Galatians 3:5
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? 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?
Paul's question is whether the One who supplies the Spirit and works miracles among believers does so by works of law or by hearing with faith, and the answer is by hearing with faith, not by works of law. It was spoken to new converts in Galatia who had been converted to the gospel through the doctrine of righteousness by faith and had begun in the Spirit after the pure gospel had been planted among them. Its setting was confusion and spiritual blindness brought by false teachers who perverted the gospel, boasted of wonder-working powers, led the converts into error, and removed them from grace unto another gospel.
It proves that those who began in the Spirit cannot be made perfect by the flesh, and that the same faith by which the Spirit was received remains the basis of the Christian life rather than reliance on human effort. It therefore rebukes the converts as foolish for seeking to be made perfect by the flesh, and it serves to show them they were deceived, to expose the deception, to defeat the evil purpose against them, and to bring them back to grace and to an intelligent stand for truth. The verse belongs to the truth on the law in Galatians, which is unchanged and will bear criticism and investigation rather than totter and fall, while its misunderstanding and divisive handling have brought loss to the church.
The verse must be investigated from the Scriptures by each person for themselves with no man as authority, and its doctrine proved from that same source while giving a reason for hope with meekness and fear, for closing the door to such Christlike investigation is not the Spirit from above. Differences over its doctrinal points are not vital; what is vital is being true Christians with a Christian spirit, open and frank with one another. Even where the truth on this subject is held, failure to be sanctified through it produces fruits bitter as gall and not after Christ's order.