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ent from that taught by many teachers today, who, over-emphasizing 1 Cor. 12:13, so insist that every believer has been bap tized with the Holy Ghost',” that they, to put it mildly, obscure the fact that the receiving o f the Holy Spirit is a definite experience o f which one,may know whether it has come to him or not. Certainly the Galatian people had received the Holy Spirit in such a definite and conscious way that Paul could point to it as proof o f his point. The second thing that Paul’s ques tion makes clear is that the fundamental condition o f receiving the Holy Spirit is “the hearing o f faith,” i. e., the simple depending for justification before God upon Jesus Christ and His finished work, as we hear o f Him in the gospel (cf. ch. 2:16; Rom. 10:9-17; John 7:37-39), and not “the works o f the law,” i. e., depending upon our performance o f what the law requires (Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:3). The Galatian believers had received the Holy Spirit while simply depending upon Jesus Christ, and not after they had begun to try to keep the law. This argument o f Paul’s' is of force today. There are those among us today who are saying: “You must keep the Jewish law (not the Jewish law about circumcision, but the Jewish law regard ing the seventh day Sabbath) to be accept able to God.” But today as in Paul’s time God sets his seal o f the conscious receiving o f the Holy Spirit, not upon those who are seeking to be justified before Him by keeping the law, but upon those who rest upon the finished work o f Christ for justi fication. Wednesday, April 24 . Gal. 3 : 3 - 5 . The Galatians' had begun in the Spirit, i. e:, by letting the Spirit rule in their lives. It was foolish to seek perfection “ in the flesh,” that is to seek perfection by the observance o f mere outward ordi nances, carnal ordinances, ordinances of the flesh (cf. Heb. 9:10; Rom. 2:28; Phil. 3:3 ). This folly is often repeated in our own day. Many who begin “ in the Spirit” in a life o f liberty, controlled not by a
lot of, slavish rules outside one, but by the Spirit dwelling within one (Rom. 8:14, 15), often-change to a lot o f man-made laws, “ Thou shalt do this, and thou shalt not do that,” and by these rules o f “ the flesh” seek perfection (cf. Col. 3 :20-23, R. V .). The Galatian believers had suf fered for the gospel from Jews and from unbelieving countrymen. They could have avoided these sufferings by embracing Juda ism instead o f Christianity, as they now seemed inclined to do. So Paul puts to them another question: “ Did ye suffer so many things in vain?” These sufferings would be "in vain” (or fruitless) in another sense still if they persisted in their Judaiz- ing, for they would thus miss the reward o f their sufferings (cf. ch. 4:11; 2 John 8 ). But Paul expresses the hope that it will not prove “to be indeed in vain”—that is, that they will not persist in their Juda- izing (cf. Heb. 6 :9 ). Paul then asks a third question, appealing to their experience again: “He therefore that supplyeth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you (or in you) doeth He it hy (literally, out o f) works o f the law, or by (literally, out o f) the hearing o f faith?” There is a difference between "receiving the spirit” and having the Spirit supplied. The former (receiving the Spirit) is something that happens once for all: the latter is the continuous supplying o f the Spirit in ever- increasing measure to the one who has already received the Spirit. It is not enough that we receive the Spirit, we need to have Him continually ministered to us, we need to be filled anew, again and again, with the Holy Spirit. This supplying of the Spirit is wrought in the same way as receiving the Spirit, not by our governing our lives by a set o f laws without us, but by our simply believing the truth regarding the crucified and risen Christ and what
He can do for us. Thursday, April 25 . Gal. 3 : 6 .
Paul now passes to a fourth proof that his was the true gospeel. The proof is the teaching o f the Old Testament Scrip-
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