EXEGESIS OF GALATIANS 3:1-5

NT 502: INTERPRETING THE NEW TESTAMENT

PROFESSOR: MARK JENNINGS

KARINA LOAYZA
BOX #323-B
MAY 4, 2015

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.

TRANSLATION ..............................................................................................................2
1.1.

Original Text: ............................................................................................................2

1.2.

Personal Translation: .................................................................................................2

2.

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................3

3.

COMMENTARY .............................................................................................................4

4.

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 13

5.

THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ................................................................................... 13

6.

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 15

7.

APPENDIX A: SSA OF GALATIANS 3:1-5 ................................................................. 16

8.

APPENDIX B: SD OF GALATIANS 3:5 ....................................................................... 17

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

EXEGESIS OF GALATIANS 3:1-5

1. TRANSLATION
1.1. Original Text1:
(1)

, , '
;

(2)

' ,
;

(3)

; ;

(4)

; .

(5)

1.2. Personal Translation:

(1)

O foolish Galatians! Who did bewitch you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly
portrayed as having been crucified.

(2)

I would like to understand only this thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit from the
works of the law, or from hearing with faith?

The critical apparatus prepared by the United Bible Societies in its fourth edition (UBS4) does not present textual

variants for the passage in Galatians 3:1-5. According to the principles established by the Committee, certainly the
present passage contains variants of less significance, or no meaningful for the proper reading and interpretation of
the text.
In the discourse segmentation Apparatus, the Committee indicates that there is a paragraph break at the end of verse
5. This has help us to establish the boundaries of our passage.
2

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

(3)

Are you so foolish? After having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the
flesh?

(4)

Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed they were in vain.

(5)

Does the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, do so from
the works of the law or from hearing with faith?

2. INTRODUCTION
Galatians 3:1-5 is the key to capture Pauls thoughts about which is the real threat in the message
that was circulating within the churches of Galatia. Throughout the first two chapters, Paul has
been creating an expectation in the audience, then his arguments reached a crescendo with the
phrase: Then Christ died for no purpose (2:21). This is how extremely serious is the situation,
the Galatians have been called for freedom, however by accepting circumcision they are
subjecting themselves to the yoke of slavery, in doing so they are making the work of
redemption useless (5:1-3). In this section we can feel how Paul is trying to shake the Galatians
mind by asking them question after question and leaving the answers for a later full discussion,
now his aim is to call their attention, and to provoke in them a reflection on the course of their
actions. To do so, Paul throws four rhetorical questions, but two of them are of most interest for
the development of his posterior discussion. First, Paul presents two opposite realities for the
giving of the Spirit in the moment of their conversion: the works of the Law, and hearing with
faith (v.1). Second, and following the first idea, Paul presents two opposite paths for a Christian
walk: by the Spirit, or by the flesh (v.3).

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

3. COMMENTARY
The letter to the Galatians was written by the apostle Paul (1:1, 6:11) in order to address a
particular threatening situation: a false teaching circulating in the churches that was in direct
opposition to the truth of the gospel of Christ (1:7). The teachers of this distorted doctrine have
been traditionally identified as Jewish Christians that were trying to persuade the believers to
comply with the requisites of the law (5:1-3, 6:13), especially mention has the practice of
circumcision (5:12) as the practice the believers were persuaded to comply. But Paul is going to
correct this false understanding of the law by explaining why it was given (3:19) and why it is of
any benefit now that Christ has come (3:25-29, 4:4-7). We see how Pauls pastoral heart is
broken (1:6, 4:12-19), although many had said that this is the angry letter of Paul, while he is
trying to correct his flocks understanding of the basis for their justification (1:4,6, 2:16, 20-21,
3:6-9,17-18, 22, 29, 4:6, 5:1,5,), to explain the broad meaning and implications of the Law as
opposing to faith (2:19, 3:10-11, 15, 19-29, 4:1-3, 21-31, 5:2-4), to show what a great Savior
Christ is (1:1,4, 2:20, 3:13-14,24, 27-29, 4:4-6, 5:1,6 ), and finally to indicate how this higher
reality is going to be translated in their life of walking by the Spirit in contrast to a life satisfying
the desires of the flesh (5:14-25, 6:1-10).
Much discussion surrounds the topic about the recipients of the letter. Depending on the meaning
attributed to the word Galatia the recipients of the letter would be whether the ethnic Galatians
who inhabited the region of central Asia Minor (northern part of the Roman province of Galatia),
people who had emigrated from Gaul in the third century B.C, or the extended area created by
the Romans who conquered the Galatians in 189 B.C., and then created the Roman Province of
Galatia incorporating some regions not inhabited by ethnic Galatians.

