The Holy Spirit in Galatians

WHILE the epistle to the Romans contains the divine revelation of the Gospel, the salvation of God, the epistle addressed to the Galatians is the defense of that Gospel through the same inspired pen. Such a defense had become necessary in the days of the apostle Paul, because certain teachers dogged his footsteps, wherever he preached that Gospel, teaching a perverted, a counterfeit Gospel. Their false teachings consisted in the denial that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. They taught that the law must also be kept; they emphasized circumcision, keeping of the Sabbath and other ordinances, necessary for salvation and necessary for the believer in order to be righteous before God. It was the vicious leaven of legalism which they were spreading, that same leaven which has leavened well nigh everything in Christendom.

Galatians 3:2

Chapter 3:2. "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? . . . 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?" They had been pagan idol worshippers, but when they heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached and believed, they received also the gift of the Holy Spirit. He dwelled in their hearts. How, then, did they receive Him, by the works of the law, by their own efforts, by vows and ordinances, or by the hearing of faith? They knew the answer. The Spirit of God was God's gift of grace to them. There is no promise in the law, that law keeping would insure the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sufficient and no law, no ordinances, no holy days or other observances, are needed to help the believer in a life before God.

Galatians 3:14

Chapter 3:14. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Once more it is stated that the gift of the Spirit is inseparably connected with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 4:6

Chapter 4:6. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." This is the same precious truth as already explained in Romans viii. The word "Abba" is the Aramaic for Father. It is found in the same form in the branches of the Semitic language. "Father" is the word used by the Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles believing on Christ receive the same Spirit of Sonship and are brought into the same family.

Galatians 4:29

Chapter 4:29. In the allegory illustrating the two covenants, the Holy Spirit is mentioned, showing how flesh and Spirit are antagonistic to each other.

Galatians 5:5

Chapter 5:5. "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." What is "the hope of righteousness by faith"? It is the coming of the Lord for His Saints. The righteousness which we are in Christ7 has a hope attached to it. The hope of His calling is that we should be like His Son, transformed into the same image. The Holy Spirit in us teaches us to wait and long for that blessed hope.

Galatians 5:16-18

Chapter 5:16-18. Here it is the walk in the Spirit and its blessed results. The walk in the Spirit is to live and walk in Christ, to have Him always before the heart in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit, who is in us to make Christ a blessed reality. In such a walk, abiding in Christ, the lusts of the flesh have no place. The new life in Christ loves to obey, loves holiness, and Christ is its strength and wisdom through the Spirit. The flesh is still present, for it lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit is envious of the flesh. The flesh tries to prevent the believer from walking in the Spirit. This passage contradicts another error of certain holiness sects and Pentecostalites, who teach and profess the eradication of the old nature. The first Epistle of John brands the denial of the presence of sin, as self-deception.

Galatians 5:22-25

Chapter 5:22-25. Here we find the fruit of the Spirit. It is the description of a true Christian character. That character consists in Christlikeness. The Spirit of God indwells the believer to produce these fruits and reproduce in him the very mind and character of our blessed Lord, so that the believer, abiding in Him, can walk even as He walked. Love, joy and peace are first. These give blessed assurance of the believer's relationship to God. This is the great foundation upon which all rests. If love, joy and peace are enjoyed in the Holy Spirit, the rest of the fruits will follow. These, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness and self-control, witness in the believer's life and walk that the unseen love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit are realities. If our confession is that we are in the Spirit, let it be shown by a walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 6:8

Chapter 6:8 is the last reference to the Spirit in this epistle. Like produces like. He that sows to his flesh reaps a harvest accordingly. He that sows to the Spirit reaps also his harvest.