Sermon | Galatians 3:1-18 | Justification by Faith Alone
INTRODUCTION
The title of this sermon series is Sola Fide, a Latin phrase that means “Faith Alone.” Before the Protestant Reformation in 1500s, everyone was Roman Catholic until several men began to protest some of the teachings of the church. These men are called the protestant reformers. They include Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and others. The heart of the Protestant Reformation was the doctrine of Sola Fide, or justification by faith alone.
“Justification” means God declaring you righteous and allowing you into heaven.
The Roman Catholic church taught justification by works. They said that if you wanted to get to heaven, you had to achieve righteousness in your character and morality. If you don’t do that in this life, then you will have to spend however long it takes in Purgatory to get there. But once you actually achieve righteousness, then God will declare you righteous and let you into heaven. It was necessary for Christ to die. It is necessary to have faith in Christ. But you have to earn heaven by your own righteousness.
The reformers, such as Martin Luther, interpreted the Bible differently. First, they said that no one is righteous, and therefore no one deserves heaven. The idea of Purgatory is not in the Bible, but even if it was, and even if you spent a million years in purgatory, you could never achieve a state of righteousness before God. Second, justification is not earned, but is a gift received by faith. The moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God declares you legally righteous in His sight. Notice the word “legally.” Justification is a legal, forensic term. You don’t actually become righteous in your morality. Christians are not perfectly righteous. We are just saved sinners, and we are striving to please God more and more. But when we trust in Jesus, God declares us legally righteous in His sight, which means that on judgment day, when we stand before God, God let us into heaven rather than send us to hell. This doesn’t mean that all Christians will receive the same rewards in heaven. The Bible is clear that there will be degrees of rewards in heaven. But it means that all who have faith in Christ will go to heaven. We are not justified by works, or by faith plus works; we are justified, forgiven, adopted into the family of God, by faith alone. Sola Fide.
The primary of leader of the Reformation was Martin Luther, a Germn monk, and his favorite book of the Bible was Galatians, because the central theme of Galatians is Sola Fide – justification by faith alone.
Paul started several churches in Galatia, a province in the Roman Empire, and then he moved on. After him came false teachers who claimed that faith in Christ was not enough for salvation. You needed to faith plus works. You need faith in Christ, but you also needed to become Jewish and follow all the Jewish rules. That’s why Paul wrote this short letter.
Last week we looked at Galatians 2, where Paul very clearly states that justification is by faith, not by works.
Galatians 2:16 “… [W]e know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.”
In this next section, Galatians 3:1-18, Paul is going to make six arguments to back up his claim that justification is by faith alone.
SIX ARGUMENTS FOR SOLA FIDE
1) The reception of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:1-5 “You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? 4 Did you experience so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? 5 So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard….”
When the Galatians first heard the gospel and believed, they received the Spirit.
The Bible is clear that this happens to all Christians; the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells you permanently.
Sometimes, the experience is very noticeable.
In the first churches, sometimes they would experience glossolalia, the gift of tongues. This was an involuntary phenomenon in which a person was enabled by the Holy Spirit to speak in another language.
Sometimes it can be a very emotional experience, in which a person cries uncontrollably.
Sometimes it can be an immediate, radical change in your character, so that sinful habits and addictions are put away immediately without any struggle. For example, I’ve seen some people try to stop smoking or drinking for years only to fail over and over again, but I’ve seen people get saved and stop smoking, drinking, doing drugs, cursing, immediately, never to return.
When the Galatians first believed, they received the Holy Spirit in a very noticeable way. Paul doesn’t tell us exactly what they experienced, other than to say that it included miracles (v. 5).
Paul’s point is that the Galatian Gentiles experienced the Spirit, which was evidence of salvation and justification, when they believed in Christ, not because they started to obey the Mosaic law. This is evidence that faith is enough. Salvation/justification is by faith alone.