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

Paul visited the southern Galatians cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe during his first
missionary trip (Acts 13:14-14:23). This is the first theory for the possible recipients of the letter
if Paul was using a political sense of the word Galatia (the entire Roman province), but others
have argued that Paul was using the term in its strict racial sense and that he addressed his letter
to the churches in the northern Galatian region, although there is no record of Paul founding
churches in that area, only that the apostle apparently visit this region in at least two occasions2
(Acts 16:6, 18:23). The evidence for any of these two theories has proved to be conclusive,
however the arguments in favor of the Southern Galatian destination of the letter are more solid,
mainly for the record of Acts, than those for the northern destination since there is any clear
record of Pauls effective ministry in this region3.
The dating of the letter is highly dependent on whether one adopts the North Galatian or the
South Galatian theory for the recipients of the letter. For this scenario, the date of the letter
would be around Pauls third missionary trip (Acts 18:23-21:14) in ca. 53-57 A.D. An earlier
date is possible for the North Galatian scenario, during Pauls first missionary trip (Acts 13:414:28) in ca. 43-48 A.D.
3.1. Outline of the Passage:
A new section in the letter is introduced not only by the turn on the literary style, from a
narrative style (2:1-21) to a more direct and conversational style (3:1-5), but also by the use
of the vocative at the beginning of chapter 3 ( ). Paul starts this section
addressing the Galatians with a direct statement: Oh foolish Galatians! (v.1), and then he will
2

MacArthur, John F. Galatians (MacArthur Bible Studies Book 10: Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition), Kindle

Locations 66-74
3

Carson D.A. Introduction to the New Testament- 2nd edition. (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan), 461.

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

resort to the use of four rhetorical questions in order to capture the attention of his audience,
to motivate their reflection and evaluation of the circumstances, and to emphasize his
principal concerns about the current situation in the churches of Galatia. The tone of this
section also give us a clear picture of the state of mind and heart of the apostle, the
seriousness of the problem and what is at stake in this situation.
3.2. Verse-by-Verse:
(1)

, , '
;
O foolish Galatians! Who did bewitch you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly
portrayed as having been crucified.
Paul finished the previous section with the statement: I do not nullify the grace of God, for
if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose (2:21, emphasis
mine). Deep silence among the congregation after the reading4 of these words, then a turn in
Pauls rhetorical, now addressing directly to the Galatians and rebuking them in a tone filled
with emotion. This is indicated by the use of the vocative case with the preceding use of 5.
Pauls consternation for the current situation in the church, as he has already marked in 1:16,
is evident in the strong adjective he uses: foolish. Perhaps, like those two disciples in the

Letters were intended to be read aloud in the congregation with the expressed purpose of being obeyed by the

Christian community. Shreiner, Thomas R. Interpreting the Pauline Epistles. (Baker Academic: Grand Rapids,
Michigan), 13.
5

Wallace, Daniel. Greek beyond the basics. (Zondervan Publishing House: Grand Rapids, Michigan), 65.

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

road to Emmaus, foolish6 and slow of heart to believe in the very presence of the risen Lord.
Also, from Pauls use of the adjective in Rom. 1:147 we can presume that the
inability of the Galatians to think rightly is not a matter of intellectual disability, it is a matter
of spiritual discernment as those two disciples in the narrative of Luke. Are those disciples in
Pauls mind when he is saying: before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as
having been crucified? The parallel is very appealing indeed, but the Galatians are beyond
that blindness, because in Pauls words they are like under an evil spell (8) because
they have been fascinated by a gospel of slavery.
There is an emphasis to be considered in the use of the perfect participle . The
reality of the cross and its profound significance for Paul resonates throughout his letter (1:1,
2:20, 3:13, 5:11, 24; 6:12, 14, 17) because the crucifixion of our Lord, though an event
completed in time has ongoing effects as Paul vividly pictures it and demonstrates in his life
(2:20, 6:14, 17), the Cross is not only the heart of his message but also the motto for his ethos
(2:20, 5:24, 6:14). The Cross was at the heart of Pauls preaching (1 Co. 1:17-18, 2:2,
Eph.2:16, Php.2:8, Col.1:20, 2:14), so it was certainly part of the message that the Galatians
had received. Paul urges the believers to think under this reality, and this is going to be
Pauls solid ground to his following exhortation by using four rhetorical questions.

