves to be bewitched away from obeying it. Those deceived are called to see their error, refuse the interpretations of apostate teachers, defeat evil, and come back to an intelligent, genuine experience of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul's single question presses the Galatians on how they received the Spirit, whether by works of law or by hearing with faith. The answer is that the Spirit comes by hearing with faith, not by works of law. Their own first Christian experience proves it, for they received the Spirit by hearing and believing the message of faith. That experience confirms that the gospel brings the Spirit through faith in Christ.
What had been taught them was righteousness by faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice, not reliance on works of law, and through faith in Christ they became children of God. After being converted through the doctrine of righteousness by faith, they were led into error by false teachers whose boasting and wonder-working powers blinded their spiritual eyesight. That turning was a removal from the grace of Christ unto another gospel.
The verse belongs to the controversy over the law in Galatians, a matter some addressed without fully understanding the issue and so took wrong positions, and those positions together with failure to cherish Christ's Spirit brought loss to the church. As a rebuke it calls them foolish and bewitched for not obeying the truth even though Jesus Christ crucified had been plainly set forth before their eyes. It teaches that having begun in the Spirit they cannot be made perfect by the flesh. God ministers the Spirit and works miracles among them by the hearing of faith.
It warns them lest they have suffered so many things in vain. The same rebuke applies to believers today to whom the truth has been opened. The glory of God's infinite truth grows the more it is contemplated, yet they allow themselves to be bewitched away from obeying it. Those deceived are called to see their error, refuse the interpretations of apostate teachers, defeat evil, and come back to an intelligent, genuine experience of righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.