The Enchantment Of Works

O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you

that you should not obey the truth, before

whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed

among you as crucified?

This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive

the Spirit by the works of the law, or by

the hearing of faith?

Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit,

are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 3:1–3

            It has been said: “You are what you eat!”  Up to a point that is true that what you take in as nourishment determines often a person’s health, or even prognosis.  The same goes with spiritual food: “You are, or will do, what you accept as good, those reading of Scripture that may not be Scripture at all, or those “left–out” words.  Even what a teacher or preacher, or even some author’s say that are not Scriptural even though the sound as they are, and you are nourished spiritually by what you are taking in.  Therefore, it is important to learn what is a better nourishing spiritual food as you would about food for the body.  I must comment on verse one: “that you should not obey the truth,” that which is left out in the NIV and is in the KJV, or NKJV.  Why? We must ask this question as find those words in many manuscripts, the majority texts, the Syriac text, Vulgate1, and several others.  I am not attempting in this blog to address textual criticism, rather to ask whether or not you are getting the truth, the complete truth, or are you being bewitched?  Is it important?  Yes!  Should you not obey the truth?  Was not Jesus Christ portrayed to you clearly, that is clearly if the spiritual food you are taking in is the whole truth and not some perversion.  Why?  Too many churches today rely on works.  They say that what they do is not works.  It is, for to them these works they do have more import than the truth. We are to live our lives as a witness for Jesus Christ and the gospel.  The gospel, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, is God, is the Second Person of the Trinity, and is the Only Begotten Son of God, who came, live, suffered, died on a cross, ascended into heaven and paid the debt owed to God, sin was abolished and we who are His bride, a child of God are recipients of that payment. Are we so foolish that we attend to things that seem so pious, yet when examined, as we did for the first verse in the opening Scripture, we find that what we are doing, those works are not Scriptural. What are you taking in spiritually?  Should you be more concerned than what many are concerned about, GMO foods, or organic foods, pesticides, etc.  You may shy away from such foods, be concerned over fat, calories, etc., yet, are you just as concerned over spiritual food? YES!

            Who is tickling your ear to bewitch you, to turn you from the truth?  To be called foolish, as did Paul to the Galatians is to point out that you may be moving away from more important things to minor matters.  You began in a spiritual manner, but now approach the end in a fleshly manner.  Each denomination has its own characteristics, assumed to possess either a good, or a bad quality that another denomination does not have.  We must turn aside from the depths of that conversation and turn, strive, after higher things.  We must distinguish the spirit of the law and the letter of the law.  If we do not make a distinction between what is being fed to a church, in a denomination, and we eat of their foliage, foliage that looks good, like a beautiful fruit, yet is not and then we may become sluggish in our walk with God, in our wisdom.  The Greek word: εβάσκανε, means to be bewitched or to have been slanders, by spells, to be deluded, to be enchanted.  Are you being enchanted by what you take in?  Remember this saying: “Trust but verify.”

            This is what was happening in the Galatians churches; they were affected by what seemed to them as right, a return to works, especially circumcision.  It is not that they were being people that became opposed to the gospel, no, they were sincere in what they had come to believe.  These Christians wanted to be true to God, to server God, to be a good Christian.  All this sincerity was not according to truth; “Who has bewitched you

that you should not obey the truth,” and if this is left out in your Bible, get another Bible one that adheres to the truth, not just some truth, but all the truth.  You are what you take in, bodily, and spiritually.  Paul rebukes these Galatians churches because they had turned from the truth to another gospel.  They began in the Spirit received from God, but then became foolish to follow another gospel, a gospel of works.  These Galatians Christians were attempting to work out their love of God, and to be service to Him, but not according truth, rather according to the flesh.  You, and I, are bondservants to the One who purchased us; Jesus Christ and He will use us as He sees fit for it God who works miracles and those miracles, the most important miracle is your salvation, done not by your works, rather God works through you and me by faith, our faith: “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of law, or by the hearing of faith––“ (Galatians 3:5)?  How we live is determined by what we take into our lives and our character is determined by what we take in, and often we then do what is not acceptable.  We live for works as though we are needed by God, rather than live our lives with God and not for Him. 

           

Woe to him who strives with his Maker!

            Let the potsherd strive with the

Postsherds of the earth!  Shall the clay

            Say to him who forms it,

“What are you making?” or shall

            your handiwork say,

“He has no hands”?

                                    Isaiah 45:9

Trust God: Not Yourself

Richard L.Crumb