(Luk. 24:25) ,

(Rom 1:14) ,

Literally means: to give someone the evil eye, to cast a spell over, to fascinate in the original sense of holding

someone spellbound by an irresistible power. George, Timothy. The New American Commentary; v.30
(Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 207.
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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

(2)

' ,
;
I would like to understand only this thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit from the works
of the Law, or from hearing with faith?
This is the first of four rhetorical questions that Paul is going to throw like sharp arrows to
the Galatians, because he is hoping they would examine the evidences of Gods work in them
and among them since they received the gospel. The first arrow goes directly to their
experience of conversion: the giving of the Spirit. How did they receive it? What did they
do? - If they did something at all, what was it?
Paul presents two opposing realities as the source for their giving of the Spirit: the works of
the law and hearing with faith. What concepts are in Pauls mind when presenting these
options to the Galatians? First, from the context given in the following section, when
referring to the works of the law, Paul is signaling to the law given to Moses, and he is
very interested in making a sharp contrast with the promise given to Abraham fulfilled in
Christ (3:6-15). We can fairly infer that the understanding of the law in the church was not
accurate, or at least they were not pondering the implications of accepting circumcision,
because when Paul says: You who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
(4:21) or, in a striking statement he gives us a mental image for the implications of
circumcision: You have cut yourself from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by the
law9, we can speculate that the Galatians were not aware of the great tragedy of their
actions. Because, by accepting circumcision, that is their relying on the works of the law,

Mounce, William, Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament edited

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

they are obligated to keep the whole law, and the law was never meant in Gods Plan to give
righteousness, since from the beginning righteousness was given by faith to Abraham (3:21,
Ro. 4:1-3). This last statement lead us to consider the second option for the giving of the
Spirit: hearing with faith. In order to understand this idea, we need to take Abrahams life
as a portrait of it, because this is what Paul does in a teaching parallel in Romans 4:1- 22, and
in particular when he says about Abraham: He was fully convinced that God was able to do
what he had promised(Rom.4:21, emphasis mine). In other words, Abraham just trusted
God as faithful to what He promised, and this is why his faith was counted to him as
righteousness. But, how is this translated to the hearing with faith of our passage? It is
translated as a confident obedience to the gospel preached by Paul to the Galatians. This is
the only basis for their giving of the Spirit, the promise God gave to Abraham and that was
fulfilled in Christ through faith (3:14).
(3)

; ;
Are you so foolish? After having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the
flesh?
Pauls second arrow, is directed to their Christian experience from their conversion to the
current circumstances. Are you so foolish? we can feel Pauls agony in this question,
because they have been experienced the grace of God when they were justified through their
faith in Jesus Christ (2:16-21), but now they are taking for granted the high cost of this new
beginning for them (2:20). If the Spirit has been given, if the promise of Abraham has been
made available to the gentiles (3:14, 22, 25-29), and if they were set free, it is because Christ
has set them free by becoming a curse for them (5:1, 3:13). Christ made available the giving
of the Spirit for the gentiles, this is the starting point in the life of the believers. It is very

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

clear from the context of the letter that Paul is referring to the promise of Pentecost, the
promise to Abraham fulfilled in Christ (3:14) that all the nations will be blessed in him (Gal.
3:16, Gen. 12:3). The promised Spirit was given to them through faith (3:14), but now the
Galatians are desiring to be under the law (4:21), seeking to be justified by the law (5:4).
This is the frame in which we need to understand these two opposite options. On the one
hand, the Spirit is the starting point for the new creation made by God through faith,
characterized by the freedom for walking by the Spirit and bearing its fruit (5:13, 22). On the
other hand, the flesh in conflict to the Spirit (5:16), the antithesis is striking (5:19-23), the
flesh is the unredeemed creation held captive under the law (3:23), enslaved to the
elementary principles of the world (4:3), whose desires lead us to us to transgress the law that
was added because of them (5:17, 3:19). Therefore, if the Galatians have been set free by
Christ (5:1), they are children of God, heirs of the promise, known by God (4:5-9), then they
are no longer under the Law, they have no need to observe the law (4:9-10), their only aim
ought to be to fulfill the law of Christ (5:2) by using their freedom to serve one another
through love (5:13). This is the way to complete and to make perfect, () the work
that God10 has begun in their life by giving them the Holy Spirit, however the Galatians are
turning back to those elementary principles, they want to be perfected by the law (4:10, 5:3,
7-8).
(4)

; .
Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed they were in vain.

10

In Philippians 1:6 Paul indicates that from the beginning to the end, it is God who is acting in the perfection of his

work until the day of Christ.

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

What is the worth of suffering in the life of the believers to which Paul is trying to appeal
with this question? Suffering must have taught them something, or added something to their
Christian character that is of value in Pauls mind, he had not seen the need to appeal to this
experience. From the last words in the letter we could catch the concept of suffering in Pauls
mind: for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus (6:17). He is identifying his physical
suffering to those of Christ in the Cross. For Paul, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
includes the sharing of his sufferings, and to become like him in his death (Phil. 3:10). This is
the glorious perspective of suffering in Pauls thought, and if the Galatians have experienced
any form of persecution for the cause of Christ, then this is highly worthy, and Paul is trying
to remind them of this truth. The unity of the believer is Christ, evidenced so vividly in the
sharing of his sufferings, is the only basis for the sharing of the blessing of Abraham, for the
Gentiles this means being adopted by God and being made part of the Israel of God (3:25-29,
6:16). It is this aspect of suffering that for Paul is highly relevant for his defense of the faith
in Christ as the only basis for salvation.
If we consider the background given in Acts 14 as fitting for the letter, then persecution for
the cause of Christ was certainly part of their experience, and part of Pauls words of
encouragement to continue in the faith: Through many tribulations we must enter the
kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)
(5)

;
Does the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, do so from the
works of the law or from hearing with faith?