Imagine that I give you a new shirt for your birthday. You love the shirt. It looks great on you. You wear it all the time. But then about a year later you try to pay me for the shirt. You don’t need to pay for it. It was a gift. It’s already been paid for. It’s already been given. It’s yours. But you are determined to pay for it. That’s what the Galatians were doing. They had received the Spirit by faith, but now they were trying to earn their salvation by works.
2) The example of the Abraham.
Galatians 3:6-7 “just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness? 7 You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons.”
Now Paul brings out the big guns. The false teachers claimed that to be justified, you had to follow the Jewish law. Paul argued, even Abraham, the father of the Jews wasn’t justified by the law. He was justified by faith.
Paul quotes Genesis 15:6.
Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
Abraham is the father of the Jewish people. His entire life could be summed up in one word: faith. Abraham didn’t know God; he worshiped false gods. But one day God appeared to him and told him to go to the land he would show him. So, Abraham had faith and went. Then even though Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless and very old, God told him that he would have many descendants. He believed God. Then after Abraham and Sarah had their son, Isaac, God told him to sacrifice him. Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead, and he obeyed.
One preacher described Abraham’s faith like this:
He went without knowing where.
He believed without knowing how.
He obeyed without knowing why.
And God justified Abraham because of His faith. He declared Him righteous. God didn’t justify him because he was such a good person. Abraham had many flaws. God didn’t justify Abraham because he followed the Old Testament law. Abraham lived hundreds of years before God’s law was given. God didn’t justify Abraham after he got circumcised. This statement was made before he got circumcised. God justified Abraham because of his faith.
In other words, Paul is saying that this is how God has always justified people. Justification has never come through law-works. It’s always been by faith. Abraham believed what God said, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
In the same way, God declares us righteous when we believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. He died in our place for our sins.
3) The promise of the Old Testament.
Galatians 3:8-9 “8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. 9 Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”
One of the promises that God made to Abraham was that God would bless him, and then all nations through him. And since the nations don’t follow the Jewish laws, then that means that God’s blessing will not be based on the law, but on faith. “Those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.”
How did God bless the nations through Abraham? This is explained in verse 15-18.
Galatians 3:14-18 “14 The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith. 15 Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. 17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.”
First Paul makes a statement. The blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, received by faith. Then he presents to arguments.
First Paul makes a legal argument. Once a will, such as a last will and testament, has been ratified, it can’t be changed. Since God’s promise to bless Abraham and all the nations through him came hundreds of years before the law, then the law didn’t invalidate it. The promise is still based on faith, not on works.
Second, Paul makes a linguistic argument. He focuses on the word “seed.” God promised to bless Abraham and his seed, not his seeds. Singular rather than plural. The promises to Abraham were not given to all his physical descendants; only one. That one was Christ. And so the promise was to give the blessing of Abraham – justification -- to those who put their faith in Christ – people from all nations.
So, Paul’s point is that God promised the blessing of justification through faith alone all the way back in the time of Abraham.
4) The impossibility of keeping the law.
Galatians 3:10 “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.”
Now Paul resorts to logic.
There are two types of people. Those who rely upon Christ for salvation/justification; that is the way of faith. And those who rely upon law/works for salvation/justification.
Those who rely upon the law are under a curse; they are doomed. They cannot be saved. They cannot go to heaven. They cannot be justified.
Why? Because “everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.” If you are relying upon the law, then you have to keep it perfectly.
In other words, if you are hoping to get heaven by your own righteousness, then you have to be perfect, and nobody is perfect. God will not justify, or declare righteous, anyone, because they have actually achieved righteousness. Impossible. Can’t happen. Because nobody is perfect.
Therefore, the only possible way to be justified is by faith. When you put your faith in Christ who was punished for your sins, then God declares you not guilty. He counts your sins against Christ, and He counts Christ’s innocence and righteousness to you.
There are two ways to get to heaven. The performance plan, or the faith plan. The performance plan requires perfection. If you aren’t perfect, then stop trying to earn your way to heaven, and simply rely upon the cross of Christ.
5) The book of Habakkuk.
