“How Did You Receive the Holy Spirit?”
By: Frank Tunstall, D. Min.
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” Paul asked (Galatians 3:1).
Paul was writing to the church he had established in Galatia. Some who had accepted the Gospel and experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit were walking away from the Holy Spirit. Paul’s words to them were sharp.
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?”
Two words stand out in the Greek – foolish and bewitched. Foolish communicates unintelligent, lacking in common sense, and even stupid. Bewitched suggests hypnotized. “What magician has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell on you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly crucified” (Galatians 3:1, TLB).
Paul was exasperated and must have been thinking, why in the world do you want to go back to working for your salvation? Jesus on His cross made eternal life free – 100% free – to all who believe Jesus is the Son of God and repent of their sins.
Many of these Galatian brothers and sisters had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit “after [they] heard about Christ and trusted Him” for the gift of eternal life. (Galatians 3:2, TLB). Paul had every right therefore, to ask them these four questions:
“Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit by observing the law,” [especially including circumcision], “or by believing what you heard? namely the gospel of grace?” (Galatians 3:2).
- “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal [of eternal life] by human effort?” (Galatians 3:3).
- “Have you suffered so much for nothing — if it really was for nothing?” (Galatians 3:4).
- “Does God give you his [Holy] Spirit and work miracles among you” because you are doing such a perfect job keeping the law, so that Jesus owed you His death, His miracles, and the gift of the Holy Spirit?” (Galatians 3:2, 5).
Paul’s conclusion was salvation is all about grace through faith; believing the Gospel you heard and accepting salvation as a gift from God (Galatians 3:5, TLB).
Said another way:
“The Holy Spirit came upon you only after you heard about Christ and trusted him to save you. Then have you gone completely crazy? For if trying to obey the Jewish laws never gave you spiritual life in the first place, why do you think trying to obey them now will make you stronger Christians? You have suffered so much for the Gospel. Now are you going to just throw it all overboard? I can hardly believe it! I ask you again, does God give you the power of the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you as a result of your trying to obey the Jewish laws? No, of course not. It is when you believe in Christ and fully trust him” (Galatians 3:2-5, TLB).
A fundamental part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit was interpreting the Scriptures through the lens of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul followed up on his reasoning, therefore, by reaching back to the gospel in the Old Testament, revealed in the founding father of Israel. “Consider Abraham: He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3:6; Genesis 15:6). In fact, God credited righteousness to Abraham before he was circumcised, and about 400 years before God gave Moses the Law.
Paul proceeded to exercise apostolic authority by considering Genesis 15:6 through the bifocals of the death and resurrection of Jesus. When he did that, the Holy Spirit gave him the boldness to look back over 1800-years and challenge the old paradigm that defined the true sons of Abraham by their Jewish bloodline. The Holy Spirit blessed Paul to think it through so that he realized the old definition ended at Jesus’ cross. The Messiah for whom Abraham looked had come in Paul’s lifetime. To achieve the goal of our salvation, He poured out His blood on His cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all people everywhere (John 17:2; Acts 2:17; 17:30); the blessing is international (John 3:16; John 2:28; Matthew 28:18-20).
Abraham’s true children, therefore, place Abraham’s kind of faith in Jesus the Messiah. In fact, Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56, KJV). It means every person is Abraham’s son and heir who believes what he has heard and places his faith in Jesus, regardless of race or ethnicity.
The implications of this interpretation of Scripture were enormous. Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah had the authority to make this massive change. He did it in the afterglow of His death and resurrection and it tore down the societal wall that separated Jews from Gentiles. Henceforward, Jews and Gentiles were on a level playing field, making them one family, one body in Christ.
“Understand, then, those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (Galatians 3:7-9; Genesis 22:8; 26:4).
This conclusion was also affirmed by King David’s prophecy who said, “God credits righteousness apart from works” (see Romans 4:6-8; Psalm 32:1-2).
Laying the Foundation for the Bible to be Written
In doing this, the Spirit laid an important foundation for the New Testament church (Ephesians 2:20). It meant the Heavenly Father has one worldwide family, the family of faith in Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah of all.
This change laid the foundation for the Holy Spirit to birth in the Lord’s church through Godly men the Holy Bible that would serve the Church worldwide. Habakkuk’s prophecy, for one example, would be the same for each of them: “The righteous will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). The Messiah redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23). This meant Gentiles would become living temples of the Holy Spirit too. They would have the same gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling each of them in their daily walk with God anywhere around the world, wherever the Holy Spirit led them (John 14:15-21; Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 14:15-21).
And this Spirit continues to lead God’s children to this day.
One more revelation needed to take place, however, before the foundation would be complete, and it will be the subject of my next lesson.