11

Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

We can see this last rhetorical question as an extension of the first one. In first place, Paul is
appealing to the inner reality of conversion, and now he is directing the Galatians to the
external evidences of Gods work among them. Our best piece of evidence of the veracity of
this statement is found in the book of Acts. Let us consider, for instance Acts 14:3-1011
where we find Paul and Barnabas in Iconium and Listra, performing signs and wonders
granted by the Lord, evoking the miracles of Jesus in his public ministry. The Lord said that
because He was going to the Father it will be possible for His disciples to perform even
greater works than He did, in other words, it was the giving of the Holy Spirit after Jesus
ascension that allowed Paul and Barnabas to perform signs and wonders. Therefore, if God
has given the Spirit by faith not by the works of the law, and this has been Pauls message
from the beginning, is there any possibility that the miracles witnessed by the Galatians were
performed on the basis of the obedience to the law? Certainly not, otherwise Paul wouldn't
appeal to this profound contradiction in order to persuade the Galatians to ponder the
evidence.

11

Taking the theory of a South Galatian destination as more compelling than the North Galatian theory. (Carson

D.A. Introduction to the New Testament- 2nd edition. pp. 461).

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

4. SUMMARY
The force in Pauls argument in order to correct and admonish the Galatians regarding the false
teaching about justification that they have allowed to introduce in the church, is in appealing to a
higher reality experienced by them in different spheres of their Christian walk. He is certain
about the reality of their conversion, the power of the Spirit that worked in them and among
them, there is an infinite value and truthfulness in these realities and Paul is going to redirect his
flock to the right path.
Paul uses four rhetorical questions to shakes the Galatians mind up: First and foremost, Paul
goes to the experience of conversion, Gods new creation in their life by the giving of the Spirit
by faith. Second, he reveals the inconsistency of their current actions in contrast to their
beginning in the life of faith. Third, the share of the sufferings of Christ appeals to the unity of
the believers in Christ, and for this reason Paul is trying to evoke those deepest moments of
fellowship with their Savior. Finally, Pau appeals to the irrevocable evidence of the power of the
Spirit among them.
5. THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
There is no greater truth than to affirm that only faith on Christs work of redemption on the
Cross is sufficient for our righteousness before God. This is the heart of this passage, Sola Fide.
Any human intent to add merits to Christs consummated sacrifice is destine to become a curse,
an evil distortion of the Gospel of Christ. This was the danger in the churches of Galatia that by
adding the works of the law to the reality of their justification by faith, they were making
worthless the Cross of Christ, for if righteousness were through the law then Christ died for no

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

purpose (Gal. 2:21). Because there is no other solid ground in which we can stand unshaken in
our relation with a righteous God than at the foot of the Cross.
The sufficiency of Christs sacrifice should not be only a sweet confidence of our salvation, but
also should create a new ethical reality. The only thing for Paul to boast about was the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, because on that cross the wrath of God for our sins was satisfied, the work
was consummated by Christ. Therefore, we need to remember where our sins were paid but also
fixed our eyes beyond that cross, because as Calvin said: the cross of Christ only triumphs in
the breasts of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and sinners, when their eyes are directed
to the power of his resurrection12.
The work of redemption should direct us as a community made in Christ to serve one another. It
is very interested that freedom in Pauls thought is exercised in the body of Christ by loving our
neighbors as we love ourselves. In this way the church is fulfilling the law of Christ.

12

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion (Kindle Locations 14445-14446). Kindle Edition.

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carson D.A. Introduction to the New Testament- 2nd edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.
Bruce F.F. Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit. Grand Rapids, 2000.
George, Timothy. The New American Commentary; v.30. Tennessee: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1994.
MacArthur, John F. Galatians- Kindle Edition. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Shreiner, Thomas R. Interpreting the Pauline Epistles. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011.
Shreiner, Thomas R. Paul, Apostle of Gods Glory in Christ. Downers Grove: Baker
Academic, Leicester: Apollos, 2001.
Wallace, Daniel. Greek beyond the basics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion - Kindle Edition.

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

7. APPENDIX A: SSA OF GALATIANS 3:1-5

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Interpreting the New Testament

Exegesis of Galatians 3:1-5
Student: Karina Loayza

8. APPENDIX B: SD OF GALATIANS 3:5

17