Galatians 3:11-12 “11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.”
Once again, Paul argues from the Old Testament. This time from the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk 2:4 says “the righteous will live by faith.” Paul quoted this verse in Romans 1:17 as well.
This is the famous phrase that led to Martin Luther’s conversion.
Remember, Martin Luther was a devout Augustinian Monk. He had a very sensitive conscience. He was terrified of going to hell. In the Roman Catholic Church, there are two kinds of sins. Venial sins are less serious sins, but mortal sins mean the loss of your salvation. When you commit a mortal sin, you have to be re-justified, or you will go to hell. To be re-justified, you have to practice the sacrament of penance. You have to a priest and confess all your sins, and then the priest will grant you absolution, or forgiveness. Luther would confess daily, sometimes hours at a time. One of his main problems was that he couldn’t remember all of his sins. You have to confess, but what if you can’t remember all the sins that need confessing? Luther eventually became a college professor, and when he came across Romans 1:16-17, he finally understood the way of the gospel for the first time.
Romans 1:16-17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”
Right then, Luther understood the God’s righteousness is not earned through works, but it is by faith. When you put your faith in Christ, God declares you righteous.
And this is not a new teaching. It goes all the way back to the OT prophet Habakkuk.
6) The death of Christ.
Galatians 3:13 “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Paul makes his final argument for the doctrine of justification by faith alone by pointing to the cross.
First, Paul speaks about the curse of the law. The curse of the law is that we have to keep it perfectly to go to heaven, and nobody is perfect.
Then he says that Christ redeemed us, or freed us from that curse.
How? By becoming a curse for us. By being punished for our sins, in our place, on the cross, so that we don’t have to be punished.
Then Paul quotes the OT once again. “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” This comes from Dt 21:33. In ancient Israel, after a criminal was executed, his dead body was nailed to a post or tree. In the same way, Christ was nailed to tree, a wooden cross, and punished as a criminal, not for His sins, but for ours.
In other words, Paul is pointing out the point of the cross. The whole reason that Christ died on the cross was because we are sinners who deserve hell not heaven. We are sinners, not righteous. So Christ came to earth and died on the cross for our sins, taking our punishment. He took the curse we deserved.
Therefore, we don’t have to be sinless to go to heaven; our sins were paid for by Christ. All we have to do is believe in Christ. Have faith in Him. Rely on Him.
Does this mean that striving to live a righteous life is not important? No. Does this mean that God’s law, such as the Ten Commandments can be ignored? No. But in Christ we have a different relationship with the law. We don’t obey the law to earn our justification, but out of gratitude for our justification. We don’t do it to earn God’s acceptance, but because we love God who has already accepted and adopted us in Christ. We pursue righteousness not to earn salvation, but out of gratitude for salvation. And when we fall short, no worries; we have already been forgiven and justified by God through Jesus Christ our Savior.
CONCLUSION
In studying for this sermon I came across a really good quote by William Hendriksen. “A Christ supplemented is a Christ supplanted.” There are some distortions of Christianity which teach Christ plus works. Yes, you need to believe in Christ, they say, but you also need to earn your way to heaven by good works. You must supplement Christ with works. That is not the true gospel. You can either rely upon works, or Christ. If you are relying upon works at all, then you are not relying upon Christ. A Christ supplemented is a Christ supplanted.
Remember, there are two ways to get to heaven. The performance plan and the faith plan. If you are relying upon good works, then you are on the performance plan. And the only way you can get to heaven on the performance plan is if you are actually perfect. And nobody’s perfect. If you are relying upon Christ, then you are on the faith plan.
How do you know which plan you are on? The all-important question is this: Why should God let you into heaven? If you answer that God should let you into heaven because you are a good person, because you are trying hard to follow God’s rules, then you are on the performance plan. You are trying to earn your way to heaven. To get on the faith plan, you have to do three things: Admit that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself. Believe that Jesus died in your place for your sins and rose again; that He is the only way you can go to heaven. Call upon Jesus to be your Savior and boss.
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